December 31, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
558 
“WHY if here isn’t that old fogey again,” will be the New Year’s 
V V greeting which I shall probably receive from many readers 
of the Journal when they open this week’s number. “Couldn’t 
the Editor find out some younger and fresher hand ? ” And I am 
not quite sure but they are right. However, they have committed 
to me the honourable task of greeting a wide circle of readers, 
and I must only do my best; and there is one advantage at any 
rate which an old ’un possesses, that of experience. Yes, these 
whipper-snappers of youngsters who would set the world all 
right have to learn that all the game is not with them, and 
(that is as it should be) they have something besides scanty locks 
and grizzly beards, which may tend in some degree to balance the 
account. 
And yet, perhaps, I am not altogether an old fogey. I do not 
indulge in one of the peculiarities of that class—sing the praises of 
the past at the expense of the present. I do not recognise myself 
as one of the two old men pictured in Punch sitting over the fire 
and explaining that the coals do not give out so much heat as they 
used to do when they were young. I can recognise the immense 
strides that have been made in horticulture within my memory. I 
remember Chiswick in its golden days, and I say that the shows 
of those days were not to be compared with those of the present. 
There were huge stove and greenhouse plants and Heaths, but there 
were no Orchids. What would some of the exhibitors of those days 
have said if such a batch had been exhibited in their days ? and 
not only Orchids, during the sixty years which have elapsed since 
the days when I first was affected by the mania ; the whole world 
has been ransacked, regions then only vaguely known, some not 
known at all, have been explored and yielded up their treasures, 
and every department of horticulture has been enriched by the 
indefatigible labours of collectors and botanists of every nation. 
Let anyone go into their garden or greenhouse, I care not at 
which department he looks, and ask himself how either would 
look now if deprived of the plants which the last sixty years 
have produced. Flowers now occupy a prominent place in our 
gardens and at our exhibitions which were absolutely unknown 
then, in fact did not exist. The effective classes of Tuberous 
Begonias were absolutely unknown—and what shall be said of 
Chrysanthemums, especially the Japanese section ? why it is 
simply a marvel, even to those who have witnessed many marvels 
in horticulture. Thus I free myself of one of those charges 
brought against “old fogies,” and there is another of which I 
most sincerely hope I cannot lay to my charge—loquacity. I 
do not think I am long-winded, although, perhaps these New 
Year’s greetings run into greater lengths than any other of my 
contributions, but then I have to talk at it for a whole year, 
and a poor fellow may be allowed a little longer tether on such 
occasions. 
In looking back on the horticulture of a year one instinctively 
turns to the Royal Horticultural Society and its doings as holding 
the foremost, but not the only, place in the minds of British 
gardeners. It has done a good year of successful work, it has 
acquired more than ever the confidence of horticulturists, it has 
had its practical and useful conferences, it has held a magnificent 
and, what is very unusual, a financially successful Exhibition at the 
Temple, and yet, withal, the great prospect of a Horticultural Hall 
No. 601, —Vol. XXIII., Third Series, 
hangs fire. Why it should be so it is difficult to say. The times 
may have been bad, but other projects have been successfully 
carried out, but this makes little progress, and in the meantime 
the beautiful exhibits contributed by London nurserymen and a 
few amateurs have been held as heretofore in that dreary home 
—the Drill Hall. There is still a feeling amongst some members 
of the Society, which is, I think, to be deplored—I mean the 
jealousy of any other effort but that which is made by them ; as an 
example of which one may adduce the cold shoulder which they 
were inclined to give to the prospect of holding a great international 
fruit show next year. It is rather a “ dog in the manger” notion, 
for the R.H.S. could not do it, and it is well to recollect that the 
great Exhibition of 1866 was also a private venture. The Royal 
Botanic Society has also had some fine exhibitions this year, and is 
doing good and useful work, although cramped by some absurd 
regulations, which savour rather much of oligarchism than suits 
these democratic times, of which the most notable is that you 
cannot have the honour of attending some of the exhibitions even 
by payment unless you have your ticket signed by a member. 
Can anything be more snobbish than this ? It may be palatable to 
the would-be aristocracy of the Regent’s Park and its neighbour¬ 
hood, but cannot be justified on any grounds of common sense or 
the fitness of things. 
The foremost place in the interest of horticulture has been 
taken during tiie past year by fruit growing. It falls in with the 
utilitarian spirit of the age, and the subject has been invested by 
a glory of its own, and hence conferences, papers, lectures, have 
been showered down upon us in all parts of the country, while 
exhibitions such as that held at Manchester have added a fresh 
stimulus to the subject. All this is calculated to advance the 
proper consideration of the subject, for wild theories, unsupported 
by any facts, have been put forward as if fruit growing was to be 
the salvation of the farmers, and some cases brought forward gave 
encouragement to them. There is within a few hundred yards of 
my house a plantation of Black Currants of a little more than an 
acre which yielded its owner this season £120, while the amount 
that has come into this county through Strawberry culture is 
somewhat astounding. Yet there is need of caution. Of bush 
fruit it does not seem there can be too much, and even when the 
crop is abundant everywhere, yields a good return ; while in seasons 
when it is bad among one grower here and there, the fortunate 
owners in such a state of things are enabled to obtain large profits. 
The case of orchards is different. Pears, Apples, Plums, and 
Cherries are so much more affected by our capricious climate that 
it would do not to depend on them, as some enthusiasts advise us 
to do. But while it may be risky to go in for large plantations, 
although Lord Sudeley has found it profitable, yet every farm on 
which there is suitable soil should have an orchard, and be careful 
as to the sorts which it grows. By far the majority of our orchards 
are filled with old worn-out trees of inferior sorts, mostly non¬ 
keeping varieties. These produce a glut in October, and then after 
that we are dependant on foreign supplies for our markets. Of 
course it will take time to alter all this, but I think 1891 has seen 
a very considerable onward movement in this direction. Old 
orchards are being renovated in some cases by grafting good sorts 
on the old trees, but more frequently by replanting them afresh 
with young trees of good kinds. In such cases where the orchard 
is used as a subsidiary to the general crop of the farm, and is 
not made the mainstay of the farm, it cannot but be profitable. 
The great International Fruit Show, which is to be held in 
1892 under the auspices of the Fruiterers’ Company, and which 
has received the patronage of Her Majesty, will doubtless add 
much to the interest of what we can only hope will be a most 
successful exhibition. 
In flowers Orchids, Roses, and Chrysanthemums still hold the 
fort, representing, I think, the three classes of horticulturists. The 
first being the flower of the married man, not so much of the 
No. 2257 —Yol. LXXXV., Old Series. 
