August £0, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
with half a dozen leading shoots, which branch and result in a grand 
display of deep scarlet flowers in large head-like whorls. It has a 
grand effect amongst foliage plants at the present time. Others are 
fis ulosa, and its variety purpurea, the latter being a really handsome 
plant, and Kalmiana, and which do very well on shady borders. They 
are excellent bee plants, and should be grown by all who combine 
beauty with utility in the garden. They may be increased by dividing the 
roots during autumn.” 
- Automatic Irrigation.—I n very dry seasons there is a great 
demand for water upon the gardens, lawns, and conservatories, and any 
apparatus which effects a saving of the gardener’s time must of necessity 
prove invaluable. Messrs. Merryweather of Long Acre have devised 
various systems for automatically distributing water. They devised a 
system of non-corrosive metallic tubes in short lengths mounted upon 
easy running carriages and connected with flexible joints ; the metal 
pipes being perforated throughout their whole length, so that by simply 
attaching one end to a hydrant or standpipe the water will run through 
a length of CO or 90 feet of piping, dispersing itself on the land through 
the whole course of pipes by means of the perforations. It is very easy 
to move the apparatus from place to place at intervals. Another system 
consists in similar moveable pipes without the perforations ; to open at 
the extreme end, to which a distributing nozzle is attached. The nozzle 
is capable of throwing the stream in either a jet or a spray at the will of 
the operator. A third apparatus is both ornamental and useful, as it 
consists in a portable revolving fountain upon a stand, to which hose may 
be connected. Garden hose or lead or iron pipe so small as half an inch 
in diameter can be connected to the inlet coupling, and the water supply 
taken from the hose system 8 feet or more above the fountain or direct 
waterworks pressure. The sprinklers are beautifully nickel-plated, and 
they rapidly rotate by the action of the issuing water, scattering a shower 
over a wide area. The latter is arranged inverted to screw up to the 
•ceiling of a fernery or conservatory, and thus scatter the water down, 
wards and sideways. 
- We are informed that the thirty-eighth Tavistock Cottage 
Garden Exhibition, which took place in the market on Wednesday las^ 
week, was, in point of fact, as good an exhibition as the Society has held 
for many a year, competition in many of the classes being very keen. 
The contributions from the country gentlemen were superb. The beautiful- 
display of Roses from the Torquay Roseries should also be mentioned 
as affording a source of much enjoyment to lovers of horticulture. Mr 
W. II. Chichester, of Grenofen, did not send a collection of plants tbi - 
year, but his stand of beautiful double and single Begonias was a sigh^ 
seldom to be seen at a cottage garden show. The vegetable exhibit 8 
were quite up to the mark as regards excellence, although there was a 
slight falling-off in the numbers as compared with former years. Some 
magnificent bunches of Grapes stood out conspicuously among the col¬ 
lection of fruit, which is always the weakest point in connection withth e 
Tavistock Show. The Devon and Exeter Bee-keepers’ Association helq 
its first Exhibition in connection with the Society, which excited much 
curiosity. The market was tastefully decorated, and reflected credit on 
those who accomplished the task. The Duke of Bedford, the patron of 
the Society, attended by Mr. Wing and Mr. Bundle, visited the Show, and 
evinced much interest in the Bee-keepers’ Exhibition. The President for 
the year, Mr. W. S. Rosevere, J.P., was also present. The members of 
the Committee, and Mr. H, E. Monk, the energetic Secretary, did all they 
could to insure the success of the Exhibition. 
- Writing in reference to borders op herbaceous plants, 
“A Gardener” observes that “ Many gardens where the culture of hardy 
plants is made a specialty have proved a partial failure This is not 
always due to mismanagement, but is] the result of the dotting system, 
which does not render a garden the mo3t effective or the most enjoyable. 
A collection of these plants for flowering at various seasons of the year 
do not and never will commend themselves to the flower-loving public 
when dotted in beds and border. The beautyjof a plant in flower is 
destroyed by two or three, or probably more,'of its neighbours that have 
died or dying down to leave the ground bare and vacant half the season, 
or ODly to look untidy during that period. There can be no doubt what¬ 
ever that these plants display their real beauty and true character much 
better when kinds flowering about the same time are massed or associated 
together about the grounds, the surroundings being suitable, than when 
planted on the dotting system. The system I mean will readily be 
understood by the following example or two. At this season what could 
be more beautiful than a good group of the old Lilium candidum display 
ing its pearly white fragrant flowers against a background of dark green 
Hollies or Portugal Laurels, or a large group of Delphiniums surrounding, 
say, Acer Negundo variegata, or the latter in the background 1 Any 
light, scarlet, orange, yellow, or intermediate colours show themselves 
to perfection with dark green shrubs for a background.” 
THE TURNER MEMORIAL PRIZE. 
The repoit in the Journal states the Committee have decided that the 
cup given by subscription in memorial of the late C. Turner is to be won 
three times at the National Dahlia Show. As a subscriber to the fund, 
I consider it to be a prize ; if so, why should it be made so uncertain I Will 
you kindly allow me space to ask who is to guarantee that the funds may 
be found to support that Show, or that the Crystal Palace Company may 
continue their grants? also will any person stage their best flowers for so 
uncertain a prize which may be never again able to produce such ? Nature 
any season cannot be depended upon. If it is to be a challenge cup it 
should have been with a sum in addition, by subscription, say 10s. for 
every competitor. Under the present terms those who have subscribed 
are to be supplemented by persons who have not contributed anything. 
Trusting the Committee will reconsider the subject and allow nurserymen 
and amateurs to compete who subscribe, the amount to go to the winner 
and the cup to be held over for three winnings after.— Thomas GarratF 
THE HISTORY OF THE CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
( Continued from page 131.) 
The introduction of Mr. Fortune’s Japanese varieties does not 
appear for some few years afterwards to have been generally so much 
appreciated as the subsequent improvements in that class have been. 
English florists up to the date of their appearance had set up a 
standard of perfection, of which the incurved variety was the type, 
and undoubtedly from a purely florist’s point of view that particular 
section comprises the flowers mostly deserving of such an opinion. 
Mr. Salter probably felt the same way inclined, for when he 
announced the distribution to the public of almost the first set of this 
species he raised, he somewhat apologetically observed that although 
they were not what are termed show flowers they were still very in¬ 
teresting. Notwithstanding, however, the opinion of Mr. Geo. 
Glenny and others of the period, the Japanese was not allowed to be 
doomed to total extinction, as might possibly have been the case had 
not the public and visitors to the exhibitions been surprised and 
delighted with their curious form and brilliancy of colour. To 
this fact may almost be attributed the renewed and unceasing 
interest evinced by the flower-loving portion of the community at the 
time in which we are now living, and for the same reason a fresh 
impetus was given to those growers and raisers who had made the 
Chrysanthemum their study and business. Their efforts now seemed 
to be redoubled, and for years past so great has been the improve¬ 
ments and so numerous are the fresh additions, that the Japanese 
section bids fair to become the most important and extensive one, if 
it is not so already. AmoDg those first sent out, which still remain 
with us, are Baronne de Prailly, Bronze Dragon, Comtesse de Beaure¬ 
gard, Grandiflorum, Madame Godillot, Striatum, Yellow Dragon, 
Comet, and The Daimio, which were presently succeeded by The 
Mikado, Hero of Magdala, James Salter, Dr. Masters, &c. 
In 1869 the nursery at Hammersmith was required for railway 
purposes, and to the great regret of all enthusiastic growers of this 
plant, Mr. Salter, who had been established there for over twenty 
years, retired from business and died in a few years. This was 
deplored by all who knew him for many reasons, and there was 
nowhere for the public to see the novelties of the day excepting for 
a year or two at the establishment of Mr. Forsyth. This well-known 
grower, although a very able and skilful cultivator, was in no respects 
a raiser in the same sense of the word as Mr. Salter. It was thought 
that when Mr. Forsyth ultimately went to New Zealand, where he 
still lives and grows the Chrysanthemum with the same enthusiasm 
as of yore in his home at Otago, that the Chrysanthemum had had its 
day, and for several years it seems to have been rather under a cloud. 
But the Japanese varieties were yearly increasing and pushing their 
way to the front, by which in a great measure the popularity of the 
Chrysanthemum has been and will be sustained for years to come. 
In the Channel Islands of late years the raising of seedlings 
appears to have been much more neglected than it was a quarter of a 
century ago, for, with the exception of Mr. Downton, the raiser of 
Elaine, Miss Eyre, Mulberry and Fair Maid of Guernsey, and Major 
Carey, who is now the only one of importance left, there have been 
no important additions for some time from that part of the world. 
Major Carey’s seedlings, from information obtained by the kindness 
of a relative residing in Jersey, appear to have been—in 1875, 
Beaumont, Belle of Japan, Emperor Nicholas, Sir Isaac Brock, and 
Yokohama Orange. 1876, Diamond, Bijou of Guernsey, The 
Khedive, Peter the Great, and Red Gauntlet. 1S77, Ethel, Sultana, 
The Czar, and Sarnia. 1881, Mrs. Chas. Carey, Victoria, Hackney, 
Holmes, and Japanese Violet. 
