March 5, 18S7. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
425 
evils would have to be tolerated, namely, injuring the 
roots and spoiling the fine contour of the trees by 
pruning.— A. D. Webster. 
--> 3 =<—-- 
CHALLENGE CUPS AND 
TROPHIES. 
Committees are certainly busy framing their 
schedules—as your correspondent, Mr. Udale, states— 
for the coming year, and his few remarks upon challenge 
cups are most opportune. I myself consider these 
cups and trophies, as now offered, are undesirable for 
several reasons. They might remain in the society’s 
hands for a number of years, and this is where the flesh 
is extracted from exhibitors ; secondly, when it remains 
thus even for three years there are naturally three suc¬ 
cessful competitors, and the one who gets possession of 
it at the end of that time cannot be termed the rightful 
owner ; the second has really a share in it. Give the 
successful exhibitor his hard-earned money in pounds 
sterling, with a good horticultural book ; his domestic 
calls, or, if he be a prudent man, the savings bank, will 
tell him what to do with it. 
But I dissent from Mr. Udale in the suggestions 
thrown out, where these cups or trophies are already in 
existence. These suggestions are, no doubt, well meant, 
and at first sight appear feasible ; yet on a closer 
scrutiny they reveal another side, 
which cannot be well overlooked. 
The hints to committees are not 
sufficiently broad to inspire or 
induce them to adopt giving cups 
or trophies of 20 or 25 guineas 
annually ; I fear if such were the 
case it would be at the expense of 
the smaller classes. There are not 
many Chrysanthemum societies in 
the kingdom which could do it 
unless well supported, or old- 
established societies having good 
funds at command unless on special 
occasions. 
Mr. Udale, further on, shows a 
little inconsistency when he says it 
is all very well when their posses¬ 
sion depends not upon an individual 
but collective effort. Such valu¬ 
able prizes cannot be given an¬ 
nually unless societies combine 
together. The trophies could then 
be competed for in districts, an 
outcome which, like Mr. Udale, I 
should he pleased to see. 
Your correspondent is rather 
hard and unfair upon newly-born 
societies. They are seemingly de¬ 
termined, as he says, to have their 
pound of flesh in return for their 
trophies offered. Well, if it extends 
over a period of three years it will 
give them a start, to which ex¬ 
hibitors would not object. Now, we will take it for 
granted that such a society offers a cup valued at 20 
guineas to be twice successfully gained before it becomes 
the property of the exhibitor, this represents £7 for 
three years, which would not be considered poor for 
such a show, and is, perhaps, as much as the society 
can afford to give ; but Mr. Udale asks whether this 
£7 is a fair equivalent for the wear and tear of body 
and mind of an exhibitor for twelve months, and to 
this he gives an emphatic “No.” But although this 
£21 is here divided by 3, it is quite possible that one 
of the exhibitors could work this sum by 2. It would 
then be on a par with most of the prizes given at the 
principal Chrysanthemum shows throughout England. 
Again, Mr. Udale says there are few gardeners who 
like to do their work twice or thrice over. I most 
heartily support him ; individually, I never did, nor ever 
will ; but work done, and work half done are two 
different things. Yet this is an every-day occurrence. 
When an exhibitor is successful the first year, he does 
not consider it won, but only half won, with the value 
of £10 sunk in it. It requires yet another twelve 
months at least before it can be claimed or becomes 
due .—A Northern Committeeman. 
IMPATIENS HAWKERII. 
So far as I am capable of judging, this variety cannot 
be compared in compactness of habit with the free- 
flowering I. Sultani. It may be somewhat premature 
to arrive at a very reliable conclusion about this matter, 
for it may improve in this respect during the summer 
months, when it can be grown on under the influence 
of more light and air. The close confined treatment of 
the stove is not the most suitable for any of the 
varieties, for they grow too rapidly, and thus become 
weak and straggling. Therefore I have some hopes 
that 1. Hawkerii will improve when more suitable 
treatment is accorded it. 
This variety being sent out only in autumn, the 
conditions for seeding it to raise fresh stock have not 
been very suitable. Up to the present time it has 
shown no inclination to seed, even with artificial 
fertilisation ; but this, without doubt, is attributable 
to the moist condition under which our plants have 
been grown. I have removed one plant to a drier 
atmosphere, and now hope to succeed. 
From the other two plants, which have produced 
several side-shoots, cuttings have been taken to increase 
the stock. From all appearances, plants raised from 
cuttings will not branch so freely as those raised from 
seed. This is the case with the other varieties ; but if 
they do not they will be effective amongst other plants 
column are spotted with brown, and the stigmatic 
disk edged with that colour. This variety was ex¬ 
hibited for the first time at South Kensington, by 
II. M. Pollett, Esq., Fernside, Bickley, on February 
8th, when it deservedly obtained a First Class Certifi¬ 
cate. The plant was a fine healthy specimen, with a 
long many-flowered raceme, which rendered it a very 
conspicuous object. 
GROS 
-->x<-- 
COLMAR v. LADY 
DOWNES. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM CHISPDM LEOPARDINUM. 
for decoration, and will prove invaluable for seed¬ 
bearing later in the season. 
Our plants have flowered with greater freedom than 
was expected would be the case at one time. The 
flowers, which are large and strikingly brilliant in 
colour, will prove very useful for the embellishment of 
stoves and intermediate structures. How it will do for 
conservatory decoration during the summer remains to 
be proved ; but we do not doubt that it will do equally 
as well as the other varieties.— D. G. 
Mr. John Gibson, formerly Superintendent of Hyde 
Park, and latterly of Regent’s Park, has been trans¬ 
ferred to Victoria Park ; and Mr. Jordan, lately of 
the latter park, has gone to Regent’s Park. 
-->x<—- 
ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM 
LEOPARDINUM. 
The sepals of this handsome and striking variety are 
oblong-lanceolate, broadest about the middle, and 
heavily blotched with a lively chestnut or somewhat 
reddish brown on a pure white ground. The petals are 
rhomboid, irregularly toothed or jagged from the middle 
upwards, profusely blotched with the same shade of 
brown as the sepals, but the blotches are smaller and 
more numerous, especially towards the base. The 
labellum is cordate or auricled at the base, oblong, 
finely and shortly fringed and crisped at the margin 
with a few reddish brown blotches on a white ground, 
except at the base and crest which are yellow ; the 
crest has two long processes in front with shorter teeth 
radiating towards the base on each. The wings of the 
It is very gratifying to know that someone has read 
what one has written ; and still more agreeable to know 
that one has written something that has proved worth 
answering. I have yet a great deal to learn in the 
matter of Grape growing, as of many other things ; 
and I have no doubt I shall be able to learn something 
of Mr. Riding, if he will be good enough to impart to 
your readers a little of his experience in the cultivation 
of Grapes, and of the varieties, Gros Colmar and Lady 
Downes in particular. By way of giving him something 
specific about which to write, I ask him to kindly tell 
us first why Muscats, in a mixed house, are not 
“favourable company ” for Lady Downes? Secondly, 
why Gros Colmar would “revel” in such a house? 
Thirdly, why Lady Downes, “grown in a late vinery,” 
should “carry off the palm,” 
against Gros Colmar grown in the 
Muscat house—a place in which 
they “revel”? Fourthly, why it 
is, that in a vinery treated specially 
for Lady Downes, Gros Colmar 
should prove superior in flavour ; 
the Lady Downes at the same time 
being fully up to the average 
quality of that variety ? I hope 
Mr. Riding will favour your readers 
with lucid answers to the above 
four questions, w’hich incidentally 
arise out of his general statements 
on p. 394. 
It has become a custom in recent 
years to depreciate varieties of 
Grapes that do not conform to the 
general treatment accorded to other 
varieties whose peculiarities have 
been studied for years ere they 
were brought to the height of ex¬ 
cellence in which they are now 
sometimes seen ; and because of 
this, good varieties of Grapes have 
received condemnation, and been cast 
aside. The best flavoured Grape 
grown, Chasselas Musque, or Jost- 
ling’s St. Albans, is hardly ever seen 
in private gardens, and is only to be 
found mentioned in the best cata¬ 
logues. The Duke of Buccleuch is a 
splendid Grape in every sense, and we 
know that it is far from being com¬ 
monly grown, because of its liability to “spot.” Mrs. 
Pince’s Black Muscat is the best late Muscat extant, and 
yet it is rarely seen ; why this is so is to me a problem. 
I know that fault has been found with its “ finishing ” 
properties. I well remember seeing a young plant of 
this variety, only a few months old, carrying a crop of 
about twenty-five bunches of well-finished Grapes, and 
1 believe that I am within the mark when I say that 
each bunch weighed upwards of one pound and three 
quarters. 
I may be wrong, but I think that the culture of 
varieties of Grapes has been very much on the wane 
of late years, and that changes are being constantly 
rung on Black Hamburgh, Muscat of Alexandria 
Alicante and Lady Downes (by no means a bad 
quartette), with occasional introductions of Foster’s 
Seedling, Barbarossa, Mrs. Pearson, Alnwick Seedling, 
Trebbiano, Madresfield Court and Gros Colmar ; whilst 
the Frontignans, Mrs. Pince’s Black Muscat, Duke of 
Buccleuch, Cannon Hall Muscat, White Tokay, 
Black Monnukka (the seedless Grape), Muscat Ham¬ 
burgh, each having its particular flavour, are simply 
“ nowhere.” It is doubtful whether the limitation to a 
few of the easiest managed and common varieties is the 
most satisfactory policy in the long run when growing 
for private consumption. Of course, a given weight of 
fruit is required for the season, and it is necessary that 
this quantity be provided, but I would ask whether 
variety and quality in regard to flavour are incompatible 
with a sufficient supply of fruit ?— J. Udale, Elford , 
Tamworth, 
