December 5, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
213 
CHRYSANTHEMUM CULTURE. 
At a meeting of the Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ 
Association, on the 18th, ult. a paper on this subject 
was read by Mr. George Foster, gardener to H. 
Hammond-Spencer, Esq., Glendaragh, Teignmouth. 
Mr, Foster is one of the leading authorities in the 
West of England. If, said he, the object in growing 
Chrysanthemums was for exhibition, success could 
only be obtained by untiring attention to every 
detail, from the time the cuttings are put in till the 
flowers are ready for the judges. The most im¬ 
portant point was to start with good cuttings, other¬ 
wise, if they lacked constitution, they could not 
compete with those of greater vitality. Very little 
water was required till they had rooted, a period 
about five or six weeks. After that they required 
more air, and care in watering, otherwise they would 
assume a sickly yellow hue. The plants should be 
re-potted when they had filled the pot with roots. 
Two-thirds loam broken roughly and the same quan¬ 
tity of rotted leaves, horse manure (not fresh) coarse 
sand, lime rubble and charcoal made the best com¬ 
post for the middle shift. Weak growing varieties 
should have it lighter. 
The final potting should be done firmly, as they 
wanted short-jointed, solid wood. Watering should 
be done carefully till the pots were filled with roots. 
Of course in hot weather when the plants were dry, 
they should be watered thoroughly, and syringed 
morning and afternoon. Feeding should not be given 
till the pots were filled with roots, after which 
artificial manure could be given with advantage. 
From August 12, to September 12, was the time to 
secure the buds. The plants should be taken indoors 
not later than October 3rd. As the blooms expand 
a little fire-heat was necessary to keep the house dry. 
F. Hannaford, Esq., Teignmouth was in the chair, 
and there was a large audience. Mr. Foster, gave a 
selection of 48 of the best Japs, and exhibited the 
leading varieties. There was an animated discussion. 
-- 
PROPOSED AMALGAMATION AT 
EDINBURGH. 
Suggested fusion of the Royal Caledonian 
Society and the Scottish Horticultural 
Association. 
Whilst our reporter was at Edinburgh he met at the 
show one of the members of the council in the 
person of Mr. W. M. Welsh, to whom he put a 
question or two with regard to the topic which is 
likely to become a matter of considerable debate 
within the ranks of Scottish horticulturists. 
"What is your opinion, Mr. Welsh, with regard 
to the proposed amalgamation of the two horti¬ 
cultural societies in Edinburgh ? ” 
“Well, I consider the main idea of the fusion of 
the two societies to be a good one, subject of course 
to the satisfactory settlement of the many details 
which require to be looked to in the interests of both 
bodies. I consider that both institutions have the 
best interests of horticulture at heart, the only thing 
being that the Scottish Horticultural Association 
being a more modern institution is working on newer 
lines, and certainly so far with excellent results that I 
am sure amalgamation would do the Royal Caledonian 
considerable good. The latter society loyally works 
on its old principles, and the requirements of its 
organisation are somewhat different.” 
" I suppose it is the Royal Charter to which you 
refer. Mr. Welsh ? ” 
" Yes, that is so. The Royal Charter and its 
restrictions. That its embodiment requires alteration 
is pretty freely admitted, but whether any part of 
the conditions under which it was granted can be 
revised is a matter that must be considered later. I 
am quite ready to admit that the smaller growers, 
and the amateurs are entitled to, and deserve greater 
attention from, the Royal Caledonian as a society, 
whose one regret must be that when the Chrysan¬ 
themum came into popularity that body did not 
rise to the occasion in the way which it might have 
done. Many attempts you know were made to get 
the society to take up more heartily the florist 
flowers, and flowers within reach of the ordinary 
cultivator, but this was never done to such an 
extent as to satisfy growers of hardy flowers, nor 
with the Chrysanthemum; and with the rise in 
popularity with which that flower is now associated 
there is no doubt that the Scottish Horticultural 
Association has scored successfully.” 
" And I suppose the discussion of the pros and cons 
will give rise to considerable debate.” 
“ Exactly so,” said Mr. Welsh ; " but there is no 
necessity for either side to quarrel, and good feeling 
should and must be the conditions under which the 
parties should approach the matter. There is at all 
events not likely to be any similitude between this 
subject and the heated controversion about establish¬ 
ment and dissent. What we want rather is assent 
to the establishment of the two societies worked with 
one set of machinery in place of the two, which at 
present exist, and which can but mean a waste of 
power in the long run.” 
And with a cheery good-night, Mr. Welsh wished 
us bon voyage on our journey northwards.— Gyp. 
DUNDEE CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW. 
I was not a little surprised on perusing my copy of 
The Gardening World of November 28th to see an 
effusion from Mr. Macdonald regarding this show. 
As you are possibly aware the report was not written 
by me at all. I simply gave my impressions and 
opinions of the show when requested to do so by your 
representative, who wrote out the report taken 
exception to by Mr. Macdonald. It was through 
his omission that the word “as " was left out of the 
third sentence, making it appear that Mr. Mac¬ 
donald’s blooms were deficient in size compared with 
the second prize lot. The next point referred to is 
the want of competition in the class for pot plants. 
Mr. Macdonald may have, and is entitled to have his 
opinions as to the cause of this; but mine are 
simply that Mr. Kennedy has for years staged plants 
very much superior to anything that has ever been 
seen in this locality, being perfect models of good 
cultivation, from which I infer that competitors 
have been chary in competing against him. 
Mr. Macdonald is apparently under the impres¬ 
sion that he has caught me fibbing in regard to the 
entries for the twenty-four blooms. What I stated 
was absolutely correct, which is easily proved by 
stating there were eight entries, although only four 
came forward. Mr. Macdonald concludes with a 
laudation of the second prize lot, ignoring altogether 
the first prize stand. If his intention was to dis¬ 
credit the judging, I have no doubt Mr. Rushton, 
who acted as one of the judges, will show him his 
error. I had thought that Mr. Macdonald would ere 
this have learnt the virtue of caution, but his rush¬ 
ing into print without real cause convinces me that 
he has not yet acquired it .—John Machar, Corona, 
Broughty-Ferry, 28 th Nov., 1896. 
GOVERNMENT BOTANIC GARDENS, 
OOTACAMUND. 
Inter-communication between Great Britain and 
the most distant parts of the Empire, is becoming 
more and more rapid, as modern facilities develop. 
A letter dated 10th November, 1896, reached us on 
the 28th of the same month, from Mr. Robert L. 
Proudlock, the curator of the Botanic Garden, 
Ootacamuud, India. The following extract from 
his letter will give our readers a fair idea of the 
vegetation, native, and introduced, especially the 
latter, in that distant part of Her Majesty’s 
dominions :— 
“ Ootacamund is a large hill station, about three 
miles long, by one and a half miles broad, situated 
almost in the centre of the Nilgiri Hills, at an eleva¬ 
tion of about 7,400 ft. above sea-level. It is in a 
large, wide valley shut in at its eastern and north¬ 
eastern end by the slopes of Dodabetta, the highest 
hill on the Nilgiris, and of 8,760 ft. elevation. It is 
open at its western end. There is a lake at the 
western half of the station. The houses are built all 
round the sides of the valley and lake at different 
elevations, and are, as a rule, widely separated from 
each other by pieces of land. 
“The chief feature of the vegetation, in and 
around the station of Ooty, is the Blue Gum tree 
(Eucalyptus globulus) which was introduced to these 
hills many years ago. The tree grows exceedingly 
well here, and is used for firewood chiefly. In fact 
it is the chief source of firewood. Strange to say, all 
our English trees are almost totally unrepresented 
here. There are, however, several English and 
Turkey Oaks in the district, about 30 ft. in height, 
and which are doing well. We have only a single 
specimen of the Beech in Ooty Garden. I have, 
however, sent home for a lot of seeds of the common 
home trees for the purpose of raising trees to plant 
on these hills. 
“ The mean temperature of Ootacamund is 57 0 and 
the average annual rainfall 60 in. On the morning 
of the 6th inst. we had our first frost of the season. 
Later on the frosts are pretty sharp in the lower 
parts of the station. Yesterday evening I jotted 
down the names of many plants we have in flower 
out-of-doors at present. They are Pentstemons, 
Phlox, Hollyhock, Sweet Pea, Candytuft, Gladiolus, 
Nicotiana affinis, Verbena, Roses, Geranium, Pansy, 
Antirrhinum, Canna, Chrysanthemum, Salvia 
splendens, S. patens, Periwinkle, Tagetes, Tithonia 
tagetiflorus, Delphinium, Hemerocallis, Mignonette, 
Gazania, Mesembryanthemum, Dahlia, Anemone 
japonica, Fuchsia, Carnation, Dianthus of sorts, 
Arundo conspicua, Gynerium argenteum, Virginia 
Stock, Nasturtium, Heliotrope, of which we have 
hedges, Calceolaria, Richardia africana, Hypericum, 
Daboecia polifolia, the common and white variety, 
Solanum jasminoides, Honeysuckle, Camellias, Tac- 
sonias, Banksias, Acacias, Tritoma, and Balsams 
(Nilgiri species). [A large number of the above 
are what we see in gardens at home in the month of 
September. —Ed.] 
“ The climate is delightful and health-giving. 
There are excellent driving roads all over these hills, 
so that one can get about the country fairly well. 
In my leisure time I occasionally go out hunting for 
Orchids and find it a most congenial pastime. Some 
of these Orchids are Dendrobium aqueum, D. hetero- 
carpum, Aerides crispum, Ae. maculosum, Ae. 
linegre, Ae. cylindricum, Ae. radicosum, Coelogyne 
corrugata, C. breviscapa, and C. odoratissima.” 
-- 4 *- 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT ALTRINCHAM. 
The other week I paid a visit to the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum section of Messrs. William Clibran & Sod, 
Oldfield Nurseries, Altrincham, where the annual 
exhibition of this charmingly popular flower takes 
place. The house is a span-roofed one, 210 ft. in 
length, and 30 ft. in width, and contains upwards of 
3,000 plants. These are displayed by means of 
a raised graduated staging, extending along both 
sides of a centre walk, running from end to end. 
The first to arrest attention are some fine blooms 
of the following new varieties, all of which are 
Japanese:—Captain L. Cbaure is one of the hirsute 
family, a massive flower with broad incurving petals 
of a rich bronzy-yellow colour. Vic. Rene de 
Chezelles is a large deep bloom with incurving 
florets of a terra-cotta colour and old gold reverse. 
Some lovely flowers of Mons. Ed. Rosette, a pure 
white, with long, tubular, spreading petals, is a very 
free variety. Mrs. Briscoe-Ironside, a blush-ivory- 
pink, is made up a mass of florets and is a charming 
novelty. Mrs. H. Weeks is a pearly-white, delicately 
shaded with pmk. Mme. Gustave Henry is best 
described as a white Lincoln, and like that well- 
known kind is of dwarf sturdy habit. A bloom of 
enormous size, perhaps the largest in cultivation, is 
Mrs. C. E. Shea, also a creamy-white with broad 
florets. This variety must be secured on an early 
bud. Yet another white is Lady Byron, a flower of 
bold appearance, with long, broad, interlacing petals. 
Its habit is good. A very beautiful lemon-yellow 
flower is Phoebus, being a variety which differs from 
the whole family of yellows by its unique distinct¬ 
ness. This Japanese reflexed, with slightly incurving 
tips and broad florets, makes a large and imposing 
bloom. Calvat’s Australian Gold is an attractive 
light yellow with incurving florets, and is of most 
robust growth; in fact it is just such a variety as 
should make its way into every collection. A flower 
of first rank as regards size is John Seward, a golden- 
yellow tipped with bronze, the petals interlacing. 
Like the before-mentioned, it is easy of cultivation 
and does best on the crown bud. 
A not insignificant feature are some seedlings of 
excellent promise, the following three being the most 
conspicuousLady Dartmouth, an “incurve” of 
fine form ; the colour is ivory-white tipped with 
yellow and is very free. An incurved Jap. of large 
size is Mr. Arthur Calderbank. The colour is silvery- 
rose, with broad florets slightly tipped with greenish- 
yellow. In growth it is vigorous and hardy, is 
distinct, and makes a good exhibition flower. Lord 
Lisburn is a Jap. of a warm terra-cotta colour with 
old gold reverse. It makes a flower of good size and 
has been awarded a First-class Certificate. 
Among the standard sorts are some well-grown 
blooms of the following C. H. Curtis, Mrs. E. S. 
Trafford, Florence Davis, Thomas Wilkins, Baron 
Hirsch, Duke of York (immense size), Hairy 
Wonder, Viviand Morel, and others. Charles Davis 
is evidently a favourite here judging from the fact 
that it meets our eye all over the house. It is a 
question whether taken all together there is a finer 
collection to be met with in the north of England, or 
one that reflects more credit on the grower (Mr. B. 
Fletcher) than does the one at the Oldfield Nurseries. 
— C. C. M. 
