M»y 26, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
419 
Scientific Committee, Fruit Committee, Floral Committee, Orchid 
Nomenclature Committee, Narcissus Committee, and Primula Conference 
Committee. A similar list of the Fellows would also be useful. 
- The Grange Gardens.— We understand that A. If. Smec, 
Fsq., The Grange Gardens, llackbridgc, Carshalton,~dias expressed 
his intention of opening the gardens to the public next week, also on 
-Sunday afternoon, as well as the Sunday following. 
- We are desired to state that the Christleton Rose Show 
will be held on Friday, July the loth. 
- Presentation to Mr. G. Dickson.—W e learn that Mr. 
Ceorge Dickson, ex-Mayor of Chester (of the firm of Messrs. J. Dickson 
and Son) is so far esteemed by the burgesses that he has been presented 
with a salver weighing 200 ounces. 
- Mr. Iggulden observes :—“ Mr. Murphy considers pitting 
Potatoes equivalent to leaving them in the ground, but in this he is 
very wide of the mark. Those left in the ground are bound to be very 
much cooler than those pitted, which heat considerably when first 
heaped together, and never after get really cold. Surely he can leave 
sufficient undug this season to give my method of preventing premature 
sprouting a fair trial. Probably ‘ Audax Trepidus ’ is one of those enthu. 
siastic growers and exhibitors of Potatoes, who, when the National was 
in full swing, made a point of looking up as many selected tubers after 
the show was over as could be bought or begged. Such well developed 
and carefully preserved tubers invariably start stoutly and strongly, 
and with superior cultivation lean quite understand very fine crops 
resulting. Did ‘Audax Trepidus’ ever purchase ordinary seed Pota¬ 
toes from an hitherto unknown source, and from these obtain finer 
specimens than from his own saving ? ” 
-- The schedulo of the Hull and East Riding Chrysan¬ 
themum Society just to hand, contains the usual liberal list of prizes, 
and the following special features : An engraving of the five silver 
■challenge cups to be competed for, aggregate value £48. Special prizes, 
given by the Mayor of Hull, for sweet-scented Chrysanthemums. A 
new silver challenge cup, value £10 10s., given by the President of the 
-Society, R. Falconer Jameson, Esq., to be competed for by residents of 
the East Riding and North Lincolnshire only. A new prize, class 12, 
to be competed for by nurserymen only, for cut blooms in space 16 feet 
•by 18 inches, set up in any form. We understand that the Committee 
are endeavouring to make arrangements to greatly increase the accom¬ 
modation in the Artillery Barracks, which have already been engaged, 
subject to the consent of the Corporation, for the Show in November 
so >as to avoid a repetition of the great crowding and inconvenience 
which took place at the last year’s Show, when about 10,000 people were 
admitted. The Show is to be held on Thursday and Friday, November 
17th and 18th. 
- Fruit from South Australia. —Incited by the success of 
•California in supplementing the supply of fruit to the London market a 
daily paper states that South Australia has been put upon its mettle. 
Some experiments have recently been made in forwarding fruit, which 
has been sent via San Francisco and New York. A report made to the 
-south Australian Gardeners’ Society is, on the face of it, not encouraging. 
A fruit farmer reported that he sent a shipment of fruit to the Indian 
and Colonial Exhibition. There were 137 cases in all, of varied and 
specially selected fruits carefully packed. A statement of account has 
just been received, twelve months after the goods were shipped. The 
fruit realised £88 9s. 9d., which was well enough ; but against it were 
agency charges and expenses amounting to £36 8s. 5d., with freight and 
lighterage £21 2s. 6d., leaving the modest sum of a trifle over £30 for 
the exporter. On another consignment of fifty cases, sold for £55, the 
sale expenses, irrespective of freight, were £33. It was agreed by the 
South Australian gardeners that this would not do ; but they did not 
seem inclined to accept the rebuff as final. There was talk of concerted 
action by which fruit growers might 6end their produce direct to 
London in quantities that would make it worth the while of agencies to 
undertake their disposal upon more favourable terms. 
- Kelso Cabbage Show and Competition. — “ C. C.” 
writes: “In July last Messrs. Stuart 6c Mein offered, with a view to 
make their No. 1 Cabbage better known, a premium of £5 for the 
best pair of Cabbages, grown from seed supplied direct from the firm 
Fully 800 of the most prominent Cabbage growers intimated their 
intention of competing, and out of that quantity a fair number of 
competitors came forward, representing a wide area ; the counties from 
which the competitors came being Northumberland, Lincoln, Kent, 
Cornwall, Essex, Dorset, Somerset, Hereford, Norfolk, Sussex, Herts, 
Surrey, Notts, Cheshire, Aberdeen, Devon, Wilts, Berwick, Roxburgh, 
and Stirling. / Each competitor showed two Cabbages, the competition 
being held at Kelso on May 6th last. The winner was Mr. D. Inglis, 
gardener to Earl Grey, Howick, Lesbury, Northumberland, whose 
exhibits weighed 8} lbs., followed by Mr. N. H. Bigglestonc, Hayle, 
Cornwall, whose Cabbages weighed 6 lbs., and Mr. R. Gilbert, gardener 
to the Marquis of Exeter, Burghley, Stamford, was third with Cabbages 
weighing 4 lbs., so that Mr. Inglis, who is well known as a skilful 
grower, had an easy victory. Having had the pleasure of seeing the 
winning Cabbages, and testing them upon the scales, I can say they 
were of a very high class nature, and when considering the county (not 
the most favourable) and the season, they bestow great credit upon the 
grower.” 
-Well-grown Herbaceous Calceolarias. —Mr. W. Iggulden 
writes :—“ During the last six weeks there has been a beautiful display 
of herbaceous Calceolarias in the plant houses and conservatory at 
Hapsford House, Frome, the residence of A. G. Hayman, Esq. Some of 
the plants were about 2 feet through, and all were in a healthy clean 
state, yielding a profusion of fine handsome flowers. The strain is 
known as Sutton’s Perfection, and a more diversified or better selection 
could not well be made. Mr. S. Andrews, the painstaking gardener at 
Hapsford, informed me the seed was sown in a pan and placed in a 
cold frame in June, and during the exceptionally hot spell of weather 
experienced in July and August the seedlings were kept in a cold frame 
slightly shaded by trees and facing northwards. They were gradually 
shifted into 8-inch and 9-inch pots, anil were wintered on the high back 
shelves of a greenhouse facing westwards. As a rule, Calceolarias were 
a failure in many gardens, the plants assuming a sickly yellow hue, 
from which they could not be recovered. The cool and careful treat¬ 
ment given to them at Hapsford appears to have prevented this, as only 
a very few had other than dark green foliage. When well established 
in their flowering pots they received an occasional weak supply of sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, and also liquid manure obtained from the piggeries. 
The latter freely diluted would appear to just suit Calceolarias, 
Cinerarias, and such like, and ought to be more often utilised than at 
present is the case. Fire heat at any time, beyond what is necessary to 
exclude damp and frosts, is a great enemy to Calceolarias, and this is 
well understood by Mr. Andrews.” We have received a box of the 
flowers referred to, and though they were withered afforded evidence of 
the excellence of the strain and the culture. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND THEIR CULTURE. 
At the outset I had better explain why I named Mr. Garnett's 
flowers in this controversy, as he evidently objects to my having done 
so. I do not consider any person qualified to criticise other people’s 
doings without he is able to produce something as good or even better 
than those criticised, and which have stood the test that has been 
required of them up to now, that is my reason for naming Mr. Garnett’s 
blooms. Again, I must say that Mr. Garnett does not strengthen him¬ 
self when he says I do not house twenty-five per cent, out of the 1000 
plants we grow for large blooms. I repudiate such assertions, and to 
refute them have only to state that every plant was housed last 
October, but one plant, Madame Laing, might not have been taken 
inside for its value for flowers but for stock ; this can be proved by those 
who saw them. Mr. Garnett may still be more surprised to learn that we 
did not grow 700 plants for large blooms last season. Thus your corre¬ 
spondent has been misled on both sides. 
With regard to the Yorkshire grower’s successes quoted during several 
years, I do not think we have met in competition ; but if he had met and 
defeated some of the best men in England at the leading shows I 
should have attached more weight to Mr. Garnett’s arguments, but in 
spite of all that has been said and done the fact still remains that “ non¬ 
toppers ” have held a decided advantage over the “ toppers ” in the pro¬ 
duction of the finest blooms, taking all sections into consideration. 1 
have often heard of the exhibitor in question being an excellent culti¬ 
vator of the Chrysanthemum, therefore I do not wish to detract from 
his success one iota, as it neither affects my own nor proves my practice 
wrongs 
As regards the references to Mr. Midglcy, I cannot do better than 
give a citation or two from a letter I have received from that grower. 
Anent topped and untopped plants he writes :—“ I won all first honours 
at Leeds, the flowers being all from ‘ untopped ’ plants with one excep¬ 
tion, an<l that was Bo ale d’Or, and 1 think 1 had better at Leeds than 1 
had at Huddersfield.” This speaks for itself without any comment of 
mine. Further, Mr. Midgley says, “ You did not misconstrue what Mr, 
