4 
I'HE GARDE NING WORLD. 
September 3, 1892. 
Naturally now all thoughts are centred 
upon the proposed show on the Thames 
Embankment, but if that is to be realised 
and a success, it will soon be time to take 
the matter in hand. That, it is anticipated 
will excel a’l other shows in extent and 
magnificence, and if it is to occupy that 
position, then should action be taken 
speedily, for time flies fast and the amplest 
notice should be given as to classes. The 
recent Earl’s Court schedule was not a bad 
one, but for a real International display we 
must have a better, and its main features 
cannot be too soon made generally known. 
ardeners’ Wages and Status. —There 
was perhaps no point in the very 
admirable and interesting address which 
Mr. Thomson, of Clovenfords, in his 
capacity as chairman of the dinner at 
Earl’s Court on the 26th ult., delivered to 
the large number of gardeners present, more 
appreciated than that portion which related 
to the status and salaries of the craft. Mr. 
Thomson first demurred to the placing of 
men of such unquestioned intelligence, 
capacity, and integrity in the same 
category as ordinary domestic servants; 
and with that estimate we entirely agree 
because it is little less than insulting. In 
myriads of cases we have no hesitation in 
asserting that gardeners are the equals of 
their employers in knowledge and capacity, 
and are in these respects miles above the 
ordinary domestic level. 
There may be cases in which gardeners 
place themselves on the menial level, and 
when they do so the- prestige of gardening 
suffers. We should be very glad to see all 
such members of the craft cleared out, and 
their places taken by men who feel that to 
make it honourable to be a gardener it is 
needful that the craft should be honoured 
by gentlemanly demeanour and high moral 
conduct. As to the remuneration aspect, 
to which Mr. Thomson so forcibly referred, 
we admit that this a matter less easily 
remedied. Other vocations have through 
the aid of trade unions raised wages during 
the past twenty years fully thirty per cent. 
Gardening is a vocation which seems to 
be helplessly outside the power of trade 
unionism, and each member of the pro¬ 
fession has to fight his own battle. It is 
indeed distressing to note that myriads of 
ordinary mechanics and artisans, from 
whom nothing but fairly good workman¬ 
ship is looked for, are paid far better than 
are the best gardeners. No wonder that 
the latter strives through exhibitions or 
other methods to help eke out what is 
after all but a too precarious existence. 
How things are to be improved is a problem 
we should like to see solved. 
he Recent Chiswick Conferences.— 
We do very earnestly and heartily 
wish that it were in the power of the Royal 
Horticultural Society to make its Chiswick 
Conferences greater successes. Very likely^ 
the one held last week suffered because it 
was thrust into the same week as the Fruit 
Show at Earl’s Court. Still because 
publicly announced as dealing with 
Begonias one day, and with certain stone 
fruits on the other, it did seem as if each 
section was none too well represented, the 
fruits especially proving to be a lamentable 
failure. What was so remarkable, also, was 
that whilst prizes were offered for Begonias, 
Plums and Apricots, only one poor lot of 
Begonias competed, there were no Plums, 
and very few, and these poor, Apricots, 
indeed we have seldom seen a worse lot of 
fruits anywhere than were the latter. 
So great a failure has proved to be the 
offering of prizes to amateur growers at 
the various meetings that we hope next 
year the council will determine to vote a 
lump sum to be divided amongst the trade 
in proportion to the value of the exhibits 
they may show, and thus encourage that 
body to help even more so than at present, 
to make up exhibitions. But for the trade 
now, in the bulk of cases, the society shows 
and meetings would be absolute failures, 
the amateur class sending very little worth 
looking at. 
The Ferns undoubtedly made a remark¬ 
able display at Chiswick, and most beauti¬ 
ful they are. Still they have either few 
admirers or very few who really understand 
them. In any case the public did not go 
to see them. Individually they are full of 
interest, collectively they are very monoto¬ 
nous. Perhaps the council might like 
next year to give a garden party to the 
Fellows in place of having a conference, 
and with it holding an exhibition also ; 
certainly something should be done to 
popularise the Chiswick Gardens, for 
there are few places after all in the king¬ 
dom that contain so much that is inter¬ 
esting, and worthy of wider knowledge 
and appreciation. 
T^egonias as Bedding Plants.— There 
^ can be no doubt but that Begonias 
are fast becoming even more popular as 
bedders than as ordinary pot plants. It is 
a fact that so soon as any flowering plants 
prove to be widely used for outdoor decora¬ 
tion, they fall off in popularity lor green¬ 
house purposes. When first the newer 
forms were produced by our capable raisers 
and hybridists, it perhaps hardly entered 
their minds that they were thus developing 
what would prove to be the most popular 
as well as most beautiful race of summer 
bedding plants of the century. The zonal 
Pelargonium has had a long innings, and 
has served a good turn. Still it has its 
weaknesses, especially in wet seasons, and 
even this year we see rampant growth and 
bloom very much the worse for occasional 
storms. 
The Begonias, however, seem to be 
almost unaffected by rains, and smile with 
brilliant beauty under their depressing in¬ 
fluences. Then in sunshine how’ won- 
drously beautiful they are, yet neither 
garish nor vulgar. There is that about the 
Begonia that will not lend itself to excess 
of colouration or garishness,let it bloom ever 
so profusely. Whilst, however, our trade 
growers have been too intent on the pro¬ 
duction of mere size of bio ma in both 
singles and doubles—and we earnestly hope 
the maximum by now has been reached— 
their products have only in a minor degree 
been acceptable for bedding purposes. 
Those who have to furnish big bedding dis¬ 
plays- therefore have had to turn their 
attention to the production of varieties 
which bloom profusely, have good, stiff, 
erect stems, and seem to be very little the 
worse for exposure to rough weather. 
We are not sure whether presently, when 
the trade growers are left high and dry— 
stranded on the rocks of bigness—the un¬ 
pretentious raisers ofbedders for their own 
pleasure will not be reaping the reward of 
usefulness in having created the finest race 
of bedding flowering plants ever yet seen. 
We heard very little about Begonias as 
bedding plants at the recent conference ; 
but whilst some are talking others are 
quietly doing, and our gardens are reaping 
the advantage in consequence. 
he Proposed Potato Show at Earl’s 
Court. —We are in a position to 
announce that the talked-of Potato Exhibi¬ 
tion at Earl’s Court will really take place 
on October 5th and following days as 
originally announced. The reason for the 
non-issue of the schedule is not clear, but it 
seems to have got hung up somehow. How¬ 
ever, it will be issued shortly, and it is 
abjut time that those who grow good 
Potatos learnt what the classes are. 
We may mention also that growers of 
other vegetables w 11 have their opportuni¬ 
ties in two classes at the same show : one 
for a trophy of vegetables arranged for 
effect, and the other for a class of twelve 
dishes, distinct varieties. 
- -Z. - 
Mr. Samu I Reece, for the past thirteen years gar¬ 
dener to Robert Whyte, Esq., Pentland House, Lee, 
S.E , and under whose care the yellow Arum Lily 
(Calla Pentlandii) first grew and flowered in this 
country, has been engaged as gardener by W. J. 
Jarratt, Esq., Hatton House, Westgate-on-Sea, Isle 
of Thanet. 
Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society. —At the 
monthly meeting of the members, which will be held 
in the large room of the Legs of Man Hotel, Fisher- 
gate, Preston, this (Saturday) evening, Mr. S. H. 
Stott will read a paper on “ Rose growing near large 
towns.” 
British Ferns at Chiswick. —We regret that in our 
report of the Fern Conference at Chiswick, last 
week, we omitted to state that Mr. William Marshall 
had the honour of taking the prize offered for the 
best specimen in the exhibition with a very beautiful 
example of Polypodium vulgare trichomanoides. 
Mr. Marshall, as an old grower of British Ferns, 
naturally keenly appreciates this award, hence this 
record of his triumph. 
The Noble Strawberry. —In his fine collection of 
twenty dishes of fruit at Earl’s Court last week, Mr. 
Mclndoe had a very' fine sample of the Noble Straw¬ 
berry, which rather opened the eyes of many of his 
brother gardeners. The plants had been forced, and 
subsequently planted out, and then gave a satisfactory- 
autumn crop of fruits, which were of good size, well 
coloured, and better flavoured than Noble generally 
is in its regular season. The hint should prove a 
useful one to others. 
The Black Duke Grape.—This is the name, and a 
very appropriate one, which Mr. Mclndoe, of Hutton 
Hall, has given to a most promising seedling raised 
from Gros Guillaume crossed with Duke of Buccleuch. 
The berries run much larger than those of Gros 
Colmar, and the bunches promise to be larger too. 
It will apparently take on a good colour, and the 
flavour is said to be better than that variety. If 
thinner skinned, as we suspect it to be, it will make 
a most telling variety for the autumn exhibitions, 
but whether it will cut out Gros Colmar altogether, 
as some growers seemed to imagine, remains to be 
proved. In any’ case it is a noble looking Grape. 
A New Park for Tottenham. —The grounds attached 
to an historic building at Tottenham known as Bruce 
Castle have recently been purchased by the Totten¬ 
ham Local Board of Health, and formally thrown 
open to the public. It is recorded that the original 
builder and occupant of this building was the grand¬ 
father of King Robert the Bruce, and Queen Elizabeth 
is said to have once stayed in the castle. 
Hampton Horticultural Co., Limited.— This company 
was registered on the 25 th ult., with a capital of /3,Soo, 
divided into 760 shares of /y each, to carry on in 
Great Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere, the trade or 
business of florists, nurserymen, farmers, and gar¬ 
deners, or merchants of flowers, fruit, vegetables, etc. 
Importation of Californian Fruits.—Californian 
fruit growers have begun the export of some of the 
principal fruits of their orchards direct to Covent 
Garden Market. A consignment arrived on the 21st 
ult., comprising 2,000 packages of Peaches, Necta¬ 
rines, Plums, and Pears. The fruit arrived in mag¬ 
nificent condition, having been stowed in cool 
chambers, in which a temperature of 45° was pre¬ 
served. The entire lot, when put under the hammer 
at Covent Garden, realised excellent prices. Each 
description of fruit above mentioned left nothing to 
be desired, either in size or quality, and the opinion 
of people in the trade is that the export of fruits 
from California is destined to be carried on upon a 
large scale. These Californian fruits are expected to 
enter into strong competition with those from French 
orchards, as the climatic conditions to which they 
are subjected are unusually favourable for the pro¬ 
duction of varieties at once luscious in taste and 
superior in size. The next delivery-, consisting of 
3,000 packages, arrived on the 26th ult. The supply 
will continue during the next four months. 
