38 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 17, 1887. 
of their trunks, quite preventing us from measuring 
them. There are many other points of interest to 
admire, not the least so being three very old Cedars of 
Lebanon, which have lost very many of their branches, 
while others are chained up in order to preserve them ; 
we measured the largest of these at about 1 ft. high, 
and the circumference was 16 ft. 
The kitchen garden, with all the glass erections, is 
situated on the south-west side of the hall; but this 
we did not see, as the pleasure grounds and park took 
up all the time at our disposal. The whole place is 
kept in neat order, and Mr. Oclee, who has been 
gardener here for several years, is to be complimented 
on the efficient manner in which the gardens and 
pleasure grounds are maintained.— Rambler. 
-- 
THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
I have read with great interest Professor Foster’s 
scheme for the reorganisation of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society, for it offers many valuable suggestions, 
and provides admirably for the scientific expert. If 
the means necessary to accomplish the project could be 
provided, the interests of this class and the valuable 
cause they have at heart would be thoroughly promoted 
by Professor Foster’s plan; but scientific horticulturists 
are not very numerous, and the proportion of them 
which can reasonably be expected to support any one 
public institution in any one place is very limited 
indeed. 
A comprehensive plan, based solely upon the support 
of so limited a class, means a scheme necessitating a 
much larger subscription than the members of any 
society could reasonably be expected to pay. Now, 
the practice of scientific horticulture is an expensive 
hobby, and those who follow it can scarcely be expected 
to take upon themselves alone such a burden as 
Professor Foster’s plan amounts to. If anybody really 
does expect it from them, they will certainly find 
themselves mistaken. 
The Professor has stated that even now it is clear 
the society cannot go on unless its friends put their 
hands in their pockets to give it a fresh start, and this 
remark demonstrates the inutility of making an appeal 
to the scientific section only of the friends of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. But granting that the money 
was found for a fresh start, how is the necessary annual 
income for the society’s maintenance to be obtained in 
future, if it is to depend solely upon the subscriptions 
derived from the scientific horticultural element ? 
It is quite evident that Professor Foster’s plan, 
however advisable, is in any case simply impracticable, 
because it fails to provide a means for carrying out the 
work of the society ; and it must be added that it also 
fails to provide anything at all for that section of 
the general public which, without being scientifically 
horticultural, has a taste for flowers and all connected 
therewith. 
I am told that by the end of the year the number of 
subscribing Fellows will probably have dwindled down 
to 500 or 600, and if the society is to be carried on in 
the future on the severe horticultural lines advocated by 
Professor Foster, its most sanguine friends can hardly 
hope to muster more than 700, or at most 800 sub¬ 
scribers. The annual income from this source cannot 
be estimated at more than £1,600, whatever the rate of 
subscription may be ; for if lower subscriptions be 
attempted, and subscribers of one guinea be admitted, 
many of those now subscribing two guineas will go 
down to one guinea ; on the other hand, if members 
drop off at the present rate of subscription, what will 
happen if the subscription be increased 1 
It has been suggested elsewhere than in Professor 
Foster’s letter—which, indeed, ignores almost entirely 
the financial question—that many working gardeners 
could be induced to subscribe 10s. a year each as 
members or associates. But from enquiries I have 
made among many of them I am convinced that they 
would not subscribe in sufficient numbers to add 
appreciably to the income of the society. Then it 
must not be forgotten that the Life Fellows—upwards 
of 650 in number, among whom it is reasonable to 
suppose are many of the horticulturists pure and 
simple —form a body from whom the society not only 
derives no income, but whose vested rights, so long as 
the society exists, call for constant expenditure on 
their behalf. 
It must be clear that it will be impossible to main¬ 
tain the gardens at Chiswick, much less to meet the 
rest of the expenses necessary for carrying out the work 
of the society, unless means be found from extraneous 
sources to provide an annual income. How is this 
income to be provided ? Clearly by admitting into 
consideration that very large and constantly increasing 
section of the public which has a genuine love for 
flowers and gardens, but is not scientifically horticul¬ 
tural. Let the Royal Horticultural Society give this 
great class some encouragement in its arrangements, and 
at once 'a modus vivendi is found. Deny that con¬ 
sideration and the society must perish like a stove 
plant trying to exist in an open garden. 
I am told that the opportunity now presents itself 
for the society to lease from the Commissioners of the 
1851 Exhibition the remaining portion of the Garden 
at South Kensington, since it has now been definitely 
decided that the Royal Albert Hall Corporation are not 
to acquire them. Provided that the council would 
sanction such refined entertainments therein as would 
serve to attract the general public, they would soon 
draw into the empty coffers of the society the money 
so much needed for the advancement of horticulture. 
"Why should not this be done ? 
Our two leading agricultural societies wisely recognise 
that they must not be above the necessity of providing 
for the recreative wants of the general public as well as 
for the scientific experts. Although they are agri¬ 
cultural before everything else, they take care to enlist 
the support of that larger section of the British public 
which is not agricultural, in order to enable them to 
carry out their main objects. 
The Royal Agricultural Society have at their exhi¬ 
bitions horse-leaping competitions and other attractions, 
and it is notorious that their shows have been made 
holiday occasions for the crowded population of the 
commercial and manufacturing districts ; yet this great 
society has not been too dignified to ally itself with 
town councils, and take the shillings and half-crowns 
of the great public which does not farm, but is still 
interested in agriculture. The Bath and 'West of 
England Society provides (1) a picture-gallery and an 
art union lottery connected therewith; (2) an art 
manufacturers’ gallery ; (3) the best military band 
obtainable ; (4) adequate provision for refreshments. 
These attract many shillings to the exchequer, and 
materially help to provide means for carrying out 
scientific experiments, the public taste being educated 
whilst its recreative wants are supplied. 
Why, then, should the Royal Horticultural Society 
elect to cater solely for that very small section of the 
public whom we will call the scientific horticulturists ? 
By following this policy, not only must its usefulness 
as a horticultural society always be impeded for want 
of funds, but the trade as well as the amateurs will 
have just cause for complaint, especially the former, 
whose interest it must be that opportunities should be 
afforded for their exhibits to be viewed by as large a 
section of the public as can be induced to come to the 
Garden and shows of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
HARDY v. SOFT-WOODED 
PLANTS FOR BEDDING OUT. 
In times like the present, when economy has almost 
become a necessary study to the gardener—the effect, 
no doubt, of the universal depression affecting trade 
and commerce in every sphere—a great saving of 
expense, time and labour, with little sacrifice of the 
beautiful, would follow the adoption of ornamental 
shrubs as substitutes for the gay and, to a degree, 
vulgar, not to say expensive and unsatisfactory system 
so much in fashion now and for years gone by. The 
trouble, expense, etc., connected with the latter plan in 
comparison to the short-lived existence it has, even 
under the most advantageous circumstances, depreciates 
the value of the material, not only as an ornamental 
and decorative art, but as one much greater and of 
more important worth—utility. 
Ornamental shrubs, it is necessary to say, if a 
judicious and artistic selection is made, adorn not only 
the flower-garden throughout the summer months, but 
also the drear and dismal winter months—a feature of 
itself of the first importance, especially when the family 
occupy the residence all the seasons of the year. On 
lawns, were beds are sparsely distributed, the effect 
of this system of shrub-bedding is impressive in the 
extreme, and worthy of the greatest attention. In 
many respects it equals the very best mode of soft- 
wooded bedding, and in every case supersedes the 
humdrum patchwork so often seen, and so very offensive 
to the artistic eye. There is scarcely anything so pleasing 
to the tasteful a poetic mind as a well-arranged 
assortment of this beautiful class of plants, among 
which every shade of colour, mostly, is found, and so 
peculiar to them, that their beauty is not only by the 
few, but universally, appreciated. All sizes, too, are 
among them, therefore if properly arranged, little 
trouble will attend them for at least two years. 
This is, undoubtedly, in the meantime a matter of 
prime consideration, not only to the finances of the 
employer, but to the employe, who not uncommonly 
fights against nature and impossibilities to no purpose. 
Each year he sets too with new hopes and higher 
aspirations to make the best of a bad speculation, but 
each year teaches only his folly. A thunderstorm or 
a downpour of hail levels the whole nine months’ work 
in an hour, and ere they regain their beauty the 
autumn frost attacks them, leaving in its wake a 
sickening picture. 
Ornamental shrubs, on the other hand, suffer from 
few climatic disturbances, excepting very severe frost, 
and the damage done is very inconsiderable. They 
thrive almost in any soil, though a heavy clay 
seems to be their favoured one. 
I may be allowed to enumerate a few of the most 
useful, which in their perfection can be seen in the 
Warriston Nursery, Edinburgh. Cryptomeria nana 
and C. elegans, Cupressus Lawsoniana alba-spica, C. 
L. aurea, C. nana, C. erecta-viridis, and C. stricta, 
Fitzroya Patagonica, Juniperus chinensis, J. c. aurea, 
J. Sabiana variegata, Retinospora ericoides, R. filifera, 
R. Keteleeri and R. variegata, R. leptoclada, R. 
lycopodioides, R. obtusa aurea nana, R. o. n. gracilis, 
R. pisifera, R. p. aurea, R. p. argentea, R. plumosa, 
R. p. aurea and R. p. argentea, R. squarrosa, R. 
tetragona aurea, Taxus elegantissima, T. fastigiata 
variegata, T. variegata argentea and T. v. aurea, 
Thuja aurea, T. globosa, T. g. aurea, T. g. nana, T. 
ericoides, T. Cervaneana, Thujopsis borealis, T. b. 
variegata, T. dolobrata and T. variegata, Aucubas of 
sorts, Buxus of sorts, Ericas, Euonymus, Gaultherias, 
Grislinia littoralis, Hollies, Ledums, Osmanthus, 
Pernettyas, Ruscus, Skimmias, Vaeciniums, and many 
more admirable sorts too numerous to state here. 
However, prominence should be given to the richer 
colours, and due attention to the proper arrangement 
of these to contrast or harmonise, as well as to habits, 
and, no doubt, the effect will more than compensate 
for the great something wanting in our pleasure 
grounds and flower gardens in these rickety years, that 
seem to be out of joint and temper with more things 
than the sub-tropical bedding-out system.— D. J. C. 
-- 
PHCENOCOMA PROLIFERA 
BARNESII. 
Though not often seen in collections at present, this 
very useful exhibition plant can still hold its own in 
competition when grown into a good specimen, which 
requires some skill, and likewise a little patience ; but, 
still, when the plant takes good ways, and is in a 
thrifty, healthy condition, it will make considerable 
progress in a few years’ time. 
To be successful in its management, it requires a 
good airy greenhouse, with plenty of light to keep the 
plant as sturdy as possible. The peculiar character¬ 
istics of its growth always make it a conspicuous 
object in a greenhouse, whether in flower or not; but 
when in bloom, its fine heads of rosy crimson flowers 
have a very telling effect, the flowers having the power 
of lasting a long time, which again adds to its merits, 
either for exhibition work or for keeping the greenhouse 
gay. 
The plants now will be past their blooming season, 
and will have commenced to make fresh growth. In 
the case of young plants, or half-specimens, they 
should be at once seen to in the matter of potting and 
tying into shape for making nice plants another season. 
Where potting is required, a good average shift is 
desirable, using for a compost three parts of good rough 
fibrous peat, and the other part a nice silky loam 
broken very fine, so as to thoroughly mix up with the 
peat, adding a fair sprinkling of sharp silver sand, with 
a little broken stone and charcoal ; this makes an 
excellent compost into which the roots can penetrate 
freely. Potting should not be delayed after the present 
month of September, as the roots become well established 
in their new soil before the winter months set in. 
Great care must be exercised in the matter of water¬ 
ing, the plant under notice being very impatient of 
stagnant water ; sufficient should be given to penetrate 
the whole ball of soil, and the pot should be well 
drained to carry off all surplus water from the roots. 
Always pot the plant very firm, and be careful that the 
stem does not get buried lower than what it had been 
in the pot from which it was removed. — IF. G. 
