882 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 18. 1905. 
Twickenham is eminently respectable if 
socially inferior to its neighbour, Richmond, 
which looks upon it as a kind of suburban 
poor relation, and laughed consumedly—no, 
that would be vulgar—smiled compassion¬ 
ately when some little time back Twickenham 
made an abortive attempt to secure a Charter 
of Incorporation. Still, it is obviously 
absurd, if not gratuitously insulting, to de¬ 
scribe Twickenham, with its twenty odd thou¬ 
sand inhabitants and its progressive Urban 
District Council,as it is described, for instance, 
in Dickens’s “Dictionary of the Thames,” 
not only as “ practically a suburb of Rich¬ 
mond,” but as “a. long rambling village.” 
Twickenham, indeed, may well afford to treat 
such misrepresentations with contempt. 
“Why?” I asked Mr. Poupart, whom I 
found at his place of business, which stands 
in pleasant nursery grounds off the main road 
and where he carries on a flourishing trade 
as seed and bulb merchant and nurseryman, 
“ Why and when was the: show abandoned ? ” 
“ Well, the immediate reason was because 
the society came to an end, and that after a 
continuous existence of some twenty years. 
The last summer show was held in 1890 and 
the last autumn show in 1902. Matters had 
been gradually going from bad to worse. En¬ 
thusiasm was at the lowest ebb, or, rather, 
there wasn’t any ; many of the better class of 
residents left the district, and rapidly dimin¬ 
ishing funds at length made it necessary to 
wind up the concern.” 
“And how was the resuscitation brought 
about?” 
“ Oh, I think I may say I had a hand in 
that,” replied Mr. Poupart, with a depreca¬ 
tory off-hand laugh, although as a matter of 
fact, reading between the lines of our subse¬ 
quent conversation I believe I did net mis¬ 
takenly come to the conclusion that he was 
largely instrumental in bringing the society 
and the show back to life. 
Mr. Poupart is only a little over twenty, 
and has just begun to trade on his own ac¬ 
count after having served for six years in the 
well-known wholesale firm of seedsmen. 
Messrs. Watkins and Simpson, of Covent 
Garden. He brings to the business—a busi¬ 
ness in which he delights—all the ardour and 
courage and audacity of youth. He has got 
what Pope—who, by the way, it wi 11 be re¬ 
membered, lived and died at Twickenham— 
somewhere calls “ the young disease.” His 
portrait, which accompanies this interview, 
does not, in my opinion, do him justice in 
this respect, for it gives no hint of the 
vivacity of expression, cf the energy and irre- 
pressibility which are normal with him, nor 
of that light of hope which is to be seen only 
in the eyes of him who stands on the thres¬ 
hold of life, looking out eagerly and confi¬ 
dently on the alluring and seemingly endless 
vista of the years to come, and impatient as 
a war-horse for the fray. All this has been 
unconsciously hidden from the detective 
camera. As to his business abilities I should 
suppose they are excellent ; he has shrewd¬ 
ness, a thorough knowledge of his trade, a 
well-developed combativeness which will 
make him relish these severely competitive 
times, and a robust appetite for work, which 
together should take him quickly up the 
steep rungs to success. 
“Well, I set to,” resumed Mr. Poupart, 
“and canvassed for subscriptions and for ad¬ 
vertisements for our schedule. It was tough 
work, I can tell you ; but I was encouraged to 
persevere by many supporters of the old 
show, who said they were glad it was going 
to be resumed, though the majority of them 
only planked down half the usual subscrip¬ 
tion, promising if the first show were a suc¬ 
cess to pay the full subscription in the 
future.” 
Canvassing for advertisements is a capital 
test of a man’s business capability, and Mr. 
Poupart secured nearly thirty pages of these 
announcements. 
“ Of course,” pursued the young secretary, 
“ there was a preliminary meeting called, an 
influential committee was appointed as well 
as other officers, whilst Mr. James Bigwood, 
J.P., M.P., kindly consented to become our 
president, and Dr. Martindale C. Ward our 
vice-president. Then, as a further attrac¬ 
tion to the show, the Richmond and Twicken¬ 
ham Fanciers? Society agreed to co-operate 
by holding a simultaneous exhibition of young 
stock. Furthermore;, the Twickenham Urban 
District Council put us under a great in¬ 
debtedness by placing at our disposal the 
beautiful grounds of Radnor House, the op¬ 
portunity of visiting which would alone be an 
inducement to the public to patronise the 
show. 
“ Whew ! and it was work, I can tell yon,” 
exclaimed Mr. Poupart, “ what with drawing 
up the schedule, running after printers, ar¬ 
ranging about tents for the exhibits, and a 
band and refreshments, securing an opener, 
inducing people to exhibit, attending in¬ 
numerable committee meetings, and looking 
after a hundred and one other details—well, it 
was ”—I think he used the homely cockney 
phrase—“ a caution.” 
“ I must mention,” continued Mr. Pou¬ 
part, “ that the secretary cf the old society, 
Mr. R. W. Freshwater, acted jointly with me 
in the secretarial office ; he is getting on in 
years and is scarcely so active as he was, hut 
the successful revival of the show was due in 
no small part to him. I am now sole honorary 
secretary. As for the committee, they 
worked like Trojans and didn’t spare them¬ 
selves, I can tell you.” 
And so the eventful day—the 26th of July 
•—at length arrived, and with it the consum¬ 
mation of the labours of months. 
“How did it pass off?” I asked. 
“ Splendidly. There wasn’t a hitch from 
start to finish. The weather was A1 ; there 
was a nice lot of exhibits and the quality 
was extremely good. The cottagers’ section 
was really a revelation. Colonel Barrington 
Foote performed the opening ceremony, and 
there was a public luncheon at which Preben¬ 
dary Prosser presided. Nearly 3.000 people 
came to the show, and we took close on £40 
After paying all expenses we have an en¬ 
couraging little balance in hand of about 
£ 22 .” 
I congratulated Mr. Poupart on the first 
year’s achievement, but so far as he is con¬ 
cerned there will he no resting on laurels. 
“ It was a good start,” he admitted, “ but 
we mean to do better next year. Yen wait 
and see.” 
So far there is no mutual improvement 
organisation in connection with the society, 
hut that may come. A horticultural society 
without such an adjunct is only imperfectly 
fulfilling its mission cf stimulating an inter¬ 
est in gardening and spreading knowledge on 
the subject. 
By the way, I may mention that Mr. Pou¬ 
part is shortly bringing cut a new Sweet Pea, 
a large bloom of a lovely mauve, being a 
sport irom Gladys Unwin. He believes, J 
think, that it will make something of a sensa¬ 
tion when it is shown to the public, and I 
sincerely hope it will prove the success he 
anticipates. Brimming confidence and burn¬ 
ing enthusiasm are not prerogatives of youth, 
but youth without them is a poor thing.' 
Peter Pexx. 
Supplementary Replies 
BY OUR READERS 
To Answers in the “ G. W." Enquire Within. 
Clearing a Garden of Sings. 
Dee]) cultivation and a judicious rotation of 
crops is the only practicable remedy against 
the attacks of slugs. When ground is badly 
infested with slugs it should be trenched in 
the autumn and a good dressing of gas or 
quicklime worked into the soil. Gardens 
that contain much organic matter and humus 
in the soil are generally more favourable for 
the production cf slugs than other soils, and 
if limed instead of being manured for one 
season the lime will serve a double purpose : 
that of aiding the decomposition of organic 
matter and humus, and also acting as a good 
slugside. 
“ Novice ” states that his Cabbages are 
nearly eaten away with slugs ; personally I find 
Cabbages mostly damaged by the caterpillars 
of the cabbage-moth, which attacks the crop 
when it is about ready for use and does con¬ 
siderably more damage than slugs. Hand 
picking is the only remedy when the plants 
have got to this stage, either for slugs or cater¬ 
pillars. Autumn sown Cabbages that have 
been cut in the spring and left to sprout 
generally suffer much from the attacks of 
slugs and caterpillars, as they occupy the 
ground for a long period and the conditions 
are favourable for the production of the 
pests. It is advisable in most cases to pull 
the first crop of Cabbages up by the root 
when they are ready for use and sow again 
for succession. G. H. Webster. 
Oak Cottage, Woolton, Liverpool. 
N EW * ^ 
(^hRYSANTflEMimS 
AWARDS BY THE R.H.S & N.C.S. 
The raisers of new Chrysanthemums are as 
enthusiastic as ever, and large numbers of 
them have been making their appearance at 
the N.C.S. and R.H.S. for the last three 
weeks or so. Relatively few of these get 
awards, as the judges and committees are now 
very careful in selecting only the finest forms 
that have size and quality to recommend 
them. 
At the R.H.S. on the 24th ult. some fine 
blooms of Mrs. A. T. Miller were shown by 
Mr. H. J. Jones, Ryecroft Nursery, Hither 
Green, Lewisham, and received an Award of 
Merit, The blooms are pure white, 8gin. in 
diameter, with broad, glossy florets, incurved 
at the tips. 
A grand crimson reflexed Japanese variety 
was exhibited by Mr. Norman Davis, Fram- 
field, Uckfield, Sussex, this being named 
Norman Davis. The bloom is 7in. to 8in. in 
diameter, rich crimson, flushed with yellow 
and bright yellow on the reverse. He also 
exhibited Mrs. R. Hooper Pearson, a large 
chrome yellow Japanese bloom, more or less 
tinted with bronze, especially those from the 
first crown buds. An Award of Merit was 
accorded each of these. 
Mrs. Frank Penn was shown by Mr. Fair- 
weather, Bifrows, Canterbury, and received 
the coveted Award of Merit. It is a Japanese 
variety of a bright yellow with canary-yellow 
reverse, and measuring 7in. in diameter. 
