^ September 9, 1905 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
717 
« 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, who will 
gladly send supply of stamped addressed contributors' slips. 
No Reports of Shows. 
We regret that notwithstanding what we 
wrote a iew weeks ago, namely, that we can¬ 
not report horticultural shows (though we 
may make reference to them), secretaries of 
societies still continue to send us more or less 
extended reports of the kind, which we have 
sorrowfully to consign to the W.P.B. As we 
stated, the reason why we cannot insert these 
reports is owing solely to the exigencies of 
space. They became so overwhelming in 
number that it was impossible to print all 
of them, and therefore the only fair course 
was to print none. We are exceedingly ob¬ 
liged to our numerous correspondents for the 
accounts they have sent and continue to send 
us, and our desire to save them trouble aird 
disappointment is the reason why we again 
refer to this matter. 
Shrewsbury’s Great Show. 
Salopians of old were dubbed “ Proud,” and 
they have an indubitable right to be proud to¬ 
day of their magnificent annual floral and 
musical fete promoted by the Shropshire 
H.S. This Shrewsbury fixture stands on a 
pedestal among provincial shows. In the 
marvellous beauty and comprehensiveness of 
its exhibits of flowers and fruit, in the splen¬ 
dour of its musical festival, and the scope, 
variety, and brilliance of its other attractions, 
the Shrewsbury fete is held by many to be 
without a rival. The wonder is that, not with¬ 
standing its mammoth proportions, it grows 
bigger and more beautiful and more gorgeous 
each succeeding year. In the horticultural 
section £1,200 was offered in prizes this year, 
exclusive of a fifty guinea silver champion 
vase for Grapes, and other silver cups, gold 
and silver medals, etc. In most departments 
there was a considerable advance as compared 
with last year, the total number of entries 
being 2,700, against 2,126. No fewer than 
355 bunches of Grapes were staged, 72 of these 
being shown in the champion class. In spite 
of showers the first day, over 90,000 people 
passed the gates on the two days of the show, 
the cash receipts amounting to £3,043. 
Seventy-two excursion trains brought visitors 
into the town. The Shrewsbury Flower Show 
is indeed the wonder and envy of every town 
in England. In Messrs. Adnitt and Naunton, 
the bon. secretaries, the society have two of 
the most able entrepreneurs in the country. 
Shrewsbury owes very much to the Shrop¬ 
shire- H.S., which has not been content to 
accumulate large funds, but has spent very 
considerable sums of money for the com¬ 
munity generally. For thirty years past they 
have set a lead to the municipality by carry¬ 
ing out many public improvements. To the 
society the town, owes the provision of the 
lodge at the Quarry entrance—the Quarry is 
the charming, venue of this fete; the handsome 
bandstand, improvements on the river bank, 
representing an expenditure of £2,000; the 
gift of £300 to the Free Library Buildings ; 
the erection of the noble memorial to Charles 
Darwin; the laying out of Abbey pleasure 
grounds, and quite lately the contribution of 
£1,000, which made the acquisition by the 
Corporation of the Priory property, adjoining 
the Quarry, such a. profitable investment. 
The money expended in this and other ways 
pro hono publico represents close on £9,000. 
Such a society commands admiration, as 
much for its enter-prising spirit as its gener¬ 
ous and liberal-minded policy. 
Reduced Assets. 
A. correspondent writes : “ Be your note on 
1 Fortunate Societies,’ I may say that our 
society, the Wingate- (Durham) Floral and 
H. S., was, until our show, held on August 
26th, in the happy position of having assets 
amounting to £360. The wretched weather 
which prevailed on that day had a disastrous 
effect on the gate, so that the balance in hand 
will, I fear, be largely swallowed; up by the 
loss on this year’s working. 
The Elemental Conspiracy. 
There has indeed been quite a recrudescence 
of those rains and gales which two and three 
years ago played such havoc throughout the 
country with horticultural shows. We alluded 
last week to the unpropitious weather in cer¬ 
tain parts, but since then scores of flower 
shows in England, Scotland, and Ireland have 
been ruined or spoilt, and it has been a very 
anxious and wearing time for the executives. 
The rainfall in particular districts of Ireland 
and this country was unparalleled, at Grey- 
stones,' co. Wicklow, for instance, no less than 
3^in. having been recorded in twenty-four 
hours, while 140 tons of water to the 
acre were recorded during -a period of 
twelve hours, near Leeds. Heavy gales and 
violent thunderstorms have accompanied these 
unprecedented downfalls, and the elemental 
conspiracy has effectually succeeded in dousing 
the hopes of exhibitors and exhibition organi¬ 
sers, north, south, east, and west, and left 
many an erstwhile sanguine committee face to 
face with more or less serious deficits. 
Forthcoming Chrysanthemum Show at 
Ipswich, 
The seventy-ninth annual Chrysanthemum 
Show, Floral Festival, and Winter Garden of 
the Ipswich and Plast of England Horticultural 
Society will take place on Tuesday and Wed¬ 
nesday, Nov. 7 and 8 next. The largest 
building in the town, the Public Hall and 
Saloon, has been engaged for the occasion, and 
there is little doubt that this annual floral 
festival will be well patronised by the resi¬ 
dents of Ipswich and district. The judges of 
the exhibits will be Mr. C. Blick, Warren 
Gardens, Hayes ; Mr. F. Hanson, Somerley- 
ton Hall Gardens, Lowestoft; Mr. E. David¬ 
son, Culford Hall Gardens, Bury St. 
Edmunds; arid Mr. F. Fulford, Biawdsey 
Manor Gardens, Wood bridge. Entries close 
on Friday, November 3. Secretary, Mr. 
H. E. Archer, 13, Museum Street, Ipswich. 
The Speaker on the Love of Gardening, 
The Speaker of the House of Commons, the 
Right Hon. J. W. Lowther, M.P., presiding 
at the opening ceremony of the Penrith Floral 
and Industrial Exhibition, said that he felt 
rather in the nature of a hardy annual, for 
he attended that show year after year, until 
he feared they might get tired of his flowers 
of oratory, and would prefer that he would 
take after the nature of the Aloe, which was 
said to bloom once in a hundred years. How¬ 
ever, he was always glad to do anything he 
could to instil into people a love of flowers. 
He believed that the love of flowers and the 
love of gardening were innate in human 
nature. Within the last few years the love 
of gardening had enormously developed 
throughout England. 
A Penalty of Offioe. 
Continuing, Mr. Lowther referred to his 
recent election to the position of Speaker of 
the House of Commons, which, he said, not 
only entailed a great responsibility, but 
necessitated his giving up the little house he 
had occupied near Penrith and transplanting 
himself to the side of the river at West¬ 
minster. There was one great drawback to 
the change. In his present little house he 
had a garden about the size of two pocket 
handkerchiefs, in which he could grow- Ampe- 
lopsis, Geraniums, Polygonum. Jessamine, 
and Ailanthus, and a lot more little plants 
and shrubs. At Westminster he had nothing 
but a bit of grass—and that was laid down 
over the top of the sewage, arrangements. 
After the laughter which this remark caused 
had subsided, Mr. Lowther, who will have the 
sympathy of every lover of gardening, added : 
" I shall very much miss my little garden, in 
which I have spent- many happy' hours.” 
Embarrassed with Wheelbarrows, 
The Warminster Cottagers’ Garden Society- 
celebrated their jubilee on the 23rd ult. by 
the most successful show in their history-. 
Canon Sir James Philipps (president of the 
society), in opening the exhibition, said the 
society was started fifty years ago by Mr. J. 
Toone, in; conjunction with the then* vicar of 
Warminster (the Rev. A. Fane). Mr. Fane 
was the first president, and he gave annually 
a wheelbarrow for tlie best kept allotment, and 
when he (Sir James) became president, he 
continued the practice until it had to be 
stopped because one man had won six wheel¬ 
barrows ! Thanks to the society, Warminster 
had been made a beautiful and interesting 
town. 3 
Railwaymen Gardeners. 
In our last issue we gave some views of 
platform station gardens on the Midland 
Railway, and others will appear in our next 
number. It is pleasing to note that under 
the auspices of the Birmingham Railway 
Institute, wliich was established some y-ears 
