August 18, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
153 
Abernant House, which is placed at the disposal of the Committee by 
James Lewis, Esq., the popular proprietor. 
The principal prizetakers in the open plant classes were Mr. Cypher, 
Cheltenham ; Mr. Comley, gardener to J. Lewis, Esq., Abernant ; and 
Mr. J. Speck, Llanelly. In the corresponding classes for fruit, Mr. 
Hawkins, gardener to Mrs. Turberville, Ewenny Priory ; Mr. Comley, 
Abernant ; Mr. Silk, gardener to T. M. Franklin, Esq., St. Hilary ; 
Mr. Stone, gardener to Lord Aberdare ; and Mr. Morris, gardener to 
A. P. Vivian, Esq., Taibach, were successful. Vegetables were well 
shown, the honours falling to Mr. Pugsley, gardener to General Lee, 
Hinas-Powis ; Mr. Croft, gardener to Mrs. Palmer, Rheola ; Mr. Morris, 
Taibach ; and Mr. Cole, Aberdare. The amateur and cottager classes 
were well and excellently filled, the exhibits being of a high order of 
merit. 
It is hardly necessary to comment upon the quality of plants shown 
■with such names as Cypher among the exhibitors, and the fruit con¬ 
sisted of very fine and well finished examples as a rule. Among 
honorary exhibits in addition to the local trade, Messrs. W. Clibran and 
Sons, Altrincham and Manchester, staged a good collection of Roses and 
popular herbaceous flowers. 
A run through the extensive glass department in Abernant Gardens 
proved that Mr. Comley had not exhausted his stock of show fruit, 
though he had staged heavily. His house of Madresfield Court, almost 
intact, was a fine sight, and from his later houses we may expect to see 
the grower giving a good account of himself at some of the autumn 
shows. Pine Apples are still well and largely grown there. Capital 
fruit were put up successfully at this Show, and Mr. Comley might well 
have sent them further a-field.— Visitor. 
TAUNTON DEANE.— August 11th. 
This flourishing Society held its twenty-ninth annual Exhibition 
under the most favourable circumstances. The day was a perfect 
one ; there was brilliant sunshine, which was tempered by a cool 
northerly wind ; indeed, some of those who attended the Show stated 
that the thermometer in the morning went down to freezing point. This 
•combination tended to make the day a most enjoyable one, and brought 
together a very large concourse of visitors. The whole town was en fete., 
and the streets were crowded by an immense concourse of people. The 
way in which these horticultural gatherings are looked forward to in 
the west is a very striking contrast to the lukewarm manner in which 
6uch meetings are regarded in our home counties. The neighbouring 
gentry make a point of being at home, and no other arrangements are 
allowed to interfere with their being present at this annual fete ; while 
the railway brings thousands of visitors from the neighbouring towns as 
far as Bristol and Bath on the one side, and Torquay and Exeter on the 
other. The cottagers, too, from the neighbourhood flock in in great 
numbers, taking a keen interest in all, especially in the cottagers’ pro¬ 
ductions, which are of great excellence, so that altogether everything 
conspired to mark the day as a most successful one. The beautiful vale of 
Taunton has a fertile soil and a most genial and forward climate. When 
I left my own home yesterday I had not a single spike of Gladiolus in 
bloom, and in fact only one or two which were showing colour, while 
grand spikes were exhibited at the Show evidencing some fortnight in 
advance of us. I, however, found that other places in the neighbourhood 
did not share this earliness, and that it must be specially assigned to this 
much-favoured vale. 
I have now for many years — some thirteen or fourteen — been 
permitted to assist at this Show, and have during this time noticed 
many and important changes, not merely in the personnel of the 
exhibitors, but in the character of the exhibits, perhaps the most 
conspicuous being in the large plants shown in the big class for stove 
and greenhouse plants. I can recollect when in the class for twelve 
stove and greenhouse plants in flower there were large plants shown 
which ran one another very close, when Messrs. Lawless, Cleave, 
Pilgrim, and others had but few points between them. Now Mr. James 
Cypher of Cheltenham is the only exhibitor who shows them, and there 
is a great fall between the first and second collections. They were well 
grown and excellently flowered, but they were not half the size of those 
shown by the celebrated Cheltenham grower. Then again there used 
to be classes for tricolor, silver, and bronze Nosegays and other 
Pelargoniums, while now there are but two classes for single and 
double Zonals. Groups of plants arranged for effect have been added, 
and Begonias, both double and single, have taken the place of 
Pelargoniums. There are still some classes which might with advantage 
be cut out from the schedule, notably Verbenas, Phloxes, Cockscombs, 
and Petunias, while more encouragement might well be given to 
herbaceous plants, of which delightful class there are many ardent 
cultivators in the neighbourhood, and if they were exhibited in greater 
numbers would doubtless tend to increase in number. 
Mr. James Cypher, who carried off as usual the first prize in the class 
for twelve stove and greenhouse plants, had fine examples grown in 
his usual style of excellence of Clerodendron Balfourianum, Allamanda 
nobilis, Allamanda Hendersoni, Bougainvillea glabra, Anthurium 
Schertzerianum, Ixora Pilgrimi, and others. Mr. Mould was second, and 
amongst his plants was a fine Statice Gilberti and a good Erica tri¬ 
color. In the class for six stove and greenhouse plants Mr. Cypher 
was again first with fine plants of Statice profusa, Allamanda nobilis, 
Erica oblata, Ixora Williamsi, and Phcenocoma prolifera. Mr. Brooks was 
second with smaller plants. In the class for eight fine-foliaged 
plants Mr. Cypher was again first with some grand plants, Croton 
angustifolius, like a shower of gold, Latania borbonica and Croton 
Sunset being very bright and good, Cordyline indivisa, Kentia australis, 
Dasylirion glaucum. J. Curnee, Esq., was second, and Mr. Mould third. 
In the class for exotic Ferns W. Brooks, Esq., was first; he bad some fine 
specimens, amongst which were Davallia Mooreana, Nephrolepis nidus 
avis, and Dicksonia antarctica. One great improvement has been effected 
of late years in the arrangement of these fine plants in the centre of 
the large tent. Instead of being pushed up upon stages, where the pots 
could be well seen, and the plants but very indifferently, they are all 
placed on the ground, so that they are seen to the fullest advantage. 
Round the sides are placed on the one side Begonias, Pelargoniums, and 
other plants in pots, while the other is devoted to cut flowers, of which 
there is always a good display. The Begonias shown by Mr. W. H. 
Fowler were finely grown, and were of course fine varieties. He had 
Mrs. J. G. Goschen, Tower of Gold, Florence, R. D. Parsons, Mrs. French, 
and Spitfire, very brilliant in colour. These plants were admirable in 
growth, not overtrained, and clear and bright in colour. Mr. Goddin 
was second. The Pelargoniums do not need much notice ; they were, as 
usual here, excellently flowered, but to my mind overtrained, the 
stakes being much too prominent. There was also a considerable falling 
off in the Fuchsias, which used at one time to be shown in great 
excellence. 
It was hardly to be expected at this season that there would be a great 
competition in Roses, indeed it was confined in the classes for thirty-six 
and eighteen distinct varieties to Messrs. Perkins of Coventry and Mr. 
S. P. Budd of Bath, but both exhibitors showed remarkably well, and ran 
each other very close. Mr. Perkins? stand for thirty-six consisted 
of Charles Lefebvre, Comtesse de Camando, Etienne Levet, Martin 
Cahazel, bright rose shaded with crimson ; Emilie Hausburg, Mr. W. H. 
Eaton, a seedling of Messrs. Perkins, light rose, shaded with crimson ; 
Her Majesty, Mrs. C. Wood, Dr. Andry, Alfred Colomb, Heinrich 
Schultheis, Duke of Connaught, Elie Morel, Ferdinand de Lesseps, 
A. K. Williams. Marie Verdier, Perle des Jardins, Due de Rohan, Comte 
Raimbaud, Earl of Dufferin, Devienne Lamy, Mrs. John Laing, and Duke 
of Wellington. Mr. Budd’s stand ran this very close, the flowers being 
very fresh and of good colour, but a little wanting in size. In the class 
for eighteen the same competitors occupied the same position, Mr. 
Perkins’ stand containing Emilie Hausburg, Captain Christy, Marie 
Baumann, Alfred Colomb, Her Majesty, Heinrich Schultheis, and Inno- 
cente Pirola. In the class for eighteen Teas and Noisettes Mr. W. H. 
Fowler exhibited a very beautiful stand, in which were some grand 
flowers. Souvenir d’un Ami was one of the finest blooms of this variety 
I have seen this year ; especially fine, too, were Souvenir d'Elise Vardon, 
a large and well developed flower ; Comtesse de Nadaillac, a superb 
bloom of great substance, and beautiful in colour ; Jean Ducher ; Marie 
Van Houtte ; Ernest Metz, very fine both in form and colour; Madame 
Ho3te, excellent. 
Owing to the lateness of the season, as I have already said, Gladioli 
were not largely represented. Even Mr. Kelway, who usually has a 
grand bank of them, had only a couple of rows. It is needless to 
say that these were very fine, and several of them received first-class 
certificates. In the class for twenty-four spikes, not less than twelve 
varieties, Mr. W. H. Fowler had a magnificent stand, comprising Mrs. 
Fowler, the errand seedling of Mr. Kelway’s of which I wrote last year, 
and which I "consider the best that he has ever raised, fine in form and 
novel in colour; Enchanteresse, a magnificent spike of this charming 
pure white French variety ; Formosa, very pretty ; Dr. Balby, brilliant 
red; Flamboyant, fiery crimson; Juliette, very pretty ; Cunqudrant, 
Protee, Leandre, Horace Vernet, Adolphe Brogn'art, Schiller, &c. This 
stand was peculiarly interesting to me, as our celebrated Somersetshire 
grower has always contested my assertion that it was a good plan to cut 
the bulbs in halves before planting, saying it would never answer, and 
yet every one of these spikes was from cut bulbs ; and as these were of 
such good quality it cannot be urged that the practice is a bad one. Mr. 
Davis of Yeovil had a very fine stand of double Begonia blooms, but as 
a rule the other cut blooms did not present many features of interest, 
if we except the classes for Carnations, in which there was a very 
sharp contest, both in the open and amateurs’ classes, between Mrs. 
McAlister and Mr. W. H. Fowler, the latter winning in the class for 
twelve blooms ; Mr. Fowler was first and Mrs. McAlister second. Among 
the flowers exhibited were Charles I., Germania, J. B. Bryant, Mrs. Sharp, 
Mrs. McLaren, Countess of Jersey, Victory, Alice, Thdr63e, Terra Cotta, 
Mrs. Barlow, Grosteen, Prince of Orange, and The Governor. When 
I remember what used to be shown in these classes here I am quite 
astonished at the improvement; true, the victors are both new exhibitors, 
and have evidently thrown themselves with ieal ar our into the cultiva¬ 
tion of these beautiful and now popular flowers. 
The second tent, which was entirely devoted fro amateurs, was in most 
respects a repetition of the first, the trade element being eliminated ; 
the centre was occuDied in the same way with large stove and green¬ 
house plants. Foliage plants and Ferns were very much the same as those 
exhibited in the open class, but of course not so large. The end of the 
stage on entering was occupied by a group of plants and cut flowers from 
Messrs Robert Veitch & Son, the principal print of attraction to the 
visitors bein^- the boxes of fine blooms of Carnations and Picotees. 
Amongst them, besides those already noted above, were Romulus, 
Charles Henry, Marie Douglas, Stadtrath Bail, the fine new yellow 
flaked Carnation from Benary of Erfurt, King of Scarlets, &c. Besides 
these they had some fine Gloxinias, a few Orchids, amongst which was a 
good plant of Disa grandiflora : these were not for competition. In the 
Roses in this tent, confined to amateurs, Mr. S. P. Budd, or as we 
rosarians rather prefer to call him, Dr. Budd, exhibited two beautiful 
