80 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST 
[May, 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
HE Horticultural Exhibitions at the 
( iff Crystal Palace, are this year five in 
hsN number. On May 20th there is the 
^ Summer Exhibition of Plants and Flowers ; 
on July 1st, a Grand Exhibition of Hoses ; on Sep¬ 
tember Stb and 9th, the Exhibition of Fruit; on the 
same date the Grand National Dahlia Show; and 
September 20 and 21, the International Potato Show. 
The Schedules are issued, and can be had on appli¬ 
cation to Mr. W. G. Head, the Garden Superintendent. 
— Che Flower Shows at the Alexandra 
Palace announced for the ensuing season are 
as follows :—June 20th, Decorative Exhibition, 
Pelargonium Show ; J uly 8th, Grand ltose Show ; 
August 5th, National Gooseberry Show ; August 
12th, Grand Decorative Exhibition and Show of 
Gladioli ; October 7th, National Gourd Show ; 
November 4th, Exhibition of Hardy Eruit; December 
23rd, Exhibition of Hardy Trees. Schedules can be 
obtained on application to Mr. J. Forsyth Johnson, 
the Director of Horticultural Exhibitions. 
— E fine specimen of Marechal Niel 
Rose is now flowering with Mr. H. K. William¬ 
son, in the New Gardens, at Whitby, as we 
learn from the Times, and is attracting the attention 
of florists and horticulturists, as well as that of the 
general public. The Hose was planted 18 years since, 
and now extends horizontally 102 ft., namely, 48 ft. to 
the left, and 54 ft. to the right of the parent stem, 
the average depth being some 5 ft. or 6 ft. Last year 
2,500 roses were plucked from its branches, but 
this number will be much exceeded this season. 
The flowers are now in their early bloom, and 3,500 
blossoms have been counted. 
— In cultivating Dahlias, it is not necessary 
to provide them with fresh quarters every year, 
and as it is not until the second or third year 
that the soil can really be worked into first-class 
condition they should be kept to the same quarters 
for some time. Dahlias are such gross feeders that 
the preparation of the soil for them is no light matter. 
It cannot well be too deep or too rich. It ought 
certainly to be stirred to a depth of two feet, and 
have a six-incli layer of manure added to if. Good 
fat manure from the farm or stable yard or from an 
old hotbed is unquestionably the most suitable, but 
green or fresh manure from the cow byre or stable 
will answer. There is no occasion to sweeten this 
manure, however rank, by throwing it in heaps and 
turning over, as in the preparation of manure for 
hotbeds, as the soil will sweeten it sufficiently before 
the roots of ihe dahlias come in contact with L. If 
the supply of manure is not. sufficient for so heavy a 
dressing as is here advised, the quantity available 
should be supplemented with Clay’s Fertiliser, which 
is the best of all the artificials for dahlias, and may 
he employed with excellent effect at the rate of two 
cwt. to a rood, with a light dressing of stable manure, 
and at the rate of three cwt. without manure. The 
fertilisers should be spread evenly over llie surface, 
aud if the ground has been trenched over since it 
was last cropped it will suffice to dig the soil over one 
spit in depth. But if it has not been so prepared 
a different course must be taken. A rather wide 
trench must be opened oat at starting, and maintained 
throughout, and as the top spit is turned over the soil 
in the bottom of the trench should be forked over, and 
have a proportion of the manure mixed with it to 
encourage the roots to strike down, and be as far as is 
desirable beyond the influence of a short period of 
drought. Some persons advise the whole of the 
manure to be put into the bottom of the trench, but 
experience, extended over many years, has shown the 
practice to have little to recommend it, if it is not 
decidedly objectionable. It will not be necessary to 
dress beds in the flower garden in which dahlias are 
to be planted so liberally as advised above, but the 
soil must be enriched sufliciently.to sustain a vigorous 
growth. The cultivation of dahlias for exhibition 
purposes on thin and naturally poor soils will be 
found very uq>hill work, and in most cases it will 
prove verj r disappointing. Thin or shallow soils may 
be materially improved by the addition of strong 
loam, and if loam can be obtained at a reasonable 
rate a moderate dressing will afford an ample return. 
-—( G-ard. Mag., 1882, 176). 
— E Presentation has recently been made 
to Mr. Crump, gardener for some years to the 
Duke of Marlborough, at Blenheim. It con¬ 
sisted of a silver-plated tea service, and was given by 
the employes at Blenheim as a token of their esteem, 
and also of their regret at his leaving, the occasion of 
which is bis having entered into business on his own 
account at Leamington. 
— Presentation to Mr. John Lee. The 
officer-bearers of the Royal Gardeners’ Bene¬ 
volent Institution have recently presented to 
Mr. John Lee, of Hammersmith, a service of plate, 
of the value of fifty guineas, in order to mark their 
sense of the valuable services he has rendered to the 
Institution during the long.period of forty-one years, 
as a Trustee of its funded property, and for nearly the 
whole of the time as Chairman of the Committee of 
Management. 
—■ E Presentation -has also been made 
to Mr. William Muir, who for nearly seven¬ 
teen years was head gardener to the late Sir 
Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, Oulton Park, 
Cheshire, on hh receiving the more important ap¬ 
pointment of bead gardener to the Earl of Hopetoun, 
Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh. The “ keepsake ” 
consisted of a purse containing fifty sovereigns, with 
a handsome black marble timepiece, upon which was 
a gold plate bearing the following inscription :— 
“Presented, together viith a purse of money, to 
Mr. 'William Muir, by friends, as a mark of respect 
and esteem, on his leaving Oulton Park, March, 
1882.” 
fEnno riant. 
— 5Ehe Rev. John Gudgeon Nelson died 
suddenly at Aldborough on April 14th. He 
had been for the last twenty-two years rector 
of Aldborough, and had inherited a passionate love 
for plants from his father—who was also a great 
gardener, and the raiser, amongst other things, of the 
pretty Phlox Nelsoni. We are indebted to him for 
so ne se-dling Phloxes of a very charming character, 
raise l from seeds of P. subula'a and P. Nelsoni, 
drawings of which were pub ished in the Garden in 
the early part of last year, the varieties figured in¬ 
cluding forms with bright rose, white, rosy-azure, 
pink, and mauve-pink flowers. To Mr. Nelson we 
are also indebted for the Laehenalia Nelsoni, one of 
the most charming of greenhouse bulbs. 
