404 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 1, 1890. 
class of florists, who do not understand the 
points which are generally held to constitute 
perfect flowers according to the true florist’s 
conception; hut whose chief aim seems to he 
to make the flowers they grow subjects simply 
for winning prizes at shows. Many of these 
perhaps produce perfect flowers, some of them 
the best possible that can he obtained, but 
they represent technical skill, not devotion. 
The real florist is one whose love for his 
flowers is unbounded, whose devotion is so 
broad and deep that it rises above all other 
considerations, and who gladly embraces all 
that in flowers is beautiful and abstractedly 
perfect. 
The devotee has the clearest perception of 
what elements of perfection in form, in 
marking, in beauty his flowers may have, and 
how defective others may be. His aim is 
therefore to abuse nothing, because all flowers 
are beautiful, but to cherish the one and to 
reform and amend the other ; and with the 
energy that characterises the enthusiast, lie 
will accomplish the task. There are none too 
many prophets and apostles of floriculture 
amongst us. Those we have we may well 
cherish, and if Mr. Jeans’ philosophy should 
serve to stir up or kindle in the hearts of 
some others the same divine love for floricul¬ 
ture, our re-publication of the papers will 
have been amply justified. 
C M lower Carnivals. —Whatsoever may be the 
-*4 pastime of the idle classes eventually, we 
trust it will never assume the form of floral 
carnivals or battles. It is indeed hard to 
conceive the British people, always passionately 
attached to flowers, making them the low 
and vulgar elements of a contemptible pastime. 
When we read the accounts which our daily 
contemporaries present to us of the floral 
carnivals of the Continent, it is not possible to 
repress feelings of deep disgust. We have 
employed flowers largely here for almost every 
conceivable purpose ; but happily, so far, they 
have escaped the vile uses to which the 
carnivaf-mongers of Trance and Italy have 
subjected them. 
Our insular climate is perchance too cold for 
the producing of flowers on a scale which 
would cause them to be regarded by us as fit¬ 
ting subjects for the coarsest buffoonery. Our 
natural temperament probably is too phlegmatic 
to lead us to endure a pastime of that kind with 
patience, whilst our well-cultivated taste for 
flowers hitherto has always prevented the 
prostitution of flowers to ignoble purposes. 
There is no telling to what depths panderers 
to idle fashions may not stoop yet; but it is 
to be hoped that the flower-loving people of 
these isles will be so strong as to check 
shameless vulgarity, floral or otherwise, becom¬ 
ing prevalent. 
We saw not long since near home a display, 
under high fashionable patronage, which was 
so tawdry and absurd as to evoke the strongest 
indignation, and yet it did not in any way 
approach to the floral decorations seen in 
Continental carnivals. We hope that that 
form of floral fete will not again be seen in 
England, still less in gardens ostensibly set 
apart by the nation for the special promotion 
of botany, and the highest development of 
gardening. Flowers may not be fitting objects 
of worship, but they are of the purest and 
warmest affection, therefore they should ever 
be associated with nobleness and refinement, 
and not subjected to degradation. 
ommission Salesmen.— The case mentioned 
in our columns last week, showing how 
several gardeners had been defrauded by a 
former Covent Garden salesman, may well tend 
to create sonie feeling of uneasiness in the 
breasts of those who have not yet embarked 
in the now common business of disposing of 
their garden produce through salesmen. The 
older growers who have had intimate connec¬ 
tion with marketnjen for several, perhaps 
many years, know full ivell who they can 
trust, and happily they can trust the greater 
portion of those engaged in the market fully, 
as indeed the bulk of the salesmen are trusted 
to the extent of produce of great value every 
year. 
What is so much to the credit of the sales¬ 
men is that, thus trusted, and, as it Were, thus 
tempted by customers in all directions they 
have proved themselves to be so reliable and 
trustworthy. There is no question, so far as 
these are concerned, of interest. The only 
matter which troubles the grower is the 
amount of the returns which, governed by 
supply and demand, are so often low, and 
productive of exceeding disappointment. In 
spite of that fact, however, we see gardeners 
in private places getting more and more mere 
market growers of produce; and we see also a 
constant increase going on of persons embark¬ 
ing in the production of market fruits, flowers, 
&c., as regular traders. With these latter the 
commission agent is but an intermediary if 
they reside within reach of the great market; 
but to all who either live remote, or are private 
gardens, the salesman is an indispensable 
agent, and to his honour is consigned all the 
spare produce of thousands of what are called 
private gardens now. Gardeners, doubtless, 
present admirable spoil for the unprincipled 
agent; but if these not too wary birds will be 
careful first to ascertain that their goods are 
consigned to a safe, and reliable salesman, they 
will have no cause to tremble lest they may be 
deceived. 
^Tinned Fruits. —What a wealth of delicious 
fruits come to us from that garden of 
America, the state of California! So cheap 
are these fruits that they can be purchased at 
even small retail shops at low prices, whilst 
those who can purchase them at stores or in a 
wholesale way obtain them remarkably cheap. 
Probably we shall be told that this form of 
competition is harmful to our home fruit 
trade, but to that we must take exception. 
It is overlooked that these cheap imported 
fruits, whether in tins or bottles (but we refer 
to the tinned fruits chiefly), serve to create and 
sustain a strong penchant for fruit with the 
masses, so that when we have an abundance of 
fresh fruit, the demand for it is likely to be 
all the greater than would be the case were 
not the public taste already well fed by 
imported fruit. 
But, all the same, we do think that the 
trade of tinning or preserving whole fruit 
ought not to be in the hands of our colonial 
brethren so thoroughly as it is. There can be 
no doubt but that at home, during a fairly 
good season, thousands of bushels of picked 
fruit, Plums especially, might be served as the 
enterprising Californians serve their Plums, 
Apricots, &e., and furnish to us of our own 
growth an abundant supply of fresh fruit in 
the winter. If we can purchase a quart tin 
of delicious Plums for about 9 cl., grown and 
preserved 6,000 miles away, surely such a 
boon should be furnished to us at home of 
fruit of our own production at about 6J. per 
quart tin. Here is scope for the Fruit 
Growers’ Association ! We have no lack of 
jam preservers and of bottlers, but we want 
to see a great tinning trade created. Of 
course, we cannot produce Apricots to compete 
with California, but of Plums, Cherries, 
Damsons, Currants, Gooseberries, Pears, &c., 
there is, in good seasons, plenty available for 
the new trade if well undertaken. 
-- 
Death of Mr. Maurice Young.—We deeply regret to 
learn, as we go to press, of the death on Monday, at 
2.30 p m., of Mr. Maurice Young, of the Milford 
Nurseries, Godaiming, aged 58 years. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—We understand that 
on the strong recommendation of the Kew authorities, 
Mr. J. Weathers, formerly on the Kew stall', and 
1-itterly with Messrs. F. Sander & Co , of St. Albans, 
has been engaged as assistant secretary of this society. 
Brighton and Hove Chrysanthemum Society.— 
The annual exhibition of this society will be held on 
November 4th and 5th. 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—We understand 
that His Grace The Duke of Westminster, and the 
Eight. Hon. J. Chamberlain, M.P., have consented to 
become vice-presidents of this society, and that both 
have sent contributions to the Centenary Prize Fund. 
Manchester Botanical and Horticultural Society— 
A printer’s error in the list of flower shows, &c., 
published in our last issue, gave the date of the March 
show of this society as the 1 h, instead of the 18th. 
Those who have cut out the list for future reference, 
will please make the alteration. 
Gardening Engagements.—Mr. Brown, lately with 
Mr. Bradshaw, at Davenham Bank, Malvern, as 
gardener to Capt. Benins, Ashfield, Malvern. Mr. 
A. Young, for ten years gardener at Taymouth Castle, 
as gardener to Sir J. A. Hay, Bart., Kingsmeadows, 
Peebles, N.B. Mr. W. Edwards, late gardener at 
Honeylands, Waltham Cross, as gardener at Porter’s 
Park, Shenley, Herts. 
Hydrangea, Thomas Hogg.— “ Rusticus” writes :— 
Amongst the many useful plants admirably grown for 
decorative work at the Hassocks Gate Nurseries is the 
Thomas Hogg Hydrangea, and which there fully bears 
out the good opinion I entertained of it when I first 
saw it in America. The plants at Hassocks Gate are 
grown in 4-in. or 5-in. pots, are not over 1 ft. high, 
and have a dozen fine trusses of its pure white flowers, 
which are invaluable for many decorative purposes. 
No one can doubt its great value when they see it in 
this condition. 
Lesclienaultia biloba major.— The same correspondent 
remarks that this old but much neglected greenhouse 
plant is also grown to perfection at Hassocks Gate by 
the Messrs. Balchin. Upwards of a thousand fine 
healthy plants in 4-in. and 6-in. pots occupy the stages 
in one of their span-roof houses. This plant is seldom 
met with in good condition, but the plants referred to 
promise to flower well, and as it is one of the brightest 
blue flowers known, it is all the more valuable. 
Boronia megastigma. —This is a lovely plant for 
conservatory decoration, not so much foi\ any great 
beauty in the flowers, which are insignificant, bnt for 
its scent, which is most delicious, a few plants being 
sufficient to scent a good sized conservatory. I was 
much struck, says “Rusticus,” with a fine hatch in 
the Messrs. Balchin’s nursery, which were literally 
laden with flowers, and scenting the air for some 
distance beyond the house they were growing in. 
Another American Invention.—According to one of 
our American contemporaries, it is stated that a Cali¬ 
fornian man has practically invented a means of 
shooting the scale insects infesting his trees without 
the least injury to the latter. This is more than we 
can guarantee in this country when shooting bullfinches 
and blackbirds amongst Apple trees, Raspberry canes, 
and Gooseberry bushes. In this case, however, the 
Californian man, instead of using shot, uses some con¬ 
trivance by which he can send a blast of hot or cold 
sand against the enemy, and so dislodge it. 
Linnaean Society.—At a meeting of this society on 
the 20th, papers were read by The Right Hon. Sir 
John Lubbock, Bart, M. P., ou the “ Seeds and Fruits of 
Pterocarya and the Walnut,” ou the occurrence or 
absence of stipules in certain orders of plauts, and on 
the presence or absence of stipular processes in 
Viburnum. He explained his views at considerable 
length, concerning the differences to be found in the 
leaves and buds of the two types represented by our 
native species, namely, V. Opulus and V. Lautana. 
A Useful Label for Pot Plants.—At Clare Lawn, 
East Sheen, a form of label is used for Orchids which 
might well be applied to the naming of many other 
subjects grown in pots. The label itself consists of a 
circular piece of porcelain, about the size of a five- 
shilling piece. It is of a pale grey colour, and after 
receiving a coating of paint, is allowed to dry, when 
it may be written upon with ink. It is fixed in the 
pot by means of a stout wire passed through a hole near 
the edge of the label. The name being written with 
ink is far more legible than when it is written on zinc 
labels, which have the property of being indestructible, 
hut upon which it is hardly possible to decipher the 
name without handling, or even wetting the label. 
Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen. — The 
prize schedule of this society has just been issued for 
the grand floral fete of 1890, and spring show of li>9L. 
It is much bulkier than usual, and contains a lot o; 
