May 20, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
593 
garden, as well as the health giving Eucalyptus glo¬ 
bulus, which not only stands the winter, but keeps 
growing throughout the winter.” Professor Bayley 
Balfour, of Edinburgh University, writes that such 
plants would not thrive about Edinburgh. 
-—S-- 
GARDENING AT EARL’S 
COURT. 
Glorious weather favoured the executive for th§ 
opening of the Gardening and Forestry Exhibition, 
at Earl's Court, on Saturday last, and a very large 
company assembled for the ceremonial. H.R.H. 
the Duke of York, who received a most enthusiastic 
reception, declared the Exhibition open at mid-day. 
The gardening section was well advanced, and a few 
days only will be required to make all bright and 
attractive, but the Forestry department was a dis¬ 
appointment, and might well have been kept closed 
until there is something more in position to be seen. 
The Flower Show, which was one of the special 
attractions of the opening day, was greatly enjoyed, 
being for the most part under canvas, a great 
improvement on last year's arrangements. The 
gardens want rain badly to assist the Rhododendron 
blooms to open, and given a good shower soon, 
there will be a grand display. 
Turning to the flower show proper, we may say 
that the first prize for nine stove and greenhouse 
plants was awarded to Mr. J. F. Mould, Pewsey, 
Wilts, who had fine specimens of Erica Cavendishi, 
Bougainvillea glabra, Statice profusa, Erica 
ventricosa magnifica, and E. tricolor Wilsoni. Mr. 
H. James, Castle Nursery, West Norwood, took the 
second place; and Mr. J. Curry, Salisbury, was 
third with smaller plants. The first prize for a 
group of twenty-five Roses was awarded to Mr. C. 
Turner, Slough, who had the freshest specimens 
which have been shown this year. He also had the 
first awards for show or fancy Pelargoniums and 
Souvenir de la Malmaison Carnations. Amongst 
the fancy Pelargoniums, Ellen Beck, Delicatum, and 
Phyllis were well flowered, and the show varieties, 
Alice, Gold Mine, Magpie, and Josephine, were 
equally floriferous. The Carnations bore large 
flowers, but were not fully expanded. His right to 
the first prize for greenhouse Azaleas in large 
conical specimens was indisputable. Mr. H. James 
took the second place, with greatly inferior specimens. 
The groups of flowering and foliage plants were a 
decided feature of the show. Messrs. J. Laing & 
Sons, Forest Hill, took the first position with a 
group of Palms, Lilies, Anthuriums, Crotons, 
Cattleyas, Begonias, Caladiums, Gloxinias, etc. 
The second place was taken by Messrs. B. S. 
Williams & Sons, Upper Holloway, with another 
group of high quality, containing a great number of 
Orchids, the flowers of which had an enlivening 
effect. Mr. J. Curry took the third place. Mr. H. 
James showed the best foliage plants, and was 
followed by Mr. J. Curry. Mr. J. F. Mould took 
the third place. Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son 
were the only exhibitors of Clivias and Amaryllis, 
taking the first prizes. The Calceolarias shown by 
Mr. J. Ford, gardener to Sir C. Piggott, Bart., 
Wexham Park, Slough, were admirable samples of 
cultivation, and took the first award. The second 
prize went to Mr. J. Mowbray, gardener to Major 
the Hon. H. C. Legge, Fulmer, Slough, whose 
specimens were dwarf and floriferous. A second 
prize for Auriculas, now out of season, was awarded 
to Mr. C. Turner. Messrs. Perkins & Sons, Coventry, 
took the first prizes for three hand bouquets, a 
bride's bouquet, and a basket of cut flowers for 
table decoration. Mrs. Butt, West Kensington, 
was second in the latter class ; and Miss May Foden, 
Hemel Hempstead, was third. The latter was first 
for three stands or vases of flowers and foliage. 
Miss L. Hudson, Gunnersbury, was second; and 
Mr. F. W. Seale, Sevenoaks, was third. 
There were numerous miscellaneous exhibits not 
for competition, and extra prizes were awarded in 
the undermentioned cases:—In the large tent Mr. 
T. S Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, Tottenham, had 
a group of Lilium Harrisi, Spiraea palmata in fine 
condition, Pyrethrums, Iberis sempervirens flore 
pleno, Primula Sieboldi, Delphinium nudicaule, and 
others. A grand group of Clematis in pots was shown 
by Messrs. Richard Smith & Co., Worcester, 
including fine samples of La France, Mrs. Geo. 
Jackman, Madame Van Houtte, Sensation, and 
others. Messrs. Collins Bros , 39, Waterloo Road, 
had a group of herbaceous plants, such as Colum¬ 
bines, Lilies, Spiraeas, Lupins, Pyrethrums, Trollius, 
etc. Messrs. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, had a 
group of pot Roses, and cut flowers. Mr. C. 
Turner had a Cultural Commendation for a group 
of the Rose Crimson Rambler. Mr. A. Waterer, 
Knap Hill, Woking, had a large group of hardy 
Azaleas. In the exhibition building Messrs. Barr & 
Son, King Street, Covent Garden, had three tables 
of Paeonies, Irises, Lupins, Pyrethrums, Florists' 
Tulips, double Poet’s Narcissus, and other herba¬ 
ceous subjects. Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, Lowfield 
Nurseries, Crawley, had a collection of Apples and 
Pears, as well as Irises, Paeonies, Aquilegias, Violas, 
and others of that class. A collection of fruit, in¬ 
cluding Strawberries, Cherries, and Melons was 
shown by Mr. J. Miller, gardener to the Right Hon. 
Lord Foley, Ruxley Lodge, Esher A group of 
herbaceous plants including Pyrethrums, Irises, 
Tulips, Centaureas, etc., and another of Palms and 
Heaths, with other accessories, were shown by 
Messrs. Wm. Cutbush & Son, Highgate. A fine 
group of dwarf Calceolarias was staged by Messrs. 
J. James & Son, Woodside, Farnham Royal, Slough. 
A group of Leschenaultias was exhibited by Messrs. 
W. Balchin & Sons, Hassocks, Brighton. Messrs. 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, staged s'me well- 
flowered Gloxinias and some Begonias. Some 
Apples were staged by Mr. James A. Hester, gar¬ 
dener to W. G. Dawson, Esq., Plumstead Common, 
Kent. A group of plants and a collection of fruit 
were shown by Mr. G. Wythes, Syon House. 
The large beds in the open grounds have been 
re-filled and in some cases re-arranged. Some of 
them have been filled by Messrs. B. S. Williams & 
Son with large conical specimens of Euonymus, 
standard Laurels, Cypresses, Thuyas, Aucubas, &c. 
Mr. C. Turner has several beds of Pelargoniums, 
Cannas and Fuchsias. Some spaces are occupied 
with forest and other trees and shrubs. Various 
evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs in the 
form of standards, including Robinias, Golden Ivy, 
Weeping Willows, Rhododendrons and others have 
been planted by Messrs. Lee & Son, Hammersmith. 
An interesting collection of fruit trees has been 
planted in market garden style, showing methods of 
double cropping, by Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons. Apples 
and Pears are grown as pyramids, bushes and 
standards, with Gooseberries, Currants, Strawberries 
Peas and various vegetables between. Dwarf and 
Standard fan-trained Peaches and Plums are grown 
upon a wall, and there are also samples of espalier 
training. Some styles of formal gardening may 
also be seen in one part of the grounds Instead of 
Palms and other hothouse plants, the beds in the 
Exhibition building are occupied with Rhododendrons 
and various other flowering subjects, which are very 
gay just now. They have been planted by Messrs 
Wm. Paul & Son, and Messrs. H. Lane & Son, 
Berkhamstead. 
-- 
EVOLUTION IN THE 
FLOWER. 
At a recent meeting of the Ealing Microscopical and 
Natural History Society, the Rev. G. Henslow 
presiding, Mr. J. N. Green, professor of botany of 
the Pharmaceutical Society, London, delivered a 
lecture on “ Evolution in the Flower.” The lecturer, 
in the course of his remarks, as reported in a local 
paper, described the structure of a typical flower, 
and the uses of its several parts. He then dealt in 
an interesting manner with the processes under 
which fertilisation or pollination of certain flowers 
is effected by means of pollen involuntarily conveyed 
from one flower to another flower of the same species 
by insects (flies and bees) which visit the flowers for the 
purpose of extracting honey from them. He also 
alluded to the question of the evolution of flowers 
from their earliest or original forms to the elaborate 
examples now to be seen in our greenhouses, and 
asserted that it was impossible to say in what the 
original or elementary forms of the highly-developed 
flowers with which we were at the present day 
familiar might have consisted. The presence or 
absence of colour and fragrance in flowers,according 
to whether those qualities were or were not required 
to naturally attract an insect to any particular flower, 
was likewise briefly spoken of, the lecturer pointing 
out that observation had revealed the circumstance 
that one description of insect (bees) would naturally 
visit flowers of certain hues, whilst another descrip¬ 
tion (flies) would prefer and be drawn to flowers cf 
other tints. 
The mechanisms that various flowers that Pro¬ 
fessor Green named possess for depositing their 
pollen on the bodies of insects that visit them in 
search of honey, with the object that that pollen, on 
the insect’s visit to another flower of the same 
species, should be transferred to that flower, and 
propagation be thus caused, was the more interest¬ 
ing, as it was the principal feature of the lecture. 
He delineated the process of pollination in the 
"prison, flowers of Aristolochia and Arum, into 
which flowers flies entered, but could not escape 
until they had fertilised the pistil. The propagation 
by means of insect’s visits of the Cornflower, Violet, 
Birds-foot Trefoil, Salvia, Ophrys, and Cypripedium 
was also described, the methods of pollination being 
different in each case. 
At the close of Mr. Green’s address, the Rev. Pro¬ 
fessor Henslow, in moving the customary vote of 
thanks, expressed his own sense of the entertaining 
and instructive style in which the lecturer had 
touched on many attractive points, as well as tried to 
solve many deep problems, connected with the sub¬ 
ject of which he had spoken. The causes that had 
led to the evolution of flowers from original or 
primitive to present-day forms must, added Professor 
Henslow, be matters that must be, to at all events a 
very large extent, speculative ; the genealogical his¬ 
tory of flowering plants was a subject on which 
scientists even at the present day were decidedly ig¬ 
norant. It was known that environment changed 
the character of plants, but contributing causes to 
that change, beyond that cause of environment, 
remained still theoretical and speculative rather than 
actually known and practically demonstrated. He 
(Professor Henslow), was himself inclined to at¬ 
tribute much more influence to the* agency of the 
insects themselves in the " making of flowers " than 
to natural selection preserving any variations which 
happened to show a useful tendency. Drawing on 
analogy from the changes easily brought about in 
the vegetative system of plants by a change in their 
surroundings, he said he thought that flowers re¬ 
sponded in an analogous way to the irritations set 
up by insects, and so gradually changed in adapta¬ 
tion to them; not all at once, but during several gen¬ 
erations, when visited by the same species of insect. 
Both these views were, however, theoretical, and the 
question was which had the greater probability in its 
favour. 
m -» 
PROPOSAL FOR AN INSTITUTE 
OF HORTICULTURE, MUSIC, AND 
THE FINE ARTS. 
Will you kindly favour us with space in your 
valuable columns to submit a project for the estab¬ 
lishment of an Institute of Horticulture ? 
To-day England is very much behind other great 
nations in this respect, and although efforts have 
been made to provide suitable accommodation for 
our ever increasing needs, we have no Institute of 
Horticulture but exhibitions must be held at odd 
places, some of them very ill-adapted for such dis¬ 
plays. 
The financial aspect has been the difficulty. In 
order to meet this we would suggest that with Horti¬ 
culture should be associated Music, the Fine Arts 
(all kindred in sentiment), and that the proposed 
Institute should be designed especially to meet the 
requirements of these societies. There is distinctly 
a need for a suitable Institute for horticulturists, 
and there is also as great a need for an Institute to 
receive and exhibit the large proportion of paintings 
whieh are not hung at the Academy. 
Without going into details, we would suggest that 
a meeting might be held of horticultural gentlemen 
to confer upon this project, and perhaps meet repre¬ 
sentatives from the Royal Academy, Royal Albert 
Hall Amateurs' Orchestral Society, Stock Exchange 
Orchestral Society, or other similar associations, 
and believe the outcome of such a conference would 
be the establishment of an Institute of Horticulture, 
Music, and the Fine Arts, where all the year round 
pictures and sculpture would be exhibited, con¬ 
certs of vocal and instrumental music held, and 
lectures, conversaziones, and exhibitions arranged 
under the auspices of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and all these might, if desirable, proceed at 
the same time in the same hall, affording attraction 
to everyone (for assuredly everyone is interested 
either in music, pictures, or flowers), and the effect 
of the three in combination is always harmonious.— 
Wm. Wood & Son, Wood Green, N. 
