772 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 6, 1887. 
If the distinguished amateur and scientific 
class, as also the chief of the horticultural trade, 
•we take it for granted that these can afford 
the two guineas as easily as they can one 
guinea; hut not one provincial gardener in a 
hundred, or one general horticulturist in fifty, 
will thereby be induced to become Fellows. 
The guinea subscription may remain for the 
few intermediates if desirable; but of this we 
are assured, that until a half-guinea annual 
Fellowship is constituted, it will be useless to 
look for tangible support to the society from 
the great body of the gardeners of the kingdom. 
Whether, say, one thousand half-guineas are 
worth having or not, we leave to the considera¬ 
tion of the Council; but, apart from the money, 
the importance of securing, through the lower 
rate of subscription, one thousand, and possibly 
double that number of the gardeners of the 
country as permanent Fellows of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, cannot be over-estimated. 
The present deplorable condition of the 
society’s finances ought to check ambitious 
enterprises, and we should hold it to be a 
blessing were the society very speedily com¬ 
pelled to fall back for its permanent home 
upon Chiswick, and there provide at a moderate 
cost all that at present it needs for its 
operations. Movements in any other direction 
seem absolutely certain to lead the society 
deeper and deeper into the mire of indebtedness 
and insolvency. The financial position is the 
very crux of the society’s existence; it is the 
first problem to be faced; to ignore it is but 
to defer the evil day a little while. 
Professor Foster’s suggestions as to internal 
re-organisation are worthy of full consideration, 
though seemingly very complex. He thinks 
the Council too hard-worked—a suggestion 
which provokes a smile—and not large enough. 
Generally, we think, readers will agree with 
us in holding that the chief defect of the 
Council is to be found in its non-representative 
character and its lack of business qualifications. 
If any demur to that criticism, we have but to 
point to the present position of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, and ask whether any 
body of practical or business men would have 
allowed it to get into its present deplorable 
condition. Given a good business like Council, 
composed of men in full sympathy with prac¬ 
tical horticulture, and equal to its require¬ 
ments, and we care not a rap whether they be 
eighteen or twenty-four in number or whether 
permitted to hold office for three or five years. 
But Professor Foster’s strangest suggestion 
seems to be found in the formation of a general 
committee, the duties of which are, however, 
not too clearly defined, but it is to consist 
absolutely of Fellows. To this condition we 
make no objection if the lower rate of sub¬ 
scription we have advocated be adopted. If it 
be not so, then, at once, from that committee 
will be excluded much of the best practical 
knowledge in the Kingdom. Does Professor 
Foster know that at present there are not a 
few members of the Fruit and Floral Com¬ 
mittees who are not Fellows, and who, in 
giving their able and practical services on 
those bodies, hold that they give to the society 
that which is more than money’s worth. If 
anyone be elected as members of these com¬ 
mittees, make him a full Fellow, at once, for 
the time he is serving; that would surmount 
the difficulty, but the point would need the 
fullest consideration. As to the formation of 
one entire committee, of which the Fruit, 
Scientific and Floral should be divisions, that 
is an old idea put forth years ago in the 
columns of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, and is 
now received with greater authority. How¬ 
ever, we have said enough in criticism of 
Professor Foster’s kindly effort, and that it is 
kindly and well-intentioned we recognise to 
the full. 
The Carnation and Picotee Union at 
Oxford. —This highly popular and interesting 
gathering took place as usual in Mr. E. S. 
Dodwell’s Garden in the Stanley Road, on 
Tuesday the 2nd inst., it being the third annual 
exhibition. On this occasion so grand was the 
display, so fine the weather, and so large the 
company, not a few of the elite of Oxford 
coming to see what Mr. Dodwell fitly terms 
the feast—for it is a floral feast of the highest 
order—that our old friend must be congratu¬ 
lated upon having scored a splendid success. 
It was an exhibition worthy of the fullest 
record; it was pronounced to have been the 
finest display of Carnations and Picotees ever 
seen in the southern counties. 
And what a gathering of old and new 
friends ! Genial Samuel Barlow and Francis 
D. Horner, with Robert Lord, B. Simonite, 
Thomas Bower, and John Whetham, were there, 
as representing the north ; J. S. Hedderley, 
W. M. Hewitt, William Slack, William Bacon 
and J. P. Sharp represented the midland 
counties ; Oxford furnished a heavy contingent, 
floral, literary, friendly ; Reading was repre¬ 
sented by W. L. Walker, Charles Phillips and 
others; Slough by that hearty florist, honest 
John Ball ; London by Shirley Hibberd and 
Richard Dean. Everybody seemed hearty and 
happy. In addition to the show there was Mr. 
Dodwell’s 12,000 flowers. 
At three o’clock nearly 100 persons, including 
many ladies, sat down to a substantial luncheon 
in the Hall of Cowley St. John High School, 
under the presidency of the deputy mayor of 
Oxford, Mr. Alderman Buckell, a past grand 
master in the art of successful chairmanship. 
There was some good speaking ; our dear old 
friend Dodwell was in excellent form, and the 
whole thing went merrily as a marriage bell. 
A more loyal, hearty and united band of florists 
never before sat down at the same table 
together. May we be there again in 1888 and 
again in 1988, if the best interests of the 
Oxford Carnation and Picotee Union require 
we should sojourn on the earth until that 
remote period. Surely we may couple the 
Carnation with the Rose and shout, Floreat 
Regina Floreum ! 
-- 
The annual excursion of the Horticultural Club 
took place on July 27th, when a number of ladies and 
gentlemen paid a visit to Eridge Castle, near Tunbridge 
Wells, and Penshurst Place, the seat of the Right Hon. 
Lord de L’Isle. 
Messrs. Dickson, Brown & Tait, seedsmen, 43 and 
45, Corporation Street, Manchester, have received the 
Royal Warrant appointing them seed merchants to 
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. 
This (Saturday) evening, at a meeting of the 
Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society, 
Mr. Samuel Heaton (gardener to Robert Smith, Esq., 
Longridge) will open a discussion by reading a paper 
on “ Natural versus Artificial Manure.’’ 
At the Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen’s 
summer show, held on July 29th and 30th, the silver 
cup, presented by Dr. Maitland Moir for the best 
Scotch Thistle, was gained by Mr. A. Cook, jun., 
The Birches, Peterculter, for a majestic specimen 
grown from seed gathered from a plaut on Burns’ 
grave. Fifteen entries were forwarded, and the 
specimens made a very interesting class. 
An interesting case of Laurel Leaves Recovering 
from Frost, was brought under the notice of the 
Scientific Committee on Tuesday week by the Rev. G. 
Henslow. The leaves which had been severely injured 
at their apices and along the margins in early spring, 
had thrown off the injured part and formed a new 
cuticularised edge in place of it. The serratures were 
wanting, so that the portions renewed were entire. 
Highstone Wood, one of the ornamental plan¬ 
tations established by the Earl of Strafford on the 
Wentworth Castle estate, a favourite pleasure resort, 
situate near Worsbro’ Common, was, to a great extent, 
so far as the underwood is concerned, destroyed by 
fire on Monday evening, caused by children playing. 
Every effort was made to check the flames by cutting 
a ditch and throwing on water, but a strong breeze was 
blowing, and, owing to the elevated position of the 
plantation, the flames did much damage. Over forty 
acres of Shines Moors, near Sheffield, was destroyed by 
fire on the same day. 
The co-operative movement will be well represented 
at South Kensington on August 2-3rd, the occasion of 
the National Co-operative Flower Show, held 
under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
which will be an exhibition of the products of bona fide 
working men’s gardens. The show cannot help being 
interesting and instructive, as it will represent the 
gardening capabilities of small cottagers throughout 
the length and breadth of the land. Cheap excursions 
are, we understand, being organised from all parts of 
the Kingdom, and the conference which is to be held 
in the afternoon on the “ Possibilities of Co-operative 
Allotments and Associated Gardens,” will doubtless be 
well attended, and give rise to an interesting discussion. 
All persons who would like to attend should com¬ 
municate with the hon. secretary, Mr. W. Broomhall, 
1, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C. 
-->X-<-- 
GAILLARDIA PULCHELLA. 
Mr. James Percival, of Smithy Bridge, near Roch¬ 
dale, has just sent me two flowers of G. pulchella, 
which he informs me were obtained from seeds gathered 
somewhere on the route of the Canadian Pacific Rail¬ 
way, when in course of construction some six years 
ago, and sent home to him by a friend. Though both 
flowers came, doubtless, from seed of the same bloom 
they differ materially, for one has a large dark disc, 
around which is a circle of broad, stout, golden yellow 
florets, while the other has the same disc, but tubular 
florets, thus illustrating the sport much found in 
seminal varieties of the Gaillardia. The first is a very 
fine type, and makes one feel how necessary it is that 
the greatest care should be observed in granting Cer¬ 
tificates of Merit to new forms of this flower. Mr. 
Percival states that the plants have been in flower for 
the past month, and if kept cut they go on blooming 
until disabled by frost. 
There is one excellent characteristic about this 
species ; Mr. Percival states that it is perfectly hardy, 
and has withstood the past four winters without the 
slightest protection, and he regards it as one of the 
finest composites grown—superior to Harpalium rigi- 
dum and Rudbeckia Newmannii. Mr. Percival further 
states that he has some seeds of G. aristata, G. pieta 
and G. bicolor at various times, but has never flowered 
them, the plants having always died off during the 
winter. Last year he sowed seeds of G. Lorenziana, 
and the plants were all killed by the first frost that 
came in November. Therefore, G. pulchella may be 
stated to be perfectly hardy, which is a good deal to 
say, in comparison with G. picta, G. aristata and 
others.— B. D. 
-—>:£<-- 
SANVITALIA PROCUMBENS 
FLORE PLENO. 
Amongst annual composites this Mexican plant 
should hold a leading place ; but at the present day 
it suffers great neglect—by no means deserved—for it is 
really an attractive subject for the open borders, and 
flowers with great profusion even in the driest weather, 
as we have evidenced this year. Our illustration 
represents the so-called double form, and is by no 
means an exaggeration of its profuse-flowering nature. 
The single or typical form of the inflorescence has a 
golden yellow ray and a black disk, that render the 
head very conspicuous by contrast. In the double or 
full flower-head, the disk florets develope into the 
ligulate form, similar to those of the ray, and are 
coloured like them. What is gained in this way by 
the uniformly golden yellow flower-head is lost by the 
disappearance of the beautiful black disk. Lovers of 
both single and double flowers (and each have 
their recommendations) will find in this Sanvitalia 
something to their taste. Sown early in spring in pots 
or pans, and planted out singly when the weather 
becomes favourable as to heat and moisture, a lasting 
display of bloom is the result from early spring 
onwards, till frost cuts the plants down. They may 
be grown singly, in clumps, or in beds, for which the 
low procumbent stems are admirably adapted. For 
this reason either of the forms of S. procumbens would 
be a boon to amateurs who wished to fill up a bed or 
two with an easily procurable, easily raised, and 
profuse-flowering subject. 
