October 10, 1903. 
fHE Gardening World 
GENERAL NOTICES. 
We would earnestly urge secretaries of societies to notify us as far in advance as possible as to dates of meetings, shows, etc. We desire to do all in our power to have theae 
quately represented in the columns of The Gardening World. 
We respectfully request our readers, when they write to persons or firms advertising in this paper, to mention that their advertisement was seen in Tnj Gardening World 
y will thereby not only oblige this paper, but the advertisers. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Alcinous’ orchard various Apples hears: unlike are Bergamots and Pounder Pears.’ - — Virgil’s Georgies. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
•ill give a cash prize of Ten Shillings for 
HE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, sent 
y readers during the week. The Editor’s 
iidgment must be considered final, and he will 
,e at liberty to use any of the contributions 
ent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 
XCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the value, 
ather than the length, of the article will be 
onsidered in making the award. Competitors 
aay send in items of news or comments on 
ews; hints of practical interest to gar- 
eners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; 
uccessful methods of propagating plants 
usually considered difficult; or contributions 
N ANT SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
f gardening proper. Letters should be 
ddressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi- 
ion,” and posted not later than Friday night 
i ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
fhe following Coloured 
Plates have appeared :— 
March 14.—NEW CHINESE PRIMULAS. 
March28.—' TEA ROSE “ CHAMELEON.” 
April 4 —COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 
April 18.—CESTRUM SMITHII. 
May 23.— SAXIFRAGA GRISEBACHII 
nd A GROUP OF ALOCASIAS. 
May 30. — DENDROBIUM NOBILE 
OTUNDIFLORUM and D.n. NOBILIUS. 
June 6.— CALADIUMS. 
June 20. —ZENOBIA SPECIOSA PUL 
'(ERULENTA. 
July 4.—APHELANDRA AURANTIACA 
tOEZLII. 
July 11. _ AUSTRALIAN PITCHER 
lant. 
August l.-BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA 
September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS 
'vpuv!', 3 ' LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
i r HYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
Lack numbers may be obtained from the 
ubushels, price 2^d. posi free. 
M ith the PRESENT ISSUE we present 
i ilDALIS 6 ° f CAMPANULA bYRA 
NEX T WEEK we shall give a Half-tone 
I QTD f rS^ CTUS DAHLIA FLORENCE 
E STREDWICK. 
Views and Reviews. 
Lessons of the Fruit Show. 
The great surprise to everybody was the 
apparent abundance of fruit in the Muscat 
house and big vinery devoted to their ac¬ 
commodation. It is evident that even in 
the worst of seasons, we can rely upon a good 
display of hardy fruits; in the way of Apples 
and Pears, with other kinds to a lesser ex¬ 
tent, but chiefly Apples, the king of hardy 
fruits in this- country. On the whole the 
fruit was less highly coloured than, we have! 
seen it in the average or normal season. We 
do not forget, however, that somei years agoi 
the Royal Horticultural Society laid down 
the rule definitely that no one was to polish 
their fruits, and since we have got rid of 
that absurdity the fruits have a more 
natural appearance, even if they do not look 
glazed or varnished. The polishing could 
be of no material value to the quality of 
the fruits, and would certainly detract from 
their keeping value in proportion as the skin, 
of the fruit is rubbed or otherwise injured. 
We cannot hut think that the bloom of 
fruits is both natural and conducive to their 
well-being. If the society had encouraged the 
polishing of fruits, no doubt, this fad would 
have been carried into the 1 fruiterers’ shops, 
and we understand that the substances, used 
for polishing the fruit® were not always de¬ 
sirable if it had been known to' the eaters 
of the same. 
Highly coloured fruit is a sign that Nature 
lias done her best in bringing about the 
various changes conducive to full maturity. 
Even after such a. sunless season as we have 
had, a fair proportion of coloured fruits came 
up from the counties and districts from 
which we have learnt to expect them. Kent, 
Hereford, and Devon still maintain, their 
supremacy in this respect. These are no» 
new facts', for it was pretty well determined 
centuries ago, that those counties were well 
adapted for the cultivation of Apples, and 
we- may take it, for granted that, in the early 
days of the experimenters they planted more 
where those already planted had given them 
satisfaction. 
Tlie great fruit-growing districts in Eng¬ 
land seem to follow certain geological forma¬ 
tions, from which fact we should draw the 
conclusion that certain soils are more 
favourable to the production of good Apples 
than others. These formations would be 
upper and lower cretaceous ; that is, chalk 
and limestone in some form or other; and, on 
the other hand, the old and new red sand¬ 
stone, such as we find in Devon, Hereford 
and other counties, extending diagonally 
across England from the south-west to the 
north-east. The fine Apples from Kent come 
chiefly from the: chalk formations we have 
just mentioned, and though it would he in¬ 
correct toi say that the fruits were grown on 
chalk-soil, the formation, immediately under¬ 
neath the surface soil belongs, to rocks in 
the same category, only older than the chalk. 
Good cultivation may in certain instances aid 
Nature in the production of good Apples and 
Pears, even where not directly influenced by 
the formations which we have just, mentioned. 
The special district county prizes are a 
go-cd means for bringing into prominence the 
most favourable districts for fruit trees, par¬ 
ticularly Apples and Pears. Witness, for in¬ 
stance, both the trade and private exhibits 
from Kent, on the one hand, and from such 
counties as Hereford and Monmouth on the 
other. From Barham Court, near Maid¬ 
stone, came magnificent samples of such 
Pears as Pitmaston Duchess, Duchesse d’Ar.- 
gouleme, Marguerite Marrillat, the Confer¬ 
ence, etc. From Ledbury, Hereford, came 
massive fruits of Warner’s King, Peasgood’s 
Nonsuch, Tyler’s Kernel, and other Apples, 
such as would be difficult to surpass in any 
country for size and excellence of develop¬ 
ment. No doubt the trees producing such 
have had excellent cultural treatment, but. 
apart from the'favourable conditions of the 
soil and latitude, no amount of cultural treat¬ 
ment would be able to produce such excellent 
results. 
From the various home counties came 
many excellent, examples of Apples and 
Pears, hut chiefly the former. They had 
size, but the colour was veiy seldom a 
marked feature of fruits within the London 
radius. This has been, repeatedly shown at 
