THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 17, 1885. 
100 
flowered Ivy-leaved section as flower garden and window- 
box plants. During the last summer they have been 
of great beauty wherever they have been used, and 
their behaviour this season will certainly lead to their 
more extended culture in future. 
The Proposed International Horticultural Exhibition 
in 1887 ,— At the conclusion of the business of the 
Fruit and Floral Committees on Tuesday last, a meeting 
was held in the Music Room, East Central Avenue, 
South Kensington, to discuss the practicability and 
advisability of holding an International Show of flowers, 
plants, trees and other things connected with garden¬ 
ing and forestry at South Kensington in 1887. The 
chair was taken by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M. P., 
the president of the Royal Horticultural Society, and 
the meeting was attended by most of the members of 
the council and of the Floral, Fruit, and Scientific 
Committees. Sir Trevor Lawrence opened the pro¬ 
ceedings with a very clear statement as to the reason 
why the meeting had been convened, and made some 
remarks on the matter as it then stood, stating that his 
object was not to suggest anything at present, but 
merely to hear what the representative body before him 
had to say on the subject. The president, however, 
stated, that he did n&t see why the idea should not be 
carried out as well in England as in other countries, 
and, if it was carried out, he considered that it should 
be under the auspices of the Roj^al Horticultural Societ} r . 
Letters were stated to have been received from different 
gentlemen bearing on the subject, and portions of 
them were read. Several gentlemen asked questions 
chiefly directed to ascertain how far the commissioners 
of 1851 might be reckoned on ? How long the exhibition 
was to be kept up ? And how the necessary accommo¬ 
dation for rare plants was to be obtained. Many of the 
questions asked could not of course be answered in the 
present stage, but it was gleaned that the exhibition if 
possible, should run throughout the season as that 
which is now being held and the previous ones have 
done, and that it was not anticipated that there would 
be any difficulty about accommodation. Mr. John Frazer 
said that the main question was, “Where is the 
necessary money to come from ? ” There rvere other 
difficulties in the case, but this was the most important. 
Mr. Harry Yeitch said that he quite agreed with Mr. 
Frazer—a large sum of money would be required, and 
in such a matter as an international show we were not 
in so good a position as Antwerp, for example, where 
they were largely assisted by the Government and the 
City. Mr. G. Paul thought the matter practicable, how¬ 
ever difficult it might be. Nurserymen might find it 
worth their while to keep up a continuous show, but he 
did not think amateurs would. Col. Trevor Clarke 
said it appeared to him that the whole matter lay in a 
nutshell. Little could be done at the present meeting, 
but all present could think the matter over, and give 
the results at a larger and more representative meeting, 
to be held on November 10th. A vote of thanks to 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, for his kindness in presiding, 
brought the meeting to a close. 
-- 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS AT 
READING. 
Even up to the present, and it is certainly late in the 
season, the tuberous Begonias at the London Road 
Nursery, Reading, are beautiful, though not like they 
have been in the past season. It is a peculiar feature 
of the collections of Begonias which the Messrs. Sutton 
& Sons have raised, that they carry their bloom over 
very lengthened periods. This arises, no doubt, con¬ 
siderably from their parentage, which includes much of 
the free-blooming Pearcei strain ; indeed, free and con¬ 
tinuous blooming has been more aimed at than has 
mere size of plant or flower. Those who want huge 
specimen plants will, perhaps, prefer Messrs. Laing’s 
robust stout-bred strain, the plants of which produce 
huge flowers, though not so abundantly as do the Messrs. 
Sutton’s. Then the former firm have favoured intense 
hues largely, whilst the latter seem to have developed 
soft and refined tints in exceeding abundance. The 
soft carmines, apricots, salmons, yellows, and delicate 
whites seen at Reading seem to be as beautiful as well can 
be. Very few of the plants, although those in the large 
area of glass houses devoted to them may be counted by 
thousands, are named. V esee them blocked together in 
colours, and very beautiful indeed are they so arranged. 
Most bulbs or tubers are sold in colours, and seed in the 
same way. Tun special batches of plants attracted much 
attention, the first being plants raised from seed early in 
1881, andtheotherraised fromseed of that batch andsown 
in J anuary of the present year. We thus find Begonias as 
annuals produced in fine plants, and again as greenhouse 
herbaceous plants from the bulbs. Of course, the her¬ 
baceous plants were the finest, and admirably served to 
show what oik season’s roots would produce, whilst the 
second lqt show'ed as forcibly what may be got from 
seed. Both in the production of Gloxinias as well as 
Begonias as annuals the Messrs. Sutton & Sons seem to 
have distanced most other growers, in addition to which 
the plants are literally as good and the strains as superb 
as can be found in the world. 
PEARS FOR VILLA GARDENS. 
Fruit culture is mostly a mere vanity and vexation 
of spirit in suburban gardens, because the owners of 
these attractions to most city people are not successful 
in choosing the proper kinds, being generally guided 
by the market names, which are frequently erroneous, 
and further, the sorts are not suitable for restricted 
culture, I venture, therefore, to give a list of trees 
that buyers can safely rely on to make selections from 
during the coming season, and they should, with the 
exception of those sorts which do equally well on 
the free stock be procured on the “ Quince,” as root- 
pruning is then not so often—if at all—necessary, and 
the culture is quite sinqfie. 
On receiving the trees, dig a hole of the required 
depth, place the tree in it, shovel in a little fine earth, 
give the tree a slight lift and a shake, repeat this 
operation twice, then fill in to within 3 ins. of the 
level, and tread the tree in as tightly as possible, finish 
off, and, if a large tree, stake it at once. The operation 
is the same for pyramids, espaliers, cordons, or wall- 
trees, and all the following sorts can be used in those 
styles. Prune in February where necessary, and if a 
horizontal trained tree, place the supporting stakes at 
once, if a wall-tree, tack it up lightly, as it may sink a 
little, and after a month it can be finnfy fixed. These 
Pears also succeed on the oak fences so often seen in 
small gardens, and may be placed on any aspect, be it 
even north, where a few Morello Cherries would, how¬ 
ever, be preferable. 
A Selection of Pears which are great croppers, 
making but little growth, and, excepting severe frosts, 
may be relied on for a regular crop :—- 
July, Aug. Beurre Giffard . . . the best early Pear 
Souvenir de Congres . very large and good 
September Williams’s Bon Chretien free bearer on the 
Quince 
Colmar d’Ete .... very sweet and 
prolific 
. most delicious and 
fertile 
. very fine bearer 
. large and h andsome 
. good as Marie 
Louise 
. enormous, not first- 
rate, but good if 
gathered rather 
before it is rijie 
. a nice Pear, con¬ 
stant bearer 
As a stewing Pear Bellissime d’Hiver is most beauti¬ 
ful and productive. In warm soils, and good situations 
Louise Bonne of Jersey, Pitmaston Duchess, Beurre 
Superfin, and Doyenne du Comice may be tried. We 
avoid giving late Pears, as they must have a fruit- 
room to store them, but, if desirable, Josephine de 
Malines, Bergamote d’Esperen, and Olivier de Serres 
are the best.— Geo. Bunyard, Maidstone. 
Madame Treyve 
Oct., Nov.^Belle Julie. . 
Durandeau. 
Emile d’Heyst 
Beurre Clairgeau. 
Fertility 
■-- 
THE INTERNATIONAL POTATO 
SHOW. 
There can be little doubt but that could any of the 
first prize twenty-four dishes of Potatos, exhibited at 
the earlier International Shows, have been resuscitated 
and compared with the truly grand collections shown 
by Messrs. Hughes, Ellington, and Wiles, at the Crystal 
Palace last week, we should marvel at the fact that 
such collections could ever have been esteemed premiers 
of their respective years. Without doubt there has 
been a remarkable advance, both in the style jn which 
what are called show Potatos are now turned out, and 
in the sorts staged. It is very doubtful whether any 
of the kinds found in the leading collections at the 
recent show were found in those of nine or ten years 
since ; so that there has been within the decade, which 
forms the life of the International Potato Exhibition, 
an entire change in the personnel of the sorts grown 
and shown, and, without doubt, that change has 
enormously been for the public benefit. 
We have now such grand kinds that those who take 
but a passing view of Potato progression may be ex¬ 
cused for thinking that better cannot be hoped for. In 
that view we are far from coinciding, for the conclusive 
reason that finality is an impossibility when the intel¬ 
lect and skill of man is brought to bear upon vegetable 
life. We even have a prospect of a comparatively new 
race of kinds being produced from the free-growing 
species known as Solanum Maglia, as both Mr. Robert 
Fenn, of Sulhampstead, and Messrs. Sutton k Sons, of 
Reading, have obtained crosses with that and a good 
garden variety, and next year some practical results 
may be looked for. The species known both as S. 
Jamesii and Fendleri is of too weak and insignificant 
a form to produce anything useful ; but the Maglia is a 
very robust growing kind, and bears the impress of 
having been a garden Potato progenitor in anterior 
days. Should such prove to have been the case, the 
product of the recent hybridisation will simply be the 
reproduction of old sorts, and nothing more ; that any 
really distinctive and essentially superior kinds will 
result from these efforts is most improbable. We have 
grand Potatos now ; we shall continue to improve in 
our garden strains as long as they will give us bloom 
and pollen ; and there is no falling off in that direction 
yet, or likely to be for some time to come. 
It was anticipated that the new breaks might give 
us some real disease-resisting kinds, but the prospect is 
far from being a favourable one. It is quite as probable, 
perhaps more probable, that, assisted by verj- favourable 
seasons, we shall, through the instrumentality of new 
robust and carefully selected and cultivated kinds, beat 
our old enemy the Perouospora infestans ; and thus, 
without the aid of other species, destroy the fungoid 
dragon. Really we have seen so little of that monster 
of late that we have begun to forget its existence. Let 
us hope that events will soon enable us to forget it 
absolutely. But whilst we cannot but look -with in¬ 
terest to the future of our Potato varieties, certainly we 
can do so with entire confidence. If the past fore¬ 
shadows the future, certainly it does in this instance, 
and that future will be for the Potato a great and 
prosperous one. 
But whilst we have been thus raising and cultivating 
stout robust disease-resisting varieties, we have not 
ignored the very important element of table quality. 
Prejudiced persons may rave as they like, but only 
gross prejudice, or blind ignorance, causes them to 
assert that show Potatos, so called, are not fit for table. 
So utterly erroneous is that statement, that we venture 
to assert that nineteen out of twenty of the kinds 
shown in the large and best competing collections at 
the Crystal Palace were first-class croppers. We have 
many amongst our new kinds that are a long way 
ahead of the best table Potato of ten years ago, and 
when to that feature we add improved cropping quali¬ 
ties, and beauty of form, we find abundant evidence 
for the assertion. Many stupid people hold that rough 
or netted skins, and high-class table quality, will only 
be found in combination, but exjierience has long 
shown that assumption to be an absurd one, for we 
have many kinds which come out with skins like to 
ivory, and yet are of beautiful table quality. Perhaps 
some persons are so unfortunate that they have soil 
which will not pioduce good Potatos. In such a case 
they are to be pitied ; but it is much more likely that 
the objections we sometimes read anent show Potatos, 
are the outcome of envy allied to ignorance. 
It is worthy of remark also, that whilst the average 
size found in the best show samples was in advance of 
what has sometimes been found, it was equally below 
that seen on other occasions when judges have given 
an undue preference to weight over quality. We want 
a happy medium in matters of this kind, for tubers that 
are too big, even if handsome, yet are unsuitable for 
ordinary table purposes ; whilst on the other hand 
samples which fall below 5 ozs. hardly give a profitable 
crop. There should be some clearly defined size or 
weight given, beyond which it should be held objec¬ 
tionable to go, as equally, samples below a given weight 
