824 
Shows.” “ Personally I like a man who can 
win,” said Mr. Hollingsworth, “ but I admire 
a man who can lose. His first loss will often 
prove a gain, for he will seek to find out in 
what respect he lias failed.” Therein lies 
part of the educational value of flower shows. 
Ipswich Chrysanthemum Show. 
The committee of the Ipswich and East of 
England Horticultural Society have engaged 
Miss Zette Handel’s orchestra to provide a 
matinee and four concerts at the Chrysanthe¬ 
mum show, which will be held in the Public 
Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 
7th and 8th. Exhibitors please note that 
entries close on Friday, November 3rd, to 
Mr. H. E. Archer, 13, Museum Street, Ips¬ 
wich, of whom prize lists of the forthcoming 
show may be obtained. 
The “ Lost ” Orchid. 
The connection between politics and horti¬ 
culture does not at first sight seem obvious, 
yet but for the Thibet Expedition the splendid 
specimens of the long-vanished Orchid, the 
famous Cypripedmm fairieanum, would pro¬ 
bably not have been seen at the Manchester 
and North of England Orchid Society’s Show 
the other day, nor would Messrs. Protheroe 
and Morris have been recently offering for 
sale plants of this most beautiful of all the 
Cypripediums. This Orchid, it may be men¬ 
tioned, was first floweredl fifty years ago, by 
Mr. Fairie, of Liverpool, and was shown at 
the E.H.S. in October, 1857. Several beauti¬ 
ful hybrids were made from the early speci¬ 
mens obtained, but there being some uncer¬ 
tainty as to its habitat it was found difficult to 
cultivate, and specimens became rarer and 
rarer. When recently £1,000 was offered for 
am importation only six plants were known 
to exist, five of which were the property of 
the French Government. In the early part of 
the last century the Cattleya labiata was lost 
for forty years, but was at length discovered 
in southern Brazil, and is now one of the 
cheapest of the Oattleyas. 
Experimental Hybridisation. 
An exhibit of uncommon interest at the 
International Flower Show lately held in 
Edinburgh, and which has received but scant 
notice, was that staged by Dr. John H. 
Wilson, of St. Andrew’s University. This con¬ 
sisted of a unique series of plants and 
mounted specimens of results of experimental 
hybridisation. Experiments with Begonias 
were such as the cross between a tuberous 
variety and a fibrous-rooted variety. This 
hybrid grew well,, but refused to flower. 
Another set of Begonia hybrids showed that 
reciprocal crossing may give plants identical 
in character. A hybrid Centaurea was in¬ 
teresting, showing the intermediate condition 
between a felted and a smooth leaf. Re¬ 
ciprocal crosses between white Foxglove and 
Digitalis lutea showed an example in which 
the cross one way did not give identical 
results with the cross the other way. The/ 
fruits of the Foxglove crosses were well deve¬ 
loped but quite destitute of seeds. Among 
fruiting plants there were shown crosses be¬ 
tween Black Currant and Gooseberry, Goose¬ 
berry and Flowering Currant, Japanese Wine- 
berry and Raspberry, Loganberry and Rasp¬ 
berry, Blackcap and Strawberry-Raspbeny, 
etc. He also showed many interesting crosses 
between vegetables. 
A Secretary’s Jubilee. 
An interesting local function; took place 
last week (10th inst.) at Pathliead Ford (Mid- 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
lotliian), at which a testimonial was pre¬ 
sented to Mr. James Simpson in honour of his 
jubilee as secretary of the local horticultural 
society. The society held its jubilee exhibi¬ 
tion this summer. Mr. Simpson was ap¬ 
pointed secretary of the society when it was 
founded fifty years ago, and it is a noteworthy 
fact that during all that long period he has 
not been absent from any of the annual 
shows, nor from any meeting held in connec¬ 
tion with the society. Mr. Simpson is 
senior partner in the firm of Messrs. J. and 
P. Simpson, slaters, Pathliead. 
Wargrave and District Gardeners’ M.I. A. 
An ordinary fortnightly meeting of the 
association was held on October 4th, when a 
much better attendance of members was ob¬ 
tained. Mr. J. Timms, from Park Place 
Gardens, read a very practical and instructive 
paper on “ Stove and Greenhouse Climbers,” 
confining liis remarks to eleven varieties. He 
gave full cultural directions for propagating, 
Diary of Shows and Meetings. 
Abbreviations used. 
A.—Association > G.—Gardening or gardener 
Am.—Amateurs j H.—Horticultural 
Chy.—Chrysanthemum j M.I.—Mutual Improvement 
c.m.—Committee meeting j m.m.—Monthly meeting 
Cott.—Cottage or cottagers j S.—Society 
D.—District ) w.m.—Weekly meeting 
ThusThe Templeton G. Am. and Cott. M. I. H. S.— 
(Gardeners, Amateurs, and Cottagers' Mutual Improvement 
Horticultural Society.). 
October. 
23rd.—Birstall and D. Chy. and Paxton S. 
(c.m.); Horsforth G.M.I.S. (w.m.). 
24th.—R.H.S. (vegetable show and bi-m.m.); 
Tunbridge Wells Cliy. and G.M.I.A. 
(m.m.). 
25th.—Paisley H.S. (annual m.); Newport 
(Mon.) and D. G.M.I.A. (bi-m.m.); 
Harrietsham G.S. (m.m.). 
26th.—Lee, Blackheath, and West Kent H.S. 
(m.m.); Southampton Royal H.S. 
(m.m.); South Shields Floral H. and 
Industrial s, (m.m.); SS. Philip and 
James and S. Margaret’s (Oxford) 
H.S. (annual m.). 
27th.—Ulster H.S. (c.m.). 
28th.—Leeds Paxton S. (w.m.); Benfieldside 
and D. Sweet Pea S. (m.m.). 
preparing the soil, and after attention, in 
oi del to obtain the best results. He greatly 
favoured planting out this kind of plant to 
keeping them in pots, for the roots were not 
so restricted and watering was reduced to a 
minimum. In the discussion which followed 
a number of other climbers were mentioned, 
so that on the whole a very representative 
collection was described. 
H. Colccy. Hon Sec. 
Annual Meetings. 
The Bath Gardeners’ Self-Help and Debat¬ 
ing^ 'Society now numbers 220' members,, 
although only eleven months old. The re¬ 
ceipts were £28 0s. 6d., and there was a 
balance m hand of £12 6s. lOd. Mr. O. G. 
McLaren and Mr. W. Butt were re-elected 
treasurer and secretary respectively. 
The Milngavie H.S. has a balance of 
£J 0s. 5d., as compared with £3 4s. 7d. last 
October 21, 1905. 
year. Mr. John Dinwordie was elected trea¬ 
surer and temporary secretary. 
The Clepington (Dundee) Workingmen’s 
G.A. have a deficit on the year’s working of 
£2 3s. lOd. 
The Loughborough and District G.I.A. com¬ 
menced the year with a balance in hand of 
£5 18s. lid. ; the expenditure has amounted 
to £20 13s. 3d., and a balance is expected of 
£5 or £6. There are now 110 members. Mr. 
D. Roberts was re-elected lion. sec. 
The receipts for the year of the Red wick. 
Northwick, and District H.S. amounted to 
£79 4s. 3d., expenditure £18 15s. The balance 
of £60 9s. 3d., was voted to various Bristol 
charitable institutions. In ten years the com¬ 
mittee have given £211 11s. to the medical 
charities of Bristol and the neighbourhood. 
The accounts of the Bath and District 
G.M.I.A. showed balance in hand from 1904 
£1 14s. Ogd., receipts £19 6s., expenses 
£21 14s. 8gd., leaving a deficit of 14s. 8d. 
Mr. R. W. Rogerson was re-elected hon. 
secretary, and Mr. J. Milburn, hon. trea¬ 
surer. « 
At the annual meeting of the Appledore 
(Kent) Gardeners’ Society Mr. H. C. Terry, 
hon. secretary, anno'ujnced a balance in hand 
of £10 2s. 2d. 
The total income of the year of the Kirk¬ 
caldy H.S. was £587 18s. lgd., including a 
balance of £198 3s. 8d. at the end of last 
year. The expenditure was £440 4s. 2gd., 
which, placed against the actual income for 
the year, showed an excess of expenditure of 
£50. At present the society has £147 13s. lid. 
to its credit. Bailie Leslie was re-elected 
secretary and Mr. A. Donaldson treasurer. 
Much in Little. 
St. Pancras (London) municipal flower 
show was a great success. It consisted ofl 
Dahlias grown in the five open spaces of the 
borough which had formerly been graveyards. 
“ It shows,” said Councillor Aslihy, “ to what 
good use we turn our ancestors,” alluding, of 
course, to the fact, that the blooms were grown 
in disused burial grounds.--Mr. J. Jones, 
who read a paper before the members of the 
Shirley Gardeners’ M.I.A. on “TheBeds and 
Borders in Our Public Parks,” expressed the 
opinion that prominent beds should be made 
with flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants. 
They would look more effective, cost less, and 
be more in keeping with existing ideas about 
bedding.-With the idea of starting a 
Dahlia society for Southampton and district, 
to promote the culture of this beautiful flower, 
a, few local enthusiasts recently arranged a 
small exhibition, when about 500 blooms were 
staged, many of them being samples of skil¬ 
ful culture.-Mr. Clias. Pearson, presiding 
at the, last monthly meeting of the Wallasey 
Amateur Gardeners’ Association, observed 
that the arrangements for the forthcoming 
Chrysanthemum Show, fixed for November 
14th, were well in hand.-The fourteenth 
winter session of the Torquay Gardeners’ 
Association commenced on the 6th inst. A 
splendid series of fortnightly lectures has 
been arranged. The Chrysanthemum show 
takes place on November 2nd, at the Bath 
Saloon.-Lecturing on the Dahlia before 
the members of the AVakefield-Paxton Society, 
Mr. Garside, of the Public Park, urged the 
importance of rules being drawn up by some 
resjionsible society for the guidance of judges 
and exhibitors.-The membership of the 
Woodhouses and District Amateur Gardeners’ 
Association now stands at fifty, and the 
finances are sound. 
