210 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COT1AGE GARDENER. 
[ September S, 1885. 
lections of salads were well shown by Mr. Garraway and W. Dredge, gar¬ 
dener to P. W. Cruttwell, Esq. 
Miss Ormerod offered valuable prizes for the best collection of speci¬ 
mens of good plants injured by insects, with a short written account of 
the methods of remedy or prevention adopted. Mr. H. Haley, Frome, was 
again the only competitor, and received the first prize for a fairly good 
collection. 
WALKLEY AMATEUR SOCIETY. 
The fourth annual Exhibition of this Society was held in the National 
School Rooms, Walkley, Sheffield, on Monday the 24th, and considered as a 
whole it was undoubtedly the most extensive and best display the Society 
has yet achieved. The members, considering that they are all without 
exception amateur growers, and in no single case'employing a professional 
gardener, with the additional drawback that themselves are all nearly 
engaged in business away from their houses and their gardens during the 
greater part of the day, having only the early morning and evening at their 
disposal for gardening, contributed to the Show a great many truly sur¬ 
prising examples of first-class plant cultivation, amongst which must be 
mentioned as occupying first place the splendid groups of Gloxinias and 
exotic Ferns from Mr. Thos. B. Hague, the President of the Society. The 
Gloxinias, numbering eighteen, very large and vigorous plants, carrying 
from twenty to thirty very fine blooms each, were tastefully arranged as a 
group, intermixed with small, fresh, and healthy plants of Adiantum 
cuneatum, which formed a charming groundwork to their large dark foliage 
and bright flowers. Mr. Hague also exhibited a beautiful specimen of 
Asparagus plumosus nanus, nearly 4 feet in diameter. Amongst other 
exhibits worthy of special mention as shown by the amateur members, were 
Coleuses from Mr. Hague and Mr. Stocks, Begonias from the last two named 
and Mr. Barnes ; pot Roses and British Ferns from several exhibitors. Cut 
flowers were numerous ; especially so were German Stocks, of which we 
have not met with so large and excellent a display at any of the larger and 
more pretentious exhibitions we have this year visited. 
Groups of plants, not for competition, were exhibited by the following 
honorary members of the Society :—Mr. W. K. Woodcock, gardener to 
Mrs. Mark Firth, Oakbrook, Sheffield ; Mr. E. Holland, gardener to Duncan 
Gilmour, Esq., jun., Sandygate; Mr. Simpson, florist, Crookes; and Mr. 
Hartley, Birkendale. Mr. Holland’s exhibition consisted of a number of 
very fine and fresh Lilium auratum and vars of lancifolium album and 
rubrum, having upwards of eighty fresh blooms, each expanded. He also 
exhibited a box of twenty-four cut blooms of L. auratum, amongst which 
were some fine varieties, and a large box of splendid blooms of cut Roses. 
Mr. Simpson’s group was charmingly bright and fresh, forming a very 
attractive feature at the entrance to the rooms ; it was arranged as a large 
crescent-shaped bay, the centre of which was composed of Ferns, very 
clean, bright, and fresh, and the two wings of brightly coloured Pelargo¬ 
niums. Amongst the best and most attractive of the Ferns in this group 
were Adiantums venustum, glaucophyllum, gracillimum, Capillus-Veneris 
magnifies, Pteris scaberula, Cheilanthes elegans (very fine), Davallia Novas 
Zealandii. Pelargoniums comprised some of the most newest and best 
amongst Zonals, single and double, amongst which we especially noted as 
very fins in doubles, E. V. Raspail, General Farr, and Paul De St. Victor. 
Included in the same group were a number of small plants in 48-sized pots 
of a charming new Fuchsia, double white corolla, large flower and very free, 
with excellent bushy habit of growth, named Madame Jules Chretien, a 
variety worthy of note by all Fuchsia growers. 
Mr. Hartley’s group contained a number of fine varieties of Amaryllis, 
some pretty table plants, with a fine specimen of Asparagus tenuifolius. 
The group exhibited by Mr. Woodcock was an extensive one, occupying the 
whole of one end of the room, and consisting of choice flowering and 
foliage plants in great variety, amongst which were noticeable a number 
of plants in 48-sized pots, each about 15 inches high, bushy, and covered 
with bloom of the charming little Btove annual, Torenia Fournerii. Grown 
freely in an intermediate or cool stove temperature until the plants come 
into flower are charming for conservatories in late summer, the rich and 
pleasing colours, with the profusion of flowers, rendering them attractive 
to all. A notable feature of this group was the mode of arrangement, the 
plants being so grouped that each individual stood out clearly and distinctly, 
the effect much exceeding that of the packing method of grouping so often 
adopted, as if to hide the defects of the plants, and which is certainly not 
conducive to high-class culture. The groundwork of Mr. Woodcock’s group 
consisted principally of Adiantums and Selaginellas, amongst which the 
flowering foliage plants were so arranged so that each could be seen in its 
entirety. 
The principal exhibitors for competition were Messrs. T. B. Hague, 
G. S. Stocks, J. Marson, F. Barnes, W. G. Cuckson, W. F. Singleton, A. Hill, 
A. Naylor, F. Revitt, Mallinson, H. S. Malton, H. T. Morton, J. Shipman, 
and H. Marshall. 
HANDSWORTH FLORAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
August 26th. 
The twenty-second annual Exhibition of the above Society was held on 
the date named. The weather was favourable, and this, together with the 
attractions offered (one of the principal of which being that Messrs. Fisher, 
Son & Sibray annually on this occasion throw open to the general public 
the whole of their extensive nurseries and glass houses), sufficed to bring 
to Handsworth immense numbers of people, principally from Sheffield, both 
by road and rail, the road during the afternoon reminding one forcibly of 
the road to Epsom on a Derby Day, so great was the crowd. The balance 
to the credit of the Society at its bankers, which was last year much 
•enlarged, will we imagine be this year even more so, owing to the immense 
number who passed through the turnstiles from four o’clock until half-oast 
five. e 
The Exhibition filled three large marquees, the principal one being an 
immense circular tent, in which the large groups occupying a space of 
400 square feet each and open to all England were arranged. In thiB class 
there were four competitors, and an equally favourable position was se¬ 
cured for each by enclosing a circular space of 1600 feet around the central 
pole, and dividing this space into four ecnal portions by cords stretched at 
right angles across this space equidistant apart. The first prize, £20, was 
well won by Mr. S. Thacker, Minerva House, Nottingham, with a very 
chaste and remarkable arrangement, differing most materially from the 
stereotyped mode of grouping with flowering and foliage plants and Maiden¬ 
hair Ferns. The whole of his floor space was formed into a series of 
mounds, hills, and banks by rough wooden platforms and supports, the 
intervening spaces forming miniature nooks and dells, the whole of which, 
with the wooden arrangements forming the hills were closely surfaced over 
with freshly gathered dark moss, similar to that which is used by exhibitors 
of Roses for surfacing their show boxes. Out of this moss surfacing sprang 
all the plants used, the pots being entirely hidden thereby. Towards the 
back of the group and overhead towered some lofty Palms, and underneath 
these as well as around the front was a great variety of flowering and foliage 
plants, so arranged that each plant stood out distinctly from those surround¬ 
ing it, and maintained its own individuality, being well thrown up by the 
moss groundwork. Around the front edge such choice and small plants as 
Ancectochili and Nertera depressa full of berries, between which were 
inserted small branches of dried ornamental grasses. The general effect 
produced was remarkably effective, added to which the arrangement pos¬ 
sessed the merits of novelty, originality, and correct taste. Great difficulty 
was experienced in the evening in getting sufficiently near to see it satis¬ 
factorily owing to the crowd all the time gathered around it. Most excellent 
roups were arranged in the usual way, and were shown by Messrs. Hiram 
haw, nurseryman, Richmond, and B. Crossland. 
Leaving the groups, the next most meritorious feature in the Exhibition 
was the collection of fruit (eight varieties), which were shown in the same 
tent on tables around the sides. The competition in this class was very 
keen, and some truly grand fruit was staged. Mr. E. Gillman, gardener to 
the Earl of Shrewsbury, Ingestre Hall, Stafford ; Mr. T. Edward, gardener 
to the Duke of St. Albans, Bestwood Lodge, Notts ; and Mr. G. Ward, 
gardener to T. Oakes, Esq., Riddings House, Alfreton, were first, second, and 
third respectively. Mr. Gillman’s first-prize collection was superb through¬ 
out, and consisted of black and white Grapes, a Pine, Peaches and Nec¬ 
tarines, a Melon, Figs and Apricots. Such Barrington Peaches for size and 
colour as those in this collection have rarely been excelled. Some wonder¬ 
fully fine bunches of Muscat Hamburgh Grapes were exhibited by Mr. G. H. 
Goodacre, gardener to the Earl of Harrington, Elvaston Castle. 
In the open class some magnificent Roses and Dahlias were shown, 
the former by Mr. R. Proctor, Chesterfield, and Mr. H. Frettingham, 
Beeston, Notts. A great falling-off was noticeable in quantity and quality 
of the exhibits in both the gentlemen’s gardeners (local) and amateurs’ 
tents, owing mainly to the prizes hitherto given in these sections having 
this year been greatly reduced in order to increase those in the open 
class for the large groups, and for the collections of fruit. 
As before stated, the nurseries of Messrs, Fisher, Son & Sibray proved a 
great source of attraction durir-g the afternoon, and were in most beautiful 
order throughout. Several large span-roofed houses filled with all the 
newer varieties of Zonal Pelargoniums and Tuberous Begonias, full of 
bloom, were especially gay, as also was another house, the roof of which 
was almost covered by a very large plant of their celebrated free-flowering 
variety of Stephanotis floribunda. The plant was quite covered with 
strong trusses of its snowy blooms, and excited the admiration of all who 
saw it. In the Orchid houses a goodly number of species and varieties 
were blooming; but one that especially attracted my attention was Miltonia 
virginalis, a most charming form, not often seen. The whole flower, which 
is equal in size and stoutness to the best forms of M. speotabilis, is of the 
purest waxy white, with the exception of a little carmine markings in the 
throat. 
SANDY AND DISTRICT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
The annual Show at Sandy has now become so popular and permanent 
an institution for the counties of Beds, Cambs, Hunts, and North Herts, that 
nothing but a very hostile season and piteous weather indeed could prevent 
its material success. The display on Friday last was to some extent con¬ 
tracted in quantity and depreciated in quality by the long-continued 
drought, and the currently expected rain which usually falls on the day 
preceding the Show, and which on this occasion, true to expectations, 
thoroughly saturated the sward in the pretty park of Sandy Place, than 
which a more suitable spot for an exhibition could hardly be found, but as 
the soil is porous and quickly absorbs moisture, little disadvantage accrued, 
although it was sufficiently warning in its character to influence the 
attendance of distant visitors. 
The horticultural show was, however, quite equal to the average of its 
predecessors, the competition in many cases being severe. The Poultry 
Show, which is always an important adjunct of these gatherings, was on this 
occasion an increased and unqualified Buccess, and on the morning of the 
Show, the clouds having rolled by; the hopes of the Committee were suffi¬ 
ciently verified. 
As might be expected, the chief falling off in the horticultural depart¬ 
ment in this sandy and chalky district was in the vegetable department 
which showed a marked deficiency in quality to those at the great Shrews¬ 
bury Show the previous week, the Potatoes especially lacking that combina¬ 
tion of size and smoothness which is conventionally required of a show 
Potato, but which the appetite of the consumer does not always appreciate 
unless accompanied by a digestible carcase ; and although a good coat may 
not always be characteristic of its wearer, a quarter of an inch of soil 
attached.to the skin of a Potato neither improves the appearance nor the 
quality of the vegetable, nor adds to the neatness of an exhibition table. It 
does, however, frequently conceal blemishes and defects from the scrutinis¬ 
ing eyes of the judges. Some specimens in the market gardeners’tent at 
Sandy set up in this rough-and-ready mode greatly outraged the required 
neatness of the display, and threw uncertainty on the decision of the Judges 
of this useful vegetable. Fruit was an average display, the collections, 
especially those from Warden and Houghton, being very fine. 
Plants were good, and hut for a railway breakdown, which shut out one 
unfortunate exhibitor, would have made a grand display ; as it was, the 
effect in the.plant tent was spoiled by an important position being filled 
with plants ’of much smaller proportions than the collections adjacent. The 
cut flower department was well furnished, and although the queen of 
flowers had for her champions the redoubtable growers Messrs. G. Paul 
and Son, House, Prince, and Burrell in the dealers’ class, it was difficult to 
