488 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 8, 1887. 
could only be to lessen the cost and render the establishment more 
or less self-sustaining. It is useless to assert, as is often done, that 
this is a new thing. It is older, perhaps, than any gardener living, 
but it was restricted for the most part to the choicer fruits and 
vegetables, and was carried on for the most part quietly, as a matter 
of which no one knew anything save the gardener and fruiterer. 
Still, the proprietor was careful to exact an account, and the 
fruiterer equally particular in impressing upon intended purchasers 
the enhanced value the produce had through its being grown by a 
noted cultivator. I do not say it was a general practice, but I do 
submit that during the last four decades there has not been any 
extra demand for a supply of choice fruit or vegetables, but the 
fruiterer knew exactly where it could be had. The proprietor and 
grower appreciated alike the exchange and the renown, similar 
sentiments pervaded the intermediary. In that way much of the 
choicest produce bringing the best prices was disposed of in 
fruiterers’ shops, which said produce was clandestinely put in the 
market to the prejudice of the grower for sale. The clandestine 
grower could put the best fruit only in the market, his purpose 
being best served by acting so, using himself the middling and 
inferior ; but the grower for sale must dispose of all at a price, and 
with so much choice. What must he have for the middling and 
inferior ? He could have got out of the dilemma by growing all 
choice. Unfortunately crops of all kinds are subject to this sort- 
ment—viz., best, middling, indifferent ; consequently the private 
grower selling the best only and using the remainder had the com¬ 
mand of the market, though the grower for sale of necessity had to 
dispose of all his produce. At one place I was we sold all the best 
Pine Apples, the Grapes, and Pears, and I found the Pine Apples and 
Grapes, also Pears, brought a much higher price than was obtained 
by a grower of fruit for sale. This is a parallel case to the produce 
imported, which is uniformly the best the grower can export, and 
against which the home grower can only act at a sacrifice of the 
middling and indifferent, which points to a high standard being 
aimed at, and as so that the samples are very much higher and 
uniform than formerly. 
Having nearly reached the end of the tether what is to be 
done ? The grower for sale must insist that private gardens 
diverted from their original use— i.e., converted into market 
gardens, should be placed on an equality. The owner can let his 
garden or he can cultivate it. That need make no difference, but 
to make the matter equal all his structural erections used for the 
purpose of trade must be rated in the same ratio as those of the 
occupier or owner of similar structures used for commercial 
purposes. In that way we place all growers for sale upon an equal 
footing. With that I have no fear of our horticulturists being 
able to give a good account of themselves in the rivalry with those 
of other lands. 
It may be presumptuous, yet I cannot refrain from suggesting 
that as our gardens cannot be maintained in order and efficiency 
there should be a reduction in their size corresponding to the reduc¬ 
tion in the capital and labour. As it is there is no satisfaction to 
the proprietors nor any credit to the cultivators. Gardens do not, 
any more than farms, pay to lie idle, and the sooner they are put 
to useful purpose the better it will be for the proprietors, cultiva¬ 
tors, and the community. —G. Abbey. 
(To be continued.) 
TENNIS GROUNDS. 
I have omitted the word “ lawns ” often applied to tennis 
grounds, because I am of opinion that excellent courts may be 
formed without a lawn. So long as the weather is fine and the 
ground dry, turf forms a good surface on which to play, but in wet 
weather, and throughout the winter, as a rule, a turf surface is not 
by any means agreeable, as it is exceedingly damp for the feet, and 
often“becomes quite a pudde. The weather for days and weeks 
together in winter is sometimes so wet as to make the grass quite 
unfit for playing. It may be that some regard tennis as a summer 
game, but I know many instances where it is also indulged in to a 
great extent during the winter, and I think it is very desirable that 
the ground should be formed in such a way as to admit of playing 
immediately after rain. Where space is plentiful there might be 
two lawns, one on the grass and another with a dry surface, but 
where only one lawn can be made I am in favour of the latter. 
Some ten or twelve years ago I often saw tennis played exten¬ 
sively in the Midlands, and they had a good plan there of arranging 
their courts, as the playground consisted of a large level grass 
quarter, and the courts were marked out on this with white cords 
placed on the smooth surface of the grass and drawn very tight. 
These were shifted crossways, longways, or any way that was 
necessary to keep the grass even on all parts, and I thought this a 
good plan for the grass, but the best court for wet weather I have 
yet seen is one formed here eight years ago. We began making it 
by digging the entire length and breadth of the court out to a 
depth of 15 inches. Bough stones were then placed in to a depth 
of 1 foot, and they were levelled on the surface. The top layer 
was then applied, and consisted mainly of gravel with a little lime 
mixed in it. This was made perfectly smooth and very firm, and 
then allowed to settle. In a month or so it was again dressed on 
the surface with a rake, and afterwards rolled, and the result was a 
first-rate court. Many a game has been played on it in the best 
weather in summer, and it has afforded no end of amusement in 
the winter, as no matter how much rain falls, the surface is dry 
an hour afterwards. It becomes a little rough on the surface at 
times, but a raking and a good rolling makes it as perfect as if it 
was new again. We put down the lines with silver sand, and we. 
have found this answer so well from the first that we have never 
tried anything else.—M. M. 
EXHIBITING AND JUDGING BOUQUETS. 
“ A Learner ” has contributed a useful article upon this subject, 
and points out several serious defects in the present system of exhibiting 
bouquets. From his own statements it is evident he is also an occasional! 
competitor at shows, and it is surprising that one way of stopping the 
practices which he rightly condemns has not occurred to him. For 
instance, if he had avoided them himself, and protested against the 
exhibits of other competitors who were awarded prizes for bouquets' 
that had been finished at the show with Ferns or flowers simply stuck 
in and not secured, this would have been a more straightforward course 
than following what he considered a bad custom merely with the hope 
of securing a prize. It seems to me that the others might all urge the 
same excuse as himself, and join in a condemnation of a practice that 
had. however, been found necessary to insure prizes. 
That the custom is a bad one there can be no doubt, but it would be 
easy for the committees of societies, when framing the schedules, and 
the judges, when officiating, to stop it. A bouquet, in which ali the 
flowers and fronds used are not properly secured cannot be regarded as 
complete, and however tasteful it may be in design, should not be placed 
before one that is suitably finished. 
As regards the composition of a bouquet, the greatest evil is crowding, 
and next to this is looseness, though this is more rarely seen than the 
former. Some appear to think that a bouquet should be perfectly even, 
either flat or of a semi-globular form, and they are occasionally seen as 
regular if they had been clipped round ; others, again, go to the opposite 
extreme, and make their bouquets irregular bunches quite devoid of 
method. Extremes should always be avoided, and it must be borne in 
mind that it is “ the greatest art to conceal art.” Then there is great 
scope for the display of good or bad taste in the choice of colours. “ A 
Learner ” correctly observes that too many differently coloured flowers 
are often employed, but perhaps what he in a general way terms 
“colours” are sometimes only varying shades. Very beautiful floral 
designs are produced when several light and dark shades of one colour 
are employed, as when carefully associated these harmonise in a delight¬ 
ful manner. Contrasts are sometimes desirable when a bold effect is- 
required, but these, like discords in music, should only be introduced 
very sparingly and with a master hand, or they fail in their object.— 
An Amateur Florist. 
Now that so many objections are being raised to the enormous size 1 
of bouquets sometimes exhibited, 1 hope, for the benefit of all parties 
concerned, that the subject will be thoroughly discussed and brought 
to some definite issue. To exhibit such monstrosities as have been put 
up at some of the principal west of England shows during the past 
season in a class for hand bouquets is beyond all reason. The exhibitors 
and judges must have quite lost sight of the purpose for which bouquets 
are intended—viz., to be carried by ladies, very few of whom, I think,, 
would prefer such monsters 2 feet in diameter to those of the ordinary size. 
If the managers of exhibitions think that such large floral devices add to- 
the attractions of the show, and are pleasing to the public, why not 
provide two classes for bouquets, one in which the size is limited to a 
certain diameter, and another in which the prizes will be awarded to- 
the largest and best arranged examples? This would allow the con¬ 
structors of the huge bouquets in question full scope for the exercise 
of their talent in that direction, while the good taste and skill displayed 
in making up those of a more useful size would have a fair chance 
of being rewarded.— On-looker. 
As an exhibitor of bouquets and table decorations at the principal 
shows in England, I should like to offer a few remarks, especially in 
bouquet making and judging. I was pleased to see Mr. Garner take 
the subject up, and bring forward the rules introduced by Mr. J. 
Robson, in 1871, which I should like to see enforced at every show, 
and particularly Rules 1 and 4. As regards size of bouquet, I should 
like to see a limit stipulated in every schedule ; it would give all an 
equal chance then, and induce more exhibitors to enter. The very 
reason I went to one show this year, 100 miles from home, was to 
encourage this sort of thing, as the limit of size in the bouquet class 
was stated to be 10 inches—without paper and Fern—and the basket 
12 inches. The prize was £1, and brought a good competition of about 
twelve exhibitors, some having bouquets double the size stipulated. 
