THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 29. 
236 
come is an essential for success; unless it can be had 
and depended upon, the society will not prosper, but be 
a source of heart-aching anxiety to the managers. Too 
many depend upon the admission money at the doors; a 
very precarious and uncertain source of income. A wet 
day, or some other attraction, such, for instance, as the 
launch of the Prince Albert ship, which completely 
spoiled the Chiswick Show, which, unfortunately, had 
been appointed on the same day. I cannot too strongly 
insist upon the necessity of being independent of such 
a precarious source of income. Better by far never 
attempt to form a society for such purposes, than 
attempt to start it without a sufficient number of annual 
subscribers. 
! Having, then, obtained a sufficient income by this 
certain means, the next important point is to obtain a 
| goodly number of exhibitors. The good spirit of emu- 
i lation must be evoked, and good prizes must be offered; 
this is also an essential. No amateur gentleman’s gar- 
1 dener, or cottager, will exhibit without at least a decent 
prize in prospect. Some committee men I have heard 
say, “ There is the honour;” but empty honour will not 
pay the expense of carrying the articles to the place, 
nor cover the extra labour and material used in produc- 
j ing superior articles. My doctrine is, the better the 
prizes are that are offered, the better will be the exhibi¬ 
tion. Small prizes never yet produced a good show. 
Then, again, the subscribers wish naturally to see some¬ 
thing for their money. They expect to see finer fruits, 
better grown plants and flowers, and finer vegetables 
than they have at home, or they will soon tire of sub¬ 
scribing to, or coming to see, the exhibition. 
These two points act upon each other; the more 
liberal the prizes are the greater will be the competition, 
I and, consequently, the finer in quality will be the arti¬ 
cles exhibited ; and the more excellent the show is, the 
greater will be the attraction of it to the public; and, 
consequently, vice versa, the less the prizes are, the 
poorer will be the articles exhibited, and then the public 
will soon fail to support such a poor show. 
I have, I trust, made these two poiuts evident, namely, 
that every Horticultural and Floricultural Society should 
first secure a sufficient income to afford good prizes, 
and then to offer them to the exhibitors freely and 
| liberally, 
There is a good old English proverb, which is this, 
“ Short reckonings make long friends.” Now witlr a 
sufficient purse the committee can and ought to pay 
their prizes immediately after they are adjudged. This, 
however, is only a hint to be acted upon according to 
circumstances. 
The next important point is the choice of competent, 
honest judges, and having made that choice, for all par¬ 
ties, whether subscribers, officers, or exhibitors, to abide 
by their decision. This is a rule that, like that of the 
Medes and Persians, altereth not. Their decision must 
in all cases be final. If some glaring raisjudgment 
should be apparent, then let that judge, or those judges, 
never be appointed to that high and honourable office 
again; but again, I say, let the present decision be 
final. To attempt, to change, or alter, would only lead 
to dissatisfaction and confusion on all sides. If the 
prize is adjudged to an exhibitor, be will not like to 
have it taken from him, and given to his rival compe¬ 
titor ; nnd the one that, perhaps, ought to have had it, 
will then cry out loudly against the award. Both these 
parties would be quiet, if not satisfied, when they knew 
there was a rule that the awards by the judges cannot 
be altered. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
HAZLEWOOD HALL. 
THE SEAT OF THE EIGHT HONOURABLE LORD ROKEBY. 
This beautiful seat is about three miles from Watford, 
and is pleasantly situated on a rising ground, with a 
narrow valley in front, and a gentle hill beyond. I was 
very much pleased with the gardening matters there, 
and, on a visit about the first week in May last, I took 
a few notes, or “jottings,” which I think will be in¬ 
teresting and useful to the readers of The Cottage 
Gardener. 
Lady Rokeby, like Lady Middleton, makes her flower- 
garden her study and delight. 1 was given to under¬ 
stand, the plan and arranging it are her ladyship’s own , 
designs; and certainly, I think, the place reflects great 
credit upon her taste. I wish Mr. Beaton would, or ! 
could, go and see it when in full flower, about August | 
next; I am pretty certain lie would find some ideas in 
the bedding system new and beautiful even to him. 1 
This flower-garden, with its accompanying lawn, grass j 
terraces, rosary, &c., occupies, I should guess, about I 
three acres. Standing on the elevated lawn in front of j 
the mansion you have the garden laid out like a map i 
before you, occupying the valley and rising part of the ! 
opposite hill, bounded by a plantation, and divided from \ 
a fruit-garden at the upper part of the valley by an 
evergreen fence or Laurel hedge, and from the park at 
the lower end by a wire fence. In the centre of the 
flower-garden is a circular ornamental bason of water, 
with appropriate figures, from which jets of water play. 
A broad, general walk crosses through all the beds, 
leadiug up to a rose-covered arborfr. On each side of 
this walk there are placed, at intervals, square slate [ 
boxes, containing some handsome specimens of standard 
Sweet Bays and Portugal .Laurels. These gi,ve a 
character to the scene by taking away the flat monoto¬ 
nous character of the flower-beds. Lady Rokeby also 
makes use of the Irish Yew,.and other upright-growing 
coniferae for the same purpose. I noted a novel thing 
in that way, and that was planting round these dark 
Yews a dense mass of the broad Silver-striped Grass, a 
common thing in most gardens, and usually grown on 
the borders only. The light shades of this grass con¬ 
trasted beautifully with the dark foliage of the Yews. 
The flower-beds are edged with tiles, with gravel walks 
between them—a system much to be preferred to having 
the beds on turf. These edging-tiles, made of clay and 
burnt, are far from perfection. I understand most of ' 
the manufacturers had been applied to, and none could 
furnish one possessing the necessary qualities of neat¬ 
ness and strength. Surely this useful article may be 
manufactured, combining elegance of design, occupying j 
small space, and yet sufficiently strong to withstand 
the weather and any slight blow or weight that may 
come against them. The Roses here are planted 
on narrow, long, raised beds, the sides of which are 
turfed; they are low bushes, which, when in bloom, 
must be beautiful by being brought so near to the eye. 
I was much amused by a brood of young ducks that 
were running along these beds, hunting eagerly for j 
grubs, slugs, and worms. Mr. Urquhart, the gardener, 
informed me that they kept the beds quite clear of these 
destructive vermin without at all injuring his flowers. 
There is is a very fair collection of CoDifene, but, as 
yet, they are young. The Taxodiums had passed 
through the winter unscathed, as had also the Crvp- 
tomerias; Deodars had suffered a little from the frost, 
on the 24th of April, but nothing of any consequence. 
Two fine specimens of Gupressus Lamhertiana stood 
near the entrance to the flower-garden ; one of these 
was slightly injured, and the other was killed! I have 
often noticed the same circumstance inlnany species of 
trees, some specimens appearing to be much more hardy 
than others. I think only such hardier specimens should 
