July 11, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER .. 
27 
maggots, in fact the leaves are almost cut to pieces. The marauders are 
green and brown grubs, nearly 2 inches in length, and where Roses were 
growing in the immediate vicinity of the Oaks they, too, have been 
attacked with great severity. 
- Rhododendrons are a great feature of Brockhurst. They 
have been planted with a liberal yet careful hand, and large clumps of 
them occupying prominent positions are a blaze of beauty in their 
season. They are most effective on the side of the lake, which can be 
seen from the residence. Here there are huge masses of the best and 
choicest hybrids, their glowing trusses making a rich display, and in 
some places overhanging the water. In May and June the Brockhurst 
Rhododendrons are a sight that cannot be excelled in the county, and 
perhaps nowhere else in the kingdom are they more advantageously 
•grouped. Many visitors call to inspect them, and none fails to admire 
the gorgeous effect produced by the large and fine collection of these 
noble flowers. 
- Strawberries are abundant in the neighbourhood of East 
'Grimstead, also Gooseberries, Plums, and Currants. Raspberries are 
moderate in quantity. Apples and Pears practically a failure. Of the 
first named, President and Yicomtesse Hcricart de Thury are bearing 
enormous crops. A bushel and a half had been gathered just before I 
inspected the beds at Brockhurst, and they were still loaded with fruit. 
Mr. Simmons (the gardener there) has great faith in mulchings of stable 
manure. He practises the simple plan of putting out forced plants, 
trims them in autumn, mulches with good short manure, leaving it till 
spring, and when the plants are coming into bloom mulches with manure 
just as it is received from the stable, allowing it to remain all the year, 
so that its virtues may bejwashed in by the rains. As he is able to point 
to good crops annually ther^ is not much fault to be found with his 
plain practice.—P. 
- Croydon Horticultural Society.—A t the annual Show of 
this Society, held in the grounds of Wellesley House, the President of 
the Society, Philip Crowley, Esq., Waddon House (Mr. W. King, gar. 
dener), was awarded the premier prize for nine stove and greenhouse 
plants in flower, and also in the corresponding class for foliage plants 
In the former were remarkably well bloomed Ixora Pilgrimi and F 
\\ illiamsi, Erica Cavendishiana, Miltonia vexillaria rosea with twenty-one 
spikes, and a well-grown Cypripedium Lawrencianum, having over a score 
of blooms. Mr. T. N. Penfold, gardener to the Rev. Canon Bridges, 
Beddington, was second in both classes. He was also awarded the silver 
medal offered for the best grown exhibit in the Show, with a remark, 
ably well-grown Asplenium. Mr. H. Elsley, gardener to Capt. Wright; 
Messrs. C. Stew, gardener to E. Perrit, Esq. ; C. Simmonds, gardener to 
F. W. Wiltshire, Esq.; J. Rodbourn, gardener to Baroness Heath ; and 
W. Jupp, gardener to Cuthbert Johnson, Esq., were successful in carry, 
ing off the chief prizes offered in the local classes. Groups were a great 
feature in the open class, Messrs. W. King, T. Butcher, and J. R. Box 
being awarded the prizes m the order named. In the local class Mr. C. 
Stew secured the first prize, his notable plants being Gloxinias of a 
■similar strain. Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, J. Peed & Sons, J. R. Box, 
J. Cheal & Sons, G. Bunyard & Co., T. Butcher, J. Cooper, and Pascall 
and Sons (Pottery) supported the Show with exhibits not in com¬ 
petition. 
- A Rose Fair. —In connection with the above Show the Com" 
ni it tee obligingly provided a tent for holding a Rose Fair, the proceeds 
of the sale of blooms to be devoted to the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
Two Croydon ladies, Mrs. Dart and Mrs. Gunner, kindly presided, and 
between £12 and £13 were realised. 
A. F. BARRON STRAWBERRY. 
You tell me I was silent when I sent you the A. F. Barron Straw¬ 
berry the other day. True, but I had a reason, which was simply to 
•wait until I could speak accurately of this new comer. I have grown it 
for three years in three positions—due south, due north, and in the open 
■quarters, and my reason for waiting was to test it when grown on a 
north border. I had a small local committee and no mean judges, each 
one of whom looked upon it as a sterling novelty, and I agree with their 
verdict. I take no note of it not doing well at Girtford or Chiswick, 
because at Girtford Sir Joseph Paxton refuses to grow, and at Chiswick 
farmyard manure is scarce. 
A. F. Barron Strawberry is a good grower, a prolific bearer, and 
particularly hardy, whilst the fruit is well shaped and has a very fine 
sparkling flavour ; for appearance, which is a great consideration in the 
market, it stands alone. I have grown Strawberries now for forty 
years, and can truthfully say that A. F. Barron gives me pleasure that 
eny pen cannot describe. I shall grow it largely. 
Touching Noble, it is the very best early Strawberry of my knowledge, 
and I feel sure if ever a man deserved a testimonial for raising so many 
good things, that man is surely Thomas Laxton, if it was for only raising 
Noble Strawberry.—R. Gilbert, Burghley Gardens, Stamford. 
Although this Strawberry does not make vigorous growth on the hot 
sandy land of Girtford, it succeeds there better than either of its 
parents, Sir Joseph Paxton or Sir Charles Napier, neither of which I 
have ever been able to keep healthy in that garden. At Bedford, on 
somewhat stronger but not over-enriched soil, A. F. Barron grows and 
does well, and as its fine flavour, handsome appearance, and fertility are 
strong recommendations, it will, I believe, be a most desirable sort to 
grow on ordinary or well-cu'tivated Strawberry land. As a late forcer, 
too, A. F. Barron has proved an acquisition.— T. Laxton, Bedford. 
FLORAL EXHIBITS. 
At the summer exhibitions of metropolitan and provincial 
horticultural societies the growing importance of the cut flower 
and floral decoration department is becoming every year more 
apparent. These exhibits constitute the chief attractions of many 
shows, and the increasing interest on the part of the public is mani¬ 
fested by the crowds of visitors which gather in the tents devoted 
to such classes lingering to inspect closely, and not unfrequently to 
criticise. Flowers are now more extensively employed in home 
decoration than at any previous period, and though we scarcely 
rival our American cousins in elaborate and general work of this 
kind there has been a considerable advance in recent years. The 
Covent G-arden Flower Market during the spring and early summer 
months affords an excellent idea of the demand existing for cut 
flowers in London. Most of the large provincial towns have their 
markets equally well supplied, while enormous quantities are distri¬ 
buted by the smaller florists direct from the growers, and through 
the street vendors, who also obtain their supplies from the pro¬ 
ducers themselves. 
The greater portion of these flowers are of course sold in small 
quantities and utilised in adorning a few simple glasses or vases, 
but during the London season most extensive orders have occa¬ 
sionally been received, especially when the decorations of some 
mansion have to be carried out in one kind of flower, or at least in 
two or three shades of colour of the same kind. Then the florists’ 
resources are often severely taxed. At one time perhaps some 
thousands of La France Rose may be required, at another yellow 
or scarlet Carnations are wanted in equal numbers. There is now 
much more general appreciation of decoration in as few tints as 
possible, the brilliant but usually discordant mixtures of numerous 
colours having rightly fallen into disfavour. At one establishment 
the rooms are on special occasions adorned individually with flowers 
of one colour, but the respective tints are carefully selected for 
adjoining rooms, so that there is a gradual transition from one to 
the other. With a view to carrying out this scheme in Roses a 
visit was paid by the gardener to the Chiswick Conference last 
week and a selection of varieties made in their different groups of 
colours to be utilised at some future time in a display of Roses that 
might be expected to be of a most charming character. 
Though many societies devote an important part of their 
schedules to the floral exhibits, yet very few have ever attempted 
to provide an exhibition solely devoted to them, and the Royal 
Botanic Society’s Evening Fete at Regent’s Park has for some 
years been the only special floral Show of this character in the 
metropolis. Liberal prizes tempt numerous competitors, who 
indicate the diversity of their tastes in the varied characters of 
their contributions, and the responsibility rests with the judges of 
showing by their awards which are most in accordance with good 
taste, thus instructing both exhibitors and visitors. At Regent’s 
Park, however, the erratic nature of the awards has for some time 
been familiar to those who attend the Fetes, and on the last occasion 
(Wednesday, July 3rd) this was even more remarkable than pre¬ 
viously. In competitions of floral decorations, it is true that origin¬ 
ality of design is comparatively seldom displayed, and there is a 
tendency to sameness that it is very desirable should be avoided 
and corrected as far as possible by the adjudicators. But origin¬ 
ality is not always accompanied by good taste, and it is easier to 
break away from a conventional style than it is to produce any¬ 
thing better. 
The classes for tables with and without fruit invariably con¬ 
stitute an important feature, and this was so on the occasion under 
notice, as not less than fourteen were shown, but the majority of 
these were in the first class for tables 10 feet by 5 feet, decorated 
with flowers without fruit. The Judges had some ten tables to 
select from, and bestowed first honours upon Mr. W. L. Buster of 
St. Mary’s Cray for a good arrangement, but somewhat too heavy 
and dull in colour. Three stands were employed in which Humea 
elegans with Grasses were freely employed at the top, with drooping 
sprays of Lygodium scandens. The flowers of the Humea are of 
