October 29, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
129 
Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen. The 
acting directors of this society met in the office of 
the secretary (Mr. A. M. Byres), on 2ist inst, 
Baillie Crombie was in the chair. The report, which 
is to be submitted to the annual meeting to-day 
(Saturday, 29th), states that the financial surplus on 
the year amounts to £435 l8s - 9 <L which, added to 
the balance brought from last year, makes £696 3s. 7d. 
at the credit of the society. At the earnest request 
of the directors, Baillie Crombie agreed to allow 
himself to be nominated for the chairmanship of the 
directors for the forthcoming year. The directors 
recommended i$>r favourable consideration the 
request of the North of Scotland Apiarian Associa¬ 
tion for amalgamation with the society, and re- ( 
quested that the matter may be left to them with 
powers. 
Fruit Drying at Chiswick.—At the last meeting of 
the Fruit Committee Mr. Barron made the follow¬ 
ing brief statement of the results of his experiments 
in fruit drying at Chiswick during the present season : 
—" During the operation a temperature from 170° 
to 200° is required for Apples, and the time occupied 
is about three hours. Ten pounds weight of fresh 
fruit of 
Cellini . give 1 lb. 3^ ozs. when dried- 
New Hawthornden.. ,, x ,, n .. .p • • 
Blenheim Orange .. ,, 1 ,, 12 ,, ,, ,, 
Frogmore Prolific 1 ,, 9 >• >• •> 
Lord Suffield . ,, 1 ,, 2 ,, ,, ,, 
Small's Admirable .. ,, 1 ,, 3 ,, .1 >■ 
Beauty of Hants.. 2 ,, 4 ,, 
The parings and cores have to be added to the 
weight of the dried fruit when calculating the exact 
reduction by evaporation. For Plums the tempera¬ 
ture required is about 250°, and the time taken is 
from eight to ten hours.” The Committee marked 
their approval of the success of the experiments by 
recommending a Silver-gilt Medal to Messrs. May- 
farth & Co. for the apparatus, with the expression of 
their great satisfaction at the results achieved. 
“ Nature's Greatest Curiosity.”—Some months ago 
we received two handbills, one from Glasgow and the 
other from St. Luke’s, nearer at hand, both headed as 
above and bearing an illustration of an apocryphal 
plant which was described as “ the Chinese Lily 
bulb or Water Plant, first discovered growing in the 
great Lake .of Alak, in the north-western part of 
China, and the only plant in the known world that 
will grow a long Vine, and produce beautiful flowers 
out of a common glass or jar of water.” We failed 
to obtain specimens of the wonder at the time, 
concluded that the whole business was a swindle, and 
thought no more about it till last week, when we 
were shown some seeds, curiously resembling a bull’s 
head in appearance, which had been bought for 3d. 
each off a stand at the late Dairy Show, at 
the Agricultural Hall, and they were wrapped in a 
similar handbill to the one we had received from 
Glasgow. Here then was the great curiosity, and 
what was it ? None other than Trapa bicornis, or 
rather the seeds of that plant, of which an illustra¬ 
tion is given in the Treasury of Botany, of Lindley and 
Moore, second volume, p. 1161. Those therefore 
who may have bought the “ greatest curiosity,” may 
be interested to know that it is an aquatic, and that 
the seeds should be sown in good loam, sunk in 
a tank of water, and kept warm. 
-—- 
STANDS FOR EXHIBIT ING 
JAPANESE BLOOMS.* 
By Mr. W. Herbert Fowler. 
I have been asked to write a paper on the size of 
the boards on which Japanese blooms are at present 
exhibited, and whether such boards are large enough 
for the purpose to which they are put. 
The subject seems to me to divide itself into three 
heads(1) Is any change necessary ? (2) If 
necessary, how large should the new boards be ? 
(3) The best way of carrying out the change. 
In considering the first point we have several 
things which may aid us in coming to a decision. 
I think that few will deny the fact that a large 
number of the public who come to the shows are 
asking for a move in the direction of larger boards 
and more room for the blooms, and thus giving them 
a better chance than at present for critical examina¬ 
tion. Then again we have those gentlemen to con¬ 
*Papers read at the late N.C.S. Conference on Show Boards, 
see p. 114. 
sider who so kindly give us their services as judges; 
is it possible for them at present to see anything but 
a part of large numbers of the flowers without 
taking them out of the stands for examination, and 
we well know that with the time they have at their 
disposal, anything like an exhaustive examination of 
this description is quite impossible. Then we have 
the enthusiastic grower, who loves his flowers and 
has spent many anxious months in bringing them to 
the greatest pitch of perfection possible, surely he 
will welcome a change, which will mean that all his 
flowers will be seen, instead of the front row and the 
tops of the middle and back rows, which is often the 
case at present, more especially in the case of the 
small classes. 
This brings me to the question of the large and 
small classes. I think that for forty-eight or even 
thirty-six distinct Japs, the present boards would 
perhaps carry the blooms without doing them any 
great injustice, but for all the smaller classes, viz., 
the sixes, twelves, eighteens, and twenty-fours, I am 
strongly of opinion that the present size is quite 
inadequate to carry the large varieties which are 
now grown. I daresay some will meet this move¬ 
ment with the argument that the present regulations 
allow of any size board being used for Japanese 
blooms, and why, therefore, make any compulsory 
change ? I think the answer to this is simply this. 
If an exhibitor uses a larger board than the ordinary 
one he at once places himself at a great disadvantage 
with others who use the regulation one, because his 
stand if at all equal with the others will appear to 
be much lighter. The general effect of. a crowded 
stand is to give weight to the stand, and vice versa, 
e.g., take twelve blooms and stage them on the 
regulation board, and then take them out and try a 
board 6,J in. between the tubes, and you will be 
surprised to see how much lighter the same blooms 
appear to be. 
Another reason I should give in favour of en¬ 
larging the boards is this, that I think it would 
induce exhibitors to abstain from using extra wires 
and endeavouring as far as possible to make all the 
blooms touch each other. If more space be given it 
would be more difficult to spread out blooms in an 
unnatural way in order to get a false appearance of 
*■ weight.” Such practices would then be much 
easier to detect. Whilst I am in favour of an 
enlarged board I am strongly of opinion that what¬ 
ever the sized board agreed upon may be, that board 
and that one only should be the one on which 
Japanese blooms shall be exhibited at all exhibitions 
of the society. I should desire the regulation which 
permits exhibitors to use any sized board for 
Japanese blooms withdrawn and one standard size 
fixed. This will put all exhibitors on the same 
footing, and greatly assist the judges in their work. 
Now as to the size that the regulation board 
should be. Although I am strongly in favour of an 
enlarged board, I am as strongly against going too 
far and attempting to introduce a monster board 
which would have a poor chance of being taken up 
and becoming popular with exhibitors. I have made 
several experiments, and in 1890 I adopted 26 in. by 
19.J in. as the size of my twelve boards, this allows 
6 J in. from centre to centre of each tube. You would 
be astonished to see what half an inch extra per 
flower will do, and I think myself that this is the 
best size to make the standard. If, however, the 
majority think that it should be larger than this I 
do sincerely trust they will not go beyond 7 in., viz., 
28 in. by 21 in. for the twelve board. It will I think 
be found by experiment that a board 27 in. by 19.J in. 
will carry even the small classes without doing 
injustice to the flowers. Another reason against 
making the boards too large is that it would involve 
a serious addition to the space necessary to stage a 
large number of flowers ; and again if made too big 
they would be useless for incurved varieties, but I 
venture to think that the size I suggest is quite as 
suitable for this section as are the present boards. I 
would point out that this is a strong point in its 
favour, as it would be a great nuisance to exhibitors 
to have two sizes of boards, and it would work very 
badly in the mixed classes if one had to stage the 
Japs on one sized board and the incurved on 
another. I trust myself that we shall soon see an 
end of these classes, as they are in all respects un¬ 
satisfactory. 
Now we come to the third point, ” The best means 
of carrying out the alteration.” By this I mean the 
easiest way for exhibitors to make the change with 
as little expense and bother as possible. For my 
part I think that the ordinary box is a complete 
mistake, and I would advise all beginners and those 
whose old boxes are worn out to adopt the travelling 
box instead. By this I mean a box with fixed tubes 
in it, in which the tubes holding the blooms are 
dropped. The stands for setting up the blooms are 
carried separately, and the blooms transferred to 
them on arrival at the show. There are many 
advantages in this plan. In the first place you can 
give much more room to each bloom, then you need 
not fear the effect of a leaky tube, there is no risk 
of a leg of a stand getting loose and coming down 
and cutting a bloom in half, and also the side blooms 
will not suffer from rubbing against the box in a 
long railway journey, as they often do with the old- 
fashioned box. 
Whatever may be the decision upon this important 
subject I trust that all exhibitors will cheerfully 
accept the decision of the majority and unite in 
making the change a success. Unless this is the 
case I fear there may be great difficulties in carrying 
it out. 
By Mr. R. Falconer Jameson. 
In connection with the question of size of stands for 
exhibiting Japanese blooms, there are two main 
points to consider : first, whether it is desirable to 
increase the present standard size ? secondly, if the 
first question be answered in the affirmative,how much 
should the size be increased? I take it for granted 
that the general feeling would be almost unanimously 
in favour of the size being enlarged but for the 
expense A'hich would be entailed upon exhibitors. 
The executive of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society have themselves, for a long time past, 
admitted that an enlargement is desirable by allowing 
Japs to be shown on boards of any size. In this I 
think they have made a great mistake. Had they, 
instead of allowing boards of any size, stipulated for 
an alternative size specified by them, the change 
would have been, to a great extent, effected ere now 
and without any burden having been cast upon exhi¬ 
bitors. 
Who will be so bold as to assert that Japs show to 
better advantage crushed up one against another, or 
overlapping one another, than if standing just clear 
all round. There is beauty of form to be considered 
as well as beauty of colour, and the beauty of form 
is lost when the flowers are crushed out of shape. 
How, I ask, would incurved blooms look if jammed 
up one against another? and what applies to incurves 
applies also to Japs. Does any gardener, in planting 
shrubs, arrange them overlapping one another ? I 
trow not, he allows a clear space round each one, 
and if in course of time they increase in size to such 
an extent as to mar their beauty, he then thins them 
out. 
Personally I deprecate any sudden compulsory 
change being made, but I suggest, as I have already 
done in the press, that the National Society should, 
for the present, allow exhibitors the option of using 
one of two sizes, either the present standard size 
or a larger one specified by the society. I feel 
convinced that if this were done the good sense of 
exhibitors would lead them to gradually change to 
the larger size, which, in course of a short time, 
might be made compulsory without putting exhibitors 
to great expense. Some will argue that two sizes of 
boards would destroy uniformity on the show tables, 
but they must not forget that as at present any size 
is allowed there is chaos rather than uniformity. 
I will now pass to the question of what size should 
be substituted for the present one. In January last 
I published the result of replies received in response 
to a letter I had addressed to some of the leading 
growers asking their opinions. Out of the thirty- 
eight replies I received, only two were in favour of 
the present size being retained, the others voting as 
follows:—One 27 in. by i8in., one 27in. by 20in., 
one 27 in. by 21 in., two 28 in. by 20 in., eight 28 in. 
by 21 in., six 28 in. by 22 in., one 30 in. by 21 in., one 
30 in. by 22 in., one 30 in. by 22J in., two 30 in. by 
24in., one 31 in. by 21 in., four 32 in. by 24 in., and 
two still larger. Of the remainder some do not 
specify dimensions, while others made various, 
suggestions. It will thus be seen that more are in 
favour of 28 in. by 21 in. than of any other size, and 
this allows 7 in. per bloom in each direction, being 
1 in. more than at present. It seems to me very 
desirable to allow the same space for the blooms in 
each direction. 
