1881. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
95 
pot, as they root more quickly and freely in 
consequence, and grow into nice plants by the 
end of the summer, when they can be repotted. 
Spring Bulbs that have flowered in pots will 
be greatly benefited by having some of the 
surface-soil removed and fresh added, or else 
repotted. Nor must anything be left too long 
in a dry state; it is a common fault to neglect 
these subjects, and then the plants become 
weakened and die. Auriculas should be re¬ 
potted as soon as possible, as they get a good 
start from being repotted early in the summer. 
A good syringing overhead is of great advant¬ 
age to the plants during drying weather. 
Greenhouse. —There are some amateur gar¬ 
deners who have an attachment to liard- 
wooded greenhouse plants, that were greater 
favourites a few years ago than they are now. 
We may mention Correas , Epacrises, Pimeleas , 
Chorozemas , Leschenaultias , Polygalas, Ericas , 
&c., all of them very interesting subjects. At 
this season of the year, it is necessary to stop 
their gross shoots, in order to induce a branched 
and sturdy growth, and also to cause growth in 
the lower parts of the plants. The plants should 
be shifted as required, in order that the pots 
may be tolerably well filled with roots before 
the approach of winter. Fuchsias , Pelar¬ 
goniums , Calceolarias , &c., should now be 
coming in, to make the house gay, with Lilies , 
Petunias , Balsams , &c., to follow. All quick¬ 
growing subjects need good supplies of water, 
to keep them vigorous and healthy. 
Towards the end of the month, the principal 
part of the New Holland plants in cultivation 
may be placed in a shady situation in the open 
air, where they can mature and ripen their 
growth. They are better fitted for winter con¬ 
finement, when treated in this way. Care must 
be taken that the plants are thoroughly attended 
to in the matter of water, and precautions taken 
to keep worms out of the pots.— Suburbanus. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
E are glad to learn that the Gar¬ 
deners’ Royal Benevolent Insti¬ 
tution is about to make an attempt 
to increase the amount of the pensions granted, to 
£20 and £16 respectively. A strong effort is to be 
made to increase the funded property to such an 
extent as to permit of this increase being made. 
One means which it is proposed to adopt is to raise 
a fund, to be called the Gardeners’ Benevolent Pension 
Augmentation Fund, to be kept separate and dis¬ 
tinct from the General Fund, and to be invested till 
the Committee shall find themselves in a position to 
make the augmentation alluded to. To make a be¬ 
ginning, it is proposed that a collection be made in 
every garden and horticultural establishment of the 
country on Saturday, July 30th next. If every one 
will make a point of giving what he can afford, if it 
be only a “ mite,” such a collection would greatly 
help forward the object in view. 
— f&HE next exhibition of the Royal 
National Tulip Society is announced to be 
held at the Manchester Botanical Garden, in 
connection with the Great Horticultural Show of the 
Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society, on June 
8th, the Wednesday of the Whitsun week. The 
schedule of prizes may be had on application to the 
Hon. Treasurer and Secretary, S. Barlow, Esq., 
Stakehill House, Castleton, near Manchester. The 
schedule extends to nine classes for rectified Tulips, 
and four classes for breeders. Certificates of merit 
will be awarded to rectified seedlings of any class 
which may be considered worthy. 
— (Hhe Annual Exhibition of the Pelar¬ 
gonium Society is fixed to take place on June 
28th and 29tli, in the Garden of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, South Kensington. In respect 
to this exhibition, we are requested to state that 
although the prizes offered by this Society are open 
to competition amongst the members of the Society 
only, that rule does not apply to the Society’s 
honorary award of the Certificate of Merit, which is 
open to members and non-members alike. Seedling 
Pelargoniums will be adjudicated upon by a special 
committee of the Pelargonium Society, at meetings 
of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Ken¬ 
sington, on June 14th, June 28th, and July 12th. 
Forms of entry for seedlings may be obtained from 
the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Shirley Hibberd, 15 
Brownswood Park, London, N. 
— Iaeplying to some strictures on the 
Properties of Florists’ Flowers, by a writer 
in the Gardeners’ Chronicle , Mr. E. S. Dod- 
well remarks that when it is assumed, “ The points 
of a good flower are ‘ arbitrary,’ then the florist must 
part company. Forty years ago, the florist was 
probably open to the reproach of the outsider that 
his ‘ properties ’ were dogmas, and sometimes incon¬ 
sistent with intelligent interpretation; but that 
remark has been long removed. In 1847, the late 
Mr. Geo. Hardy, popularly known as “ Dr. Hardy,” 
did for the Tulip, by his paper in The Midland 
Florist, what in 1849 the late Rev. George Jeans, by 
his ‘ Essays on the Philosophy of Florists’ Flowers,’ 
published in the Florist of that year, and republished 
in the same work in 1878, did for all flowers, that is, 
demonstrate with unanswerable force, that for the 
preference of the florist there is ever a reason to be 
found in Nature, whilst every preference lacking 
such base has speedily passed to the limbo of un¬ 
tenable things. The writer of the paper to which I 
am, referring tells us * The florists lay down a stan¬ 
dard, and one to whose advantage outsiders are 
largely disposed to assent; that they cannot fully do 
so arises from the fact that the florists, as a rule, do 
not give us the reason why.’ Mr. Horner, he says, 
‘ very clearly laid down ’ the points of the Auricula, 
‘ but their title to acceptance was not so fully pressed 
home.’ Mr. Horner is more than able to hold his 
own ; but I am surprised to be told his arguments 
did not press home. From the opening paragraph 
on the properties of the Auricula—the ‘ mossy 
eye,’ to the one word ‘ balance,’ into which he 
gathers all, Mr. Horner’s lecture bristles with 
reasons, illustrative and explanatory. Mr. Horner 
may w T ell have assumed, I think, that funda¬ 
mental principles might be taken for granted, 
and that in the case of the Auricula he had only to 
show how they applied. That, I think, he did most 
completely. In the case of the Auricula, Mr. 
Horner did demonstrate * why such and such a form 
is to be accepted as the ideal;’ why ‘ it is the form 
