398 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 1, 1894. 
painting of a beautiful Nepenthes which had never been seen in 
this country. He made inquiries where Miss North had met with it, 
and when told, his firm at once despatched a collector from London 
to Borneo to find it, which he did. I believe this Nepenthes was 
afterwards named in honour of the lady whose picture was the 
means of its being introduced to this country. For many years 
past the trade has annually introduced a number of new plants, 
fruits, flowers, and vegetables to the public, and nurserymen are 
never afraid to pay the raiier a high price for a meritorious plant, 
fruit, or vegetable which may prove a credit to the firm. 
The flower show, so much in evidence in these days, has 
undoubtedly added its modicum to the furtherance of horticulture, 
by exciting among gardeners that powerful incentive to progress— 
emulation. It is, however, regretable that emulation is fast giving 
place to the love of filthy lucre, and the flower show, which might 
have had an elevating influence, is fast developing into a degrading 
and demoralising power, and it is an institution which the gardener 
must soon “ end or mend.’' 
Although there is little chance of mechanical art ever lessening 
a great deal of the gardener’s work, yet the mowing machine—an 
advent of the last fifty years—has almost laid aside the scythe in 
the garden, and the latest in this direction is a mowing machine 
moved by steam, widely advertised by a firm making a speciality 
of garden requisites. We have now a class of engineers peculiarly 
our own, known as horticultural engineers, and the development of 
their industry has enabled the gardener to propagate his plants, 
grow his exotic fruit and flowers with greater success, and at the 
same time with much less cost than formerly. Electricity, as an 
aid to the gardener’s art, has been introduced in one or two places, 
but as the science of electricity is still in its infancy, the time has 
not arrived to claim it as having done much for us in the way of 
better cultivation. 
The manufacture of chemical manures has unquestionably 
done much to assist the horticulturist in producing better quality 
in his products. Pot Vines could not be made to bear the fine 
crops they do were it not for the use of these stimulants. Animal 
manure, let it be ever so good, cannot be applied to pot plants in 
sufficient quantities without causing a nuisance ; besides, it is not 
in every place that it can be had, whereas chemical manures can 
always be obtained, and stored away till required. 
I have already made a passing allusion to the high character of 
our gardening literature. From such periodicals as the “ Florist ” 
—one of the earliest gardening papers—which simply gave a few 
descriptions of florists’ flowers and a short epitome of culture, we 
have now at least four first-class gardening papers that, even from 
a literary point of view, can hold their own with almost any 
periodicals printed. The gardener is no longer contented with a 
simple description of a plant, nor yet an epitome of its culture, but 
he must know something about the latest researches anent bacteria 
and micro-organisms, and must, if possible, know the why and 
wherefore of everything connected with his calling, and all he can 
about the life history of the plants he has under his care. Con¬ 
sequently his literature must supply his wants in this direction. 
The horticultural papers supply the latest chemical and biological 
discoveries which are in the slightest degree connected with garden¬ 
ing, and in every way endeavour to keep the gardener abreast of 
the times. Nothing has done more to break down the secrecy that 
at one time existed regarding the methods of propagating, or the 
means of obtaining high cultural results, than our gardening press. 
No modern gardener is so selfish as to keep to himself information 
which he knows would be of service to others. Hence when 
important discoveries are made they are communicated to the 
gardening community through their much-loved periodicals. It is 
probably to the influence of the gardening press that we owe our 
present improved position in regard to the other arts and trades, as 
we now claim to be placed on an equal footing with them all. 
Gardening is one of the subjects which has been taken up and 
taught most enthusiastically by the majority of the Technical 
Instruction Committees throughout the country. The Allotment 
Act—a small beginning in the right direction—is also a fruit of 
the telling influence of our gardening papers. 
When we begin to inquire into what advancement the gardener 
himself has made we soon find ourselves on such dangerous ground 
that it requires all the tact we possess to prevent us saying 
things that, to use a vulgarism, would entitle us to the aspersion of 
“ blowing our own horn.” Still, we can all modestly say that the 
gardener of to-day is far before his predecessor of sixty years ago. 
There were gardeners even much farther back than that who 
could still teach us many things to-day; but on the whole the 
gardener of the present time is better educated, holds a better 
social position, and is much better paid than those at the period 
indicated. We have in our profession—rightly or wrongly I call 
gardening a profession—men who have taken University degrees, 
men who have done deeds worthy of knighthood, and many who 
have written books that will entitle them to the heartfelt thanks 
and gratitude of thousands of their fellow workers for years to 
come. 
Such progress as I have only had time to hint at has been 
brought about by the steady perseverance of our predecessors, and 
by emulating their example we can in many different ways add still 
further to its advancement. Our opportunities are greater ; we 
are building on all their accumulated experience, and we are thus 
justified in hoping that the progress of gardening in future will 
be even much more rapid than it has been in the past.— 
W. W. Pettigrew, Superintendent of Parle and Spaces, Cardiff, 
FRUIT PACKING AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE 
SHOW. 
Although, in most respects, the late show, held under the 
auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society, was a great success, 
there was one section that showed deplorable weakness. I allude 
to tbe packing competitions. In class 135, for 10 bushels of 
cooking Apples and 10 half bushels of dessert Apples, for the 
handsome prizes presented by Messrs. Monro and Webber, there 
was but one entry. In this entry the cooking Apples, Lady 
Henniker, were large and even. The dessert Apples, King of 
the Pippins, were mostly good, but although on the descriptive 
card the grading was stated to be the lest, Apples could be found 
half the size of others in the same basket. The packing was very 
ordinary, and not worthy of any special commendation. 
Class 136, for one bushel and one-half bushel of Apples, packed 
for market in packages of any description and number, there was 
not a single entry. Mr. Weir, the donor of the prize, exhibited 
some interesting sample boxes containing 5 lbs. and 20 lbs. weight 
of Apples, well graded, with the fruit packed in wood wool and 
pink paper. 
In class 137, for 12 lbs. of Grapes, the first and second prize 
baskets were well packed, the berries also being very fine, and the 
bunches averaging 2 lbs. each. Little fault could be found with 
the packing ; but as most market growers’ bunches average nearer 
1 lb. than 2 lbs., it would have been more instructive had the 
bunches been nearer the lower weight, in which case they could 
not have been packed in the same manner in the baskets, and 
another method or larger packages would have been requisite. 
In class 138, for twenty-four Peaches, four entries, the first 
prize was awarded to a box packed with wood wool. Each fruit 
was wrapped in white tissue paper up to the level of the bedding 
materia). The box was too large and the lid was nailed or screwed 
down, a bad fault. The second prize box again was too large and the 
lid nailed; fruit packed in coarse wadding without being wrapped 
in tissue paper. Third prize box, right size, lid tied down, not 
nailed ; fruit wrapped in white tissue paper to level of packing 
material, which was fine white cotton wool, cut into strips with 
scissors and wound round the Peaches. This was by far the most 
attractive box, and would have taken first prize had not the fruits 
been overripe. Cotton wool and wadding are, however, held by 
experts to be much too heating to pack Peaches in. Mr. Monro 
advocates paper shavings, which are used largely at Toddington for 
both Peaches and Grapes, while another informant of mine, who 
deals very largely in Peaches, told me that he considered the best 
wood wool far preferable to paper, as the latter often becomes 
quite solid and damp after a long journey, while wood wool always 
retains its elasticity and does not become sodden. Tbe difficulty 
