624 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 2, 1894. 
or occupier of land had the fullest right to 
all vertical light as well as to the free use 
of the soil beneath, and that no one could 
deprive him of those privileges by trees 
overhanging or roots beneath. 
It was still further agreed that the 
aggrieved person need not give to the owner 
of the trees notice of his intention to cut or 
lop the same, although as a matter of 
courtesy it was best to do so; indeed, in the 
present case the defendant lost his costs 
because he refrained from giving the owner 
of the trees notice of his intention to cut , 
them, and his conduct was regarded as un- 
neighbourly. Any privilege set up, as has 
been set up, that the age of a tree gave it 
a prescriptive right to the space even over 
another’s land which it occupied, was by 
the Lords Justices ruthlessly knocked on 
the head. No prescriptive right can be 
allowed in relation to trees. 
The decision is one of special interest to 
local authorities,not only in relation to their 
powers to plant trees that may grow over 
private gardens, but also in relation to 
private trees that may and do grow over 
the public highways. The High Court has 
given a sharp lesson to all planters of every 
description, that in putting in trees of any 
kind they must not plant to the injury of 
anyone else. That may in time lead to the 
fixing of a planting line, and further we may 
see severe restrictions put on the planting 
of all trees near to boundary fences. In 
any case there is no excuse now if future 
planters violate the law so far as adjoining 
interests are concerned. 
- ^ - 
Death of Mr. James Lyall.—We regret to hear of 
the death on the 20th ult., after a long illness, of Mr. 
James Lyall, late gardener to the Dowager- 
Marchioness of Londonderry, The deceased, who 
was 47 years of age, was the eldest son of the late 
Mr. John Lyall, of Pinkie Gardens, Musselburgh, 
and was well known as a good all-round gardener. 
Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’ Association.— 
The second annual excursion will take place on 
Saturday, June gth, to Ragley Hall, Alcester, per¬ 
mission having been granted by the Marquis of 
Hertford. The party will travel by the 2.15 train 
from Birmingham, and on arrival at Alcester will be 
conducted through the gardens and grounds of 
Ragley by the head gardener, Mr. Christie. Tickets 
(which include a meat tea at the Swan Hotel), 3s. 6d. 
each. Early application should be made, as the 
number is limited. Members are allowed the 
privilege of introducing friends. The Hon. 
Secretary, Mr. W. B. Griffin, Wychbury, Alcester 
Road, Moseley, will be glad to hear from those who 
intend going. 
The National Co-operative Flower Show. —We 
have received a copy of the schedule of prizes 
offered for competition at the ninth great co-opera¬ 
tive flower show, which is fixed to be held at the 
Crystal Palace, on Friday and Saturday, the 17th 
and i8th of August. The classes appear to be as 
numerous as ever, and the prizes as liberal as before, 
while we also notice the introduction of several im¬ 
provements, one of which at least promises to have 
a good effect in increasing the number of exhibitors. 
We refer to the alteration in the days for staging ex¬ 
hibits Section i is now confined to members of 
Industrial Co-operative Societies, and their exhibits 
must be staged before 10.30 a.m., on August i8th, 
while the various competing articles in Section 2, 
which is open to members and customers of the 
Agricultural and Horticultural Association, Limited, 
or their gardeners, and members of industrial 
societies who prefer to compete for the prizes in this 
section in preference to Section i, must be staged 
before 12 noon on Friday, August 17th. 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution.—We may 
emind our readers that the fifty-fifth anniversary 
Festival of this most deserving charity will take 
place on 21st inst. at the Hotel Metropole, when 
the President of the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, 
Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., M.P., will preside. 
With a chairman so warmly in sympathy with the 
objects of both our horticultural charities as Sir 
Julian Goldsmid has proved himself to be, the 
annual dinner should prove to be as great a success 
as any which have preceded it, but, all the same, 
no time should be lost by those who intend to be 
present in applying to the Secretary, Mr. G. J. 
Ingram, for the necessary ticket. In another 
column will be found a list of contributions that 
have been promised or received for the Chairman’s 
list, which we hope to see quadrupled or even quin¬ 
tupled ere the list is closed. Mr. Ingram will be 
very glad indeed to hear as soon as possible from 
any intending donors. 
Land Legislation ; Protection Wanted for Market 
Gardeners’ Improvements.—A market gardener of 
Evesham, writing to a daily paper with respect to 
what appears to be a serious omission in the land 
legislation of this country, says :— “ While farmers 
have the ' Agricultural Holdings Act ’ and the small 
allotment holder the ‘ Small Allotment Act ’ the 
market gardener is left out in the cold and has no 
legislative protection. Owing to the agricultural 
depression and the increased facilities given to 
occupy land, with the strong recommendations by 
Mr. Gladstone and others to grow fruit and choice 
vegetables, some hundreds of acres of land have 
been taken, cultivated and enriched by the planting 
of fruit trees, straw’oerries, asparagus, etc. But as 
the law now stands the tenant of such land may be 
dispossessed of his holding without the law securing 
to him any compensation for the improvements he 
has made. In some instances that have come to 
the knowledge of the- writer, the landlord has not 
only enforcedT more rent, which has been submitted 
to by the tenant, but in others the land has been 
sold at ;(jioo to ;(ji5o an acre, which would be full 
three times more than the land was worth previous 
to its being enriched by the tenant. But sheltered 
by the law no provision was made to give any com¬ 
pensation to the tenant, by whose skill and capital 
the land had increased in its value threefold. Is 
this fair or reasonable ? If the landlord may justly 
lay claim to some share of the advantages effected 
upon his land by the tenant, he is not warranted 
morally in absolutely claiming the whole of such 
advantages. We advocate justice to Ireland, but 
shall our legislature at the same time be unjust to an 
English peasantry ? What is the use of advocating 
the cause of the poor agricultural labourer and 
inducing him to take land and plant it with fruit 
trees and choice vegetable productions, if at the 
same time he is refused legislation to shelter him 
from the avarice of a landlord.” 
Presentation to Mr. W. Iggulden.—A crowded 
meeting of the inhabitants of Marston Biggott, near 
Frome, took place on the 24th ult., for the purpose 
of making a presentation to Mr. and Mrs. Iggulden 
on their leaving the district, Mr. Iggulden, after 
thirteen years’ service as gardener to Lord Cork, 
having been engaged by the Duke of Bedford to 
undertake the management of the e.xperimental fruit 
garden which his grace is about to establish at Wo¬ 
burn. The Rev. Prebendary Harford presided, and 
presented Mr. Iggulden with a beautifully illumi¬ 
nated address, with a handsome gold keyless lever 
watch bearing the recipient’s monogram at the back, 
with the inscription inside : — “ Presented to Mr. W. 
Iggulden by his friends, at Marston, May, 1894 
also of a chaste silver tea service to Mrs. Iggulden. 
The address was read by the Chairman as follows : 
—"To Mr. W. Iggulden,—We, the undersigned, 
being your friends in Marston, Frome and the 
neighbourhood, desire to express our sincere regret 
at your leaving Marston alter thirteen years’ resi¬ 
dence. You have always taken great interest in the 
welfare of Marston, and have promoted that wel¬ 
fare by the consistency of your character and the 
geniality of your services. Both as an efficient 
member of the church choir and the chief promoter 
of the concerts which have helped to brighten the 
village life during the winter, as well as in many 
other ways, your services will be greatly missed. 
Moreover, you have always been ready to place your 
great knowledge of horticulture at the use and 
disposal of others, and by your tact and courtesy, 
your sympathy and kindliness, have gained many 
friends in Frome and the neigbourhood. We all 
have much pleasure in presenting you with the 
accompanying gold watch as a token of our esteem 
and regard, and we trust that you may be long 
spared to use it in the new post of usefulness to 
which you have been appointed.— We are, dear Mr. 
Iggulden, very faithfully yours.” Then followed a 
list of the names of over one hundred subscribers. 
Mr. Iggulden feelingly expressed his acknowledg¬ 
ment of the gifts. His new home will be Ridge- 
mount, near Woburn. 
-- 
JUDGING CHRYSANTHEMUMS BY 
POINTS. 
I AM grateful to “ A. D.” for opening a discussion 
on this subject in your columns, as it will not 
only give us shy members an easier opportunity 
of expressing ourseWes, but may induce others 
who were unable to attend the meeting to give us 
their views also. ” A.D.” in his admirable letter 
on p. 596 has proposed a more simple wording of 
the qualities to be taken into consideration, and as 
undoubtedly the more concise the method to be 
adopted is the better it will be, I should like to 
suggest what seems to me a still better wording and 
arrangement of the points of value to be applied in 
judging cut blooms. 
I do not like the word “solidity” as applied to 
flowers, though growers generally know what is 
meant by the term ; I think substance would be better, 
though the real meaning remains the same. As 
“A. D.” suggests, I quite agree that six points 
might be made to express the full value of a bloom, 
and divided by halves would easily meet all varying 
qualities, but I would apportion them in the following 
manner ;—Two points each to form, colour and size. 
Form would be understood to include substance ; 
colour would include freshness ; and size would 
include depth and diameter. 
Substance to my mind expresses breadth of petal, 
and as a narrow petalled bloom has not substance it 
generally indicates poor culture, so that I think the 
above estimates in a fair way the various qualities 
in a flower. I place size last, as a large bloom 
without good form and colour has little beauty to 
recommend it, and of course it is from this latter as 
a general standpoint that flowers should be judged. 
Yet size is a very important matter, and I would 
lay stress on the desirability of judges being growers, 
so that they may be thoroughly conversant with the 
relative value of varieties. No one better than a 
grower can estimate the value of a “Teck ” against 
a “ Princess,” and unless classes are arranged for 
specified varieties the above comparisons will always 
have to be made, and this again is where I fail to 
see how judges are likely to find the competition so 
very close as indicated by Mr. Shea, viz., half a 
point between two stands ; for unless the varieties in 
each stand be identical it can only be very rarely 
indeed that so small a difference can be found in 
two stands of blooms. 
With regard to “A. D.’s” suggestion as to pro¬ 
portionate prizes, I certainly do not agree with him. 
It has always been my idea that the first is the only 
prize that exhibitors should aim at, and most 
exhibitors do look to win that and that alone. 
Because the next best competitor comes very near in 
order of merit, he is none the less second, and as all 
compete to win the first prize it should be worth 
striving for. Second, third, and other prizes are 
generally looked upon as consolation rewards, or 
a something to help expenses, and I do not think 
competitors will enter into the spirit of “ A. D.’s” 
argument, but prefer in floral competitions, as in all 
other, to aim at the first prize as the coveted 
honour. 
Your correspondent ” Comparison” will, I think, 
find himself in a very small minority. He does not 
seem to quite grasp the salient points of the dis¬ 
cussion. As to what he says with regard to breadth 
of petal, I would point out that it does not mean 
that there shall or can be an uniform breadth of 
petal in all varieties, but that each variety according 
to its capabilities should be judged as to whether it 
is shown in its best proportions. No one expects a 
“ Princess ” to have a very broad petal, but it is ex¬ 
pected in " E. Molyneux ” certainly, because a narrow 
petalled flower of that variety cannot be a first-rate 
bloom. 
“ Comparison ” is somewhat late in calling 
judging by points a “new idea,” for I think I may 
safely say that very few cases of close competition 
at the more important shows for the past ten years 
have been decided other than by some method of 
pointing. The aim of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society now is to establish a standard system of 
