432 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 9, 1889. 
he calls up his more recent seedlings to tell 
their own story. But, sustained by strong 
enthusiasm, Mr. Horner has high aspirations. 
His estimate of flowers is lofty ; there must be 
no notched petals, no rough or narrow paste, 
no uneven or pale tube, whilst the grounds 
must be dense and rich. Pips, too, in his 
estimation, should be bold, well displayed, and 
rather thinned than crowded. 
But chief of all do we admire Mr. Horner’s 
assurance that the Auricula, in spite of the 
age of many choice varieties, is yet a pro¬ 
gressive flower and has a brilliant future. We 
wait impatiently to see again those Heroines, 
Magpies, Greyhounds, Monarchs, and some 
others that have come to life in the wilds of 
North Yorkshire. 
old-laced POLYANTHUSES. —Can any raiser 
' s ' or grower of these fine old florists’ flowers 
do for them what the Rev. F. D. Horner has 
done for the Auricula 1 Somehow this sec¬ 
tion of the Polyanthus seems to have come 
almost to a dead stop in development. Year 
after year Cheshire Favourite, Exile, George 
the Fourth, Lancer, and a few others fill 
prize collections; and we look in vain for 
new faces worthy of a place with such con¬ 
stellations. Have all the resources of form, 
of marking, of size, and of beauty been used 
up in these gold-laced flowers, that all the 
forces of nature, allied to the efforts of many 
raisers and growers, are unable to excel 
Cheshire Favourite or Lancer? 
It is a sad fact that gold-laced Polyanthuses 
evince above all other flowers a strong tend¬ 
ency to revert to their original state. Whilst 
so many other flowers are developing new 
charms, growing as it were into the higher 
life of perfect excellence, the poor Gold-laced 
Polyanthus finds in the few sorts we have 
named its line of demarcation, beyond which 
it cannot pass. It is true the canons of the 
florist are stern, and admit of no deviation. 
The lines laid down must be adhered to; the 
elements of a perfect flower must be respected 
and retained. But can we not get these in 
alliance with greater size, with variations of 
ground-colour, with more robust habits, and 
not least, some hope for retaining these gems 
through the instrumentality of seed ? 
So far we never find in seedlings a flower 
larger than the best of the old sorts, which 
has any claims to merit, and almost invari¬ 
ably gold-lacing allied to excellence of form 
and colour is associated with very small pips. 
A Horner is sadly needed to resuscitate the 
Gold-laced Polyanthus. Our friend Mr. S. 
Barlow has tried very hard to be its saviour, 
but so far with no great luck. We very 
cordially wish him more success in the future. 
UTell Conducted.-— In the report of the 
Council of the Cambridge Botanic Gar¬ 
dens for the past year, just published, there 
appears, as a sort of postscript, the statement 
that 1,600 visitors entered the gardens on 
Whit Monday last, and no misconduct of any 
kind was observed. Cambridge is doubtless a 
very conservative place, and the dons, whether 
theological or scientific, are no doubt accus¬ 
tomed to regard the masses pretty much as 
ignorant barbarians. If such be not the case, 
it is hard to understand the reference to the 
absence of misconduct on the part of some 
1,600 visitors to the Botanic Gardens last 
Whit Monday. The matter is referred to as if 
it were a sort of wonder; just as though these 
said visitors "were pigs who had for once 
properly conducted themselves, and had done 
no mischief. We have seen more than 20,000 
persons in Kew Gardens on Whit Monday, and 
found no harm done, and tens of thousands 
elsewhere have visited some of our most beau¬ 
tiful private gardens and parks, and no harm 
has been done. Let us hope that distrust of 
the people, even in botanic gardens, will no 
more be evidenced by a postscript in reports 
of the kind referred to. 
he Royal Horticultural Society. —■ The 
first March Meeting of the committees 
of this society takes place on Tuesday next. 
Last month the association of the General 
Fellows Meeting with the Committee Meeting 
led to anticipations of a large attendance. 
The anticipations were hardly realised, 
especially later in the day, when the Drill 
Hall was almost deserted. The meeting on 
Tuesday next will have no additional attrac¬ 
tion for the Fellows, and we shall note 
with curiosity the amount of interest shown 
in the ordinary gathering. The determina¬ 
tion on the part of the Council to remain 
at the Drill Hall for a second year needs a 
lot of justification, and so far that justifica¬ 
tion has been lacking. Perhaps when the 
afternoon lectures are inaugurated more interest 
may be shown by the general public, as well 
as by the Fellows, in the meetings. If such 
be the case, we shall have to see a vastly 
increased attendance to rvhat was found 
during the year which has passed. 
Tl) ichmond Park Again. — It was but the 
"*«* other day the nation had to arise and 
save Richmond Park, with its noble trees 
and grand expanses of verdure, from the grasp 
of the vandalistic pot-hunter. But for a 
powerful protest the glades and woods of 
that grand demesne might have already been 
resonant with the crack of the volunteer’s 
rifle, and fouled by the vulgarities of a Wim¬ 
bledon shooting-match. Now, again, the 
minds of the local dwellers are stirred 
because some royal axe is laid to the roots 
of grand old trees. At least it is said that 
the Oaks thus being so ruthlessly felled are 
grand old trees; and if they aie, they can 
as ill be spared or their places as indiffer¬ 
ently filled, as can some grand old men. The 
plea for this slaughter of Quercus robur is. 
that an avenue of young Chestnut trees is 
to be planted. Avenues at the best are 
formal intrusions into sylvan scenery, and 
we hope the Richmond protesters will, in 
saving the grand old Oaks, also save the 
Park from the wretched cockneyism of having 
a Chestnut avenue. 
(Hr. Henry Page is Feted.— But the other 
*** week we reported the return, after a 
sharp contest, of Mr. Henry Page, the well- 
known market florist and Cyclamen grower 
of Teddington, as a member of the Middlesex 
County Council. That our esteemed coun¬ 
cillor is a prophet in his own locality has 
been fully evidenced by the fact that his 
neighbours—to the number of some 250 persons 
-—invited him last week to a grand spread at 
the Teddington Town Hall, and made much 
of him. The oratory was of the usual post¬ 
prandial order, and we did not note that 
Mr. Page expresssd any particular intention 
to do anything special on the County Council 
for the horticultural profession, or even for 
the particular section which he represents. 
But the audience was a mixed one, and 
Teddington has mixed interests, therefore 
we feel no doubt but that, should opportunity 
offer, Mr. Page will be as ready to fight for 
horticultural interests as for any other. 
he Market Question. —-The London County 
Council has appointed a committee from 
its body to inquire into the very important 
question of the market accommodation of the 
metropolis. That is taking up the line for 
which we have contended, as it is obvious that 
•with the enormous population found in its 
governmental area, the feeding of the people 
cheaply and easily is a problem well worthy of 
elucidation. London has so few municipal 
markets, that it stands out in this respect in 
marked contrast to other towns, where muni¬ 
cipal government, being actual and real, and in 
touch with the requirements of the people, has 
brought into existence the needful market 
accommodation of every description. In no 
particular branch of the food supply is there 
greater need for abundant market accommo¬ 
dation than in connection with vegetables and 
fruits of every description. 
he Chiswick Manure Trials.—W e might 
write a dirge over the failure of the 
proposed artificial manure trials at Chiswick, 
with their preposterous £10 entrance fees, but 
wish to spare the feelings of the ingenious 
person who proposed them, and whose enthu¬ 
siastic aspirations have thus come so disas¬ 
trously to grief. The Council of the Royal 
Horticultural Society will hardly show much 
deference to the opinions of Utopian advisers 
henceforth. Then there is this pleasant con¬ 
solation found in the failure in question, that a 
valuable area of soil will be much better 
applied in the interests of horticulture in almost 
any other way than in growing Turnips and 
Cabbages, fed with all sorts of artificial com¬ 
pounds. Any gardener can do that much for 
himself if he desires, and with so much better 
results to himself because of the tests applied 
to his own garden soil, that it seems absurd 
to imagine a trial of the kind named could be 
of any practical service to horticulture. 
-- 
Gardening Engagement.—Mr. C. Terry, for the 
past seven years foreman to Mr. Elphinstone, Shipley 
Hall Gardens, near Derby, has been engaged to succeed 
Mr. Joshua Atkins as gardener to Lord Egerton, Tatton 
Park, Knutsford. 
Blenheim Palace Gardens.—We understand that 
the Duke of Marlborough has given permission for the 
gardens at Blenheim to be opened to the public on the 
two days in May next when the annual exhibition of 
the Oxfordshire Agricultural. Society will be held at 
Woodstock. A charge will be made for admission, in 
aid of the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society.—We are 
requested to state that the exhibitions of this society for 
the current year will be held on the following dates - 
April 3rd and 4th ; July 10th and 11th ; and September 
11 th and 12th. 
The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.— 
We are pleased to hear that under the will of the late 
John Bylands, Esq., of Longford Hall, Stretford, 
Manchester, this deserving Institution comes in for a 
legacy of £500. The recent announcement as to the 
manner in which the Jubilee of the Institution is to be 
celebrated having brought numerous inquiries on the 
subject, we are requested to say that the collecting 
cards will be issued next week. For so good a cause 
we hope the strenuous efforts of Mr. Cutler will be well 
backed up by our gardening friends. 
National Chrysanthemum Society: Election of a 
President.—At the adjourned meeting, held at Ander- 
ton’s Hotel on the 28th ult., over which Mr. E. C. 
Jukes presided, Lord Brooke, M. P., Easton Lodge, 
D unmow, Essex, was unanimously elected president of 
the society. The following noblemen and gentlemen 
were at the same time elected vice-presidents :—The 
Right Hon. Lord Lytton, Knebworth, Herts ; Lord 
Ebury, Moor Park, Rickmansworth ; Sir Edwin 
Saunders, Wimbledon, S.W. ; Sir Guyer Hunter, 
M.P., Dr. Hogg, J. Wormald, Esq., E. Saunderson, 
Esq., Leopold de Rothschild, Esq., and Sir Lewis 
Pelly, M. P. 
The Nursery and Seed Trade Association, Limited. 
—The annual general meeting of the members of this 
association will be held at the offices, 25, Old Jewry, 
E.C., on Monday next, at 5.30 p.m. precisely, when 
the report of the committee will be submitted for 
adoption, and the officers and committee will be 
elected for the current year. The meeting will, at its 
close, be made special, for the purpose of considering 
a motion by Mr. Harrison (Leicester) to omit the word 
“January” in the sixth line of paragraph 6 of the 
Articles of Association, and substitute therefor the 
word “April,” the object being to alter the date of 
the annual meeting to a time more convenient to 
members. The annual dinner will be held at the 
Guildhall Tavern on the same day at 7 o’clock. 
The Edmonton Concert for the Gardeners' Orphan 
Fund, which was held on the 28th ult., was, we are 
pleased to hear, a great success. It is doubtful if the 
Edmonton Town Hall ever looked prettier than it did 
on this occasion, for it was most handsomely decorated 
