May 31, 18P4. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
425 
never can be conceded in this country. If it be asked, Why not ? 
the reply must be that no British exhibitors would ever consent, 
once they had staged their exhibits, to have them broken up, carried 
here and there, and in that way destroying that identity which, so 
far as exhibits are concerned, all exhibitors prize. 
Whilst in so many shows we have to complain of the 
preponderance of foliage plants, especially of Palms and Ferns, 
the Temple Show always is excessively floriferous and richly 
coloured. Were a fair admixture of good foliage plants utilised for 
toning the excess of bloom, what an immense exhibition would in 
that way be created. The conditions under which the Show is held 
absolutely prohibit the introduction of superfluous foliage for the 
creation of picturesque effect ; but the excessive formality of the 
display is due mainly to the form and nature of the tents, and to 
the material of which the exhibition is composed, very largely 
added to by the demands of exhibitors, the majority of whom are 
voracious in their requirements as to space, and then crowd 
plants and flowers thickly so as to get into the allotted area as 
many as possible. 
The remedy for this is found in the issue of a schedule speci¬ 
fying the requirements of the various classes, and limiting each 
exhibit to a defined number as well as to area. The public do not 
want to see certain things repeated ad nauseum. The grasping 
at space so as to secure cups, medals, or some other awards, 
just because of the exceeding amount of the material shown, is 
becoming oppressive, and should be checked. That can only be 
done by requiring so much of or many of each special subject, 
thus breaking up into as much diversity as possible the myriads of 
plants shown which are now crowded into huge groups or lines and 
command little attention, and excite less admiration. Orchids, 
Begonias, Ferns, and hardy flowers bewilder by their abundance 
and indefiniteness. If one half the material shown at the recent 
Exhibition had been left at home, and only the best brought, and 
more widely and pleasingly displayed, how great would have 
been the gain. 
Then with every class put into the schedule, even if the awards 
be limited to medals and certificates, it should be defined at least 
what will be the nature of such awards. At the recent Show 
various persons were appointed to be judges ; possibly they made 
certain awards, but it was impossible for them to do so on any 
just basis, and as a result collections worth thirds and fourths were 
adjudged the best. That is a most unsatisfactory method of doing 
things. If the exhibitor of the moderate collection is delighted, 
the grower who has a far better one is annoyed. Practically there 
is in the present method no encouragement to exhibit plants, 
flowers, vegetables, or fruit of special excellence. I blame no 
one, because under the present method by which the show is 
organised, any other course seems difficult if not impossible. 
The remedy, as said, is found in the provision of a classified 
schedule. Then each exhibitor will be limited exactly to the 
numbers and area asked for and allotted, and he will show abso¬ 
lutely of his best, and that only. The rivalry induced by the 
existing system is also very expensive for exhibitors. They have 
to employ more conveyances than otherwise would be needed, also 
more labour ; in fact the pecuniary burden is thus made very 
heavy, and their efforts in helping to make a grand show under these 
conditions are worthy of the warmest appreciation. Still they 
would gain much by limits and restrictions, so also would the show, 
especially in having less formality and greater interest; and the 
public would gain also, because they would see less of mediocrity, 
and far more of the higher excellence which can be displayed when 
it is encouraged. The Temple Show is now a great London insti¬ 
tution, and needs very careful handling. If for one year, because 
as suggested a great international show should divert it elsewhere, 
at least that would be but a temporary break. More ground than 
is now covered cannot be possibly furnished, and if it be less there 
will be no cause whatever for regret, if that less means, as is much 
to be desired, higher average excellence.—D. 
NOTES ON GLADIOLI. 
There are at least two of the remarks made by “ D., Deal," on 
page 358 which call for a note. He appears to think that the 
conns sold by Scotch nurserymen are grown in Scotland. There 
may be, perhaps, two trade growers who sell some corms of their 
own growing, but they are nearly all imported ; indeed nurserymen 
make no secret of the fact, but on the contrary are anxious their 
customers should know that their stocks are grown abroad. No 
one can compete on equal terms with home-grown corms against 
imported. Even for ordinary decorative purposes it is impossible 
to keep for any lengthened period a collection of Gladioli, unless 
they are grown in the manner indicated in my article. They must 
have a longer season of growth than can be secured by planting 
unstarted corms in the open ground, and due care taken to lift 
and ripen the corms as early in the autumn as cessation of growth 
will allow. Inattention to these details results in the necessity of 
annual purchasing. 
With regard to Lemoine’s hybrids, your correspondent is surely 
labouring under a misapprehension as to their not being distributed 
as “ hardy.” I made the first purchase of these from an English 
firm, and bought them as being hardy. But M. Lemoine himself, 
though he recommends a winter mulch, says most distinctly that 
they are hardy, and indeed the title of his brochure, published in 
1890, is “ Les Glaieul Hybrides Rustiques.” Of G. purpureo- 
auratus it is there stated : '* Le G. purpureo-auratus est parfaite- 
ment rustique.” Of G. Lemoinei and Marie Lemoine he says ; 
“Elies etaient rustiques, et pouraient, sans le moindre danger, 
passer I’hiver en pleine terre.” 
I can well believe, however, that though the winters of middle 
France are characterised by a greater intensity of cold than is the 
rule either in Envland or Scotland, the greater heat of the summer 
and the more arid atmosphere during the winter make a difference 
all in favour of France. 
As an illustration of what an effect a hot summer has on 
vegetation, I may note that some spare plants of Arum Lilies left 
in the open ground have passed the last severe winter safely and 
are now making leaves. I have never known them to do so pre¬ 
viously. As to preferring the older to the newer sorts of Lemoine’s 
Gladioli, I of course do so entirely from a decorative point of 
view.—R. P. Brotiierston. 
Chrysanthemums in Japan. 
l^Cojicluded, from page 412.) 
Another book which contains some matter of interest on Chrysan¬ 
themums in the land of the rising sun is Mr. F. T. Piggott’s, “The 
Garden of Japan.” This is a year’s record month by month of the 
leading floral features of that country. The chapter November begins 
with a quotation in use when the Chrysanthemum is drunk in sat'' 
during the Festival of Happiness, and this custom is supposed by the 
drinkers to avert evil during the ensuing year. As a specimen of 
Japanese loyalty to the imperial house it is W'orthy of reproduction. It 
says, “Let the Emperor live for ever. May he see the Chrysanthemum 
cup go round autumn after autumn for a thousand years.” Fuller 
particulars of this grand floral fete can be found in Bowes and 
Audsley’s “ Keramic Art of Japan,” but as thatjdoes not pretend to be 
a horticultural book it is not for present purposes needful to do more 
than mention the fact. Mr, Piggott tells us he is not at all sure that 
we do not see a finer exhibition in the Temple Gardens every autumn, so 
far as size and colour go, than even in the Palace Gardens of the 
Emperor, but from photographs sent me some years since I am disposed 
to think that Mr. Piggott’s high estimate of the Temple productions 
proclaims him to be anything but a connoisseur in Chrysanthemum 
matters. 
There are in these photographs some wonderful triumphs in cultural 
skill both as regards trained plants and single stem specimens. Pierre 
Loti in his “ Japoneries d’Automne” specially alludes to the Emperor’s 
Chrysanthemums as marvels of the Japanese gardener’s art, and from 
other source* we may justly conclude that the cultivation of this flower 
is as well understood in Japm as anywhere at home. Another method 
of culture much in vogue in the East is grafting a large number of 
varieties on one stem. This is called “ Odsukuri,” or great bloomer 
method, and it is not unusual to fiad from fifty to 150 sorts all blooming 
on a single stock. The building up of models, either life-sized or 
colossal, sometimes representing human figures or divinities, occasionally 
historical or classical scenes, but all composed of living plants of Chrys¬ 
anthemums in full bloom, is another device of those ingenious people, 
but we are already familiar to some extent with this curious practice 
through the writings of the late Mr. Fortune. Whatever may be the 
estimate of the capabilities of Chrysanthemum growers in Japan it may 
be useful to point out that Mr. Comley of Boston, U.S.A , when relating 
in the Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society his 
experiences in Chrysanthemum collecting in Japan, and he procured 
400 varieties unlike anything grown in America, says most distinctly 
that long as he has known the Chrysanthemum he never knew what it was 
until he went to Japan. This seems to be a pretty good testimony in 
favour of the Japanese grower, and if Mr. Comley’s experiences were 
supplemented by a visit to some of our leading exhibitions it would 
probably render them complete and his verdict w’ould be unquestionable. 
Personal nomenclature in Japan appears as yet to be unknown, and 
a good thing too. Most of the names are poetical and imaginative where 
translations can be obtained. Some of those applied to recent seedlings 
are interesting from this punt of view, an 1 as examples I will quote 
