Sept. 20th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
35 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”—B acon - . 
Cjjf dstrkrang Morlfr. 
SATUBDAY, SE PTE MB EE 20, 1884. 
The International Potato Show. —We 
learn that the presence of the Lord Mayor of 
London and Sheriffs in State, is considered to he 
certain at the forthcoming Exhibition of Potatos 
to he held at the Crystal Palace on the 8th of 
October, and two following days. Exhibitors 
will note that the Show is this year one day 
longer than it has been in any previous year, 
adding perhaps a little to the expenses and 
detracting a little more from the after exhibition 
value of their tubers, yet it is hoped that a third 
day may prove to those growers who come a long 
distance, not absolutely wasted time. The city 
patronage, thanks to the earnest labours of the 
Hon. Secretary, Mr. P. McKinlay, has always 
been freely bestowed upon the International 
Potato Show, and it has not been given in vain. 
As the Lord Mayor will preside over the luncheon 
and ladies will be present, it is expected that this 
element of the gathering—and which is always 
the best of its kind during the year—will be 
unusually brilliant. It is to be hoped that the 
civic cortege will keep good time, and thus enable 
the luncheon to take place ere hunger has be¬ 
come painful to endure. The toast list on the 
festive occasion usually includes exhibitors, but 
we believe it has never yet been instrumental in 
doing honour to “ The Kaisers.” Perhaps on this 
occasion, even if the proposing of it should 
render the omission of something formal neces¬ 
sary, room may be found for a toast to the 
raisers, who deservo so well of their country, 
and without whose labours the exhibitors and 
growers of all kinds would make but a poor show 
indeed. 
-H*- 
Allotment Gardens. —We are interested to 
notice that this important topic is cropping up 
again, and trust that it may continue to crop up 
until a considerable area of land in many parts 
of the kingdom is devoted to garden plots for the 
benefit of our industrial population. There is 
too much reason to fear that in gardening circles 
horticulture for the poor, especially in the par¬ 
ticular form to which we are now adverting, is 
held in light esteem, in fact, is placed rather 
amongst social subjects than horticultural ones. 
We hold strongly that gardening is as essential 
to the welfare, pleasure, and happiness of the 
poorest as of the richest, though there can be no 
doubt that to the poor it comes more in the form 
of comfort than of pleasure. For that very 
reason it is our duty to help in every way to 
promote the demand for garden plots for working 
people wheresoever they can be obtained, because 
in so doing we feel that the solution of a great 
social problem is being worked out. It is an 
interesting fact in relation to Allotment Gardening, 
to know that under scarcely any other conditions 
of culture and cropping, is ground to be made 
more useful or productive. Could a faithful 
record of the produce obtained in any one year 
be kept, say from 10 acres of land devoted to 
Allotment Gardening, where the culture was 
fairly good; and be compared with the produce 
of the same extent of land under ordinary field 
culture, we are sure the difference in favour of 
the allotments would be a surprise. The great 
need of the day is not only to tie the people to the 
soil but to find far greater numbers of them 
engaged in its culture. Large Farms have driven 
labour from the soil, and only the division of it 
into small Garden Farms and Allotments can 
bring the people back again. The subject is hardly 
ripe for treatment, but whenever it is we shall see 
this view of the case warmly supported. 
-- 
The late Mr. Bentham. —We noticed last 
week the death of the veteran Botanist, Mr. 
George Bentham, E.R.S., at the mature age of 83. 
His writings were chiefly interesting to the 
Botanist, but there is one paper which may be 
said to be even more so to the Horticulturist, 
and at the present time it may not seem inap¬ 
propriate to call attention to it. It is entitled 
“Report on some of the more remarkable hardy 
ornamental plants raised in the Horticultural 
Society’s Garden from seeds received from Mr. 
David Douglas, in the years 1831, 1832 and 
1833.” The plants described are the following : — 
Ribes glutinosum, R. malvaceum, Leptosiphon 
androsaceus, L. densiflorus, Cilia tricolor, Pha- 
celia tauacetifolia, Nemophila insignis, Collinsia 
bicolor, and Chelone centranthifolia. Some of 
these North American plants it will be noticed 
are still amongst our popular favourites. 
Chrysanthemums. —With the decline of 
summer comes special interest in our queen of 
autumn flowers, the Chrysanthemum, and specu¬ 
lations are rife as to the probable condition of 
the plants for the production of show-blooms. 
Last year a general tendency towards earliness 
proved disastrous to not a few growers, and 
some of the finest blooms, especially of the 
Japan kinds, were over before the annual exhibi¬ 
tions opened. This season the plants generally 
show no undue precocity, though the summer 
has been so hot. Really the tendency of tho 
weather has been rather to solidify the growth 
than to unduly force it, hence just now there is 
promise of a fine bloom in good season. Naturally 
plants have suffered where watering has been 
neglected, and the foliage has fallen. Such plants 
will produce but mediocre blooms. Still no really 
good grower has been so inattentive, and there¬ 
fore tho shows will not suffer on that account. 
It will be interesting to note how far the heat in 
thus early hardening the wood has tended to affect 
the size of the blooms, and if the result should 
be that these are less loose in many cases where 
closeness is customary, and all are more dense 
and compact, there will be great gain, for of 
large, loose, sprawling flowers we have too many, 
and can well afford to dispense with them 
altogether. Happily the awards of judges tend 
to favour form, denseness, and quality in blooms 
even of the Japanese, in preference to mere size, 
and thus growers are being educated to grow the 
best sorts. We shall hope to see the plants in 
bloom shown in decorative groups rather more 
compact than usual, though not less floriferous, 
unless any grower of these should have made the 
mistake of standing his plants in shade rather 
than in the full force of sunshine. 
Tomatos. —A very interesting question comes 
from an intelligent reader: “Can you tell me 
which is the best Tomato ? ” This is not only 
an interesting query, but it is a very difficult 
one to answer satisfactorily, unless we get out 
of a difficulty by saying that in their way all 
Tomatos are good, though we must even then add 
that some are better. Now, much depends upon 
the special purpose for which Tomatos are 
required, but as a rule for all general purposes 
the large, rich-coloured red kinds are the best, and 
smooth fruits are most preferred. From the 
time of the introduction of Hathaway’s Excelsior 
—one of the most prolific and pretty of kinds— 
we have had numerous duplicates of it put into 
commerce, but in some cases there is found 
greater size, though hardly more prolificacy. 
Thus Trophy, Stamfordiau, Hackwood Park, 
Phillips’ Perfection, Dedham Favourite, Lord 
Wolseley, and some others, are all reproductions 
of Excelsior, but showing in some cases greater 
size, and in others slight divergencies. Any one 
of these—especially of the latter four kinds—are 
first-class, in fact, just about as good as red 
Tomatos well can be, and they always furnish a 
handsome exhibition sample. To ensure pro¬ 
lificacy, no doubt crosses between Excelsior and 
some one of the old free-bearing, sutured kinds 
give excellent results, but as a rule these 
sutured forms are less appreciated in the market 
than are smooth forms. After all, productiveness 
depends very much upon culture, and if gardeners 
could continue their stocks by means of cuttings 
they would find the plants much more productive 
than seedlings are. Of the smaller pear or plum¬ 
shaped kinds, the Chiswick Red is the best. Colour 
is good and flavour fair, whilst the crop is immense 
relatively. Of the yellow kinds the finest and 
deepest coloured is the large Golden Queen, 
The market culture of Tomatos is spreading 
rapidly, and seems to be a profitable occupation, 
for happily the taste for this wholesome fruit is 
spreading also. 
Anemone japonica. —Suffering for some time 
because of the heat and drought of tho past 
summer these beautiful cool-air and moisture- 
loving plants have, since the recent rains, won- 
drously revived, and are now blooming with 
exceeding beauty and abundance. But even as 
regards this charming flower there is a fly in our 
pot of ointment, and that is seen in the exceed¬ 
ingly fragile or transitory nature of its flowers 
when out. It is all very well to rush into glowing 
eulogiums over its beauty, and specially to 
describe the white form as a hardy Eucharis, and 
that sort of thing; but it is neither so elegant as 
the Eucharis nor one-half so enduring, and it is 
with the latter defect that we are most concerned. 
As a flower for cutting, more especially to mix 
with Dahlias, Asters, early-blooming Chrysan¬ 
themums, &c., it would be invaluable were its 
blooms of a more enduring nature. To secure 
that desideratum, there seems no other course 
but to endeavour to increase the number of petals 
in the blooms—in fact, to convert the flowers into 
double ones. It is hoped that no agonized shriek 
of horror will arise over this suggestion, because 
those who prefer single blooms may have them in 
exceeding abundance. We are rather thinking 
of the needs and requirements of that large num¬ 
ber of gardeners and tradespeople who have to 
furnish cut flowers, and who must have enduring 
ones. We are by no means disposed to think, 
however, that the Japan anemone would be 
spoiled because its blooms were doubled, and 
indeed imagine that a pure white form resembling 
miniature Becomes would be hailed with universal 
delight. Will some of our growers of this plant 
set themselves to the-work of selecting semi- 
double forms that may develop in time all we 
desire, or perhaps some lucky hit in crossing may 
succeed in securing the desired novelty? 
Single Dahlias. —We revert again to these 
popular flowers, because, having in mind the 
singularly beautiful, and indeed almost perfect, 
forms which have recently been exhibited both 
at the Crystal Palace and at South Kensington, 
it may be worth while to caution small raisers of 
these Dahlias from seed how they set too high an 
estimate on their best forms. So good in form 
and so rich and varied in colouring have these 
