October IS, I8S8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
351 
C HISWICK may fairly be described as the centre of interest in 
the horticultural world this week, numbers of persons find¬ 
ing their way to the historic garden, while a vastly greater number 
who cannot do so will scan the reports of the proceedings in the 
Press, and derive hints therefrom that will be of service on the 
important subject of fruits—their selection and management. 
The Exhibition is of great merit and magnitude, the noble 
winery being filled with selections of Apples, and a huge marquee 
■occupied with Pears, upwards of 5000 dishes of fruits being staged, 
■forming one of the finest and most instructive displays that have 
been seen there or elsewhere. The Conference of growers and 
persons interested in fruit production, and the papers read each day, 
will render the week memorable. For the convenience of visitQrs 
.■and officials refreshments are provided in the curvilinear vinery and 
:seed room, and only a continuance of fine weather is requisite for 
making the event a great success. Further particulars will be 
found in another page. 
The old story of Chiswick being “ too far away ” to attract 
visitors would have weight probably, if what are called “ shows,” 
but which are only sections of what the public nowadays expect to 
find in an exhibition, were held at fortnightly intervals ; but it is 
not too distant from everywhere when something worthy of its 
name and traditions is provided to command national attention, and 
that is what.the work of a Royal Society ought to do. The 
.gathering of fruit and fruit growers comes as a revival of life and 
spirit, and ought to have a strengthening effect, and do something 
to compensate for the waning meetings in Westminster. The 
■“ Drill Hall” gatherings have evidently become tiresome to nearly 
all concerned, and the events of the present week prove once 
more, and the lesson should not be lost, that Chiswick is still the 
backbone of the Royal Horticultural Society. Let London be its 
head, as it must be for a time at least, and the seat of administra¬ 
tion, Chiswick as long as it exists must be the practical exponent of 
its work. It should be the national seat of horticulture, as Kew is 
•of botany, and both, should have a share of Government support 
for national purpose’s. It is by the application of horticultural 
practices to agricultural routine, in a greater measure than has 
•hitherto prevailed, that the resources of the soil will be best 
■developed and the value of land maintained and increased. 
As a seat of education for focussing and disseminating informa¬ 
tion on the economical raising of food products Chiswick stands 
alone. The elements of success exist there, and have not to be 
created, neither can they be removed. They can be neglected 
allowed to remain quiescent, or vanish ; or they can be expanded, 
and with this expansion knowledge of the greatest importance 
could and would be gained and distributed, not for the advantage 
of a corporate body or a craft, but for the whole community. 
It is natural enough for opposition to be called forth when State 
aid is suggested for a particular trade or industry. But horticulture 
in the abstract is not a trade, and is a great deal more than an 
industry. It is the root of all trades, for it is the parent of agri¬ 
culture, on the well-being of which trades depend, for it provides 
the necessities of their existence, and the greater the provision is, 
the greater is the general prosperity. Chiswick should be a great 
educational establishment, as Kew is, and as such have a reason¬ 
able share of support from the State. Grants are made for the 
No. 434.— Vol. XVII., Thibd Series. 
promotion of education in the arts and sciences, also for the im¬ 
provement of dairy farming, and why should not they be made in 
furtherance of profitable land cultivation, which is a subject of not 
less practical importance than any to which support is accorded ? 
Chiswick is the experimental ground of the only chartered Horti¬ 
cultural Society in the kingdom, and therein rests its priority and 
singularity of claim. It should be a recognised school of in¬ 
struction, maintained by and for the nation, testing by experiment 
the value or otherwise of different crops, the information so ac¬ 
quired to be at the disposal of all. That is what Chiswick ought 
to be in the interests of the common weal, and when an agri¬ 
cultural department is established by the Government, the oppor¬ 
tunity must not be overlooked for the embodiment of horticulture 
therewith, for other than field crops must have attention in the 
future if the demands of the population are to be met to the 
utmost possible extent, as they undoubtedly should be, from 
British fields and gardens. With adequate means, and these in 
comparison with expenditure in other ways would be trifling, the 
Royal Horticultural Society could do service to the nation greater 
and better than any arising from private adventures conducted, as 
all adventures are, and must be, for personal gain. 
The work done in the Gardens this year has been as good a3 
the means for producing it allowed. The trials of Strawberries, 
Cabbages, Onions, Peas, Potatoes, and flowers have resulted in the 
indication and certification of varieties of prominent excellence, 
after the most careful comparison and critical examination by 
independent and competent men. Hardy fruit culture has 
been conducted in its various forms, and with such a collection 
of varieties as cannot be found together elsewhere. The best 
examples of pruning can be compared with culture in which the 
knife plays a very small part, and the results show that in the 
commercial production of fruit, regardless of the shape of the 
trees, the knife too freely used may be a costly instrument. The 
influence of stocks and varieties is apparent, and the popular 
fallacy exploded of the profitableness of the Blenheim Pippin 
Apple for planting. So-called fruit-growing advisers have pre¬ 
sented the claims of this variety in such extravagant language in 
the newspapers that many persons must have been misled, and a 
corrective is needed. It is afforded at Chiswick, for of all the 
chosen varieties grafted and planted for trial during the last fifteen 
years, the much-extolled Blenheim is the most unprofitable of all, 
and the land occupied by trees of it would have given an infinitely 
better return if it had been cropped with Potatoes and Cabbages. 
Visitors to the Garden have seen, and others will see, that 
Grapes worthy of inspection and profitable as a crop can be grown 
without an expenditure on borders greater than is incurred in the 
preparation of ground for ordinary fruit trees. The long range of 
Gros Col ma n shows what ordinary soil will do with a little fresh 
trenched in with it, supplemented by a rich surface dressing of 
manure and a few good dredgings of “ Thomson’s.” Chiswick is, 
indeed, instructive in many ways, and might be made a great deal 
more so if adequate means were afforded for its management. 
Other features of the gardens that have commanded attention 
this year were Figs in pots, bearing most abundantly and exempli¬ 
fying mastery in their culture, and Tomatoes planted out in a large 
span-roofed house. It is doubtful if a finer example of Tomato 
culture has been seen this year than in the house in question. An 
engraving on another page gives an idea of what the plants were 
like a few weeks ago. £70 worth of fruit have been sold from 
them now, and much remains to be gathered. This is a splendid 
success in a notoriously bad Tomato season. Of the varieties grown 
Perfection is the chief, yielding the finest fruits and perhaps the 
most remunerative crop. Horsford s Prelude has borne an extra¬ 
ordinary abundance of smallish fruits, in long rope-like clusters 
the freest setter of all. Ham Green Favourite, apparently a 
selection from Hathaway’s Excelsior, has grown strongly and 
produced fine fruits, while the variety last named is still bearing 
No. 2090 .—Vol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
