234 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 15, 1892. 
Show Schedules. 
Schedules have been received of the shows organized by the 
Birkenhead and YVirral Horticultural Association and the Finchley 
Chrysanthemum Society. The former is fixed for November 10th 
and lltb, the latter for November 10th. 
Messrs. W. & G. Drover’s Collection. 
Having been staying at Southsea recently, I thought, being in 
their immediate neighbourhood, I would pay a visit to the 
celebrated Chrysanthemum growers Messrs. W. & Gr. Drover at 
Fareham, and accordingly took an early train to that neat and 
exceptionally clean little town. On arriving I had no difficulty in 
finding the nurseries, and received a cordial welcome from the firm. 
Thinking that as the season for this beautiful flower is now so 
rapidly approaching a few particulars of my visit would be accept¬ 
able to those of your readers who are, like myself, interested in the 
growth and development of this plant I append them. 
On entering the gate of the nurseries a walk of Chrysanthemum 
plants was right in front of me, all looking in the best possible 
condition and with wood in many cases as large as an ordinary 
walking-stick. This long line consisted wholly of Japanese varieties, 
of which I took special notice of Mrs. S. Dibbens, undoubtedly 
the best grower in the whole collection. It was about 3 feet 
6 inches in height, with large leathery foliage, and carrying three 
very promising buds on each plant. Mdlle. M. Hoste is very 
similar, but a trifle taller. Mrs. F. Jameson is of noble strength, 
about 4 feet high, and carrying three buds each. There is a grand 
lot of Yiviand Morel, about 5 feet high, with very good buds, also 
Puritan, Sunflower, Etoile de Lyon, and its sport Mis 3 L. Cope, 
Florence Davis (by this firm considered the finest white of true 
Japanese form), standing about 6 feet, and some older varieties, 
such as Condor, Lady Lawrence, M. E. A. Carriere, and Stanstead 
Surprise, all with good foliage and well set buds, standing about 
8 feet high. 
Of the incurved section I found most noticeable the Princess 
family (with the two new sports May Tomlin and Richard 
Parker). These are all in one row, are about 7 feet high with 
good wood and foliage and buds just taken. The Queen family 
this season are not so tall as last year, but are very short jointed 
and give every promise of good blooms. The Teck family are 
looking uncommonly well, in fact could not look better. Prince 
Alfred and Lord Wolseley are carrying splendid foliage with good 
sized wood and buds just showing. I could enlarge greatly upon this 
excellent collection but must not trespass too much upon your 
valuable space. I will conclude with a reference to the hairy 
varieties principally, Mrs. Alpheus Hardy having good strong, weil 
ripened wood and foliage ; the buds were taken about a fortnight 
ago and are now swelling well with good stems. Louis Boehmer 
has good strong growth with buds just taken. MissM. A. Manda, 
the yellow Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, is of good strong growth with 
very well shaped buds, giving excellent promise. W. H. Ballantine, 
oronze, is not a strong grower but rather free in forming buds, and 
Messrs. Drover think they will not be able to keep it back for the 
November shows. In addition to these I noted R. C. Kingston, 
Mrs. E. D. Adams, Miss A. Harlzhorn, Beauty ot Castlewood, Vice- 
president Audiguier, Beauty of Kinsessing, Mrs. F. Clinton, Gloire 
de Rocher, and a very promising lot of seedlings. 
On the whole Messrs. Drover may be congratulated upon the 
possession of a very excellent collection, which bids fair to enable 
them to bring their final season of exhibiting to a brilliant and 
successful termination.—J. Mack. 
GROWING GRAPES IN NINETY DAYS. 
A- large meeting of the Sunderland Horticultural Improvement 
Association was held on Thursday evening, September 8th, in the 
Cafe, Fawcett Street, Sunderland, when a paper was read by Mr. 
E. Gilchrist, Claxheugh Grove, Sunderland, on “ How to Grow 
Grapes in Ninety Days.” It may, perhaps, be as well to say that 
a statement made by Mr. Gilchrist some time ago caused some 
excitement amongst the gardening fraternity in Sunderland and 
its vicinity, so that the announcement of a paper by him on the 
Mibject brought a most crowded meeting. 
Breathless silence prevailed during the time Mr. Gilchrist read 
his paper, of which the following is a brief synopsis :— 
A Hamburgh house was started on the 6th of February, 1892. 
The temperature for the 6th, 7th, and 9th of February was 85° by 
day and 75° at night. From the 9th to the 29th of February it 
was 95° by day and 85° by night. Throughout the whole of March 
it was 95° to 100° by day and 85° at night. In April it was 5° less 
each day till 70° was reached. Till the fruit was ripened these 
Vines were syringed with a weak solution of nitrate of soda at a 
temperature of 90°, and the Vines were watered as well. Mr. 
Gilchrist declined to state the proportions till he has had more 
experience in the use of it. 
We have stated the temperature. On the 17th of February the 
wonderful bud burst. The Vines flowered on the 19tli of March, and 
on the 28th of March the bunch was thinned, the berries being about 
the size of No. 4 shot. The bunch was ripe and cut on the 4 th of 
May. The bunch was 15 inches from the evaporating pans, which 
were filled with ammonia from the commencement till the first 
bunch was cut. The remaining bunches were from five to ten days 
later, the house generally ripening in 120 days. 
Mr. Gilchrist considers two strong points in favour of the 
system he has adopted. Firstly, in disbudding the Vines he leaves 
the basal bud and the terminal bud in each shoot, which he considers 
will make early Vines quite fourteen days earlier. The second 
is watering and syringing with nitrate of soda ; but he dees 
not recommend the general adoption of his practice, as the 
chlorophyll in the Vine leaf was not so apparent as he would have 
liked in June last, and in future he will try the system on pot 
Vines. 
A most interesting discussion followed, when several questions 
were put to Mr. Gilchrist as to the previous statements he had 
made to the Society. In reply he said his son stated the house 
was started instead of closed on the 1st of January this year. 
Mr. W. T. Bolam was in the chair. The late Secretary and 
Treasurer, Mr. J. L. Richardson and Mr. Falconbridge, have 
resigned their respective positions, and it was resolved that some 
recognition be made of their valuable services to the Society. Mr. 
Falconbridge has for many years been foreman at Ashburnham, 
Sunderland.— Bernard Cowan. 
JUDGING HERBACEOUS FLOWERS. 
It will, I fear, be difficult to arrive at a common understanding 
upon this subject. I suppose most of those who take an interest 
in hardy flowers have been time after time astonished at awards 
of prizes to stands of herbaceous flowers which seemed hardly to 
merit the distinctions given. Mr. Garnett’s letter is, therefore, 
none too soon, and I for one should like to have the views of those 
who are called upon to judge at shows. Looking at the subject 
from the point of view of one who is anxious to see the cultivation 
of herbaceous plants largely extended, I am somewhat doubtful 
of the wisdom of what I may call the “large spike” system, 
which would lead to some flowers being cultivated in a manner 
that lends no beauty to a garden. At the same time there are 
many plants which should be exhibited in single spikes, or at least 
in such a way that the individual character of each spike should 
be seen. There are, again, some flowers which are of little deco¬ 
rative value unless exhibited in bunches. This may be seen in 
many of the Composites, or in such flowers as Scabiosa caucasica, a 
bunch of which has a telling effect in a stand of cut flowers. 
Where there are prizes provided for Phloxes I should be in¬ 
clined to debar exhibitors from showing these with the herbaceous 
flowers. Delphiniums occupy a different position, as prizes are 
seldom offered for these ; but I should be disposed to agree with 
what I take to be Mr. Garnett’s opinion, that varieties of these 
should not be exhibited in the same stand, as tending to weaken 
the value of the exhibit. With Lilies and Campanulas the case is 
entirely altered. There are certainly so many different forms that 
several varieties may be included without weakening the stand. I 
should say, however, that it is highly desirable to try the experi¬ 
ment of prizes for cut spikes of Lilies grown out of doors, and of 
excluding these from the herbaceous classes. I know of cases in 
which Lilies have gained more points than they were entitled to 
count. 
Then, again, the discussion of this question opens up another. 
What is an herbaceous plant ? Some time ago (last autumn I 
think) a stand was disqualified on account of a Colchicum being 
included. The Journal , rightly as I think, took exception to the 
decision, which could only have the effect of limiting the choice 
of exhibitors. Generally speaking I think the extract given by 
Mr. Garnett from the schedule of his Show is a good instruction, 
but I should fear that in practice it might lead to a hesitation to 
include new plants, lest they should not recommend themselves to 
