August 14.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
.301 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
The Grand Annual Carnation and Picotee Show, which 
made so much noise last year, and, if we are to credit 
the accounts, drew together a very large assemblage, was 
announced to take place at Slough, in 1851, with as 
much pomp as the meeting of the Royal English Agri¬ 
cultural Society, and we looked forward for the summons 
through the ordinary channels of information, but neither 
saw nor heard anything about it. A visit to Slough, on 
our way to Oxford, gave us a sight of Mr. Turner’s col¬ 
lection of no less than sixteen hundred pots of Picotees 
and Carnations, and let us into the fact that the Grand 
All-England Show had gone by! there being only three 
nurserymen to represent that class for the whole king¬ 
dom,—very few amateurs attended, and still fewer 
dined! 
The natural question is, How could this have happened ? 
and the answer is, because not one florist, amateur or 
otherwise, knew it was coming off. How were the twenty 
or thirty thousand readers of The Cottage Gardener to 
know it? Is advertising so expensive? Last year there 
was as much parade about the gathering as if floriculture 
depended on the muster; but this year all was managed so 
quietly, that although we met scores of growers and showers 
at the Surrey Gardens, not one mentioned the subject; and 
we confess that, although every subject that interested the 
florist seemed to have been brought up, not one whisper of 
the Grand All-England affair was heard. Mr. Turner was 
first, and Mr. Bragg second, in show Carnations and Pico¬ 
tees ; Mr. Bragg first, and Mr. Turner second, in yellows. 
We felt vexed that we were not present. We have no doubt 
that Mr. Turner thought we knew of it, and certainly he 
invited us to come and see the blooms; but as we knew 
nothing of the occasion we are writing about, we only went 
down on Wednesday. We have more than once told Socie¬ 
ties that whatever is done quietly does little good for the 
science; advertising the shows and schedules does good by 
example, it shows the people interested in horticulture what 
is doing, and lias the effect of rousing their energies. It is 
no answer to tell us that circulars are sent to the principal 
growers. The managers of Societies are too apt to think they 
know all the principal growers, when they are quite unac¬ 
quainted with the number of cultivators constantly springing 
up. In fact, hundreds who take an interest in such things 
will only know now that the meeting has taken place. We 
tell the Societies plainly, that if they want florists to know 
of any thing, they must advertise in a work which reaches 
them all, and it is their duty to do so. 
I cannot reconcile myself to the uncontraclicted injus¬ 
tice done to that worthy man, the late Mr. Baron, by a 
contemporary. 
! Mr. Baron, although a shoemaker, was a man of excellent 
information, a first-rate cultivator of Tulips, Ranunculuses, 
I and other costly florists’ flowers; a man of considerable 
property acquired by his industry and perseverance. He 
I mixed with good society, and was a frequent attendant at 
| meetings of the leading florists and amateurs. He cultivated 
everything well. Hollyhocks were not his favourites. He 
would give twenty pounds for a new and good Tulip with 
: pleasure, and large prices for other florists’ flowers; but 
whatever he cultivated he improved, and Hollyhocks were 
j one of the families he adopted; but Mr. Glenny, we know, 
I had the greatest difficulty in persuading him that he had 
advanced them sufficiently to attract the notice of florists, 
and, therefore, to let them out. Mr. Baron took the pains 
which all florists have been persuaded to take; he saved 
seed from the best, and threw away all inferior, that the 
seed might be improved every year. He only valued the 
Hollyhock as a border flower gayer than most things in the 
autumn. Mr. Baron was no “ humble shoemaker of Walden;” 
he was looked up to as a respectable, intellectual, well- 
informed, upright man. 
Passijlora edulis bears a fruit as large as the largest 
hen’s egg, and when it ripens turns a brown purple. We 
are told that P. edulis, P. Laurifolia, and P. quadran- 
gularis, are eatable ; for the latter, we can answer. We 
have had the plant trained up a rafter in the stove, and 
one of the fruit having fallen and cracked, the fragrance 
struck us as rich beyond that of any other fruit. On 
opening it, the inside was a mass of pulp, which sur¬ 
rounds the seeds, and it might be eaten as we would eat 
an egg with a spoon, but the flavour is delicious beyond 
description; one might fancy it a mixture of peach, 
pine-apple, melon, and strawberry. There is nothing in 
the slightest degree mawkish, or faint; it is cool and 
refreshing. 
We felt vexed that we had deprived ourselves of so 
many fruit by cutting all the flowers; for it was only these 
flowers which we had overlooked that fruited. The beauty 
of the bloom having struck every visitor, and knowing it was 
but the floAver of a day, Ave never hesitated about cutting 
them. The outside is a hard case, of about an eighth-of-an- 
incli thick, and it appears as if it Avould travel better than 
any fruit we know of. With us the plant is in a half-bushel 
pot of loam, dung, and peat, in equal quantites; and Ave 
found three fruit had set, though Ave did not knoAV that 
a floAver had escaped cutting, from Avhich Ave infer that it 
fruits freely. 
Mr. Fortune is about to establish the government 
experimental Tea Plantation at Kumaon. He has 
arrived there with tAvetity thousand tea plants from 
China, eighteen or twenty Chinamen, and all the neces¬ 
sary implements. The tea plant requires the same treat¬ 
ment in England as the ordinary Camellia japonica, 
and many people have a plant or two in their collections. 
Thompson’s Mile-End Nursery, in its lieigliday, con¬ 
tained some good specimens in the open air, where they 
had stood for years, with a very slight covering in hard 
weather. 
National Floricidtural Society, July 31st, R. Marnock, 
Esq., in the chair. This was a very interesting meet¬ 
ing. There were some good flowers exhibited, especially 
seedling Roses. 
First Class Certificates were awarded to Messrs. Paul, of 
Cheshunt, for Rose, Queen Victoria, a hybrid perpetual; a 
Avell-formed and exquisitely-coloured floAver. Also to the 
same for Rose, Robert Burn, a deep crimson. This was stated 
to be a climbing perpetual. 
Certificates were awarded to Mr. Turner for a Picot.cc, 
named Victoria Reyina, a heavy rose-edged, stout-petaled 
variety. Also for another Picotee, named Duke of Rutland, 
with heavy purple edges, and other good properties. These 
are certain to become favourites. 
Commendations were awarded to the same grower for a 
Carnation, named Gene red Monk, and Picotee, Ophelia. These 
require to be seen again in better condition, before giving 
any opinion on their merits. The same groAver, also, had a 
seedling Fuchsia, Nonsuch, of a dark colour. A certificate 
Avas aAvarded to it on account of its neat habit and free floAV- 
ering. A commendation Avas awarded also to Mr. Smith, of 
Hornsey, for Verbena, Eliza Cook. It is a rosy purple, Avitli 
a Avliite eye, a good truss, and habit. Mr. Payne sent a 
mule Pinlc of great beauty, likely to be useful for bedding 
purposes. It is of dwarf habit and bright crimson colour; 
it had a commendation. Mr. Salter sent his striped varieties 
of Pansies, which are curious, beautiful things. Petunias 
came from Mr. Barnes, of Stowmarket; a purple-coloured 
one attracted much attention. The room was ornamented 
Avith miscellaneous plants by Messrs. Henderson, Pine- 
Apple Place. These consisted of some Avell-grown Fuchsias, 
raised from cuttings this spring, and a collection of Petu- 
