September 2, 1905. 
THE a ARDEN! HO WORLD. 
701 
® Society * Doings. ® 
The Editor will he pleased to receive particulars of the Fixtures, Meetings, Lectures, &c., of Horticultural Societies. Secretaries 
or Members willing to send us brief notes of general interest are invited to forward name and address to the Editor, uho will 
gladly send supply of stamped addressed contributors’ slips. 
Despoiling Gales. 
The summer flower show season which is 
now drawing to a close has been, as we have 
already remarked, a phenomenal one. This 
is attributable to the beautiful weather, which 
has been in marked contrast to that of the 
past few years. The uncommonly favourable 
atmospheric conditions have heartened the 
executives of horticultural societies all over 
the land, for deficits have in numerous in¬ 
stances been replaced by substantial balances. 
Certainly, never were there so many shows 
held as during the last month or so, and 
records have been broken in every direction, 
both as regards the quality and number of 
exhibits and the attendance of the public. In 
a season of such plentiful and pronounced 
successes it seems, therefore, peculiarly hard 
that some shows should, owing to an unkind 
meteorological vagary, have sustained mis¬ 
fortune. We refer to the havoc played by a 
violent gale which swept over these islands 
on August 19th, and which in many parts 
was accompanied by torrential rains. During 
the holding of the Leith flower show a huge 
marquee, 200 ft. long and 40 ft. broad, was 
blown down and great havoc done. Tables 
containing choice prize flowers were demo¬ 
lished, and prize Fuchsias, Palms, and hun¬ 
dreds of handsome blooms were scattered over 
the grounds, the exhibits in most cases being 
absolutely ruined. The tents of the Coxlodge, 
Benton, and Seaton Burn flower shows were 
all blown over. The flower* show at Chirk, 
Denbighshire, opened by Lord Trevor, suffeied 
so severely that it had to be removed to the 
parish hall. Many other reports are to hand 
of similar accidents, and we can only say that 
we sincerely commiserate with those societies 
which have encountered such rough treatment 
from the inconsiderate elements. 
The N.C.S 
The regrettable death of that distinguished 
horticulturist, Mr. Richard Dean (and secre¬ 
tary of the National Chrysanthemum Society), 
reminds us that the season for Chrysanthe¬ 
mum shows is fast approaching, the N.C.S. 
opening the ball, as it were, with an impor¬ 
tant exhibition at the Crystal Palace, Syden¬ 
ham, in the early days of October, where there 
will also be a conference on early Chrysan¬ 
themums. For twenty-six years the society’s 
exhibitions were held in the Aquarium, Lon¬ 
don. since demolished. When it commenced 
to hold its shows at Westminster, the society 
was known as the Borough of Hackney Chry¬ 
santhemum Society, and the financial assist¬ 
ance secured by a donation to the prize fund 
operated to create increased interest in the 
work it was carrying on. A growth of mem¬ 
bership followed, and eventually resulted in 
the change of the title of the society to that 
of the National Chrysanthemum Society. 
Since that time the exhibitions held by the 
N.C.S. have gone on increasing in extent, 
in quality, and popularity, and it is gratify¬ 
ing to know that the society still maintains 
a foremost position among the special organi¬ 
sations having for their object the culture of 
some particular flower. According to the 
annual report for 1904, the financial condi¬ 
tion of the society is healthy, and there is a 
reserve fund of over £117. The Chrysanthe¬ 
mum, especially as represented by the large 
exhibition Japanese varieties, continues as 
popular as ever, while the growth in the com¬ 
mercial value of the flower as a market and 
decorative subject has been highly satisfac¬ 
tory. 
R.H.S. Examination of Gardeners. 
The Council of the Royal Horticultural 
Society have consented to hold a special 
examination for gardeners employed in the 
London and other city public parks and gar¬ 
dens on Thursday, January 11th, 1906, at 
- \ 
OUR PRIZE COMPETITIONS. 
SPECIAL COMPETITION 
For Members of Local 
Horticultural Societies 
Prizes. — (1) Three guineas. 
(2) One guinea. 
(3) Ten shillings and sixpence. 
This competition closed at the end of August. 
A large number of Essays has been received, 
and the awards will be announced at as early 
a date as possible. 
k____ J 
their hall in Vincent Square, Westminster. 
The examination will be, as far as possible, 
practical. 
Fortunate Societies. 
There are some societies up and down the 
country the finances of which are calculated 
to make the mouths of the secretaries and 
committeemer and of the members generally 
of other less fortunate and more or less 
harassed societies to water copiously. It 
certainly is a little depressing, when strug¬ 
gling against adverse conditions or plodding 
with difficulty along that narrow path of de¬ 
marcation between success and failure, to 
hear of societies which accumulate funds 
apparently without any difficulty. We were 
told the other day of a horticultural society 
in the Midlands which has a balance of close 
on £500 in hand, but for the moment the name 
of the society has escaped our memory. To¬ 
day a correspondent sends us particulars of 
the Goole H.S., which has funds to the extent 
of £330, and this despite a loss on last year's 
show of £120, due to the adverse weather. 
Well, we may be sure they deserve their good 
fortune. But it has been suggested that some¬ 
thing better might be done with such consider¬ 
able sums of money than hoard them up. 
Blind Gardeners. 
Last week we referred briefly to the fact 
that Mr. R. Mercer, who secured the largest 
amount of prize-money at the show of the 
Hutton (Kent) and District Cottage Gar¬ 
deners’ M.I. Society, is blind. Since then a 
correspondent has written to say that amongst 
those who entered their gardens for competi¬ 
tion at the recent show of the Gwennap (Corn¬ 
wall) Gardening Society was a blind man, 
Samuel Hancock, of Goongumpas, who not 
only does a good deal of the planting and pre¬ 
paration of the ground, but also, by the sense 
of touch, most of the weeding. The judges 
were surprised at his knowledge of the various 
vegetables and their whereabouts. He led 
them from bed to bed, and spoke of his crops 
as if he could see them before him. His gar¬ 
den won the fourth prize in the cottagers’ 
class. 
The Hundredth Annual Show. 
Mr. Henry Coates, in introducing the Mar¬ 
quis of Tullibardine at the opening ceremony 
of the centenary show of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society of Perthshire, said it was now 
exactly 100 years since the society was inaugu¬ 
rated, and during the whole of that century the 
society had done what it could to foster a 
love of horticulture and of the beautiful in 
their county. He thought he saw before them 
that afternoon a consummation of that work, 
because never before, the secretary and judges 
had assured him, had they had such a dis¬ 
play of flowers and plants and fruits. Lord 
Tullibardine congratulated them on the very 
successful show there that day. They had 
about the biggest marquee in the world, and 
had managed to fill it. 
The Midland. Daffodil Society. 
Mr. Herbert Smith, one of the hon. secre¬ 
taries of the Midland Daffodil Society, sends 
us the annual report (seventh) for 1905, and 
the schedule of prizes, etc., for 1906. Re¬ 
gretful mention is made of the death of the 
Right Rev. Bishop Perowne, who held the 
position of president since the inception of 
the society. Mr. W. A. Milner, of Totley 
Hall. Sheffield, was elected in his place. The 
statement of accounts shows an expenditure 
of £207 5s. 4d., with a balance in hand of 
£94 11s. lid. The exhibition for next year 
will be held in the Botanical Gardens, Edg- 
baston, Birmingham, on the 25th and 26th of 
April, prizes being offered to the amount of 
£150. The Midland Daffodil Society is in 
a good state of health, and growing. Judging 
by the enthusiastic speeches made at the din¬ 
ner this year, the members have great faith 
in the vitality of the society and look for¬ 
ward confidently to further progress and im¬ 
provements. 
