388 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Feb. 21st, 1885. 
Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. Holmes, announced that 
the Trustees of the Veiteh Memorial Fund had 
placed at the disposal of the Committee the 
Yeitch Medal and a prize of £5, and it 
was decided to allot them as a first prize in a 
class for thirty-six incurved blooms, in eighteen 
distinct varieties ; the Committee adding second 
and third prizes of 40s. and 20s. respectively. 
This should bring a good competition and some 
finely developed blooms. Mr. Holmes further 
reported that Mr. James Crute had offered 
the sum of £10 to be awarded as special 
prizes in two classes, three prizes in each 
of the classes as follows :—For twelve plants of 
Chrysanthemums, incurved varieties, grown for 
specimens, not less than two blooms on a plant; 
and twelve plants of Japanese Chrysanthemums, 
shown under the same conditions; all to be 
grown and exhibited in Crute’s Patent Concave 
Flower Pot. The scheme for affiliating local 
and provincial Societies is highly successful, 
already the Bristol Chrysanthemum Society, the 
Yeovil Society, the Ancient Society of York 
Florists, the Chelmsford and Essex Horticultural 
Society, and the Canterbury Gardeners’ Mutual 
Improvement Society have become affiliated, and 
other applications are promised. The Schedule 
of Prizes for the present year is now completed, 
and will be issued at the earliest possible 
moment. Should the season prove favourable 
to the development of the Chrysanthemum, an 
exhibition of great extent and high quality may 
be expected at the Royal Aquarium in November 
next. 
-- 
The William Fbancis Bennett Rose. —It 
will doubtless be in the recollection of many of 
our readers that Mr. Henry Bennett of Shep- 
perton, some time ago sold for a large sum a 
considerable portion of his stock of this fine 
hybrid Tea Rose to Mr. Charles F. Evans of 
Rowlandville, Philadelphia, U.S.A., and it may 
interest them to know now that Mr. Evans having 
grown and flowered the Rose this season,is so much 
pleased with it that when over here a few weeks 
ago, he acquired the whole of the stock in Mr. 
Bennett’s hands, the price paid for the entire 
stock being £1,000. It is Mr. Evans’s intention 
to put the Rose in commerce this spring, and 
with that end in view, he has appointed Messrs. 
William Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, as his 
agents for Europe. The W. F. Bennett Rose is, 
we have no hesitation in saying, the best dark- 
coloured winter blooming variety in cultivation, 
and must become a great favourite in the market 
when our growers get hold of it. It is a neat 
free grower, and the freest bloomer of any Rose 
we are acquainted with, as no sooner is one 
flower cut off than the bud below sends up 
another, while the colour, a rich deep crimson, 
is well in advance of any other Tea Rose of the 
same class, and it is of the same shape as Niplietos. 
We may also add that another of Mr. Bennett’s 
hybrids—that grand light-coloured Rose—Her 
Majesty, has also passed into Mr. Evans’s hands. 
- ►$-. - 
The Trustees of the Yeitch Memoeial 
Fund have decided to offer the following Medals 
and Prizes during the present year—namely, One 
Medal and Prize of £5 to the Botanical and 
Horticultural Society of Durham, Northumber¬ 
land, and Newcastle-on-Tyne; One Medal and 
Prize to the National Rose Society ; and One 
Medal and Prize to the National Chrysanthemum 
Society. The Medals and Prizes are to be offered 
for subjects to be selected by the Committees of 
the respective Societies. The Trustees have also 
determined to place Three Medals and £5 Prizes 
at the disposal of the Committee which is to have 
charge of the Orchid Conference to take place 
at South Kensington in May next. In all cases 
the awards are to be made in favour of bond fide 
Gentlemen’s Gardeners and Amateurs only. 
$ cirfremng |$tistelkitg* 
A special general meeting of the subscribers to the 
Gardeners’ Eoyal Benevolent Institution will be held 
at the Bedford Hotel, Covent Garden, on March 13th, 
at 5 p.m., to consider the recommendations of the 
committee as to certain modifications of the rules of 
the Institution, but more particularly to obtain the 
sanction of the subscribers to the alteration of rule 8, 
in order to increase the pensions. 
We understand that the anonymous donor of £500 
has paid that amount to the credit of the Institution, 
and that the reserve fund now amounts to £21,000. 
The augmentation fund will be finally closed on the 
28th inst. 
Messks. H. Cannell & Sons have within the last 
few days received two large consignments of Chrysan¬ 
themums direct from Japan. The importation consists 
of some two hundred of the best varieties grown in 
Japan, selected by an English gardener. 
Mr. F. Jennings, foreman to Mr. Bust, at Eridge 
Castle, Tunbridge Wells, has been appointed gardener 
to James Cox, Esq., at Thirlestan Hall, Cheltenham. 
Me. Leech’s collection of Orchids grown at Oakley, 
Fallowfield, near Manchester, having been sold, his 
clever Orchid grower, Mr. William Swan, is seeking 
another engagement. Such a painstaking and success¬ 
ful grower should not be long in getting among his- 
favourites again. 
In connection with the meeting of the Essex 
Agricultural Society at Waltham Abbey on June 4th 
next, a Horticultural Exhibition will be held, of which 
Mr. Geo. Paul, of Cheshunt, is the secretary. 
Me. Charles Bates, florist, Bose Lane Nursery, 
Oxford, died on January 2oth, aged sixty-tree years. 
During Sunday and Monday last snow fell heavily 
in the North of Scotland. Keen frost prevailed, and 
all outdoor work was suspended. 
We owe Mr. James Wells, of Lyndhurst, an apology 
for the grave error we made last week in announcing 
his death, instead of that of another pensioner of the 
Gardeners’ Boyal Benevolent Institution, Mr. George 
Wells. Mr. James Wells, we are glad to hear, is still 
hale and hearty. 
Me. Boeeison has submitted for our inspection a 
number of beautiful dried ferns, samples of some sixty 
species and varieties collected in and lately brought 
home from New Zealand, and which are admirably 
suited for making screens or fern albums. The 
fronds have been carefully dried and the colours well 
preserved. Mr. Borrison’s address is 147, George 
Street, Blackfriars Boad, S.E. 
On the occasion of the marriage between Viscount 
Lymington, M.P., and Miss Beatrice M. Pease, the 
decorations at Sir Joseph Pease’s town mansion, Ken¬ 
sington Palace Gardens, were entrusted to Mr. J. 
Mclndoe, Sir Joseph Pease’s gardener at Hutton Hall, 
the whole being carried out with plants and flowers 
from that establishment. The principal flowering plants 
used were :—Azaleas, Bouvardias, Callas, Cyclamens, 
Deutzias, Dendrobiums, Double White Primulas, Tree 
Poeonias, Pimelea spectabilis, Spiraeas, Hyacinths, 
Narcissus, Tulips, Crocuses, and these judiciously 
intermixed with Ferns, Palms, Crotons, Dracaenas, 
Lycopodiums, &c., made a very effective display. In the 
decoration of the breakfast table, Lily of the Valley, 
Narcissus poeticus ornatus, and Coelogynes were the 
flowers used. A number of small silver cups were 
filled with white Cyclamens and Cocos Weddelliana. 
— e_. 9 
New Plants Certificated.— At the last meeting of 
the Chambre Syndicale des Horticulteurs at Ghent, 
Certificates of Merit were awarded to the Compagnie 
Continentale d’Horticulture for Brunsvigia magnifica, 
Hfemanthus Kalbreyeri maximus, and Cypripedium 
Haynaldianum roseum; to MM. Vervaet & Co. 
for Odontoglossum guttatum ; to M. Peeters, for 
Imantophyllum miniatum var. President C. Bernard ; 
and to MM. Desbois & Co., for a new hybrid Begonia. 
Cultural Certificates were voted to M. James Bray, for 
Coelogyne cristata, and Lycaste Skinneri; to M. Ed. 
Pynaert for Ancectochilus Dawsonianus; to Messieurs 
Ed. Vervaet & Co. for Cypripedium villosum ; and to 
MM. Vervaet & Co. for Hemitelia Cunninghami, 
THE FERN NURSERY, SALE. 
As the name would indicate, the Messrs. W. and J. 
Birkenhead’s establishment at Sale, near Manchester, 
is devoted almost exclusively to the growth of Ferns 
and Lycopodiums, and to the lover of this beautiful 
and ever attractive class of plants there are few 
nurseries that can vie with this in the number and 
variety of sorts that are to be found in it. Every old 
acquaintance is here increased’at a surprising rate; of 
some species scores, or even hundreds, can easily be 
obtained, ranging from healthy fair-sized plants, useful 
now for planting in a permanent position in a fernery, 
to those of a larger size ready for potting and growing 
on into specimens, in which state many are exceed¬ 
ingly useful for house decoration or for the purpose 
of providing fronds for cutting, to embellish and set off 
the quantities of flowers now used for vases, epergnes, 
and dinner-table decorations. Of the newer kinds the 
same may, in a measure, be said, for if they prove to 
possess any merit the stock is quickly worked up. At 
the present time over 1,200 species and varieties 
are grown, some exceedingly rare and several quite 
new. 
The thorough cleanliness of everything about the 
plants is very noticeable, and that the occupants of the 
different divisions may have all the light it is possible 
to give them the outside as well as the inside of the 
glass roofs are continually washed, so that there shall 
be no obstruction to this most important element. 
This is a matter concerning which the Messrs. 
Birkenhead are very particular, considering, as they 
do, that clear and direct light is just as essential to 
these plants as to those to which we almost naturally 
give the best places in our houses. I had an opportu¬ 
nity a few days ago of again inspecting the stock, and 
must express the intense pleasure and gratification I 
experienced. 
One of the most noticeable features here, is the 
number and variety of sorts grown on cork blocks or 
in cork baskets. For this purpose the Davallias are 
largely used, and they are far more picturesque and 
natural, besides growing more freely, than when grown 
in wire baskets or pans. The creeping rhizomes cling 
to the cork and in time throw up their beautiful 
fronds, and being near the light are of a closer and 
more enduring texture than when grown in too dense 
a shade. I observed the following among others 
grown in this manner, Davallia dissecta, in three 
distinct varieties, polyantha, solida, Fijienses, 
Fijiensis major and plumosa, and parvula ; Oleandra 
nodosa, and articulata; Goniophlebium vacciniifolium, 
G. Catharines, Davallia pentaphylla, Anapeltis nitida, 
Goniophlebium glaucum, Lopholepis piloselloides; 
the beautiful small neat-growing Drymoglossum 
piloselloides, &c. The Platyceriums are also grown 
in this manner and well they look. P. Willinokii, P. 
grande, P. Stemaria, P. Hillii, and P. biforme are 
represented by numerous strong pieces, while of P. 
alcicorne, a major variety is grown, in which the 
fronds instead of being pendulous, as in the type, are 
here erect and very stout. Nephrolepis angustata, 
and Davallia elegans polydactyla are also grown 
in this interesting manner. 
The stock of Adiantums is very large, and such sorts 
as Victorias, intermedium, lunulatum, aneitense (see p. 
389), bellum, tetraphyllum gracile, dolabriforme, a very 
useful sort for suspending in little pans and baskets, 
are to be met with in company with other older sorts, 
which are equally useful and pleasing. A new form, 
Adiantum Neo-Cnledonise, is being propagated largely, 
and, as it becomes better knoivn and distributed, will 
prove to be a most desirable acquisition to the 
stronger growing sorts. This species should not be 
grown very hot, a comparatively cool division suiting 
it better than the warm one in which it was at first 
tried. Among the Nephrolepis, mention must be 
made of davallioides furcans, ensifolia, Zollingeriaua, 
and pluma. The latter form is deciduous, and at 
present is bare of fronds. The little roots, however, 
are there in the soil, and in the early spring it will 
throw up numerous plume-like fronds reaching to 3 ft. 
and 4 ft. in length. When established in a basket, 
this species during the summer is very noticeable, 
and should be in every collection. So also is the 
distinct and pretty crested variety of Osmunda 
japonica, which has light green fronds (see p. 396), 
Lastrea Bichardsii multifida, a very desirable 
