6 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 2, 1909. 
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Ssovm fsutt. 
From a list of fixtures of the Royal 
Horticultural Society for next year, we 
notice that the British-grown Fruit Show 
has been erased. We are much con¬ 
cerned about the stopping of ,a show that 
has had an interesting career and proved 
quite a feature amongst the exhibits of 
the season. 
The first show of the kind was held 
on September 30th, 1894, and was con¬ 
tinued over October 2nd and 3rd. The 
last one, held on October 15th and 16th 
last, made the fifteenth show of British- 
grown fruit held under the auspices of 
the society. We have seen every one of 
these shows and noticed that Apples were 
the mainstay of them throughout, except 
on one occasion that comes to our 
memory, when Pears were the pre¬ 
dominating feature of the show, owing to 
a late spring frost which destroyed the 
Apple blossom, whereas the Pears blos¬ 
somed early and escaped. The show on 
that occasion w r as rather a green one 
owing to the prevailing colour of the 
Pears, but it, nevertheless, showed what 
could be grown in this country when the 
weather is favourable. 
Grapes have on several occasions been 
wonderfully fine, and these three fruits 
may be said to have taken the lead, al¬ 
though the Apple undoubtedly has proved 
the king of the British fruits throughout. 
The shows have not all been held during 
the same week or month in different 
years, but have shifted about to some small 
extent,' and those that were held early 
gave a little more prominence to such 
fruits as Gooseberries, Currants, Straw¬ 
berries, Raspberries, Plums, Peaches and 
Nectarines. The two latter have not been 
entirely absent from any of the shows in 
our recollection. 
During the period these shows have 
been held, fruit culture in this country 
has received a wonderful impetus. The 
nurserymen or fruit growers proper were 
the first to show an improvement in the 
methods of cultivation, judging by re¬ 
sults. The professional gardener in pri¬ 
vate establishments followed, and last, 
but by no means least, amateurs began 
to improve their methods of growing fruit 
as we have had evidence during the pas 
season. Market growers have also in: 
proved their orchards in many cases b 
planting young ones. We understan 
that encouragement is to be given fo 
fruit culture, in such a way as to distr 
bute this encouragement over a longe 
period of the season. We hope it wil 
have good results, although the droppin 
of the great fruit show is rather to be re 
gretted. 
The Golden Iris (Iris aurea). 
Those who have ponds, or the banks 
of rivers, streams, or any piece of orna¬ 
mental water at the edge or within the 
compass of their garden, sooner or later 
think of how they are going to decorate 
this water margin with Flags, Sedges, or 
other plants suitable for the purpose. A 
sheet of bare water loses greatly in effect 
if a smoothly shaven lawn spreads down 
to the edge of the water. In the wild 
state all slow rivers and the back waters 
of the same are edged with a great variety 
of nlants, which reach their full beauty 
in June and July, although they are not 
bare for the rest of the summer. In¬ 
deed, there are plants that commence 
flowering in March or April, but they 
are of small stature and do not very 
much affect the general appearance 0 
the river or pond bank. 
The plants that may be used in thi 
way are more numerous than would a 
first sight appear, but on this occasio: 
we shall content ourselves with mere! 
giving an example of what we mean b 
the effect that water plants would hav 
on the margin of any piece of ornamenta 
water. The accompanying illustratioi 
represents Iris aurea, a handsome specie 
from the Himalayas, somewhat similar ii 
habit to our own Yellow Flag, but muc! 
brighter in colour as far as the flower 
are concerned. Amongst the Irises ar. 
some wild grasses which are also sug¬ 
gestive of subjects that may be employe: 
in this way. 
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Maclaren and Sons 
