November 15, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
169 
arena with incurved varieties, his life-long favourites, 
and how many valuable prizes he has won in his time 
we should not like even to conjecture ; suffice it to say 
that they have been many, and always won with blooms 
of the highest quality. Mr. Sanderson was also in his 
day a noted racquet player, and in 1876 was presented 
with his portrait by the Middlesex Amateur Racquet 
Club. Genial with all men, thoroughly impartial and 
fair in his judgment of all things, and of rare business 
capacity and tact, long may our ex-president be spared 
to give the society the benefit of his ripe experience. 
Mr. R. Ballantine, 
The chairman of committees of the National Chry¬ 
santhemum Society, has been an amateur cultivator of 
Chrysanthemums since 1876, his mentor in the gentle 
art having been the late Mr. Orchard, when manager 
at Messrs. Dixon & Co.’s Amhurst Nursery, at Hackney. 
He was for some years a successful exhibitor at the 
Royal Aquarium, but the claims of his city business in 
Distaff Lane affords him now but small opportunities 
of being among his plants. He has been a generous 
supporter of the society for some years, and warmly 
supported the proposal to convert it into a national 
society. He was vice-president of the society for 
several years under the presidency of Mr. E. Sanderson, 
and on the retirement of the latter gentleman in 1889, 
Mr. Ballantine was appointed chairman of committees, 
and conducts the business of the society with admirable 
tact and temper. 
Mr. J. R. Starling, 
The treasurer of the society, has filled that office since 
1878-79. He has for many years been a successful 
grower of the “Mum” at his residence at Gunnersbury, 
and has exhibited groups of plants of high merit. Mr. 
Starling is an ardent florist, and takes warm interest in 
local horticultural organisations. He was the principal 
originator of the Reserve Fund in connection with the 
society, and loses no opportunity of warmly advocating 
the policy of augmenting it on all favourable occasions, 
a policy which has our hearty sympathy. 
Mr. E. C. Jukes. 
Mr. Jukes is an enthusiastic amateur cultivator of the 
Chrysanthemum, and resides at Barnet. His favourite 
section is -the large-flowered Anemone varieties, which 
he cultivates with great success, and takes high honours 
.with them at the Royal Aquarium exhibitions. Mr. 
Jukes takes a warm interest in the affairs of the society, 
and on the elevation of Mr. R. Ballantine to the post 
of chairman of committees, Mr. Jukes was appointed 
vice-chairman. He took a very active part in revising 
the rules of the society, consequent upon its change of 
name on becoming the National Society. 
Mr. C. Harman Payne, 
The Foreign Corresponding Secretary of the N. C. S. 
is one of the youngest Chrysanthemum men of the 
time. He became an enthusiast when a member of, 
and an exhibitor at the shows of the Lambeth Amateur 
Chrysanthemum Society, of which he was ultimately 
elected president. He became a member of the N. C. S. 
in 1884, and was soon elected a member of the general 
committee. In 1885 he wrote'and published “ A Short 
History of the Chrysanthemum, ’’and had previously con¬ 
tributed a few articles to the gardening papers. In 1886 
the N. C. S. revised its first catalogue, and appointed a 
catalogue committee, of which Mr. Harman Payne was 
made secretary, and he has acted in the same capacity 
in connection with all the editions published since. 
He was also appointed Foreign Corresponding Secretary 
of the society in 1888, devotes a great deal of time to 
the society’s work, and is seldom absent from its 
meetings. 
For some years past Mr. Payne has been an ardent 
collector of books, drawings, and photographs relating 
to the Chrysanthemum. His collection of coloured 
plates is, perhaps, the most complete in existence, 
forming a pictorial history of the flower for 100 years, 
and for which he has received the Silver Medal of the 
N. C. S. (1886), a Silver Gilt Medal at Roubaix in 
1887, a Silver Medal at Toulouse in 1888, a Diploma 
of Merit from the Kent County Society in 1889, and a 
Silver Gilt Medal at the Ghent Centenary Show in 
1889. His collection of books and pamphlets on the 
Chrysanthemum is unequalled, and comprises all the 
rare ones that have been published in England, France, 
Germany, and America. Among his treasures also 
must be included a large collection of photographs of 
Chrysanthemum raisers and growers at home and 
abroad. 
For about eight years Mr. Harman Payne has made 
the history of the Chrysanthemum and the literature of 
the subject his constant study, and during the same 
period has been in correspondence with Chrysanthemum 
men almost all over the world. We believe he was 
also the first amateur in this country to open up 
correspondence with all the French seedling raisers, 
and so has been the means of introducing a large num¬ 
ber of the best French Japanese varieties into this 
country—but not as a matter of business. For several 
years Mr. Payne bought many of the new French flowers, 
and indeed only grew new sorts. As Foreign Corre¬ 
sponding Secretary and secretary of the Catalogue 
Committee Mr. Harman Payne is undoubtedly the 
right man in the right place—and no better could be 
found. 
Mr. Richard Dean. 
“ R. D.,” so well known to the readers of periodical 
horticultural literature, and who, after being a member 
of the committee of the N. C. S. for some years, 
undertook the laborious duties of secretary on the 
death of Mr. William Holmes, was born in the year 
1830, at the Hill Nursery, Southampton, of which his 
father was at that time foreman. He is the third of a 
family of four brothers, the eldest of whom is Mr. 
William Dean, of Birmingham ; and the youngest, Mr. 
A. Dean, of Bedfont. The second brother has long 
since passed away. In early manhood Mr. Richard 
Dean went to Slough, where for several years he had 
charge of the order department of the Royal Nursery. 
Later he was employed at Messrs. Arthur Dickson & 
Son’s Nursery, at Chester; and subsequently had a 
long and most valuable experience of the wholesale 
seed trade in the then popular house of Messrs. Beck, 
Henderson, & Child, of the Adelphi. From thence he 
went to Ealing, and became a seed grower on his own 
account, as well as a seedsman and florist. For some 
years past Mr. Dean has been one of the most popular 
and widely engaged of flower show judges ; and has 
also occupied a very prominent literary position as a 
contributor to the leading gardening journals. At one 
time he was editor of the Floral Magazine, garden 
editor of Land and Water, joint editor of The Gardener, 
editor of The Country, London correspondent of the 
Irish Gardeners’ Record, and still continues to write 
on his favourite subject “floriculture” to this and 
other papers. The original Horticultural Club, for 
some time called the Lindley Club, which had its 
headquarters at Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street, had 
Mr. Dean for its secretary ; and for some years he 
was the secretary of the Ealing Horticultural Society. 
He also rendered good service to the committee 
of the Great International Horticultural Exhibition, 
held in London in 1886, and but the other day 
superintended the great fruit show at the Guildhall. 
With such a record, was not the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society fortunate in securing the services of 
Mr. Dean to complete the work begun by William 
Holmes ? 
-- 
NATIONAL CHRYSANTHEMUM 
SOCIETY. 
CENTENARY CELEBRATION. 
November lltli, 12th, 13 th and 14 th. 
The organisers of the festival celebrating the hundredth 
anniversary of the introduction of the Chrysanthemum 
into this country, which was opened at the Royal 
Aquarium on Tuesday, and Chrysanthemum lovers of 
all degrees have the greatest reason to rejoice over the 
success of their efforts, for as a display of the Chry¬ 
santhemum as represented by cut flowers and specimen 
plants, it is no exaggeration to say that the like has not 
been seen before. It is unfortunate in the highest 
degree that the society had not the command of a 
sufficiently large run of clear floor space to present the 
glorious plants and flowers brought for exhibition in a 
bold and effective way. It is a magnificent show 
spoilt through being too much broken up. As an effort 
at picturesque arrangement it is necessarily a failure, 
but the public who come to see the show, seem to 
care little for this ; while the genuine “ Mumist,” if 
anything, cares less, for give him opportunities for 
comparing flowers without much trouble, and the 
general effect counts for nothing—so that perhaps we 
need not be too particular. 
Never in the history of the Chrysanthemum has such 
a magnificent collection of cut blooms, and of Japanese 
varieties in particular, been got together before. The 
incurved varieties are grand too as a whole, notwith¬ 
standing a want of refinement that marks so many of 
the larger blooms in many collections. The Centenary 
class has proved a grand success, insomuch as it has 
brought out at once so many competitors, and such a 
wonderful lot of blooms that they alone would have 
made the fortune of any other show, without additional 
attractions. The competition was for forty-eight 
blooms, twenty-four each of incurved and Japanese 
varieties, all to be distinct—a strong enough order to 
tax the resources of even the largest growers ; but that 
some eighteen competitors should have entered the 
lists and made the judging a matter of the greatest 
difficulty, in the case of the smaller prizes, is indeed 
something wonderful. A long table at the theatre end 
of the building suffices not to contain the competitive 
collections, they occupying a good portion of another 
one besides. As to who should be placed first there 
was not much doubt, the truly magnificent blooms 
staged by Messrs. W. & G. Drover, of Fareham, Hants, 
for size, colour, and freshness being well in advance of 
all the others ; but when it came to say who should be 
second, Mr. Parker, of Impney, or Mr. Gibson, of 
Morden Park, then came the tug of war, and a right 
royal battle it was, decided at last only in favour of Mr. 
Parker by some two or three points. 
In front of the visitor, standing at the table, and 
looking down the building, is “ Eve’s GardeD,” one of 
the cleverest of optical delusions we have ever seen, 
surrounded with tail-grown plants, and leading up 
to such an array of large groups surrounding a group of 
Palms, as we have never had at the Aquarium before. 
There are five of them, and all are remarkable for the 
profusion and quality of their brightly-coloured blooms. 
Here Mr. G. Stevens, of Putney, comes in first, beating 
Messrs. J. Laing & Sons ; while another Putney grower, 
Mr. J. Townshend, came in third, with plants that do 
him infinite credit. 
On either side of this massive block of colour are 
long tables of cut blooms. On one side are the 
collections staged by Chrysanthemum societies in 
competition for the Challenge Trophy, a class that 
shows a marked advance on previous efforts. There 
are five very fine lots, and this year the trophy goes to 
the St. Neots’ Society, who exhibit a grand lot of 
blooms, Wimbledon following closely, and Chislehurst 
coming in third. On the table opposite are Japanese 
and incurved in galore, and a specially interesting 
feature here is the competition with Japanese varieties 
cut with stems some 8 ins. long, and shown with their 
foliage, a more natural system certainly than flattening 
the blooms out on the board, but will want amending 
in the direction of increasing the number of rows from 
three to six before the best effect is gained. Compare 
the competition stands with Messrs. Cannell’s arrange¬ 
ment, and the truth of this will be seen at once. 
At the St. Stephen’s Hall end a somewhat similar 
arrangement of groups and tables obtain. Here the 
plants in two competitions—one for specimen trained 
plants and the other for a group of straight-stemmed 
plants not exceeding 5 ft. high—form a very attractive 
whole. The dwarf untrained plants, which are really 
cut-backs, show at once what an advantage this system 
is to many, and what really fine blooms can be obtained 
by it. Messrs. Reid & Bornemann, of Sydenham, take 
the lead, but the second prize group, exhibited by the 
representatives of the late Mr. William Holmes, is a 
very remarkable one, on account of the exceeding 
dwarfness of the plants. Poor Holmes’ foreman has 
beaten all competitors on this point. A wonderful 
collection of cut blooms of Japanese varieties fills one 
of the side tables; and Messrs. Cannell & Sons on the 
other most admirably display the floral resources of 
Swanley. Their massive bank of Chrysanthemum 
blooms, shown in blocks of colour, is one of the features 
of the show, while the long array of cut blooms of zonal 
Pelargoniums provide a wealth of colours, scarlet in 
particular, that is not to be found among the Chrysan¬ 
themums ; and a batch of plants of the charming white 
Begonia Octavie have an attraction that is all their own. 
In the gallery running the whole length of one side 
of the building are staged the fruits and vegetables, and 
a wonderful show of Potatos. The Grapes, Apples, and 
Pears are for some reason or other not seen in such great 
profusion as usual, though of undeniably fine quality. 
The Potatos on the other hand have never been sur¬ 
passed, there being at least 500 competitive dishes—and 
all of the highest quality—besides singularly fine collec¬ 
tions staged for exhibition only by Messrs. Sutton & 
Sons, and Mr. C. Fidler, of Reading. The vegetables 
also claim one’s admiration alike for their grand quality 
and the tasteful way in which they are displayed. Here 
also is a large and attractive display of Cyclamens from 
Mr. W. Taylor ; and a very fine lot of Pernettyas from 
Messrs. Cutbush & Son ; and a nice lot of cut Chry¬ 
santhemum blooms from Messrs. J. Peed & Son. 
St. Stephens’ Hall contains also a great number of 
cut blooms, those shown in the amateurs classes 
mainly, and a superb lot of specimen plants, worthy 
