fovember 12, 1904. 
The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Through the green lanes of the country where the tangled Barberry-bushes hang their tufts of crimson berries. ’ - Longfellow. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. \ 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World < 
ill give a cash prize of Ten Shillings for s 
IE BEST PARAGRAPH, or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent \ 
j readers during the week. The Editor’s ( 
idgment must be considered final, and he will J, 
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nt in. The paragraph, or article, must not < 
ICEED ONE COLDMN IN LENGTH, but the Value, l 
.ther than the length, of the article will be s 
■insidered in making the award. Competitors < 
ay send in items op news or comments on ; 
;ws; hints op practical interest to gar- £ 
iners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; < 
iccessful methods of propagating plants < 
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idressed to The Editor, marked “Competi- s* 
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The following Coloured 
Hates have appeared in 
ecent numbers:— 
July 4—APHELANDRA AURANTIACA 
OEZLII. 
> August 1.— BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. < 
' September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
\ October 3— LILIUM AURATUM PL A- < 
YPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. <, 
5 Novemhei 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA- i 
ASSEUR. 
January 2— HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 
OSE IRENE. 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA 
OUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
, February 27. -A FINE STRAIN OF 
> ILOXINIAS. 
! April 2. —WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
USSELLIANA. 
< May 7 — CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June 4.— CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE. 
July 16.— ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
October 1. — GEUM HELDREICHI 
UPERBUM 
October 15.— ROSE HUGH DICKSON. \ 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
< lblishers, price 2^d. post free. 
This week we present a Half-tone !; 
Plate of 
CHRYSANTHEMUM MRS. D. WILLIS 
JAMES. 
: Next week we shall give a Half-tone 
Plate of 
; HRYSANTHEMUM MRS. E. ELLIOTT, s 
\ The prize last week in the Readers’ <, 
\ ompetition was awarded to “ Herbert 
! owley,” for his article on “A Fertile 
j lule,” p. 890 . < 
Views and Reviews. 
Chrysanthemum Progress. 
The great autumn show of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society has again been held, 
and afforded excellent opportunities of 
another lesson on the progress of the Chry¬ 
santhemum. It isi now more than ever 
evident that those who, expect to win must be 
in the advance guard in procuring the very 
best varieties, whether new or old. Some of 
the old exhibitors failed to turn, up, although 
immensely and surprisingly successful for a 
few years. What the cause could be for 
1 heir dropping out was not evident at the 
show, but their places were well sustained in 
certain of the classes at least, both for 
quantity and quality. 
The season, on the whole, has evidently 
been favourable to Chrysanthemums. There 
have been fewer complaints, of damping oft’ 
than about this time last year. A very large 
number of the blooms on exhibition were 
characterised by great substance of petal, 
and although there were no surprises iu the 
matter of outstanding gigantic blooms, that 
may not imply that none have been grown! 
this year. The aim of exhibitors is generally 
toi have their blooms as much on a par as 
possible SO' as to equalise the show boards. 
It, is true that certain varieties cannot be 
developed to the same dimensions as those 
that naturally attain a, large size, but these 
big blooms are intentionally placed along the 
hack row of the boards, and have the effect 
of sustaining the appearance of the boards by 
virtue of their larger size. It is, neverthe¬ 
less, a notorious fact that varieties which 
hitherto have been able to hold their own in 
the matter of size continue to drop away 
from year to year, and only make their 
appearance when skilful cultivators succeed 
in, getting - unusually fine blooms,. 
It is the opinion, of some skilled cultivators 
themselves, that those who would he in the 
winning stands must be abreast of the times 
in securing new varieties, not, merely because 
they are new, but because they are all-round 
larger blooms, naturally thereby enabling 
thei cultivators to secure leading places. 
On several former occasions the class for 
twelve vases of specimen blooms constituted 
one of the leading centres, of interest on the 
show board, on account of thei number of 
exhibits and the annually increasing size of 
the blooms staged. On this occasion the 
entries were less numerous;, and although we 
can scarcely describe the blooms as larger 
than on previous occasions, nevertheless 
those shown sustained their previous reputa¬ 
tion. A study of the varieties mentioned in 
the first-prize exhibit of this- class in our last 
week’s issue will give cultivators a fan- idea 
of the blooms likely to win when shown in 
vases with their own foliage. The varieties 
in almost every case coincide with winning 
blooms in the other classes. 
The single vase classes for ClirysaiMie 
mums, shown in a similar way, served to in¬ 
crease the interest of this style of exhibiting, 
and the results in some cases were interest¬ 
ing. In the class for a vase of any yellow 
Japanese variety there were eleven entries, 
and of the four prizes offered three of them 
were awarded to F. S. Yallis. This variety 
must, be of easy and regular cultivation, pro¬ 
ducing blooms of very large size, to which 
must be added the quality that keeps the 
bloom firm and intact when exhibited in this 
manner without the support, that would be 
given it on sbow boards. It is, nevertheless, 
one of the most popular with cultivators, who 
can with safety place it in any stand and 
under almost any conditions. Tire other 
prize went for very fine blooms of Bessie 
Godfrey, a firmly built, flower, which also 
stands well staged under these conditions 1 . 
Undoubtedly the three most popular 
classes this year were those for the Holme- 
Memorial Challenge Cups and the President’s 
prize. The competition of affiliated Chry¬ 
santhemum and horticultural societies was 
not veiy keen and has never at tained a vogue' 
similar to that of the Holmes Memorial 
classes. It seems that gardeners have a 
certain aversion to exhibiting in company, 
and if they have anything good they prefer 
to compete openly upon their own merits. 
Practically, this is sometimes the case when 
one exhibitor represents the local society and 
the whole of his neighbourhood, but he must 
be a very successful cultivator who can, grow 
blooms larger than any other gardener in 
the neighbourhood. It may, however, 
happen that specialists, even in this line', 
are very thinly placed in some districts. 
It follows, then, that a close examination 
of thei more popular classes in which the 
competition is keen will afford the best 
evidence of the progress that is being made 
amongst Chrysanthemums. In the class for 
forty-eight Japanese blooms, it will be con¬ 
ceded that the leading honour was taken by 
an expert of long standing. For many years, 
