990 
THE HARDENING WORLD . 
November 28, 1903. 
to various parts of Petersham^ and,- as may be presumed, by 
frequently straying on the grass 1 . This has gone on for so 
many years that it would now be difficult to alter it, and we 
consider the best that could have been, done with it is either 
to make it a public park or preserve it much in the same form 
a,s it is at present. If it had been enclosed by the owner, if 
that had been possible, it would certainly have been built 
upon sooner or later. 
The river bank portion of it would owe its present passable 
state to the embankment of the river, which, we presume, was 
carried out at the expense of the Corporation of Richmond in 
years gone by. It will thus be seen that the amenities of the 
place are largely duo..as much to the people of Richmond as 
to the owner of the estate, and it is well that they have thus 
been, able to come to a, satisfactory compromise by which the 
■ area will be secured from the builder for all time to come. 
A sort of esplanade runs along the river bank all the way 
from Richmond to Kingston, a, distance of close upon three 
miles. That a continuous park along this area, will be kept open 
to the public for all time to come is something to be thankful 
for. In order to secure the river front from Richmond to the 
Kingston boundary, a strip of land varying from 100 ft. to 
350 ft. in width has been conveyed partly to the Surrey County 
Council and partly to the Richmond Corporation. It extends 
to 49 acres. In addition to the land actually conveyed to 
the local authorities, the Act further prohibits any building 
on an additional 15 acres of land consisting of two fields on 
the Surrey side lying opposite Eel Pie Island. These two 
fields have been lying in grass for many years, and are sur¬ 
rounded by tall Elms, so characteristic of Thames Valley 
scenery. 
On. the Middlesex Slide of the river the Marble Hill Estate 
has been purchased, and such other arrangements made as 
will prevent the builder from destroying the Avooded character 
of the land stretching along the river bank from Richmond 
Bridge to Twickenham Ferry. 
Chrysanthemums at Edinburgh. 
We are informed that there was a falling away in the entries 
in the Edinburgh Show, the deficiency being chiefly amongst 
the fruits. Nevertheless there were over 800 entries, a figure 
which in itself Would indicate that the Chrysanthemum Show 
in the Waverley Market still maintains its reputation as the 
most important in Scotland and various other parts of the 
country. The shoAv for some years past has been very strong 
in flowers cut with long stems and exhibited in vases. On this 
occasion that feature of the show was well maintained, there 
being no such falling away as occurred at the exhibition of the 
National Chrysanthemum Society at- the Crystal Palace. 
The big class was for twenty varieties', three blooms of each, 
and staged in twenty vases. The city of Edinburgh Queen 
Victoria Memorial Prize brought out a good number of entries, 
for which five prizes were awarded. It would seem that many 
of the varieties Avhich took high rank in the stands at the 
Crystal Palace and elsewhere have also turned out strong at' 
Edinburgh. It would be interesting to know whether the 
season has really been favourable to the varieties which have 
turned out so fine. We know that certain seasons favour 
certain varieties of Roses more than others, notwithstanding 
the fact that the same varieties vary from year to year. 
There may also be something in the fact that they are of 
fairly recent origin, and, being something in the way of novel¬ 
ties, they might give gardeners encouragement to pay more 
attention to them than the old favourites 1 which drop away in 
the rear. Some of the finest varieties winch appeared in the 
twenty vase class weraF. W. Vallis, F. S. Vallis, Mildred Ware, 
Mme. Paolo Radaelli, Lord Ludlow, Mafeking Hero, Bessie 
Godfrey, and Mrs. Barkley. The first three are very much in 
the form of Mme. Carnot, which is looked upon as a highly re¬ 
fined type that attains both size and quality. Mme. P. Radaelli 
is an incurved Japanese variety, which has certainly been very 
fine this year. 
The Queen Alexandra Prize was offered for tAvelve vases in as 
many varieties for the benefit of Edinburgh and Leith growers, 
Avlio may be handicapped Avith a smoky and impure atmosphere, 
as the growers are in London itself and other populous districts. 
Looked at from the point of view that it encourages growers 
Avho are handicapped in this way, the idea of a class confined 
to that district was very good, but, on the other hand, the 
quality of the exhibits was not equal to that of the open class.. 
Nobody perhaps expected it to be otherwise, and the makers 
of the schedule probably intended the class merely for the 
encouragement of local groAvers aaJio had not the same oppor¬ 
tunities of winning in the leading class, even if they were 
equally good cultrta.tors. 
Still another class for thirty-six blooms in twelve vases 
•brought a number of entries and helped to increase the general 
effect by their distinctness and prominence as compared with 
the ordinary cut blooms staged on exhibition boards. For this 
class the Scottish Challenge Cup was offered, and brought some 
very fine exhibits. These three classes alone brought 132 
blooms to' take the leading prizes. There were several smaller 
classes for vases, some of them being limited to amateurs. 
The best Chrysanthemum plant in the show was Mme. de 
Sevin, which, from the accounts we can gather, was a very good 
sample of this style of cultivation. At the same time we thi nk 
that specimen Chrysanthemums are fast disappearing from the 
autumn shows in the same way as the fine old specimens of 
stove a.nd greenhouse plants from summer shows. In some 
respects this is to be regretted, but if they serve no useful pur¬ 
pose at home, and require to be grown particularly for exhibi¬ 
tion purposes, they take up a great amount of space, time, and 
trouble, which is hardly justified under such circumstances. 
Nevertheless Svell-grown and flowered specimens are examples 
of what cultivation can do, and they certainly attract visitors 
at shows as being something veiy different from what can be 
seen even in a first-class florist’s window. The best bloom in 
the show was Miss E. Fulton, Avhich is a handsome variety 
when in its best form. 
Apples grown in the south are always a source of envy to 
northern gardeners, and the exhibits on this occasion contained 
some highly-coloured Apples from the so-called Sunny South. 
The longer growing season and the few degrees higher tempera¬ 
ture, both in the spring and autumn, enable even such hardy 
fruits as Apples to' reach a much greater size and more decided 
maturity in the south. No amount of skill on the part of the 
gardener can make amends for the lack of sunshine and tem¬ 
perature. In other words, it is the same story sometimes met 
with in scientific agricultural books, Avhich state that the 
weather is more effectual in the production of a good crop 
than all the manures and tillage that may be given. Some 
good Apples and Pears can, hoAvever, be grown north of the 
Cheviots, as we have frequently Avitnessed. 
Chrysanthemum Wilfred H. Godfrey. 
, (See Supplement.) 
The above fine Japanese variety was a novelty of last season, 
raised and introduced to' commerce by Mr. W. J. Godfrey, 
Exmouth, Devon. The variety is of typical Japanese form, 
most of the florets being recurved, with an indexed tip. Our 
supplement shows a bloom that was taken Avlien the bloom 
was in its first stages of perfection, but there being a great 
amount of material in the centre, it would tend to increase the 
depth of the bloom, and to slightly .alter its shape from that 
here represented. This shows it, hoAvever, in its most interest¬ 
ing form for exhibition purposes. The florets are of good width 
and substance, bright rich crimson above, with a golden reverse. 
It is usually 7 in. in diameter, which is a large size for a. crimson 
A^ariety. The plant is very robust and healthy, of easy culture; 
and has leathery, dark green, foliage, which is retained to the 
base of the stems Avhen the plants have been grown under 
favourable conditions. The height of the plant is usually 4 ft 
and the best blooms are obtained from the first crown bud. 
