September 14, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
21 
plaintiff being Messrs. Hawkins & Bennett and Mr. R. 
Dean ; and for the defendant, Mr. J. Walker, Mr. 
Gustav Wermig, Mr. W. Holmes, Mr. G. Gordon, Mr. 
Norman Davis, Mr. Wright (Temple Gardens), Mr. W. 
Heath (Palmer’s Green), Mr. John Laing, Mr. Billing- 
hurst (Selhurst), Mr. Mardlin, Mr. Giffard, Mr. Fell 
and Mr. T. S. Ware. It is expected that the award 
will be made in a few days. 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—At the meeting 
of the General Committee on Monday night twenty- 
nine new members were elected bringing the roll of 
paying members up to 608 ; and the Penzance, Credi- 
ton, and Dalston and Haggerston Chrysanthemum 
Societies were admitted into affiliation. Letters were 
also read from the secretaries of Chrysanthemum 
Societies at Auckland, New Zealand, and Launceston, 
Tasmania. The honorary secretary also announced 
that the Catalogue Committee had brought out a 
supplement to the catalogue, which would be ready for 
distribution on Wednesday. The Conference on 
Wednesday afternoon at the Aquarium was well 
attended by members. Mr. Holmes presided, and the 
first paper read was on the early-flowering Chrysan¬ 
themum, by Mr. W. Piercey. Mr. Doughty followed 
with a capital paper on the treatment of the plants 
previous to flowering. (See p. 26.) An interesting 
discussion on both subjects took place, the speakers 
being Mr. A. Dean, Mr. Gordon, Mr. H. Cannell, 
Mr. Stevens, Mr. Wright, and others. 
A Fancy Price.—Amongst other things to be seen in 
the Universal Exhibition at Paris are a number of 
dwarf stunted trees and shrubs, some of which are of 
great age and variously contorted so as to keep them 
dwarf. Some of them have found their way into 
the leading florists’ shops of the city, where quite a 
fancy price is asked for them. For instance, in the 
Grand Boulevard 500 francs were asked for a small 
contorted specimen of Pinus parvifolia, only about 
15 ins. above the rim of the pot in which it is 
grown. Of course, in this country, and probably in 
France as well, such things are looked upon as a mere 
curiosity, and possessed of no real beauty. The same 
tree as seen in this country is much more ornamental, 
especially some of its forms, and particularly that 
which retains a juvenile appearance even after it has 
attained some size, with short leaves and densely 
arranged branches. It is naturally a very small tree 
for a Pinus, but specimens may be seen in this country 
about 10 ft. or 12 ft. in height. The leaves are arranged 
in tufts of five, and the cones are exceedingly short for 
the group to which it belongs, including P. excelsa, 
P. strobus, P. Peuce, and the Stone Pine (P. cembra). 
It is, however, smaller in all its parts than any of 
these, and the Japanese have no doubt taken advantage 
of this circumstance in using it for pot culture, as 
there were but a few other species in the collection at 
the exhibition, including P. Peuce, another naturally 
small tree. 
--vK-- 
A BANBURY BEAN FEAST. 
What was an exhibition of a unique and novel cha¬ 
racter took place in the market-place of Banbury on the 
5th inst. Mr. Henry Deverill, seedsman, of Banbury, 
offered special prizes for the best specimens of his new 
Runner Bean, Neal’s Ne Plus Ultra, twenty pods being 
required from each exhibitor ; and with the consent of 
the municipal authorities the exhibition took place 
publicly upon a line of tables erected in the open air in 
the market-place of Banbury. About sixty dishes were 
staged in competition out of seventy entries, many of 
them very fine examples indeed of this remarkable 
Bean—long, handsome, fresh, even, and well coloured, 
not a few of the pods containing seven beans. The 
judges who made their awards did so with a numerous 
circle of interested townspeople gathered about them, 
and the censors enjoyed the inestimable advantage of 
hearing their method of procedure audibly and forcibly 
commented upon, to their manifest amusement, if not 
advantage. 
Out of the sixty dishes a dozen or so were selected as 
superficially the best samples. These were then care¬ 
fully gone through, each pod minutely examined and 
contrasted with others. Eventually the following 
awards were made :—First prize to Mr. J. Hughes, The 
Gardens, Eydon Hall, Northampton ; second, Mr. 
Coupland, gardener to Captain Benyon, Neithrop 
House, Banbury ; third, Mr. Wingrove, gardener to 
G. H. Nelson, Esq., J.P., Rousham Park, near Oxford ; 
fourth, Mr. Nichols, gardener to C. Gillett, Esq., Wood 
Green, Banbury. Highly commended labels were affixed 
to the exhibits from the following competitors:—Messrs. 
Geo. Bliss, Banbury; James Boswell, Stanton Har- 
court, Oxford ; Inglefield, gardener to Sir John Kelk, 
Bart., Ted worth Hall, Marlborough ; Cooling, gardener 
to H. F. Gladwin, Esq., Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire ; 
Albert Wingrove, Rousham ; and Burgess, Sutton 
Court, Pensfold, Bristol. The awards were made by 
Mr. Richard Dean, Ealing, and Mr. M. Elliott, 
gardener to the Hon. Miss Percy, Greys Cliff, near 
Warwick. 
In addition, Mr. Deverill publicly exhibited some 
wonderful Onions. He had twelve superb specimens 
of Rousham Park weighing 20 lbs., and twelve of his 
Aiba Craig weighing 30 lbs. Thus, probably for the fii st 
time in the annals of horticulture, twenty-four Onions 
weighed 50 lbs. Twelve of Cocoa Nut, a truly magni¬ 
ficent globular Onion, weighed 20 lbs. ; twelve of 
Wroxton weighed 15 lbs. ; and twelve of Anglo- 
Spanisli, weighed 18 lbs. Of the bulbs of Anglo- 
Spanish, the largest had a girth of 18^ ins., and weighed 
2 lbs. lj ozs. ; the largest of Rousham Park had a 
girth of 18 ins., and weighed 1 lb. 13£ ozs. Altogether, 
this was the finest lot of Onions this celebrated Banbury 
Onionist has ever exhibited in public. In addition, 
there was a collection of some twenty to thirty varieties 
of Onions, representing ordinary stocks in cultivation, 
which are to go to the Vegetable Exhibition and Con¬ 
ference at Chiswick at the end of the month. After 
the judging was finished, Mr. Deverill entertained the 
judges, some of the leading exhibitors, and personal 
friends at luncheon at his residence, South Parade, 
and in the course of reply to the toast of his health, 
said that he hoped next year to combine with the Bean 
exhibition one of his new strains of Onions also. The 
exhibition excited a considerable amount of interest in 
the town of Banbury, and being market day, a great 
many came in from the surrounding districts. 
STOKESXA OYANEA. 
Planted out in the open border, this makes a showy 
and striking plant towards the end of August in 
favourable seasons, and keeps on through the autumn 
months when good-sized clumps are grown. Not being 
quite hardy it is better to keep a reserve stock in cold 
frames through the winter. It is, therefore, the practice 
of some cultivators to lift the plants as they are coming 
into flower, and stand them in a greenhouse or other 
place, where after being kept close for a day or two till 
they take to the soil, they should be freely ventilated 
to keep them cool and healthy. They constitute a 
showy feature in a cool house when in flower, and 
afterwards may be transferred to a cool frame to remain 
there till the return of more genial weather in spring. 
When planted out the stems vary from 1 ft. to 2 ft. 
in height, and terminate in a loose corymb of large- 
blue flower heads. The stems are leafy, and taken 
altogether the plant somewhat resembles a large- 
flowering Aster ; but structurally they are very diffe¬ 
rent. The long blue rays are palmately cut at the 
ends into four deep teeth. 
-»>*<»—- 
THE DAHLIA CENTENARY. 
Show and Conference at the Crystal Palace. 
The centenary celebration of the introduction of the 
Dahlia into this country, took place in conjunction 
with the annual show of the National Dahlia Society, 
on Friday and Saturday last, and if a little slow, as 
regards the conference, which was but thinly attended, 
owing to so few being made aware of the exact part of 
the Palace in which it would be held, this was more 
than compensated for by an admirable exhibition of 
the popular flower, of which all sections were grandly 
represented, with the exception, perhaps, of the fancies, 
which we thought rather weak. The quality of the 
blooms, too, was unusually good, considering the 
season, but the large show flowers would have been 
better still but for the excessive rainfall early in the 
week, which gave a somewhat coarse appearance to 
many blooms. 
The centenary class for a representative collection of 
all types, displayed in such a manner as the exhibitors 
thought best on tables 24 ft. long and 3 ft. wide, 
brought out five competitors and a very fine lot of 
blooms, but the style of grouping adopted was in no 
case wholly pleasing or satisfactory, and in one or two 
instances was downright ugly. After much consider¬ 
ation on the part of the judges, the awards went to 
Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, Mr. T. S. Ware, Messrs. Paul 
& Son, and Messrs. Keynes, Williams & Co., in the 
order named, the unsuccessful competitor being Mr. E. 
F. Such, of Maidenhead. Mr. Turner threw the whole 
of his strength into the regular classes, and ably won 
the leading prize for seventy-two show and fancy 
varieties, with a superb lot of all the leading 
varieties. Next in order of merit in this competition 
came Messrs. Keynes, Williams & Co., while the third 
award went to a northern grower, Mr. W. Boston, 
Carthorpe, Bedale. There were five competitors. 
With forty-eight blooms, distinct, the Salisbury growers 
turned the tables on Slough, and Messrs. Rawlings 
Bros., Romford, and Mr. Seale, Sevenoaks, secured the 
third and fourth awards. Mr. Walker, of Thame, sent 
the best three dozen, beating Mr. G. Humphreys, of 
Kington Langley, and Messrs. Saltmarsh, of Chelms¬ 
ford ; and with twenty-four blooms Mr. Humphreys 
beat Messrs. Saltmarsh, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Martin, 
of Farnham. For twelve in a very good class Messrs. 
Cheal beat Mr. J. R. Tranter, Henley, and Mr. 
Gilbert, of Ipswich. 
In the amateurs’ division the leading class, and a 
well-contested one, was for twenty-four distinct, and 
here the premier award went to Mr. J. T. West, 
Brentwood, and the second, third and fourth prizes to 
Mr. T. Hobbs, Lower Eaton, Bristol ; Mr. H. 
Glasscock, Bishop’s Stortford; and Mr. G. Arnold, 
Leighton Buzzard ; while the best dozen show varieties 
only, came from Mr. Ocock, Havering Park Gardens; 
Mr. T. Anstiss, Brill ; and Mr. W. Mist, Ightham. 
The awards for six went to Mr. H. Heeremans, Jun., 
Langley, Chippenham ; Mr. J. T. Cronk, Orpington ; 
J. Gurney Fowler, Esq., Woodford ; and Mr. W. 
Leaman, gardener, Westbury Lodge, Brentwood. Mr. 
Glasscock showed the best dozen fancies, and Mr. A. 
Ocock the best half dozen, Mr. West being second for 
the former, and Mr. T. Cooper for the latter. 
The open classes confined to show and fancy flowers 
grouped by colours brought some of the finest examples 
in the exhibition. Mr. Walker, Messrs. Keynes & Co., 
and Messrs. Rawlings Bros, had the best six blooms of 
any two dark Dahlias ; and in a class for the same 
number of light sorts, the awards went in the order 
named to Mr. West, Messrs. Keynes & Co., Mr. 
Glasscock, and Messrs. Saltmarsh. The best two 
tipped Dahlias shown in the same way came from 
Messrs. Keynes, Glasscock, and Saltmarsh. Mr. 
H. Glasscock secured the premier award for six 
Cactus or decorative varieties, and Mr. Turner 
was equally successful with twenty-four Pompons, in 
good competitions. Single varieties were both plentiful 
and good ; and the honorary secretary and treasurer, 
Mr. T. W. Girdlestone, secured the first prize for six, 
beating Mr. J. Henshaw and Mr. Glasscock; Mr. 
Seale, having the best dozen, followed by Messrs. J. 
Burrell & Co. and Messrs. Gilbert & Sons. 
In recording the doings of such an interesting occa¬ 
sion we have thought it desirable to give a more 
extended list of the awards than we can usually find 
room for, and for want of space must defer publication 
of any comments on the varieties shown to our next 
issue. 
The Centenary Conference. 
This was held in what is known as the old dining-room, 
and Mr. Shirley Hibberd, who presided, read his 
introductory address on the history of the Dahlia. (See 
p. 22). Mr. J. T. West read a paper on the cultivation 
of the show Dahlia. ;See p. 23). Mr. Harry Turner 
followed with a paper on the Dahlia as a show flower, 
and Mr. J. Cheal concluded with some observations on 
the Pompon, Single and decorative sections. Mr. 
H. Cannell having spoken at some length, votes of 
thanks to the chairman and Mr. Girdlestone brought 
the proceedings to a close. 
