Oct. 25th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
115 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”—B acon. 
l\t Ikrkmitg SStorA 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 1884. 
Harvest Festivals. —The ancient, though not 
always elevating, method of celebrating Harvest 
Festivals seems now universally to have given 
place to the Ecclesiastical Festival in the form 
of a special service, conducted in places of 
worship highly dressed or decorated with hetero¬ 
geneous combinations of wheat and other corn, 
berries of kinds, fruits of the garden and wood, 
vegetables, roots, and even gigantic Cabbages and 
Pumpkins are impressed into the service of the 
decorators. Grapes are specially favoured, so 
also are fine Apples and Pears, as well as rich- 
coloured Tomatos, indeed, nothing good from 
garden or field comes amiss. Thus we find for 
the nonce our churches converted into temples 
dedicated to the Goddesses Flora, Ceres, and 
Pomona, and that the congregations are attracted 
by the worship of those divinities is evident from 
the fact that observations upon the decorations 
form the staple topic of conversation. We are 
very dubious whether all this presents any aid to 
religion and still less to horticulture. The taste 
seems more sensational than genuine. We feel 
sure that the purest place for flowers is found 
when admired and appreciated in their natural 
places. 
The Fruit Show at South Eensington.— 
We learn that the Chairman of the National 
Health Exhibition Committee, the Duke of 
Buckingham, has ordered that the exhibits at 
the last of the series of Fruit and Vegetable 
Shows, to be held at South Eensington from 
Tuesday till Thursday next, shall not be removed 
until after ten o’clock on Thursday night, which 
really means the next (Friday) morning. Pro¬ 
bably the vegetables will hardly be removed in 
any case by the exhibitors, but the Apples will 
be valuable and need careful removal. That can 
be done very much better in the quiet atmosphere 
of the deserted halls of the “ Healtheries ” on 
Friday than in the crowd and crush which will 
be inevitable on Thursday night, when the 
Health Exhibition finally closes. 
New Chrysanthemums. —It is unfortunate 
for raisers and growers of new Chrysanthemums 
that the interval between the winter meetings of 
the Floral Committee of the Koyal Horticultural 
Society should be so long as to practically exclude 
many deserving novelties from a share of those 
honours which the Committee have to bestow, 
and which in the form of First-Class Certificates, 
are so much coveted by raisers, as the hall mark 
of superiority. It has long been a matter of 
regret that this grand winter flower should suffer 
seeming neglect through the want of a tribunal 
to which new varieties could be submitted at 
regular intervals during the Chrysanthemum 
season, and we are glad to note the fact that the 
National Chrysanthemum Society has taken the 
matter in hand with a view to meeting the want 
above indicated, and, as we think, with every 
prospect of succeeding in so doing. The Society 
has organized a select Floral Committee, from 
amongst its own members, the meetings of 
which judicial body are held on certain Thursday 
evenings at the “ Old Four Swans,” in Bishops- 
gate Street Within, to receive and pass judgment 
upon any flowers that may be submitted. The 
second meeting of the Committee was held on 
the 16th inst., when First-Class Certificates were 
awarded to Colonel Mallock,Pineswood, Bagshot, 
for two early-flowering and exceedingly fine 
Japanese varieties introduced last year, viz., 
Mons. Astorg, a large white, flat-petalled flower, 
with a rose-violet centre; and Mons. Tarin, a 
superb bloom, over 6 ins. in diameter, rich violet- 
rose, and the petals semi-tubulated. Both are 
sterling novelties, well deserving the recognition 
bestowed on them. The fact of such a Committee 
of experts being in existence, has not yet, of 
course, become widely known, so that its labours 
so far have not been of a particularly burdensome 
character, but this will doubtless be altered in 
time, and we heartily hope that it may be so. 
The newly constituted National Society is doing 
thoroughly good and useful work in thus ex¬ 
tending its sphere of operations, and deserves the 
support and encouragement of all Chrysanthemum 
lovers. 
- *$< - 
Peaes.— The truly magnificent samples of 
Pears shown at South Eensington last week by 
Air. Haycock and other famous growers of these 
luscious fruits, naturally lent a feeling of regret 
that the once famous Channel Islands growers did 
not put in an appearance, or had the chance to 
measure swords with our now strong insular 
exhibitors. We can well remember when some¬ 
what open classes for these fruits in former days 
permitted the Jersey growers to come in with 
their huge samples and sweep off all the best 
prizes, our home growers, as a rule, whilst show¬ 
ing excellent and perhaps deliciously flavoured 
fruit, being beaten in size. Mr. Haycock, at 
least if no others, has shown us now that it is 
possible to grow grand Pears here in cold, bleak 
England, and some perhaps think that his grand 
samples, as seen the other day, would have held 
their own against the best products that Jersey 
can send. 
-- 
Hardiness of Schizosttlis coccinea. —With 
reference to the remarks of “ B.” in our last 
issue on this subject, Sir Charles W. Strickland 
informs us that the plant is a perfect weed in his 
kitchen-garden at Hildenley, Malton. He throws 
away quantities of it; it has been so for the last 
dozen years and the hard winters of 1.880 and 
1881 had not the least effect on it. The soil of 
the garden is strong, cold and rather wet, with 
limestone at about 2 ft. deep. 
The Allotment Question. — Sir Charles 
Dilke, in a speech at Oldham last week, referred 
to the Allotment Act. “ In my belief,” he said, 
“ the one thing that can be done for the rural 
labourer, whose hard lot has been described by 
many witnesses, is to facilitate his getting those 
allotment plots which turn the scale and make 
to him all the difference between misery and 
ease.” He then went on to remark that the 
possession of the Franchise will enable the 
labourer to ask for his rights in language which 
will be understood. Within the small margin which 
the possession of an allotment would yield lies 
the only possibility of comfort for himself and 
family. Possibly it would add to his scanty income 
10 to 15 per cent. To enable him to earn this he 
asks with bated breath for a few poles of the com¬ 
mon perhaps to which he has an inalienable right, 
and he is willing to give in most cases 6d. a pole, 
though £4 an acre is much beyond the average 
rental of similar land in the neighbourhood. He is 
denied and virtually condemned to an enforced 
idleness. We were visiting a friend in a Alidland 
county last summer, and took the opportunity of 
walking round in order to see the Allotments. The 
place was a village of 1800 inhabitants, mostly 
agricultural labourers, and yet there was not an 
acre of allotment ground! We inquired of ad* 
aged labourer. “Oh no, sir, there used to be, under 
Lord-, in the old Baronet’s time ; but there 
were sich a lot o’ rabbits you couldn’t get a bag 
o’ wheat in half an acre.” “ Why not shoot 
them ? ” we inquired. “ Bless ye, sir, why the 
old Baronet would have sent you off the estate 
at a day’s notice. The men gave it up.” “ No 
gardens?” we ask. “Yes, there were some 
gardens which we enclosed on the waste by the 
road there, but the Baronet said he didna like 
two hedges, and so he threw it into Mr. Jones’s 
farm, but he charged us the same rent, and him 
a little more.” But rabbits and hares are not 
the only foes of the Allotment tenant where 
game is preserved. The most troublesome pest 
is the sparrow. Near another village there were 
Allotments let off to labourers and others at £2 
an acre. These were mostly planted with barley 
for the sake of the porkers. But the tenants 
were not allowed the use of firearms for fear of 
disturbing the game, and the consequence was 
that on some plots distant from the road more 
than half the crop was lost. 
Unseasonable Flowering. — Although we 
have not heard much of our old friend the Sea- 
serpent just lately, other marine monsters seem 
to have taken its place, as only the other week we 
had a long description of one that was reported to 
have been seen near Dover Pier and then shot at, 
and hit in such a way as to quite riddle its huge 
fins, when it disappeared, and will no doubt do 
duty again between this and the time for big 
Gooseberries. The papers, however, are not 
waiting for these, as we now get notices of trees 
blossoming in the autumn and bearing fruit, and 
just now we may read of ripe Strawberries in the 
open, as if that were anything remarkable; for 
every one who has a garden knows, or ought to 
know, that plants will send up flowers and bear a 
few stray fruit during fine autumns. Trees and 
bushes that move so much out of season are 
generally in a bad way, or there has been a bud 
started from some cause irrespective of the 
weather ; but common as the ripe Strawberry is, 
what is even more so at the present time is ripe 
Peas, which are recorded in the same paragraph 
in one of the evening papers, and yet they must 
appear to the writer as something unusual. This 
shows how lamentably ignorant many are of gar¬ 
dening, and the great need there is for the wide 
circulation of cheap journals to teach people the 
common things of every-day life, and make them 
better acquainted with plants and their natures. 
Cabbage Lettuces.— -It is very unfortunate for 
the interest of horticulture that the results of the 
trials conducted at Chiswick are not published. 
Thus during the past summer there took place a 
big trial of Lettuces, inclusive of some sixty or 
more kinds, and of these it would be very inte¬ 
resting to learn which proved to be the earliest, 
the finest, the longest standing, and generally the 
Lest in their respective sections. Is it poverty 
or indifference that prevents the Council of the 
Boyal Horticultural Society from making this 
valuable information public ? Three kinds that 
proved very meritorious, and have amongst 
others been grown at Chiswick, have come 
under our notice elsewhere, are Green Unctuous, 
early, and very fine, of All the year Bound 
type, solid and good; Trocadero, large, hand¬ 
some, solid, colour pale green, tinted with 
purple ; and White Chavigny, the best keeper of 
all, standing long before running, and is a very 
fine white solid form, that should be invaluable 
to market growers for early spring growing. 
