November 14, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
161 
iolb. 40Z. small, and only 8oz. diseased in a crop of 
1071b.; Reading Hero yielded nearly as great a 
weight, but had ilb. 8oz. diseased. Early Kemps 
and Generals produced 871b. and 851b. respectively, 
of which 71b. and 131b. 8oz. were diseased, and these 
were the least satisfactory of the eighteen varieties 
experimented with. 
Lost Treasures —“Abies Humbugiana” writes in 
The Garden : —Can anyone tell me why, in these days 
of excellent weekly periodicals on every subject, it is 
that horticultural, arboricultural, and other kindred 
societies persist in bottling up those papers read at 
“ meetings''and " conferences,” and stowing them 
away in their “transactions” for an indefinite period 
—perhaps for ever—seeing that such papers are in 
no way different, no better, and often not so good as 
similar contributions that appear regularly in the 
weekly press and elsewhere? I am assured that 
some of the “ papers ” would be certain to make the 
acquaintance of the editorial scissors if they had to 
run the gauntlet of a discriminating editor and his 
subs. Is the bottling supposed to improve their 
flavour ? My opinion is that they are mostly stale 
when they do appear, and often anticipated. The 
practice may be aptly compared to a man bottling, 
say, half-a-dozen pints of water from the general 
source of supply, and serving the stale liquid out 
long after when nobody wants it or needs it. Really 
it is high time that this method of disseminating 
knowledge was dispensed with. Keep a record, if 
you like, but the press is now the recognised medium 
of any communication worth reading. 
A New Feature in Local Shows.—We have to con¬ 
gratulate our horticultural friends in the Surrey pa¬ 
rishes of Carshalton, Wallington, and Beddington 
upon the great success which attended their efforts 
last week to inaugurate a new and extremely useful 
feature in the working of local horticultural exhibi¬ 
tions. As the chairman at the luncheon, Mr. A. H. 
Smee, observed, the local horticultural society was a 
young and an adventurous one. Neither rain nor 
tempest daunted them, as they went through fire, 
water, and hail at their last show at Beddington 
Park, and came out of it successfully. If they were 
not so successful financially as they might wish, 
there was certainly one thing that they did, and 
that was to awaken an enthusiasm for horticulture, 
not only in the district, but throughout the county. 
It was mainly due to their conference in Beddington 
Park that the Surrey County Council decided to estab¬ 
lish lectures on horticulture throughout the county ,and 
it is understood that Hampshire and other counties 
were about to follow suit. Their society had that 
day made the experiment of gathering together a 
fruit collection without any hope of reward in the 
shape of prizes being extended to the exhibitors. 
They had only asked gentlemen in the neighbour¬ 
hood, cottagers, villagers, and allotment holders to 
send produce, and the result was a display far larger 
than the committee had any hope of obtaining. A 
great quantity of fruit was sent for naming, and that 
was a most hopeful sign, as at one time people were 
satisfied with an Apple so long as it was a good sort, 
but now they wanted to know the name and whether 
it was a good kind or a bad kind. The show would 
undoubtedly prove of great benefit to the district, by 
teaching people what varieties were good and what 
were worthless. 
Vegetation living without foliage.— As a general 
rule the life of a plant is not long prolonged without 
the aid of its toliage. Recently, says the Bulletin 
d'Arboriculture de Floriculture, etc., we note the per¬ 
sistence of life in a Fir tree, of which the trunk, 
broken at a yard above the soil, and immediately de¬ 
prived of its branches, has continued to live in this 
state for eighty-six years. The Revue Horticole reports 
an analogous fact, except that the duration of vege¬ 
tation has not been so long. Some trees of Abies 
excelsa, growing too closely together and already 
having a thickness of 6 in., were felled at 18in. above 
the soil. Ten years later one of the Spruces in 
question, being quite deprived of its branches and 
leaves, was found furnished with a cushion-like out¬ 
growth all round the cut. According to the journal 
cited that was explained by a sort of union or graft¬ 
ing by approach amongst the roots of the subject cut 
down, and those of the tree remaining upright about 
9 in. distant. 
Grandfather Goody. 
Royal Grandfather Goody, one day took offence 
Not being consulted, out-measured his sense, 
Enfeebled in pocket, he yet had the brains, 
And strove with great Mastery to handle the reins, 
But the steed kicked and plunged, old Goody sat 
back, 
And now he rernains to follow the track. 
. .. - A. M. 
HARDY TREES & SHRUBS. 
Clematis. 
Many of the hardy species of this genus are amongst 
the most ornamental of climbers for trellis work, the 
front of buildings, and for walls in the flower garden 
or similar places. Nothing is more handsome in the 
way of flowering plants for covering arbours ; and 
splendid effects are produced by getting the tops of 
some Spruce or Fir trees, shortening the shoots and 
inserting them in the ground as supports to the finer 
types of Clematis in open spaces where the light 
will reach them on all sides, thus causing a fine 
development of bloom. Those that flower on the 
previous years shootsflower in spring or summer, while 
those that develop their flowers on the current 
season's growth are the glory of the late summer and 
autumn months. In order to get the best results it 
is necessary to plant in deep rich soil, and to manure 
freely as well as mulch on the surface. This latter 
is more particularly necessary in dry summers and 
in the south than in Scotland, although even there 
liberal treatment more than repays the trouble of 
good cultivation. It is useless to dig a hole 
sufficiently large to admit the roots and then imagine 
that good results will follow'. The soil must be 
taken out to a depth of 2 ft. and 3 ft. wide, filling 
in with good loam to which a liberal quantity of 
partly-decayed leaf soil, old hot-bed manure and 
some road scrapings have been added. Propagation 
is usually effected by grafting on pieces of roots 
taken from old-established plants of any strong 
growing kinds. Cuttings may also be rooted in 
propagating pit with a gentle heat. Layers may also 
be rooted by anybody by cutting off a small portion 
of the bark at a joint and bending this down so that 
it may be covered with soil, and kept watered during 
the summer. 
Clematis flammula. — The flowers of this 
species are small and white, but their lack in size is 
fully compensated for by their profusion and 
fragrance. The pinnate and lobed leaves are of a 
rich dark green, and the flowers begin to expand in 
July and keep on till October. The climbing stems 
attain a great height and look picturesque when 
rambling over some old half dead tree. It is one of 
the earliest introductions, having been imported from 
South Europe in 1596. The accompanying illustra¬ 
tion shows a pair of leaves with a panicle of bloom 
terminating a shoot. 
C. Montana.— Amongst the earliest to flower in 
spring is C. montana, a native of Nepaul, but per¬ 
fectly hardy at least in all the southern counties of 
this country, and flowers through the early part of 
summer, being in perfection in May. The flowers 
are of medium size, pure white, and highly orna¬ 
mental from the extraordinary number produced on 
an old plant. The leaves are trilobed or divided 
into three leaflets. For the front or end of a build¬ 
ing it is very choice in every way. 
C. ccerulea.— From this plant a large number of 
forms or hybrids have teen raised, and are reckoned 
amongst the showiest of garden kinds. The flowers 
are large, sky blue with deep purple stamens, and 
are very showy during the months of June and July. 
One of the sorts raised from it is Patens, a white 
variety generally mentioned as the type of this class. 
The species comes from Japan and is quite hardy 
even in the north of Scotland. It is often grown 
under the name of C. azurea grandiflora. 
C. Pitcheri. —The flowers of this species are bell¬ 
shaped, deep purple, and moderate in size compared 
with the last. It comes from the United States, and 
proves perfectly hardy in this country although not 
very common. The flowering period is July and 
August. 
C. Viorna.— The Leather-flower gets its name 
from the thick and leathery texture of the sepals 
which cohere so as to form an inflated or balloon¬ 
shaped tube with four reflexed points. 'The flowers 
of the type are purple and yellow internally ; those 
of the variety C. V. coccinea are of an intense ver- 
million externally, and very showy and distinct on 
that account. The whole plant is slender and elegant. 
It requires a position against a wall, as it comes from 
Texas. 
C. V iticella. —The flowers of this species vary 
from blue or purple to a rose colour, and are abun¬ 
dantly produced from June to October. They are 
of moderate size compared with those of C. ccerulea. 
but some of the garden forms, including C. V. rubra 
grandiflora, which have been raised from it are very 
choice and deserve a place in every garden. The 
species is a native of Southern Europe and Western 
Asia, and was originally introduced to this country 
in 1569. 
C. Florida.— Notwithstanding the name this 
species comes from Japan, and proves hardy in this 
country. The flowers are large, white, and borne 
upon the wood of the previous year, continuing from 
April to September. The double forms are more 
popular than the single and typical form, and have 
bluish-lilac, lavender-blue, and brilliant mauve-blue 
flowers. 
__ , ♦ , 
AWARDS AT FLOWER SHOWS 
TO MISCELLANEOUS EXHIBITS. 
Three of the principal nursery firms of Birmingham 
and district have just issued a circular to horticul¬ 
tural societies, calling the attention of officials to the 
fact that they, in common with other firms, do their 
best to support and encourage flower shows, but 
they think that in doing so, “ a little compensation 
is due to them.’’ They put their case thus: “We 
frequently make expensive exhibits, and do not get 
what is most valuable to us—a notice in the daily 
papers.” There I think they are quite right, but that is 
not so much the fault of the promoters of shows as 
it is of the papers. The fact is the ordinary news¬ 
paper reporter is never at such a loss as when he 
attempts to report a flower show. It is natural that 
he should fail to make a satisfactory notice because 
he knows little or nothing of the subjects about 
which he is writing, and he is occasionally entrapped 
by some wary exhibitor who manages to get pretty 
well the whole of the notice to himself, and often to the 
setting up of the undeserving, whereby deserving 
things sometimes suffer. But those who issue the cir¬ 
cular make no suggestion as to securing a better system 
of daily paper reporting, and even in our gardening 
papers, while competitive exhibits come in for a 
pretty fair and full notice, non-competitive groups 
are generally only casually mentioned, though they 
are very frequently of a highly interesting and meri¬ 
torious character. 
Those issuing the circular suggest that promoters 
of flower shows “ offer medals, not necessarily of great 
value, for any meritorious exhibit.” “ By this means 
we should get reported, and we think it would fully 
satisfy and encourage special exhibits, which fre¬ 
quently are of great attraction to shows.” “ We 
would suggest the medals might be silver and bronze, 
as awards to exhibits of special merit—not for com- 
petion—whether groups or collections of plants, cut 
blooms, floral designs, or new or rare plants, &'c.“ 
" Arrangements might be made with a good medalist 
to supply appropriately designed medals to any 
Society, at one uniform price, particulars of what 
awarded for could be engraved on the medals after¬ 
wards, but when the award is made, a proper card 
should be affixed to the exhibits at the time awarded.” 
As a matter of course societies cannot be expected 
to go to the cost of each preparing a die of a medal 
for their exclusive use, therefore it is a good sugges. 
