Deeemb r 8, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
489 
Ttoeattentuni ? f . th e Secretary was called to the matter, and he promised 
to point it out to the Judges. Upon returning after the judging we 
found one of the large bouquets, 18 inches in diameter, placed first, a 
° n< L s< r c °“ d > ?nd a 15-inch one third. On speaking to the 
•■Secretary about the mistake we were told that the Judges considered it 
fl 1V ° l0U ? objection, as the best bouquet had gained the prize. 
-Now, that sort of thing must not be allowed. Let the rules be strictly 
^carried out. J 
=f a tw a fl e tI v!f 0Ugl1 fo , Ur yea / 3 of showing strictly kept to the plan my 
father taught me when, after school hours, he would give me a few 
fif>Tpn S w m i ake mt ° j ,x)uf l uet > and to my delight at the age of 
1 ^k a second prize at Weston-super-Mare. The following 
year 1 took two first prizes and a second at the Alexandra Palace. I 
always endeavoured to procure the best flowers, especially those I was 
*ure would keep-namely, double Primula and Roman Hyacinth, in 
t0 Bouvardlas > Ixoras, &c. I have found a good bouquet with 
oV n a , S fresa t s P° sslble u P on taken from a box, and in ten 
minutes afterwards on a hot summer’s day they were down fiat on the 
n 8- T f he P ?i St su ; ason has been a good one to test bouquet 
■makin ? . Respecting the colours, I seldom use more than three, great 
favourites with me being Miss Jolliffe Carnations, Marshal Niel Rose, 
flower f lightly placed together, every flower showing its 
propel shape, and wherever possible place it as it grows. Keep the 
ouquet a good shape, work the light sprays of Ferns in with the 
flowers and amongst the wires with moss, so as to avoid any addition 
on the show table. An attraction is to allow suitable flowers to han<r 
en the Bern over the paper. Eucharis Candida or Stephanotis with 
Primula are very pretty. For two seasons I had much success with 
bouquets made m this style, but I began to lose ground, and then dis¬ 
carded Miss Jolliffe Carnation in favour of Cattleyas and choicer 
flowers, which kept well and looked handsome. Often this season the 
bouquets have cost me the value of the second prize, and when beaten 
has been by much larger bouquets, worth double the prize money. 
Uhy should this be ? I consider if the prize is £1 the limit to the 
bouquet should be 18 inches ; of 15s. it should be 15 inches, and so on. 
g * alI !< ln 1 g J} rat Py lzes means a loss, how many will continue to 
show . As A Florist says, we shall only see one or two bouquets on 
a show table instead of a dozen. I have been beaten by bouquets with 
ten and twelve colours in them, which I think is wrong, but as there is 
su ch a diversity of opinion I think that had better be left to the Judge 
Lut I consider that bouquet and table decoraticn Judges should be 
app ointed with some discretion, as it is not everyone who "is qualified to 
act in this capacity. 
Speaking of table decorations, I may say I always make the middle 
stand rather heavier in appearance than the ends. In the case of three 
stands, on a dinner table, by using darker flowers the end stands always 
match and to lightness in this as well as in bouquets I owe much of 
my success against very elaborate tables and choice flowers. Once this 
season I was defeated by a very unsatisfactory table for a good prize, 
tout I took the beating without complaint, for I knew I did not deserve 
it; and it is my advice to all, derived from experience in a short but 
active showing career, to take such matters quietly, and try again 
another time. I think that the same Judges never ought to judge the 
came classes two years in succession, for I have heard it said, “ So-and-so 
is always Judge here ; he likes your work.” My wish is that there should 
always be good prizes offered for table decoration and bouquets at all 
shows, for that is the most attractive part of many. By restricting 
the sizes of bouquets and encouraging lightness in table decorations, this 
will be encouraged.— J. R. Chard. 
STRAWBERRIES PREVIOUS TO FORCING. 
Our Strawberry plants for forcing in the spring are not so good this 
winter as we have generally had them. We were later Can usual in 
securing the runners. The excessively dry and hot weather was not in 
-favour of their rooting rapidly, and the adverse circumstances generally 
Inch they have had to contend against has caused them to be smaller 
than is generally the case, but their treatment before forcing and at 
present will not be altered from that of previous years. Beginners with 
Strawberries in pots are very apt to think that when in pots the plants 
are not quite so hardy as when in the open ground, and they frequently 
Keep them covered with glass, in frames or in some other place, under 
protection from the autumn, until they are placed in their forcing 
quarters in spring. But this is no advantage to the plants, and very 
often quite the reverse. There is no use trying to keep the large leaves 
■on the plants during the winter with which they were furnished in 
August and September, as it is not these which produce the fruit, but 
the crowns of the plants, and these are not easily injured. Indeed 
Drowns of medium size often fruit as well, or better, than large ones, 
especially if the latter are not well ripened and the former thoroughly 
matured. Small hardy crowns always winter well and start into growth 
freely, but they are all benefited by a complete rest, and it is this I 
advocate for them before forcing begins. As the weather in winter is 
often very wet, the roots may become too wet if the pots and plants are 
.allowed to stand upright, but if they are laid on their sides, with the 
■plants facing the light, they will be in a good position for passing the 
winter. No amount of rain will injure them then, and if a covering of 
straw, fern, or something of this kind is placed over them during the 
time of frost, and removed afterwards, they will keep capitally. If there 
are any empty frames, these may be placed in these in a standing 
.position, and the lights should be placed over them when there is much 
rain or frost, but do not keep them closed when there is no occasion for 
it. Another way is to plunge the pots up to the rims in ashes, but I 
could never discover the advantage of this plan. The important point 
ot all, however, is to keep them cool until forcing begins, as a complete 
rest is highly beneficial to them, and where they are kept in a semi¬ 
growing state all the winter, the crop, in nine cases out of ten, will be 
unsatisfactory. —A Kitchen Gardener. 
STABLE MANURE. 
Mr. Bardney having practised the method of treating stable 
manure as advocated by us, and now having found that practical ex- 
perience demonstrates a better and more economical method of dealing 
with it, he is certainly entitled to be listened to with respect ; but after 
all it very much depends upon the circumstances we are surrounded 
by, and, as your correspondent says, with what kind of soil we have to 
deal, whether light or heavy. Having to deal chiefly with soil, if not 
heavy, yet resting on a cold heavy subsoil, and at the same time verv 
deficient in humus, we do not see at present that we can beneficially 
alter our practice with regard to the treatment of our stable manure 
It is a very different case when we have to deal with old gardens often 
too rich in humus and decayed vegetable matter ; on such the manure 
we get may be only of little benefit, but with land such as ours, which 
has been for years only cultivated very shallow for farm crops, even de¬ 
composed straw, we are persuaded, is helpful in providing a rooting 
medium if it does not furnish much in the way of plant food We do 
not doubt for a moment the soundness of Mr. Bardney’s doctrine with 
regard to the fixing and non-fixing of the ammonia, provided his theory 
be correct as to there being little or none to fix ; and the question as to 
whether the manure is best lying on the surface or pointed in has to our 
mind long been an open one. As we have said before, it is very much a 
question of circumstances. Were we to follow out Mr. Bardney’s advice 
it would entail a very great deal more labour than we now bestow upon 
the manure (this being controlled by local circumstances), and we are 
not yet convinced that we should be the gainers, since ammonia can be 
purchased close to our gardens and applied so cheaply. We quite a°ree 
that it would be much sounder economy to dry the best of the straw and 
use it again, and often have rogrett d not being able to do so instead of 
going to the trouble we have to do to bring it into a decomposed state. 
At the same time we are convinced that if we are not following the most 
scientific mode of utilising our manure, that we are at least doin» the 
best under the circumstances. That the manure from the cow market 
or town stables, also provided the latter has not heated, is much better 
than our decomposed straw and horse droppings (although we get much 
of the urine with the straw) we have not a doubt. 
M e remember the late 11 Single-handed ” in reference to this matter 
said, I have seen no plan so feasible as sprinkling the manure heap 
with kainit, for a triple reason. It is cheap, it saves the ammonia, it 
furnishes potash and other salts.”— Wm. Jenkins. 
THE GARDENERS’ ORPHAN FUND. 
A MEETING of the Executive Committee of the above fund, which 
was wt-11 attended, took place at the Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi Terrace, 
W.C., on the 2nd inst., the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. George 
Deal, presiding. The minutes of the last meeting having been read, 
the Secretary, Mr. A. F. Barron, reported that since the last meet¬ 
ing he had received the names of sixty-six new subscribers, who had 
contributed in donations the sum of £15 9s., and as annual sub¬ 
scriptions £17 10s., making a total of £82 19s. : also that during the 
interval nine of the recently appointed local secretaries to the °fund 
had sent in the sum of £29 10s. 6d. in donations and subscriptions. Mr. 
Barron further reported that since the establishment of the fund the 
sum of just over £941 had been promised as donations, of which amount 
£614 15s. had been paid ; that as annual subscriptions £211 10s. had 
been promised, of which £128 16s. had been received. A copy of the 
declaration of trust was produced, under which the Trustees are pro¬ 
ceeding to invest the sum of £500 in 3 per cent, consols, in accord¬ 
ance with a recent vote of the Committee. The Chairman then sub¬ 
mitted a financial statement, premising it bv saying that under tte 
rules the Committee were required to fund all donations, and having 
regard to the support given to the Committee all over the country, he 
thought they might safely assume that by the end of the first financial 
year on the 30th of June next they would be in a position to invest in 
the funds a further sum of £500. 
He then set forth figures showing what might be reasonably re¬ 
garded as the amount available in July next for boarding out orphan 
children under their rules. After deducting all necessary expenses, and 
he put it to the Committee whether they should take early action for 
the purpose of placing some children upon the fund or defer it for a 
time. No election could take place until the annual meeting in July 
next. After some discussion the following resolution was unanimously 
carried :—“ That in the opinion of the Executive Committee the suc¬ 
cess which has attended the establishment of the Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund is sufficiently assured to justify them in inviting subscribers to 
the fund to submit the names of orphan children as candidates, and that 
at the annual meeting in July next at least six orphan children shall be 
elected on the fund.” A Sub-Committee was appointed, consisting of 
Messrs. G. Deal, W. Roupell, C. H. Sharman, B. Wynne, and A. 1'. 
Barron (Secretary), to make the necessary arrangements for the en¬ 
suing election, and submit the same to the Executive Committee. 
