008 
THE GABDENING WORLD. 
May 25, 1889. 
thing, especially when it is an attraction of so 
fugitive a kind as a flower show. Yet so beau¬ 
tiful an exhibition as we look for should, if 
made widely known, attract vast crowds of 
people from our huge town to flock in and 
feast their eyes on the loveliest productions of 
nature. In anticipation of fine weather and 
a big attendance, we hope that greater tent 
area than was found last year will be furn¬ 
ished, as should a large crowd of persons result 
myriads will be unable to see anything. Last 
year many fine exhibits were too crowded for 
lack of space. We cordially hope to see at 
once a grand show, a gigantic attendance, 
and a big financial success. 
^57he National Dahlia Society, the object 
" of which is to promote the cultivation, 
improvement, and exhibition of the Dahlia, 
has just issued an admirable schedule of prizes 
for competition at its annual exhibition to be 
held at the Crystal Palace on the first Friday 
and Saturday in September. The year 1889 
being the centenary of the introduction of the 
Dahlia into England, Dahlia variabilis having 
been sent to the Royal Gardens at Kew by 
Lady Bute in 1789, the committee are natur¬ 
ally anxious that an event so interesting to 
Dahlia growers should be suitably commem¬ 
orated. To this end a prize fund has been 
started, to which the present Marquess of 
Bute has contributed L10 ; and the honorary 
secretary and treasurer, Mr. T. W. Girdlestone, 
M.A., Sunningdale, Berks, will be glad to hear 
from any other admirers of the flower who may 
be desirous either of helping to extend the list 
of donors, or of becoming annual subscribers. 
In order to obtain a representation of the 
marvellous development of the Dahlia during 
the century that it has been under cultivation 
in this country, the committee have added to 
the schedule a novel and important class ojien 
to all exhibitors. In this—“The Centenary 
Class ”—will be represented, as far as practic¬ 
able, every known kind, form and type of 
Dahlia, and it is confidently anticipated that 
the result will be a magnificent display of the 
best varieties of all sections. In addition to 
this interesting display, a National Dahlia Con¬ 
ference will be held at 3 o’clock, on the first 
day of the exhibition, when the following 
papers will be read, and discussion invited :— 
“History of the Dahlia,” by Shirley Hibberd ; 
“ Development of the Show Flower,” by Mr. 
II. Turner ; “ On Cultivation,” by Mr. J. T. 
West; and “Decorative, Pompon, and Single 
Dahlias,” by Mr. J. Cheal. Dahlia growers, 
both amateur and professional, are cordially 
invited to assist the society in making the 
Centenary celebration a complete success. 
Model Professor. — Through press of 
matter we were unable last week to refer 
to the very delightful and model lecture which 
Professor Michael Foster, of Cambridge, gave 
on the Iris at the Drill Hall, Westminster, at 
the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. Here we saw one of the most 
eminent of botanists, one of the secretaries of 
the Royal Society, and a scientist of distin¬ 
guished reputation, discoursing upon a well- 
known family of hardy plants with just as 
much freedom from technicalities as if talking 
to a group of children on some common-place 
subject. 
Professor Foster does not read papers. He 
does not orate. He is a simple talker, employ¬ 
ing no botanical terms or phrases, but taking 
the most ignorant amongst his audience into 
his confidence, discourses plainly and readily 
upon his theme. How many others rvill follow 
this delightful example, and give us both 
science and horticulture made interesting and 
easy 1 One excellent feature marked the Pro¬ 
fessor’s demonstration. He wrote upon a 
black-board deftly with chalk the names of all 
the various species he referred to, so that 
whilst all could follow his remarks with ease, 
no mistake as to nomenclature could be made. 
It is to be feared that the dread of a purely 
scientific discourse kept away some who other¬ 
wise would have helped to swell the Professor’s 
far from considerable audience. We can but 
advise them, should Mr. Foster again favour 
the Society with one of his delightful dis¬ 
courses, to attend, and enjoy what is certain 
to be a treat. It is pleasant to know that all 
Professors are not prigs, and that the ablest 
men may yet be the simplest and best of 
teachers. 
II^he Railway Rates Act.— The very inter¬ 
esting meeting held at the Hotel 
Windsor, and which we reported in our last— 
if not so largely attended by those who should 
be most interested in the subject as we could 
have wished, was nevertheless one which 
should attract the attention not only of the 
seed and nuisery trade generally, but of all 
who may be in such kind of trade as necessi¬ 
tates the co-operation of railway companies. 
It is doubtful whether the market-growing 
trade will not be more severely hit by the 
proposed new rates of transit, if adopted, than 
will the seed trade. No doubt many persons 
are wondering why this new scale of rates 
should be proposed, as, so far, matters had, as 
between the railway companies and the public, 
proceeded satisfactorily, as is evidenced by 
the fact that the new scale of charges 
threaten to be some twenty-five per cent, 
in excess of the old or present rates. 
For some time there has been an outcry 
against preferential rates, especially as applied 
to imported products. Naturally, the railway 
companies fostered by preferential rates those 
trades or products which brought them most 
custom, and some other trades grumbled. 
Parliament, last year, with a view to redress 
the grievances of the grumblers, passed a 
Railway Rates Act, which gave power to the 
respective companies to formulate a new scale 
of rates of transit, subject to the approval of 
the Board of Trade. So far the upshot seems 
to be that traders are likely to find that they 
have got out of the frying pan into the fire. 
They had better have let well alone. 
Before, the few suffered perhaps, but the 
many gained; but now, should the new scale 
of rates, with the abominable and unwarrant¬ 
able station and serious terminal charges, be 
adopted, all will suffer, and trade especially 
so. If something of a determined kind be 
not speedily done, traders may find themselves 
bond-slaves of the railway companies. 
0aterpillars. — Our pot of ointment is 
seldom without its fly, and our highest 
anticipations are often dashed with some sort 
of bitterness. Thus, just now, when there is 
such splendid promise of a grand fruit crop, 
our old enemy, the caterpillar, crops out and 
exhibits his old power for evil amongst the 
Gooseberry bushes. Certainly, there the enemy 
may, by means of carefully applied dressings 
of hellebore powder, be checked, and in time 
exterminated, but too often great mischief is 
done before the remedy is applied. Maggot 
is also exceedingly plentiful amongst Roses, 
and only the sharpest look out will enable 
myriads of buds to be saved from destruction. 
We trust the Apple trees will escape this 
year, but when the caterpillar moves out on 
the war path against vegetation, he proves to 
be a potent enemy. Our readers must be 
prepared to combat the foe the moment he 
is seen. 
0iikstxut Sunday.— Many of our provincial 
readers will perhaps 'wonder what is meant 
by the heading. Well, it is chiefly applied 
to the famous domain of Bushey Park, close 
to Hampton Court, and to those long and 
noble lines of Chestnut trees which border 
the fine roadway through the park from 
Teddington. We are no great admirers of 
long lines of trees, commonly called avenues, 
but, at least, the Horse Chestnut, with its fine 
foliage, its spreading umbrageous habit of 
growth, and its wondrous heads of inflorescence, 
do form very beautiful groups—if all the same 
a little monotonous. When the Chestnuts in 
Bushey Park are in full bloom, and they were 
so on Sunday last, then tens of thousands 
of Londoners and residents of the surrounding 
country flock to the park to see the trees; 
the railway company running special trains 
for the purpose. The rain, which fell rather 
liberally on Sunday afternoon, must have 
marred the people’s pleasure, but the trees 
were superbly fme all the same. 
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Double Anemone, King of Scarlets.— Some beds 
of this fine and striking Anemone at Gunnersbury Park 
are objects of great beauty just now. The ordinary 
double scarlet Anemone, as grown and supplied by the 
Dutchmen in dry roots, is a poor pale-coloured type by 
the side of Mr. B. Gilbert’s selection. Mr. Pmberts 
states that if potted and grown on in a cold frame, but 
not in any way forced, which it will not bear, it comes 
in very handy for cutting before it is in bloom in the 
open ground. 
Awards at the Melbourne Exhibition.—We under¬ 
stand that Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Heading, have 
received the First Order of Merit (the highest award) 
for seeds, models of vegetables and garden tools ; for 
their new seed germinator ; for their educational 
cabinet of natural grasses and agricultural seeds, with 
a special mention by the Education Jury for originality 
and completeness ; for Mr. Martin John Sutton’s book, 
Permanent and Temporary Pastures, and other agri¬ 
cultural and horticultural works; for fodder and 
ensilage plants ; and for Flax ; and Honorable Mention 
for Tobacco. 
Farm-grown Fruits.—We understand that a meeting 
of the subscribers to the Maidstone Chrysanthemum 
and Fruit Society will be held in the Town Hall, 
Maidstone, on the 12th of June, under the presidency 
of Id. A. Brassey, Esq., to consider a proposition that 
has been made to hold an exhibition of farm fruits in 
conjunction with the annual November show of the 
Society. 
The Walnut Trees and the Frost.— From infor¬ 
mation which has reached us from various parts with 
reference to the deplorable condition of the "Walnut 
trees, it would seem as if we had not yet fully realised 
the extent of the damage done by the severe frost which 
caught so many napping last October. It would appear 
that not only were the Walnuts so seriously hit that 
they did not half fill, but that the wood was also killed 
right out at the tops of many of the trees—a fact which 
has not been discovered till now, when they should be 
in leaf, but fail to move a bud. "We should be glad to 
know to what extent the trees have suffered generally. 
International Exhibition of Fruits and Porno- 
logical Congress at Ghent. — The Arboricultural 
Society of Belgium has issued its programme, or, as we 
should say, the schedule of prizes offered for competition 
at the above exhibition, to be held in September next. 
It is divided into seven sections, the first of which 
includes various fruits, the second Pears, the third 
Apples, the fourth stone fruits, the fifth Grapes, the 
sixth sundry fruits, and the seventh sundry objects. 
In the first class of the first section the prizes are 
offered for the most numerous, the most varied, and the 
most meritorious collection of fruits of all kinds. The 
first prize is a Gold Medal worth 200 francs, or a work 
of art, the second a Gold Medal, the third a Silver-gilt 
Medal, and the fourth a Silver Medal. A Medal of 
equal value is offered as the first prize for the most 
complete and the best named collection of Pears obtained 
of the Belgian seed raisers (Hardenpont, Van Mons, 
Esperen, Coloma, Bivort, Gregoire, Daras de Nagliin, 
&c.). Numerous other prizes are offered for dessert, 
stewing, and show Pears ; also for the most remarkable 
exhibit of Pears of commerce, as well as varieties suit¬ 
able for the orchard, and for cultivating along the public 
highways. Prizes are also offered for the most inter¬ 
esting lot of named varieties of Pears that ought to be 
rejected from collections. Numerous prizes are also 
offered for Apples in nearly similar classes as for Pears. 
Stone fruits include Peaches, Apricots, Plums, and 
Cherries. In the division for Grapes, the leading class 
is for the most numerous and the most varied collection 
of hothouse and open-air Grapes, and prizes are also 
given in separate classes for Grapes grown under 
different conditions as to temperature, under glass and 
