November 17, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
179 
passenger train, coarse fruit and vegetables by goods 
train, thinking it would be much cheaper. However, 
after one or two consignments had been delivered at the 
ordinary goods rate, I received notice fiom my customer 
—whom I have known for many years as a strictly 
honest and truthful man—that the railway company 
had a higher tariff for fruit and vegetables, and that 
they [demanded extra payment of either Is. 2>d. or 
Is. 6d. on previous payments for the same weight of 
the same class of goods sent in the same hamper. This 
additional charge, in conjunction with a rate upon 
returned empties, caused me to cease sending such 
goods to Birmingham, and 'I dispose of them nearer 
home. This excessive charge by the railway company 
causes a direct loss to four classes of the community : 
•—First, the grower; second, the railway companies 
themselves ; third, the fruiterer ; fourth, the public. 
My experience is, that the railway rates are prohibitive 
of the rapid transport and wider distribution of all classes 
of garden produce, except fruit and flowers of the highest 
quality, beyond a distance of twenty miles ; and I have 
long been of opinion that the time had come when it 
was desirable that growers should combine for the 
purposes of dealing with railway rates, selecting the 
most suitable markets, and disposing of their own 
produce, if possible, direct to the consumer.” 
From Mr. W. E. Bear a suggestive letter was received 
in which he said—“I am sorry that I have too much 
in hand for the next fortnight to help your useful 
association by preparing and reading a paper on 
railway rates. It seems to me that the only really 
important thing for your association to do in this 
connection is to form a Parliamentary Committee, and 
to get the association recognised as a body entitled to 
be represented before the Board of Trade. All members 
who have real grievances should send details to the 
committee, and those that prove on examination to be 
valid should be brought before the Board of Trade. It 
is of no use to read a paper showing that rates on fruit 
are too high ; everybody knows that. The time has 
come to get such rates reduced.” 
Mr. Albert Bath said he was not prepared to treat 
the subject fully, but he had made some careful 
comparisons between the rates per ton for fruit 
conveyed by rail from different stations at an equal 
distance from London, and he showed by a series of 
figures the extraordinary disproportion that existed on 
some lines. He contended that a system of equalisation 
was needed in the interest of growers who had to send 
their fruit long distances. 
Mr. R. Dean followed with some facts and figures 
relating to the irregularities of railway charges, showing 
how the foreign preferential rates press very heavily on 
the home producer, the difference in a railway rate 
often meaning the whole of the profit. It was stated 
that English Potatos and fruit cost 23s. id. per ton to 
bring them from Selling to London, yet foreign produce 
of the same character was brought to London vi4 
Selling for 20s. per ton. 
Mr. R. Ivatt, Mr. J. Cheal, Mr. A. Dean also gave 
many statements of a similar character, but Mr. 
Figgures of the Railway Clearing Office remarked that 
the railway companies were mostly willing to make any 
reasonable concessions, and that there was a danger if 
rates were much decreased it would have a tendency to 
flood some markets, with a consequent reduction in 
prices to the producers. He thought the best plan was 
to encourage people to send their goods to the nearest 
markets. In the course of a prolonged discussion many 
interesting and important facts were elicited, and the 
business of the meeting was concluded by a resolution, 
proposed by Mr. Ivatt and seconded by Mr. Roupell, to 
the effect “ that the Executive Committee of the 
British Fruit Growers Association be requested to 
collect all available information on the subject of 
railway rates in connection with fruit transit and 
distribution, to enter into communication for this 
object with the Railway and Canal Traders Association, 
and to submit the results in the form of a report at the 
earliest convenient meeting.” 
Anthurium crystallinum.—T he larger this plant 
is grown the finer it seems to become, both as to the 
rich velvety green colour of the foliage, and the fine 
effect produced by a plant well furnished with large 
healthy leaves. At Gunnersbury House, Acton, there 
is a plant in a pot bearing sixteen leaves, all of great 
size, and many of them are over 2 ft. in length, and 
correspondingly broad. They are so arranged as to 
face in all directions, and the velvety green surface 
shows off the silvery nerves to the best advantage. 
THE NATIONAL AURICULA AND 
CARNATION AND PICOTEE 
SOCIETIES. 
The following communication reached us too late for 
insertion in our last issue : — 
The annual general meetings of the Southern Sections 
of these societies were held on October 23rd, and 
not only were inaccurate reports of those meetings sent 
to the gardening papers, but articles have been 
written founded on these inaccurate reports. As 
honorary secretary of both societies, I beg to say 
that not a line was either written or prompted by 
me. The inaccuracy I complain of was the statement 
that it had been decided to hold the annual displays 
at the Crystal Palace. Nothing of the kind was 
decided at the meeting. It was decided this year, 
as it was also last year, to communicate with the 
directors of the Palace, to ascertain on what terms they 
would receive the societies, and an application was 
also to be made to the council of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society. I thought, while negotiations of 
that kind were in progress, that it was advisable to be 
silent; others evidently differed from me in this 
respect. When it had been finally decided where the 
exhibitions were to be held, I would have sent a report 
as usual to the press. As it has been supposed I sent 
the notices to the press, I think it desirable to send the 
above note.— J. Douglas. 
[ Being unable to find in the report published in these 
columns any statement to the effect “ that it had been 
decided to hold the annual display at the Crystal 
Palace,” we enclosed a cutting of the report to Mr. 
Douglas, and asked him to point out in what parti¬ 
cular it was inaccurate. To this Mr. Douglas replied, 
“ The report you have enclosed is not official, and is 
inaccurate in so far as it leads people to believe that an 
application was to be made to the Crystal Palace and 
not to the Royal Horticultural Society.” We then sent 
the correspondence to the writer of our report, and 
his comments thereon are given below.] 
As the writer of the report of the annual meetings of 
the National Auricula and the National Carnation and 
Picotee Societies (Southern Section), I am desirous that 
Mr. Douglas should point out in what sense it was 
inaccurate. As a subscriber to the National Auricula 
from the very first, and as an invariable exhibitor at 
the shows, it would be absurd to imagine that I had 
any desire to send to The Gardening World a 
report that was not strictly accurate and cordial in its 
tone. I protest that I did not write a single sentence 
of a critical nature. I simply gave you an outline of 
the proceedings of the annual meetings, which I main¬ 
tain was a strictly accurate one; and I did it with a 
sincere desire to benefit the societies by giving the 
horticultural world some knowledge of their proceed¬ 
ings. I maintain that it was a fair and honest report, 
but a strictly independent one, as such reports should 
be. These societies are kept too much in the back¬ 
ground. If they are worthy of public support, as I 
believe them to be, too much publicity cannot be given 
to their proceedings. 
I can plainly see what is in the mind of Mr. Douglas. 
He is aware that I wrote the reports he deems inaccurate, 
and therefore he rushes to the conclusion, without a 
scintilla of evidence to back his rash conclusion, that I 
am also the writer of “the articles” which have been 
written, “founded on these inaccurate reports.” But 
an angry man is rarely logical. As I am not respon¬ 
sible for the articles founded on the reports, it is not 
necessary for me to refer further to them. 
In similar communications to the above, which Mr. 
Douglas has made to the Journal of Horticulture and 
the Gardeners’ Magazine, he appears to set up the claim 
that he alone, as the secretary, should send reports to 
the gardening papers—that is to say, he wishes to 
publish reports as he should like to see them from his 
point of view ; and at the same time he appears to 
fancy that these societies are private institutions, and 
as such quite out of the range of publicity. I maintain 
that as they appeal to the public for support, the 
public have a right to know something of their doings, 
as grounds upon which such an appeal is founded, and 
independent reports are always much more reliable than 
official ones. Why, a large measure of the splendid 
success which has attended the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society and the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, as 
appropriate illustrations, is owing to the independent 
reports of their proceedings given in the columns of 
the horticultural press. 
If Mr. Douglas is willing to join issue, I shall be 
happy publicly to discuss, in the columns of The 
Gardening World, one or two matters affecting these 
societies upon which a little light might be turned 
with advantage.— R. Dean, Ealing, W. [To this we 
would only add, with all respect to our friend Douglas, 
that his objection “to the publication of the pro¬ 
ceedings of any societies such as have appeared in the 
papers, even if they had been accurate ” is utterly pre¬ 
posterous, though quite in accord with his practice of 
not inviting representatives of the press to his annual 
meetings, as other societies do. If Mr. Douglas 
considers that these societies are private institutions, 
he should drop the word “National.”— Ed.] 
-- 
THE FIERY THORN. 
Many trees of this good old-fashioned subject are 
heavily laden with fruit this year, fully entitling it to 
the appellation of Fiery Thorn, a name which i 3 
expressed in Pyracantha, the specific title of Crataegus 
Pyracantha. The latter is sometimes used as a generic 
name, but the differences are too trifling for the retention 
of Pyracantha as a genus. Visitors to the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Gardens at Chiswick recently must 
have been struck with the fine appearance of a tree 
covering a large amount of space on an east aspect wall. 
It had evidently been left unpruned last spring, and 
the flowers being abundant on the last year’s wood, 
there is at present a glowing mass of berries covering 
the whole tree from the ground—on which some of the 
bunches of haws are resting—to the top of the wall, or 
even above it, and which would be about 12 ft. high. 
Planters might with profit devote more attention to 
this species than is generally done, for besides being 
trained on a wall it may also be grown in the open in 
pyramidal form, or as a standard grafted or. the common 
Hawthorn. As a pyramid we have also recently seen 
it loaded with fruit, shapely, closely branched, and 
certainly handsome. 
-—- 
otes from Scotland. 
—-x— 
Late-flowering Hardy Plants. —Allow me 
to supplement my remarks in your last issue with a 
few notes on one or two other plants worthy of high 
recommendation :—Erodeum Manescavi, a very fine 
species, has produced its purplish red flowers in 
abundance since July. Montbretia crocosmiteflora, a 
beautiful hybrid between M. Pottsii and Crocosmia 
aurea, should be included in all collections of hardy 
plants, being much superior to its parents ; the flowers 
are orange-scarlet, much larger, and produced more 
freely. Scabiosa caucasica is almost a perpetual 
bloomer, and a most useful border plant for cutting 
purposes. Schizostylis coccinea is a fine late-flowering 
plant, flowers crimson, also useful for conservatory 
decoration.— J. C. B., Kelso. 
Hardy Pears. —In a recent issue of The Gar¬ 
dening World, “Caledonian” made special reference 
to the Moorfowl’s Egg Pear, as being amongst others a 
suitable variety for planting in districts where none but 
the hardiest sorts can be relied upon. Having had a 
lengthened experience of this old favourite variety, I 
can readily endorse his opinion of its merits in common 
with that of other authorities on fruit trees well adapted 
for cultivation in cold northern parts. According to 
my experience with it, however, I have to remark that 
it, with other fruits grown under diverse cultural 
conditions, does not seem to develop its pleasant and 
somewhat peculiar flavour so fully in a light, as in a stiff 
clayey soil. The fruit this year has been allowed to 
hang longer on the trees than usual, in order to test 
whether this will have any effect on the flavour, but in 
the case of many varieties the opposite course is often 
adopted to secure good flavour. 
Other varieties I have proved to be good croppers in 
a cold locality, and in the open quarters are Louise 
Bonne of Jersey and Beurre Superfin. Beurre 
d’Amanlis and General Todleben do well on south and 
west aspects of walls. I have found it simply waste of 
space to plant such sorts as Duchesse d’ADgouleme, and 
my opinion has been endorsed by old local authorities. 
“ Caledonian’s ” reference to the Victoria Plum leads 
me to mention an instance of the remarkable fertility 
of a comparatively small tree, growing in the open in 
an amateur’s garden, which was brought under my 
notice recently. Although the tree in question has 
not been subjected to any so-called skilful manipula¬ 
tion, the fruits it produced this autumn numbered 
upwards of 1,000 of a fair size. Doubtless equally 
notable instances might be recorded of the prolific 
character of this well-known variety.— D. Mackie, 
Ayrshire. 
