354 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 4, 1893. 
May horticulture never lack its amateuL 
element. Their intense earnestness 
infuses itself into our otherwise prosaic 
life, and makes life worth living. Very 
much indeed have amateurs done in the 
past for flowers. Horner with Auriculas, 
Dodwell with Carnations, Fellowers with 
Dahlias, Foster with Pelargoniums, these 
are but a few who evidence what we have 
asserted; and they have hundreds of 
disciples who are doing their best in a 
humbler way. So may it ever be. 
^The Railway Rates. — The railway com¬ 
panies are already retreating from 
their high rate position, they are in fact 
climbing down. Some of the companies have 
begun to do so through sheer alarm lest they 
will, by their exorbitant charges, kill that 
“ goose ” traffic which lays for them the 
golden eggs ; others have yielded to the 
pressure of public opinion, and some are 
intending to follow suit, but professedly have 
waited for the result of the great meeting 
held at the City of London Mansion House 
on Monday last. A more truly representa¬ 
tive meeting lias rarely been held in 
London, or one more indignant at the 
action of the railway companies in relation 
to their increased charges for the carriage 
of goods. 
It would seem as if these bodies, realising 
that agriculture was passing through a 
severe trial, were anxious to strangle this 
great industry effectually, and also to choke 
so far as possible the growing efforts being 
made to promote fruit and vegetableculture. 
We, in referring to this matter a few weeks 
since, intimated that the companies’ action 
would strengthen the demand now being- 
made in certain quarters for the nationalis¬ 
ation of the railways ; that effect has been 
found already in a marked degree, and it is 
but reasonable that people should ask that 
a national service for the transit of people 
and goods from place to place, practically 
enjoying a monopoly of traffic, should not 
be employed for private profit, but should, 
as is the Post Office and Telegraph, be 
utilised solely for the benefit in every way 
of the nation at large. 
We do not hesitate to say that this present 
antagonism on the part of the railway com¬ 
panies to the public interests is a scandal 
that ought not to be tolerated. To the 
horticultural trade, in a hundred ways, the 
question of transit rates is one of the 
greatest importance. All trade hitherto 
has been conducted on the basis of low 
rates for transit, and when these are 
suddenly and without cause raised ioo per 
cent., as is now frequently found, trade is 
dislocated and nearly ruined. 
Rosarians. — If Roses have their beauty 
and sweet perfume they also have 
their _ thorns. So it -would seem the 
rosarians who grow Roses have their little 
quarrels. They find it very hard to suit 
each other’s tastes in this direction and the 
other, and do not always differ, or agree to 
differ, in an amicable spirit. It would be 
hard to say when the spirit of competition 
in products of any description began to 
display itself, but it must have an ancient 
origin; even in times somewhat remote 
persons who competed against each 
other did not always manifest a spirit 
of lofty courtesy and gentleness, and to¬ 
day, in this advanced and enlightened 
age, human nature remains pretty much 
the same. 
Differences arise and they lead to sturdy 
paper warfare : those who have holding on 
like grim death to their chances, those who 
have not striving hard to get the better of 
their opponents. Just now our friends the 
rosarians are having a little quarrel over 
the dates of their annual rose exhibitions ; 
the southern men like an early date, and 
being the strongest hold on ; the northern 
men want a later date, and being the 
weakest have to go to the wall. Of course 
these contending parties are only concerned 
for honour, such things as money prizes or 
cups are quite beneath notice. No one 
who grows Roses, and growers of these 
flowers are the very creme de la creme of 
horticulturists, would for one moment have 
thoughts relating to lucre. It is so very 
vulgar. 
But they are tremendous sticklers for 
honour, hence it is that the southerners set 
the northerners at defiance, lest not the 
prizes but the honours should for once go 
north. We, in common with many others 
quite disinterested, look on amused. The 
Rose exhibitions are gloriously beautiful, 
and it is so nice to reflect as we gaze upon 
them with ecstatic enthusiasm, that not 
one—no, not one—of the exhibitors sigh 
for other rewards than such as honours or 
fame can afford. 
--- 
The Timpgi'ley Collection of Orchids. —A portion 
(duplicates) of Mr. George Hardy’s famous collection 
of specimen Orchids will be sold early in March next 
by Messrs. Protheroe & Morris, on the premises 
Pickering Lodge, Timperley. 
Long Service in a Norfolk Garden.—The death is 
announced, at the age of 84 years, of Mr. Isaac 
Witham, who for the long period of 69 years was 
employed by the Irby family in the gardens at Boy- 
land Hall, Long Stratton, Norfolk. 
Fruit Culture in the Isle of Man.—A correspondent 
in the Isle of Man states that about forty or fifty 
years ago fruit growing was largely carried on in the 
island, and almost every farm had an orchard and 
garden attached to it, and Pears and Apples were 
sold in large quantities at the autumn fairs’. The 
orchards have been either rooted up or are left 
neglected, and our fruit is now for the most part im¬ 
ported. More’s the pity. 
The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Flower Show will be held 
this year in the Bull Park Recreation Ground, in con¬ 
junction with the Northumberland Agricultural 
Show. 
Brixton, Streatham and Clapham Horticultural 
Society. — At the annual general meeting of this 
society the date of the Autumn Show was fixed for 
the 8th and 9th November, at the Streatham Town 
Hall, and on the suggestion of the hon. sec., Mr. 
W. Roupell, it was resolved to affiliate the society to 
the Royal Horticultural Society. 
A Remarkable Phenomenon Indeed. —We quote the 
following extraordinary story from a provincial paper 
of the 17th ult.:—“A remarkable scene was witnessed 
in the parish of Woodham Ferris, Essex, on Old 
Christmas Eve. On that night a number of persons 
went on a pilgrimage to the village to witness the 
bursting into leaf of a bush locally known as the 
“ Holly Thorn.” It is a fact that at midnight the 
bush did burst into leaf. The peculiar features of 
the phenomenon are that the bush assumes its 
normal condition a few hours afterwards, and breaks 
forth with renewed vigour in the spring.” The 
Glastonbury Thorn must take a back seat after this. 
The Favoured Isles of Scilly. —There is not one 
Englishman in 10,000, a London contemporary re¬ 
marks, who can explain why the climate of the 
Scilly Isles should permit the Cactus of the West 
Indies to grow in the open in January, yet for some 
reason these wonderful islands, lying under the lee of 
the Land’s End,can to-day show an outdoor luxuriance 
of foliage such as can only be seen in the South of 
France, and then under most favoured conditions. 
No snow has fallen at Scilly since the spring of 1890, 
and yet English people with weak chests will insist 
on going to the Canaries or the Riviera. It is just 
on the cards that during the next few months an 
enterprising syndicate of fruit growers will lease the 
entire group of the Scilly Isles from the proprietor, 
and English-grown Oranges may in 1894 be com¬ 
peting with Valencias in Covent Garden Market.— 
Western Morning News. 
A New Pea: Day’s Conundrum. —One of the com¬ 
paratively few novelties among vegetables that are 
being introduced this season is a new Pea, which 
promises to quickly take first-rank honours. It is 
being sent out by Mr. J. Day, under the name of 
Conundrum, and it possesses qualities in regard to 
flavour, continuous cropping, vigour of growth, and 
a power of resisting mildew that can be claimed for 
few other Peas. It is a wrinkled Marrow, for mid¬ 
season and late use, and has the further valuable 
quality of retaining its fine Ne Plus Ultra-like 
flavour, after the Peas have become comparatively 
old, and when other sorts would be unfit for use. 
Mr. Day, it will be remembered, was the raiser of 
that grand market Pea, Sunrise, which was sent out 
about eleven years ago, and which is still grown in 
large quantities for market. 
Artistic Flower Guard.—A St. Andrew’s correspon¬ 
dent writes :—Mr. James Bennett, blacksmith, Am- 
croach, Fifeshire, has lately executed a very elegant 
and artistic hammered iron flower guard, from a 
design drawn by H. R. H. the Princess Louise. The 
front section is 24 ft. long, and the same height; the 
hinged sides, or wings, are 1 ft. 8 in. in length. It is 
intended for the inside decoration of a window, and 
will no doubt be very effective as such. Interwoven 
in the design are the crown, Rose, Thistle, and Sham¬ 
rock, and also the initial " V." The flower-guard 
was presented to Her Majesty the Queen at Christ¬ 
mas by the ex-Empress Eugenie. Mr. Bennett has 
now made a reputation for himself for hammered 
ironwork in the line indicated. He has made, 
amongst other things, some very pretty grates, can¬ 
dlestick-brackets, vases, and gates, all wrought out 
in a very skilful manner. 
Carter’s " Practical Gardener." — When over 
100,000 copies of a work have been sold, and still 
another edition is called for, nothing that a 
reviewer can say is likely to affect its sale one way 
or the other. The " Practical Gardener,” edited by 
Mr. E. J. Beale, F.L.S., and published at a shilling 
by Messrs. James Carter & Co. of High Holbom, 
has achieved both these distinctions, and the 18th 
edition lies before us. The special articles are all 
written by well-known men, some alas ! no longer 
with us, and the Calendar of Garden Operations is 
plain, practical and trustworthy—just in fact, what 
an amateur gardener wants. 
Golden Wedding of Dr. and Mrs. Paterson.—Dr. and 
Mrs. Paterson, of Bridge of Allan, on the 25th ult., 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, 
which took place in Edinburgh in 1843, where the 
doctor also took his degree of M.D. when twenty- 
one years of age. He has long been in practice in 
Bridge of Allan, where he is much respected, and is 
as notable a figure there as Professor Blackie in 
Edinburgh. He has been a noted Orchid grower in 
his day, and is never without an Orchid bloom or 
some other flower in his button-hole. His sale of 
Orchids a few years ago attracted buyers of these 
lovely flowers from all pans of the country. 
Cornish Vegetables and Railway Rates—As a set¬ 
off against the heavy railway charges for the convey¬ 
ance of Vegetables to the London markets, Cornish 
market gardeners are congratulating themselves that 
their supplies are realising higher prices than usual. 
The weather has not been at all unfavourable to the 
growth of seasonable vegetables, ^nd if matters pro¬ 
ceed as they have begun there will be no reason for 
a repetition of the grumbling so prevalent at this 
time last year. The only sore point at present is the 
excessive railway charges, and it is more than 
possible that some of the larger growers will, com¬ 
bined, charter vessels to London. There is, of 
course, the delay to take into consideration, but the 
counter advantage will be in saving many pounds per 
ton. 
Flower Growers of Scilly have already began to 
show signs of the usual activity so marked at this 
season of the year Indeed this is likely to prove to 
them a more abundan. harvest than for many years. 
There are direct reasons for this. In the first place 
a larger number of “glass acres” are in use this 
year, and nearly double the quantity of Narcissus 
being grown. On the other hand, the demand for 
Scilly flowers will be greatly enhanced, owing to the 
fact that recent severe weather in the South of 
France has proved most destructive to early flower 
growth. Extremely large orders for Scilly flowers 
are flocking in, and the price is considerably higher 
than in former years. 
