December 27 , 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
575 
B EFORE these notes see the light in the pages of the Journal 
Christmas -will have come and gone, and the shadows of the 
year will be casting then- fading forms around us, the Journal itself 
will have finished another year of its long and successful course, 
and many will be looking forward hopefully to the future. Christ¬ 
mas is the joy of the young : to the old, perhaps, the saddest period 
of the year. We recall insensibly the Christmases we have passed, 
the Christmases of joyous and innocent childhood, and the happy 
ones of a later period when our home was unbroken. But now each 
year has brought with it the severing of many ties ! Dear ones are 
scattered over Earth’s wide surface, and we ourselves are waiting for 
the time when our place will be empty. But I do not want to cast a 
shadow over our retrospect, although I rather think it would be in 
accordance with the character of the year, so far as we regard it in 
a horticultural aspect, for rarely, I suppose, have gardeners experi¬ 
enced a more gloomy and disappointing time. Absence of sunlight 
puts all things out of course. Everything was three w r eeks or a 
month behindhand ; fruits and vegetables alike lacked flavour, and 
then when we were looking for a fine autumn there came to us, 
in many places, on October 3rd, a “chilling frost,” which crippled 
many of our flowers, turned our Dahlias black, crippled our Zinnias, 
stripped our Fig trees bare, and generally made a wreck of every¬ 
thing. Had it not been for this one night our gardens would have 
been indeed a joy to us, as my friend Mr. Ewbank’s seems to have 
been to him on the favoured Island, where, as I have been told, 
it does not matter whether you put in a plant bottom upwards, for 
it is sure to grow and assert itself. Herbaceous plants stood it 
best, but even with many of them it was a race for life. 
I think the first thoughts of a writer at the present time will be 
for the medium through which those thoughts have been made 
known, and I think that we are ready thankfully to greet our revered 
“ Boss ” that he has so successfully steered his vessel through another 
year. He has enlisted new recruits, and with the able assistance 
that he has, I think we may regard the onward progress of the 
Journal as well assured. 
Turning from this our thoughts recur to the great central heart 
of horticulture in England, the Royal Horticultural Society ; and 
here again we have cause for much thankfulness. Although it has 
not been able to shake off that old man of the mountain, “ the 
Charter,” yet by a judicious alteration of bye-laws much of its 
burden has been removed, and much has been done to revive an 
interest in it and make it what it ought to be, the representative of 
horticulture in England. It is unfortunate in the place in which it 
holds its fortnightly meetings, and Chiswick is not and never can be 
what it was. We all think the Superintendent is the right man in 
the right place, but it is more and more surrounded by houses, yet 
as a representative garden it is valuable. We have now a working 
Council, an admirable Hon. Secretary, and we can look upon its 
proceedings with hopefulness and not with suspicion, and we sigh 
and think if such had been its character some five and twenty years 
ago what a different position it would have been in now. There is 
no use in crying over spilt milk, and so we must all not only wish it 
well but work for it. 
I do not think that the past year has brought before us anything 
very remarkable in the floral world. The love (or shall we call it 
the rage) for Orchids still continues, and especially has it developed 
itself in the genus Cypripedium. This is to my mind (it may be 
No. ID.— Yol. XVII., Third Series. 
ignorance) a very strange plant affection. Neither in form nor 
beauty of colouring can it as a class compare with many others— 
with the soft and lovely colours of the Cattleyas and Delias, with 
the varied and graceful forms of the Odontoglossums or Dendro- 
biums. And yet what remarkable prices have been given for these 
queer-shaped flowers ! They have, I suppose, a special charm for 
orchidists ; but as one of the outside mob I think it is one of the 
last that I should be enslaved by. Nor have we in the other 
departments of horticulture seen anything very remarkable. It 
may be, as we say, there’s nothing in the papers, because we are 
expecting some great and startling news to greet us, so we want in 
these sensational days something very extra to excite our satiated 
appetites. In florists’ flowers it has been a disappointing season ; 
everything was late, and this affected our exhibitions. Auriculas 
made but an indifferent figure at the Drill Hall, while Carnations- 
and Picotees were lamentably deficient. Roses everywhere middling, 
deficient in number and lacking in quality ; Dahlias late and not 
up to the mark ; Gladiolus very late, many of them not flowering 
at all; and even of the hardy Chrysanthemum many complaints 
of damping off and being very late. 
As to fruit and vegetables, as I have said, they have lacked 
flavour, and the absurd desire to get big things is, I think, taking 
the flavour out of some of our most cherished vegetables. Peas, 
for instance. I do not care to have Peas as big as a Broad Bean 
and nearly as mealy. The size is dearly purchased at the expense 
of quality, and we shall have to hark back to the Peas of twenty 
years ago if growers are not more careful on this point. Then, 
again, Brussels Sprouts: we have them now, the delight of gardeners, 
w r ho, as a rule, adore size, whose Deity is rather Juno than Venus, 
but strong in comparison with what one used to grow as 
“ imported Sprouts,” and to which we shall have, perhaps, to 
return. What is the use of a Broccoli that will fill a bushel 
basket, or a Potato as large as a cannon ball? The same thing 
runs all through. I see the flavour of a Tomato taken little into 
account, although it is a very essential point when they are used in 
one of the best forms as a salad. In mentioning vegetables one 
must say a word about the new “ Crosnes du Japon,” or Stachys, of 
which much has been said. My own experience of it is not very 
favourable, but tastes differ, and perhaps when we learn a little 
better how it may be cooked we may like it more. 
A great impetus has been given to fruit-growing, and many 
schemes have been started to favour it. By all means let gentlemen 
and farmers increase their fruit-growing, but it should be remem¬ 
bered they must wait eight or ten years before they can make 
much profit. That some better way of disposing of the fruit is 
needful there can be, I think, no denial. What think you of 
Is. 6d. for a half sieve of good DoyenmS du Comice and Beurre 
Clairgeau Pears ? Is not that fruit-growing with a profit with a 
vengeance ? and yet that is what I was assured by a friend the 
other day, was all that he obtained in Covent Garden. There is 
apparently a “ fruit-ring ” which requires to be broken. There has 
been nothing very startling in novelties. Noble is a good addition 
to our early Strawberries, Emile d’Heyst to our Pears, and 
Bismarck, Beauty of Bath, and Lady Sudeley to our Apples. In 
Grapes there is nothing new to record, and Black Hamburgh and 
Muscat of Alexandria still hold their pre-eminence as the two best 
Grapes for general cultivation. 
We have not to record any great losses amongst the personnel 
of the horticultural world. Some have, of course, been taken 
away, but they occupied no very prominent position. We were 
at one time in great suspense about the doyen of horticulture, our 
amiable friend Mr. John Lee. For some time we were daily 
expecting to hear of his departure, but his vigorous constitution 
although at his advanced age (eighty-two), he has recovered 
and when I saw him a week ago he was the same bright and 
cheery old gentleman that he was before his illness. May he be 
long spared to us ! 
No. 2100.—Vol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
