240 
THE GARDENING WORLD. December 19, 1891. 
of the subjects exhibited, and if some firms 
or private growers get more certificates 
than do others, it is due entirely to the fact 
that they show at once most good things, 
and present them in the best condition. 
We are convinced that, more than every¬ 
thing else, the cause of so much grumbling 
among provincial exhibitors at the 
society’s meetings is to be found generally 
in a want of knowledge of the best things 
as known by the members of the com¬ 
mittees to exist, and the generally indiffe¬ 
rent style in which most provincial 
exhibitors present their new things for 
adjudication. It is useless for any ex¬ 
hibitor to show a new plant, however good 
or distinct he may know it to be, if he 
does not stage it in its best presentable 
condition, for the committees take nothing 
on trust. They must see it in a condition 
to warrant an award, or assuredly it does 
not get it. We have heard the complaint 
made several times that while the raiser of 
a new plant has shown it time after time 
and failed to get an award, the nurseryman 
who bought the stock got a certificate the 
first time of asking, and this has been held 
upas a sample of the assumed favouritism— 
or something else that has not been clearly 
defined—shown by the committee towards 
certain exhibitors, to the prejudice of 
others. But it was nothing of the kind, it 
was due entirely to the raiser being incap¬ 
able of doing full justice to his own plant. 
Several instances of this kind could be 
brought to mind, and we believe the ex¬ 
planation to be as we have stated. 
At the meeting of the committees last 
week it was stated officially that it had 
been suggested to the Council that the 
voting in future should be by ballot, and 
the Council very properly submitted the 
proposal to the committees for their opinion. 
The result was a unanimous agreement in 
favour of open voting, and we are glad 
that the Council took the step they did, 
because to have resolved on their own part 
to have forced secret voting on the commit¬ 
tees without their approval would have 
been an act which the members might well 
have resented. We know that there is an 
undefined something about the working of 
the committees which causes dissatisfac¬ 
tion in many influential quarters, but 
whatever it may be, secret voting is clearly 
not the remedy for it. What we would 
suggest as the right means of disabusing 
the minds of exhibitors with respect to 
what is assumed to be favouritism, would 
be to carry the system of open voting a 
step further, and let every member who 
votes sign his name for or against an award 
whatever it may be, such signatures to be 
made on forms to be kept at the society’s 
office, for any Fellow’s inspection. That 
surely would be a satisfactory plan to 
everybody. 
anted, a London Alphand.— Whilst 
Paris has just lost its Gardener-in- 
Chief in the person of the late M. Alphand, 
London still seems to be seeking for its 
horticultural director, and evidently has 
not yet found him. Just as in the old days 
of the Empire Baron Hausmann created 
the noble streets and boulevards of Paris, 
indeed almost reconstructed a great portion 
of that city, so was Alphand its garden and 
park reconstructor and planter, its horti¬ 
cultural head and good genius. There 
when the parks and gardens are almost 
exclusively under the control of the city 
council, there is ample room for the 
development of town horticulture on an 
unique and consistent method. The Cor¬ 
porate authorities of Paris spend almost 
lavishly when the beautifying of their 
famous city is concerned. In London our 
expenditure is rather niggard even in the 
royal parks, and we do not make our open 
spaces one half so attractive as they well 
may be. 
In London we want an Alphand who is 
also a horticultural genius. Where is he 
to be found ? Somehow horticulture with 
us—important an industry as it is to the 
community—has hardly held a position 
sufficiently exalted to enable it, or perhaps 
encourage it, to produce geniuses. We 
once had a Loudon and a Paxton. Those 
two names stand out pre-eminent because 
all others seem to have been mediocre, 
and yet perhaps from no fault of their own, 
but simply because their spheres have 
been restricted, their wings clipped, their 
ambitions checked through local repressive 
surroundings. When we think that a 
London Alphand cannot be found, it is 
not because our horticulturists are dullards. 
Very far from that ; it is because what 
militates against the probability of a muni¬ 
cipal genius being presented is the fact 
we have already shown, viz., that circum¬ 
stances have been unfavourable to his 
production. 
It would be, indeed, an anomaly that we 
should have all the chief parks and open 
spaces of the metropolis under government 
control and those of the less pretentious 
under municipal authority. It is evident 
that all should be under the same respon¬ 
sible head, and that such head should, 
beyond being a horticultural Alphand, also 
be a man of first-class business qualifica¬ 
tion. How eagerly do we look for the 
advent of our municipal horticultural 
Alphand. 
J^ew Varieties of Grapes.— The putting 
of two new Grapes into commerce the 
same season by the same firm, and by the 
same raiser, is an event of more than 
ordinary importance. We have plenty of 
varieties of Grapes—they are indeed legion. 
Still out of so many, how few relatively 
there are which stand out as first-class. 
When we have selected Black Hamburgh, 
Madresfield Court, Gros Colmar, Alicante, 
Muscat Hamburgh, Mrs. Pince’s Black 
Muscat, and Lady Downe’s we have fairly 
skimmed the cream of the blacks ; whilst 
of whites Muscat of Alexandria, Mrs. Pear¬ 
son, Forster’s Seedling, and Golden Cham¬ 
pion seem to be about the best. In any 
case when we have selected a dozen of the 
best 'what is left is nothing to boast of. 
The sorts mentioned are those which are 
generally grown and grown well; those un¬ 
mentioned are specialty varieties, which 
some growers can do well, but which other 
growers cannot do at all. Thus it is made 
evident that, in spite of our possessing 
numerous varieties, the list of really good 
general Grapes is a short one. 
The two new Grapes, the distribution of 
which Messrs. Cutbush & Son announced 
in our last issue, come from Appley Towers 
in the Isle of Wight. They were raised by 
the gardener there, Mr. Miles, and after a 
somewhat severe ordeal—for the honours 
were not granted the first time of asking— 
have been certificated by the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
and we believe that in this case no mistake 
has been made, but that the certificates 
have been worthily placed. The pair 
include a white and a black one, the former 
being named after the late Lady Hutt, 
who was Mr. Miles’ employer, and the 
latter after Appley Towers, where it was 
raised. Both are seedlings from Black 
Alicante and Gres Colmar, and although 
neither of the parents enjoy high repute 
for flavour, yet the products of the cross, 
in addition to having been black and 
white, have enhanced flavour. 
To put into commerce any farther, poor- 
flavoured Grapes would indeed be a mis¬ 
fortune, but the introduction of any which 
really have good flavour is indeed a gain. 
We do not want too much of- the strong 
flavour of the Muscat in Grapes, because, 
when so pronounced, the palate is soon 
satisfied. A mild, pleasant - flavoured 
Grape, of which it is possible to eat freely, 
is far more enjoyable. We shall look for 
the future reputation of the new Grapes 
with considerable interest. 
^ctober Chrysanthemums. — The an¬ 
nouncement made last week of the 
intention of the Committee of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society to hold an October 
exhibition of their special flower has met 
with the most cordial reception. The 
matter was much discussed privately at the 
recent December show of the society, and 
very strong opinions were put forth in favour 
of having a December show again next year 
instead of a September one, so that the 
funds of the society may not be frittered 
away in too many efforts. That in a year 
or two there will be, if continued, some 
remarkably fine displays of flowers in 
October there can be no doubt. In the 
month of September the shows are too 
dependent upon the early blooming 
varieties of the Chrysanthemum, too many 
of which have but little exhibition merit, 
and altogether fail to produce those fine 
displays which later and finer flowers give. 
With regard to the success attendant 
upon the transferring of the old January 
shows to December there can be absolutely 
no question. The blooms in many of the 
stands were marvellously fine, eliciting 
surprise and pleasure on every hand. Such 
flowers as were found in the chief prize 
stands, and in the splendid collections set 
up by Messrs. Ciibran, Owen, Jones, Can- 
nell, and others, fully repaid all who visited 
the show, and amply justified the executive 
for making the change. Could we have 
now pei manent shows held by the National 
Society in October, November, and 
December, we should find that the quality 
and abundance of blooms would expand at 
both ends, and that the earlier and later 
months would soon rival the centre month 
in flower production. Whilst the very 
early flowers, as a rule, are only fit for out¬ 
door decoration and cutting uses, the very 
late ones are useful only for the latter 
purpose and are not fit to make exhibitions. 
The classes for bunches of from four to 
six flowers were most attractive. Some of 
the flowers were remarkably good and 
capitally set up. We want to see more of 
such classes at all our Chrysanthemum 
exhibitions. 
The Royal CaledonianHorticultural Society has fixed 
the following dates for its exhibitions next year:— 
April 6 and 7, July 14 and 15, and September 7 and S. 
The Portsmouth Chrysanthemum Show in 1892 will 
be held on November 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. 
The Brighton and Sussex " New" Horticultural and 
Mutual Improvement Society announces its first annual 
exhibitions, to be held in the Royal Pavilion on April 
5th and 6th, and August 30th and 31st, 1S92. 
The Royal Horticultural Society's Journal.— PartHI. 
of Vol. XIII. has just been published, bringing up 
the record of the Society’s proceedings to September 
22nd, and including also the papers read at the 
conferences on hard}’ summer-flowering perennials, 
and small fruits. 
National Chrysanthemum Society. —With a view to 
promoting a pleasant evening’s social entertainment 
for the members of this society it has been decided, un¬ 
officially, to hold a smoking concert at Anderton’s 
Hotel, Fleet Street, on Friday, January 22nd. Further 
particulars will shortly be given. 
