THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
122 
deem necessary on neglected points: they best know 
their own wants. E. Errington. 
MEETING OE THE HOETICULTUEAL 
SOCIETY.— November 2, 18.52. 
Were it not for the novelty of seeing a grand struggle 
for the prizes offered by the Society for tlie growth and 
improvement of the Chrysanthemum, no one, round 
London, would be tempted to go out-of-doors on such a 
day as this was—dull and dreary, with rain pouring 
down in torrents the w'holo day. The spirit of the 
^radicals, however, was up to the boiling point, and, 
rain or no rain, they must see and enjoy the battle like 
true Britons as they are. So they mustered in great 
numbers; but, alas! tbe council of our Society are not 
of practicals, and of course they can hardly be blamed 
for not knowing the right time of the year for the 
Chrysanthemums to be in a lit state for competition. 
They knew that Chrysanthemums usually bloom in 
November, and that was all; and a show on the 2nd or 
22 nd of the month was the same in their unpractical 
brains. The editors of Moore’s Almanack managed 
much better than this, by keeping snow out in tbe dog 
days ! This blundering could not have happened at a 
worse time in our progress. The Chrysanthemum has 
lately become a fit subject for tlie gamblers in flowers, 
who, if they could but cook one prize flower up to the 
mark, would not hesitate to sacrifice twelve of their 
best plants; and, what is worse than all, their evil 
practices, to my own personal knowledge, go a long way 
to sacrifice the credit of the best gardeners in the 
country. We have had, lately, excellent treatises on 
the proper cultivation of this useful flower, in defence 
of practical gardening, and the Horticultural Society 
steps in, just at the nick-of-time, to second these 
attempts, and to stamp their value, and the character of 
our best gardeners; and, as if to prove their zeal, one of 
the best-grown collections of Chrysanthemums in Eng¬ 
land may now be seen in their own garden, but all to 
no purpose; and now it is of no use to try to back out 
of the scrape by saying that gardeners did not under¬ 
stand the rules. Gardeners did understand the rules, 
and blame me very much for tempting the Society to 
offer prizes for things out of season. Well, as I have 
taken a great deal of interest in the shows and meetings 
of the Society, enjoyed them myself, and endeavoured 
to make them useful to others, I must pocket this 
rebuke, and explain how we may get on better in future. 
Upon the average of seasons. Chrysanthemums are in 
their prime about the 20th of November, or say from 
tbe 15th to the 25th, and one week sooner, or one week 
later, affects them more severely than any other flower 
that has ever been e.xhibited; -aW practical men know 
this. It is true, that in large establishments in the 
country, flowers are very much in request late in the 
autumn, when ladies cannot go much in the open air, 
and that October is the worst month in tlie wliole year 
for house flowers. As a kind of compromise, therefore, 
gardeners in such places sacrifice some of their earliest 
Chrysanthemums by a slight forcing, and then all that 
they will bear is only a cold bouse, sucli as a peach- 
house, or vinery at rest, and the doors open at both 
ends, day and night, and also the top lights a little open 
at night and on dull days. On very sunny days the 
top lights and one of the doors may be shut close, but 
not during the long dark nights. There is no way that 
a man could think of but I have tried to get in some 
Chrysanthemums by tbe first of November, and this is 
the only way in which I ever succeeded; just the reverse 
of what one would do late in the spring. I have had 
the Queen, Bicolor, and three other old varieties, not now 
well-known, in bloom by the 25th of October by these 
November 18. 
means, but none of the others before the end of the 
first week in November; therefore, I ti'embled when I 
first heard of the Society’s resolve to open a competition 
for them in the first week of the mouth, but concluded, 
that, as my practice lay at a distance from London, I 
might be mistaken, and that the flowers come earlier up 
here than with us far in the country. To make sure of 
how this stood was my first aim as soon as I saw the 
failure of this meeting, and there was no lack of 
London growers on the spot to consult. After ex¬ 
changing notes with Mr. Chandler, of Vauxhall Nursery, 
the best authority in London for this flower, and other- 
growers and exhibitors, it turns out that none of them 
would expect so early a bloom as myself, and some of 
them maintain that if even very slight forcing were 
attempted here, nrildew would be the consequence and 
reward in many places round I..ondon. This settled, 
and knowing that “we must all live and learn,” the 
next Chrysanthemum exhibition or eompetition in 
Regent-street must bo beld somewhere between the 
15th and 20th of November. Now, I think I need not 
blush for saying that we had only one solitary plant of 
the common Chrysanthemum at this meeting, and that 
ought to be noted down as a very early one, and I can 
say it is a very good one—the name is Madame Verreux, 
a fine-shaped flower, flat and imbricated on the face, 
and of a huffish-yellow colour. 
The value of the pretty Pompones, the grand, and great- 
grand-children of Mr. Fortune’s Chusan Daisy Chry¬ 
santhemum, was never better exemplified than on this 
oceasion. All kinds of Chrysanthemums are ten days 
later this season round London than usual; and we have 
seen already that we ean now depend on these Pompones 
from the middle of October, beginning with Hendersonii, 
which was a brownish-yellow on the last occasion (P.fth 
October). The same plant was in fine bloom to-day, and 
age turned the blossoms to a clear yellow. Hendersonii 
slioidd, therefore, be held in great demand for a mother 
breeder till we get seedlings that will flower from the 
first of October. Another peculiarity, and a valuable 
one, appeai-ed in this race, for the first time, on this 
occasion—sweet-scented flowers. A beaiitiful little, light 
lilac flower, called Le Maine Bite, has a delicious 
scent, something between that of orris root, and violets. 
It was in a collection exhibited, but not for com¬ 
petition, by Mr. Chandler, of Vauxhall Nursery. He 
had another one called Ninon, which will be a great 
favourite with the ladies in their nosegays and wreaths, 
for evening head-dresses. It is as flat as a looking-glass, 
the first essential for a wreath Chrysanthemum. The 
size is half-way between HtcoZor, the only one of the old 
sorts that did not look vulgar in a wreath, and a 
Bachelor’s-button. The colour is a delicate French- 
wl'iite. No flowers are more suitable for making regular 
nosegays than these button Chrysanthemums, par¬ 
ticularly the pure white, as Argentine; French-whites, 
like Le Maine Bite, the sweet one; and the mottled 
rose, as Bouton de Venus; but the great bulk of tbem are 
yet of different shades of yellow and buff. We expect a 
lai-ge muster of tbem at the next meeting on the 7th 
December, and then I shall take the names of the best 
varieties, and mention the most distinct colours. 
Tlie great lion at this meeting was a Hybrid HJschy- 
nanth, from Mr. Pince of Exeter, called Splendidus, a 
well-bestowed name. It is by far the best of tbe 
family, and shows what can be done with judicious 
crossing, for which the genus seems to offer great hopes. 
I did not hear the parentage of this beautiful cross 
stated, but it ought to have been told. A jiractised eye 
could see that Grandifiorus was one of the parents; and 
when not in flower, tiie cross might easily be mistaken 
for that species; and that will sufficiently explain the 
aspect of the ])lant. The flowers stand more upright 
than in Grandijiorus; they are also much larger, a 
