June 29, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
693 
THE R. A, S. AT WINDSOR. 
The Jubilee exhibition of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, which is being held this week, very appro¬ 
priately in the Royal Park at Windsor, is without 
doubt the most extensive and most complete, and 
promises in every way to be the most successful of the 
long series of annual gatherings which commenced with 
the society’s first show, held at Oxford in 1839. It 
may also safely be said that never before has the society 
been able to pitch its tents in a spot enjoying more 
picturesque surroundings, the show yard occupying an 
open sloping glade about 125 acres in extent, to the 
right of the Long Drive, and about a mile from the 
Castle. Some idea of the magnitude of the show yard 
may be gleaned when we say that the hoarding sur¬ 
rounding it is over two miles in length, and that the 
cattle and machinery sheds, and those which contain 
the thousand and one miscellaneous articles always to 
be seen at a Royal show, make up a total length of 
nearly ten miles. 
From the entrance, which is flanked by the really 
handsome seed stands—museums we ought rather to 
call them—of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Messrs. E. 
Webb & Sons, Messrs. James Carter & Co., and others, 
five main avenues lead through the implement section to 
the live stock sheds beyond. The main central avenue 
leads direct to the Queen’s 
Pavilion, one of the 
handsomest buildings ever 
erected in an agricultural 
show yard, and which is 
situated in the centre of 
the yard, and forms the 
most conspicuous object. 
The pavilion is luxuriously 
furnished, and the floral 
decorations internally and 
externally, which were en¬ 
trusted to Messrs. Sutton & 
Sons, in every way do 
credit to that enterprising 
firm. 
With the cattle classes, 
in which all the leading 
breeds are admirably re¬ 
presented, the grand show 
of horses, and the immense 
display of agricultural im¬ 
plements of all kinds we 
have no concern in these 
columns, but during a hur¬ 
ried inspection on Monday 
we made a few notes of some 
objects which could not 
fail to interest a gardener. 
The splendid seed stands 
of the leading houses are 
well worthy of inspection, 
although the bulk of the 
objects exhibited naturally 
appertain to the farm rather 
than to the garden. The 
Messrs. Sutton, besides 
good examples of their fine 
strain of single Begonias, 
and an attractive show of 
varieties of Gladiolus Colvillei, have a group of some 
three dozen plants of their superb strain of erect- 
flowering Gloxinias, a group of which, for the 
profusion and quality of the blooms, their size, 
substance, brilliancy of colour and wide range of 
variation, we have never seen surpassed. The Messrs. 
Carter, in addition to their many agricultural specialties, 
have some good forms of their fine strains of Petunias 
and tuberous Begonias. The Messrs. Webbs’ fine stand 
is almost exclusively occupied by samples of the various 
cereals, grass and Clover seeds, roots, &c., for which 
they have gained a high reputation. Messrs. Dickson 
& Robinson, of Manchester, have also an admirable 
display of grasses and Clovers in growth, farm and 
garden seeds, and a capital collection of Potatos, 
selected from the splendid group they exhibited at 
Manchester last autumn, and still in a remarkably 
fresh condition. Near at hand also are the stands of 
Messrs. Oakshott & Millard and Messrs. Little & 
Ballantyne, of Carlisle, the former having an attractive 
display of farm and garden seeds, and the latter ex¬ 
hibiting some beautiful young specimens of various 
Conifers. In the opposite avenue, Messrs. Barron & 
Son, of Elvaston, exhibit plans of estates and model 
villages ; and Messrs. Dicksons’, Limited, Chester, 
have a capital display of seeds, &c. On stand No. 395, 
Messrs. Corry, Soper, Fowler&Co., Limited, 16, Finsbury 
Street, E.C., show a considerable number of their tobacco 
preparations and other insecticides, including the popular 
Lethorion Vapour Cones, and amongst the special 
preparationsofmanures, our ancient friend “Standen’s,” 
one of the most genuine articles ever put upon the 
market. The leading cake and manure firms are very 
strongly represented, but call for no comment in these 
columns. We may add, however, that from the stand 
of The Anglo-Continental (late Ohlendorff’s) Guano 
works, we received a most interesting pamphlet— 
Peruvian Guano: a retrospect by Hermann Voss— 
which contains much valuable information respecting 
this particular fertiliser, which was first introduced 
into Europe about fifty years ago. 
No inspection, however casual, will be complete 
without a visit being paid to stand No. 158, where Mr. 
G. F. Strawson has on view several examples of what is 
decidedly—either from an agricultural or horticultural 
point of view—the most valuable new invention on the 
ground. This is the now famous “ Strawsonizer,” 
which was described in our issue for June 1st, p. 625, 
and of the character of which a general idea may be 
gleaned from the accompanying illustration. In the 
words of the inventor, “The ‘Strawsonizer’ is a new 
kind of distributor, for applying by air power liquid or 
solid insectifuges, and for broadcasting all kinds of 
grain, seeds, and chemical fertilisers,” and we are glad 
to say that a small machine has been introduced for use 
in gardens, which will prove to be a 'great boon. To 
the farmer, the fruit and the Hop grower, and equally 
so to the gardener, the “Strawsonizer” must prove to 
be the most valuable insect-destroying and crop-saving 
appliance yet introduced. 
The horticultural builders are well represented by 
such firms as Messrs. W. Richardson & Co., Darling¬ 
ton ; Messrs. Boulton & Paul, Norwich ; Messrs. 
Winch & Sons, Ipswich ; Messrs. "A. Peel & Sons, 
Wood Green ; Messrs. Wright & Holmes, Birmingham ; 
Messrs. Foster k Pearson, Beeston, Nottingham ; 
Messrs. Newton, Hitchin ; and Messrs. S. Deards & Co., 
Harlow, all of whom are worthily represented. There 
is not much of novelty in this section, but in the 
extensive stand of admirably constructed houses and 
frames shown by the Messrs. Richardson, we noted 
a very serviceable span-roofed frame, with simple but 
substantial contrivances for affording ventilation, and 
securing the lights when tilted. On page 689 we give 
an illustration of this frame, which would be a boon 
to many an amateur. Mr. Samuel Deards has a 
novelty in the “ Uncle Sam ” Patent Radiator and Pro¬ 
pagator, of which we hope to give an illustration show¬ 
ing its form, and the method of heating. The radiator 
is made of corrugated galvanised iron with a water 
jacket, and is heated by the new Defries’ lamp placed 
underneath in the centre. The body of the radiator 
constitutes a hot-air chamber, through which the heat 
from the lamp passes. The largest size (No. 6) holds 
10 gallons of water, and is said to be equal in heat¬ 
ing power to 25 ft. of 3 in. pipe. When at work 
it can be used for propagating purposes by simply 
placing a small frame made of tin on the top of the 
radiator. 
Garden pottery in its many useful and ornamental 
forms is well displayed on the stands of Messrs. R. 
Sankey k Son, Bulwell, Notts, and Mr. Conway G. 
Warne, of Weston-super-Mare, the latter of whom has 
now the business so long carried on by Mr. John 
Matthews. The Messrs. Sankey, besides samples of 
their admirably-made ordinary pots, have a fine show 
of rustic and ornamental ware, which is characterised 
by good taste in design, and well-toned colour. They 
also exhibit a novelty in a new fluted tile designed to 
cover the face of unsightly walls. The tiles are plain on 
the back, fluted on the front side, about 1 in. thick, 
and pierced for screwing to woodwork or nailing to 
walls, and some of them are made with ornamental 
pockets in the centre large enough to hold a 48-in. pot. 
At a comparatively small cost, many a damp or ugly 
piece of wall could easily be given a neat and pleasant 
appearance by means of 
these tiles. 
-- 
CLEMATIS MON¬ 
TANA. 
When Mr. Buchanan in¬ 
troduced this species in 
1831 from the mountains of 
Nepaul, he placed in the 
hands of English gardeners 
one of the most useful 
spring-flowering hardy 
climbing plants that can 
find a place in the garden. 
At the end of May I 
accompanied some friends in 
a row upon the Thames. 
Taking boat at Reading, we 
went up the river to the 
village of Sonning, and 
there saw on many of the 
cottages and villa residences 
this charming white- 
flowered Clematis in all the 
glory of its spring bridal 
costume. It is a remarkably 
free-growing and hardy orna¬ 
mental climber, well adapted 
for training on trellises, 
walls, or other places where 
a considerable space has to 
be covered. A river side 
inn at Sonning, much fre¬ 
quented by boating parties, 
has a great portion of its 
frontage to the liver covered 
with this Clematis, and 
what a delightful sight it 
presents to view ! 
Perhaps there is something in the soil of Sonning 
which suits this creeper ; it, as before stated, covers 
the fronts of many of the residences, and in every case 
it was laden with its pure white blossoms, which are so 
copiously produced, several springing from each axil, 
that the branches literally become converted into floral 
garlands. The flowers are sweet-scented, and this is 
no doubt the reason why it has been named C. odorata. 
The more freely the plant is allowed to grow, the more 
ornamental does it become, on account of the greater 
profusion of blossoms produced when well established. 
It will grow from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in a season, while 
every joint will bear blossoms as white as snow. 
To have it in full beauty in the month of May, its well- 
ripened wood should be trained in at full length, as 
the blossoms—as in the ease of the C. patens type—are 
produced from the shoots of the previous season. 
Wistaria sinensis grows freely, and flowers with great 
beauty on some of the houses at Sonning. In one of 
the streets a plant was growing against a public-house, 
and, I think, I never before saw the pendulous racemes 
larger, or deeper in colour. — R. D. 
-—v'-- 
The new Commissioner of Assize. —The Queen has 
appointed Mr. Frederick Adolphus Philbrick, Q.C., of 
the South-Eastern Circuit, Recorder of Colchester, a 
Royal Commissioner of Assize at the ensuing Summer 
Assizes. 
