752 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 29, 1893. 
seem at all possible to attribute the appear¬ 
ance, either to fungoid attacks—the stems 
previously having been so exceedingly clean, 
firm and glossy—or either to lack of need¬ 
ful food constituents in the soil, as again 
the entire trees are so very healthy. Per¬ 
haps it may be proved to be but a passing 
cause for alarm, perhaps it may be some¬ 
thing very serious. The danger invariably 
in instituting enquiry is, that the subject is 
approached with some bias in favour of 
particular theories. That is a too common 
failing amongst scientific men. However, 
if there be any evidence of disease, fungoid 
or otherwise, the microscope should soon 
reveal them. 
f ARDF.NERs’ Outings. —Favoured by most 
enjoyable weather the National Chry¬ 
santhemum Society’s annual summer outing 
last week was, as we then reported, of a 
most enjoyable kind, and we again refer to 
it here purposely to draw the moral, which 
doubtless has occurred to so many others, 
as to the exceeding value which similar 
outings of this nature may prove to be to 
gardeners in all parts of the kingdom, 
wherever they can be organised. Of course 
there must be organisation first, and that 
may be furnished through the agency of 
gardeners’ associations or horticultural 
societies. 
There should now be no centre of garden¬ 
ing or of population in which some such a 
society should not be found. Then it is 
essential that the outings should combine 
pleasure with interest. The pleasure may 
be easily furnished by associating with the 
outing some acceptable form of recreation, 
the interest in seeing good gardening or 
work of any allied kind from xvhich it should 
be possible to gather much that is very 
useful and instructive. Socially, too, these 
outings have value, as they bring men into 
pleasant contact with each other, who 
would otherwise perhaps be comparative 
strangers, and thus serve to create amongst 
gardeners a homogeneity or camaraderie, the 
which is at present too much lacking. 
We often hear or read of similar outings 
to the one we have referred to in various 
parts of the country, and rare is it that they 
are not made to possess very considerable 
professional interest. How many teautiful 
places afe there in the kingdom which it 
would not be profitable to visit ? How many 
of nurseries or similar establishments ? 
Railway fares on these occasions are usually 
found to be low, an encouraging, certainly 
an essential, feature so far as gardeners are 
concerned, as their incomings are so very 
moderate. 
Runner Beans. —Exit Peas—from our 
markets—and enter Runner Beans; 
such were the formulas of last week. The 
Pea season has been an unusually short 
one because of the drought, and from 
various causes the Runner crop is not 
earlier than usual. Still we are now getting 
an abundant supply in the markets, and, 
because of the refreshing effects of the 
recent rains, we may calculate on having 
that supply maintained for a long season. 
There is, perhaps, no other summer crop 
of such importance to the market grower, 
or the vast army of consumers, as is that 
from the Runner Beans, and even were 
there plenty of good Peas still to be had, 
the demand falls off amazingly as soon as 
the Runners come to hand. 
This crop will have everything pretty 
much its own w T ay until the autumn Cauli¬ 
flowers are in. Then the Runner Beans 
will have to cheapen materially. It is well 
for us indeed that we have these Cauli¬ 
flowers to fall back upon in the autumn ; 
for sometimes when we have very early 
sharp frosts, and Beans, Marrows, or other 
tender vegetables are prematurely destroyed, 
we should indeed run short of good vege¬ 
tables did not the Cauliflowers come in 
then and give a welcome supply. We 
have most certainly considerably improved 
upon our stocks of Runner Beans during 
the past ten or twelve years. No one now 
who knows varieties asserts that the old 
Scarlet or the Painted Lady are the best. 
We have in the selected varieties, that give 
such fine pods, and especially in the cross¬ 
bred varieties, made very marked advance, 
beyond which it will be difficult to go. 
Ne Plus Ultra, Hill’s Prize, Scarlet 
Champion, At, etc., whether really very 
diverse, or only slightly so, at least are all 
splendid forms, the pods long, straight, 
handsome, succulent, and very prolific. 
We may also remind readers that there are 
some capital strains of what may be called 
French Runners to be had, and added 
to these is the old case knife type, and not 
least, the really delicious Butter Beans, 
which deserve to be far more widely grown 
and consumed than is at present the case. 
-- 
The Newton Abbot Horticultural Society’s annual 
exhibition will be held on Thursday, August 3rd. 
Mr. E. F. Hazelton formerly gardener at Highfield 
Hall, Leek, has been engaged to succeed Mr. 
Hobday, as gardener to Lord Yarborough, at 
Brocklesby Park, Ulceby. 
Narcissus Exhibition in Birmingham in 1894.— The 
committee of the Birmingham Botanical Society 
have decided upon holding a second exhibition of 
these popular flowers in their gardens at Edgbaston 
in April next, and schedules will shortly be ready. 
The Big Gooseberry Season has hardly commenced 
yet so far as the ordinary newspapers are concerned, 
but of the genuine article some fine specimens are 
making their appearance at the special Gooseberry- 
shows, notwithstanding the drought. The largest 
berry we have heard of this season yet weighed 
24 dwt. 7 grs. and took the premier award last week at 
Harborne. The variety was “ Surprise.” The same 
exhibitor won with this variety last year, the weight 
then being 23 dwt. 7 gr. 
The forthcoming Shrewsbury Flower Show. —The 
committee of the Shropshire Horticultural Society 
have recently decided upon adding another important 
class, which will be an attractive feature of 
the exhibition, viz., a special class for a display of 
floral arrangements, in a space 10 ft. by 4 ft. 6 in., a 
few small plants allowed for effective staging. Any 
design in flowers admissible, entirely at the discre¬ 
tion of the exhibitor; first prize, £5 and Gold 
Medal, value £2 3s ; second prize, £3 and Silver 
Medal ; third prize, £ 2 . Several prizes of £ 5 , £\, 
and £3 are offered in the schedule for a collection of 
Carnations and Picotees in variety, shown with their 
own foliage and buds, not dressed in any way; and 
some of the Midland growers were hoping to have 
staged good exhibits, but in the Midlands and the 
south Carnations are almost over now, and the 
northern growers will have the chance of clearing 
the deck on the 23rd August, for no one else will 
stand a chance. 
Interesting Action by a Gardener.—A joint action, 
involving a master and servant, has been decided by 
Sheriff Guthrie, in Glasgow Sheriff’s Court. James 
Downes, gardener to Mr. Geo. Breen, of Broomhill 
House, Partick, Glasgow, brought an action against 
his employer for unjustifiable dismissal between 
terms. Mr. Breen brought a counter claim against 
Downes, inasmuch as he was responsible for some 
plants which had suffered deterioration in the hot¬ 
houses and garden. Under a written agreement 
Downes was employed as gardener for the year from 
May, 1890, and continued in the service of Mr. 
Breen until November, 1892, when he was dismissed. 
Being a yearly servant the gardener contended that 
he was entitled to his wages up to Whitsunday, 1893. 
The Sheriff, in the course of his interlocutor, stated 
that Downes was employed for a year from May 1890, 
which agreement was tacitly renewed for another 
year. In August Breen complained of the way in 
which Downes did his work, and in October dis¬ 
missed him as from November 28. He found that 
the dismissal had not been justified, and awarded £10 
damages. He dismissed the counter action. Mr. 
Breen has intimated an appeal to Mr. Berry, the 
Sheriff Principal. 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—A meeting of 
the General Committee of this Society was held at 
the the Royal Aquarium on the 21st inst. to inspect 
some blooms of Chrysanthemums sent in blocks of 
ice from Sydney, New South Wales, by Mr J. L. 
Faire. The blooms were four in number, frozen in 
separate blocks, and all Japanese varieties, one re¬ 
flexed and three incurved, and in size and other 
characteristics of Japanese varieties were much 
larger and finer than the flowers received last year 
from New Zealand, but from want of skill in the 
freezing process the blocks were not so clearly trans¬ 
parent as they might have been, and consequently 
the evident beauty of the flowers could not be so 
easily seen. They were grown by Mr. R. Forsyth, 
of Sydney, and formed a part of his stand which won 
the premier cup at the last Chrysanthemum Show of 
the New South Wales Horticultural Society held 
four months ago. A Silver Medal was awarded to 
Mr. Forsyth for the interesting exhibit. Twenty 
members and two Fellows were elected ; and the 
Cockermouth and North of England Chrysanthe¬ 
mum Society admitted into affiliation at the same 
meeting. Messrs. Cannell & Sons also received a 
vote of thanks for a few' singularly fine new double 
Begonias. 
London Parks and Open Spaces.—In his annual 
address delivered on Tuesday, Mr. Hutton, the 
Chairman of the London County Council, said the 
work of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee had 
largely increased. The addition of no less than 
1,000 acres to the parks and open spaces during the 
last four years had been of immense advantage to 
London. The erection of band-stands and the pro¬ 
vision of bands, of bathing shelters, cricket grounds, 
gymnasia, refreshment houses, lavatories, and the 
thousand-and-one matters of detail carried out by 
the Parks Committee in the interest of Londoners, is 
a record of which the committee and its able and 
genial chairman, Mr. Torrance, may well be proud. 
The Council possesses fourteen parks, thirty open 
spaces, and twenty-two gardens, the annual cost of 
maintenance of which is ^2,992, but there are few 
items of expenditure devolving -upon the Council 
that receive more general approval than the expen¬ 
diture in connection with London's open spaces. 
The Gardeners of Cornwall.—The rain has done 
wonders here. Not only has vegetation improved in 
a way even surprising to the gardeners themselves, 
but fruit has developed to an extent never, perhaps, 
formerly known. Apples are prodigous in quantity, 
and Pears and Plums equally, if not more, 
abundant. Mushrooms are exceedingly early, and 
tons upon tons have this week been sent from most 
of the western railways to the London markets. 
Tomatos are very fine and numerous., both those 
grown in the open and under glass. Indeed, the 
out-of-door growth has superceded in abundance, 
and certainly in quality, those cultivated under glass. 
On every hand there are indications that nothing in 
the future shall be wanting to further the interests of 
fruit growing in the West of England. Societies are 
being formed for the purpose of teaching " the young 
ideas how to shoot,'' and the various horticultural 
institutions are going into the subject with an 
earnestness never before heard of. In order to 
stimulate further interest in this matter, the Earl of 
St. Germans has been liberal enough to give five 
guineas for the best collection of fruit grown in 
Devon or Cornwall for marketable purposes, and the 
Mayor of Plymouth, Mr. W. Law, has offered a 
similar sum for the best arranged dinner table, 
prizes to be awarded at the forthcoming floral fete 
at Beaumont Park, Plymouth, in August. There is 
no doubt the competition for the prizes will be large, 
as, perhaps, no better year for splendid fruit has 
been known in the west during the present century. 
Wakefield Paxton Society : Roses in the North.—A 
correspondent writes :—One of the surprises of the 
exceptional season is the way in which the Roses 
have withstood the drought. It is true that the 
June Roses had a short innings, but almost without 
exception the standard of size, form, and general 
excellence has been maintained. The drought has 
not been so severe in the north as in the southern 
counties, and the northern rosarians have carried off 
the cream of the prizes at the big shows. In a good 
many districts Roses have been singularly free from 
