August i3, i904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
643 
he ^ardening\^/t>rld. 
NOTICE TO READERS AND 
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EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Buckingham Palace Gardens. 
Until within the last few years the gardens 
at Buckingham Palace were not- maintained 
in a condition to supply flowers for Royal re¬ 
quirements. Even the large conservatory 
was occupied by ordinary greenhouse plants 
■of an evergreen character, and no attempt at 
floral display or for the production of out 
flowers- was made. Plants and flowers, re-- 
quired for decorative purposes were usually 
brought up from Frogmore. This is now 
being gradually altered. In, the grounds' a 
wild garden is being formed by the, planting 
of groups or masses of flowering plants in 
suitable situations along the western boun¬ 
dary. The glass is also being increased with 
'the object, of cultivating a. greater variety of 
flowers. Even in the area exposed to the 
public outside the Palace a more lively 
attempt is being made at flower gardening, 
so that the glories of the old Palace, are being 
revived by the King and Queen. 
Cape Fig-Wort. 
The above plant, though beautiful ini itself 
and sufficiently hardy to. merit cultivationi 
wherever it can be grown, is rarely met with 
in gardens at the present time, although in¬ 
troduced in 1855. Many people are under 
the impression: that it is insufficiently hardy 
to merit cultivation; in, the open air, but we 
note that some of those who do attempt it® 
cultivation prevent it from flowering, even 
under favourable circumstances, by cutting, 
.down the leafy, flowerless shoots in. the 
autumn, instead of allowing them to remain 
and thus be well advanced to the flowering 
stage the following year. Those shoots 
which carry leaves in the autumn are more 
likely to flower well than young shoots pro¬ 
duced from the base; of the plant in spring. 
The cultivation, of the plant is discussed in 
“Flora and Sylva.” for August. Those 
shoots that persist through the winter com¬ 
mence' flowering in June or July, and other 
shoots keep, up the display till September or 
October. Even in the far north of Scotland, 
it is in full bloom by August, and was at one 
time a very favourite subject for exhibition 
purposes in stands of herbaceous; plants. 
The leaves left on the plant during the 
winter are able to endure low temperatures 
under the'shelter of a south aspect wall with¬ 
out any other protection or attention,. The 
plant is allied to Scrophularia, from which it 
takes its name of Fig-Wort, but it is more 
nearly allied to; Pentstemon, some species of 
which it closely resembles in, its tubular and 
slightly curved, crimson, flowers. The writer 
of tire article in question speaks of planting 
it at the foot of a- warm wall, or even train¬ 
ing the stems upon it. We have no doubt 
that, the plant would give much greater satis¬ 
faction if placed, under such conditions, as 
the shelter- of a wall enables the plant to 
make the best of the sunshine early in 
summer, as well as late in autumn, so that 
the wood gets' well ripened. It is really a 
shrub, and when placed under the advantage 
of a wall maintains itself in flowering condi¬ 
tion. We may also remind our readers that 
the common Hydrangea- may live outside 
without protection in many places, hut 
where it gets killed down in winter, it fails 
to flower during the course of the coming 
season. That applies with equal force to 
the Cape Fig-Wort-, which comes from South 
Africa., where the climate is warmer than 
ours. _ 0 _ 
Autumn Rose Shows 
The Royal Horticultural Society, in. con¬ 
junction with the National Rose Society, has 
again organised an autumn show for the 
queen of flowers, offering prizes in twenty- 
one classes. This is not an innovation en¬ 
tirely, as the society had a similar - shew last 
year, but- they seem inclined to encourage 
the production of blossom in autumn. The 
numerous Hybrid Tea Roses put into com¬ 
merce during the past ten years may to a 
large extent be responsible for the encour¬ 
agement of an autumn, Rose show. Wei have 
seen good displays of Roses in; the first or 
second week of September at Edinburgh, 
and the blooms in this instance may have 
been the result of late flowering, or the 
ordinary production of autumn blooms; or, 
on the other hand, they may have been 
obtained from maiden plants budded during 
the same season. The R.H.S. -Show is; to be 
held on September 20th in thei new Horticul¬ 
tural Hall, Westminster. Medals and silver 
cups at the discretion of the council and on 
the recominenelation of the judges are offered 
for thirty-six blooms of as many varieties, 
eighteen blooms, and twelve blooms ; twelve 
blooms of any one Rose in vase, for thirty- 
six varieties of garden or decorative Rosies, 
and for a group, of Roses. A Gold Medal, or 
Card of Commendation, is offered for new 
seedling Roses. A piece of plate is offered 
for a bowl of China Roses. Six of the 
National Rose Society’s silver medals will 
be awarded to nurserymen -and amateurs for 
the best Hybrid Tea., Tea, or Noisette. 
Money prizes are offered in the' remaining 
classes. 
Technical Instruction in Essex. 
The report and handbook of the Essex 
Education Committee for 1903 is now on our 
table, and contains a large amount of infor¬ 
mation. for all concerned with technical 
education in that county. It gives the names 
of the members of the Education Committee, 
staff teachers, subjects of instruction, particu¬ 
lars of classes held at the County Labora¬ 
tories, list of field experiments in Essex, par¬ 
ticulars of chemical, botanical, and entomo¬ 
logical reports, rules for the guidance of local 
secretaries and teachers, list, of teachers quali¬ 
fied to take classes for local committees, and 
various other subjects. Besides the local 
classes and lectures in the county, there are 
courses for horticulture, dairying and agri¬ 
culture, including, of course, chemistry of 
soils at the central school in Chelmsford. 
The secretary is Mr. J. H. Nicholas, M.A., 
County Office®, Chelmsford. 
