390 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  10,  1900. 
A  good  white  Cactus  was  at  last  found  in  Keynes’  White,  but 
even  this  is  likely  in  the  coming  season  to  be  superseded  by  a  still 
finer  flower  of  the  same  type — Green’s  White.  Several  yellows  have 
made  their  appearance  in  recent  years,  but  none  has  hitherto  been 
found  to  equal  Lady  Penzance  as  an  exhibition  flower.  But  this 
old  favourite,  for  is  it  not  six  years  old  ?  will  I  fully  expect  have  to 
give  place  shortly  to  that  paler  but  altogether  superior  flower  of  the 
same  colour — Mrs.  J.  J.  Crowe.  Among  crimsons  Charles  Wood  bridge 
will,  I  think,  be  found  hard  to  beat.  At  present  Starfish,  although 
not  such  a  good  type  of  flower  as  the  variety  last  named,  holds  its 
own  as  the  best  scarlet.  As  regards  the  dark  Cactus  Dahlias,  only 
three  years  ago  Matchless  (up  to  that  time  matchless  in  its  shade  of 
colour,  and  also  matchless  in  habit),  was  to  be  seen  in  every  stand^ 
but  has  now  been  totally  eclipsed  by  Night.  Among  the  new  type 
of  Cactus,  those  with  incurved  florets,  the  orange  Lucius  stands 
high,  if  not  at  the  top  of  these  particular  varieties.  Coming  now  to 
those  less  pronounced  tints  which  seem  to  defy  all  classification,  so 
delightfully  are  the  different  shades  of  colour  blended  in  them,  we 
find  some  of  the  best  Cactus  Dahlias,  if  we  consider  together  the 
form  of  flower  and  the  habit  of  growth,  that  have  yet  been  raised. 
I  refer  more  particularly  to  such  superb  sorts  as  Britannia,  the 
leading  flower  on  the  list,  Mary  Service,  and  Magnificent. 
The  most  difficult  section  to  arrange  satisfactorily  is  the  singles, 
on  account  of  the  limited  competition  in  the  classes  devoted  to  these 
easily  grown  and  dainty  flowers  at  the  exhibitions.  This  is,  I  think, 
much  to, be  regretted,  as  they  add  greatly  to  the  attraction  of  any 
show,  forming  as  they  do  such  a  marked  contrast  to  the  double 
flowers  in  the  other  sections.  Perhaps  now  that  handsome  silver 
medals  (the  new  Girdlestone  Memorial  medals)  are  to  be  in  future 
offered  at  our  National  Dahlia  Shows  in  addition  to  the  first  prizes 
in  several  classes  devoted  specially  to  the  single  flowered  Dahlias, 
more  nurserymen  and  amateurs  may  be  induced  to  compete  in 
those  classes. 
In  the  following  select  list  the  varieties — except  the  newer  ones, 
those  sent  out  in  1897  or  subsequently,  which  are  marked  with  an 
asterisk — are  arranged  according  to  their  average  records  for  the  last 
three  shows.  Polly  Eccles,''  Demon,  Miss  Eoberts,  Victoria,  Jack 
Sheppard,  Naomi  Tighe,*  Northern  Star,  W.  C.  Harvey,  Aurora, 
Beauty’s  Eye,  Donna  Casilda,*  Duchess  of  Marlborough,*  Phyllis, 
Formosa,  Miss  Glasscock,  Folly,*  and  The  Bride. 
Polly  Ecc’es,  in  the  opinion  of  the  raiser,  the  late  Mr.  T.  W, 
Girdlestone,  “  the  best  type  both  as  to  habit  and  form  among  single 
Dahlias,”  deservedly  heads  the  list.  This  is  followed  by  another  of 
Mr.  Girdlestone’s  flowers,  Demon,  the  best  maroon  variety,  and  next 
comes  Miss  Roberts,  the  best  yellow.  The  variety  last  named, 
although  distributed  twelve  years  ago,  still  stands  unrivalled  in  its 
colour.  A  really  good  white,  a  really  good  crimson,  and  a  really  good 
scarlet  are  still  wanted  ;  at  present  the  best  in  their  respective  tints 
are  The  Bride,  Rosebank  Cardinal,  and  Formosa.  Of  the  varieties 
named  in  the  list  Polly  Eccles,  Demon,  Jack  Sheppard,  Naomi  Tighe, 
Donna  Casilda,  Phillis,  and  Folly,  or  nearly  half  the  number,  were 
raised  by  Mr.  Girdlestone. — E.  M.,  Berkhamsted. 
- - 
Reminiscences  of  An  Old  Florist.— No.  7. 
In  thinking  over  the  matters  which  most  deeply  interested  me  in 
horticulture  during  the  sixties  and  seventies  there  are  some  few  facts 
which  stand  out  with  great  prominence.  First  the  opening  of 
the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens  at  South  Kensington,  which 
seemed  to  begin  with  such  great  promise,  but  which  proved  so  dis¬ 
astrous  that  at  one  time  the  Society  looked  as  if  it  would  never  survive 
it.  Next,  the  Grand  International  Exhibition  in  1866,  probably  the 
finest  exhibition  ever  seen,  but  which  owing  to  the  capriciousness  of 
our  weather  promised  to  be  an  absolute  failure,  and  would  indeed  have 
proved  to  be  so  had  it  not  been  for  the  courage  of  the  few  individuals 
who  turned  the  expected  failure  into  a  grand  success.  Then  there 
were  others  which,  while  they  affected  horticulture  more  or  less, 
affected  me  personally  very  much. 
I  do  not  exactly  recollect  whether  it  was  at  the  opening  of  the 
South  Kensington  Gardens,  or  somewhere  about  that  time,  that  the 
editors  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  were  looking  out  for  some 
one  to  undertake  the  florist  flower  department  of  their  Journal ;  my 
good  friend,  Mr.  Standish,  said  to  the  late  Dr.  Hogg,  “  Surely  you 
could  have  no  more  suitable  person  than  the  correspondent  who  signs 
himself  ‘D.,  Deal.'"  He  brought  us  together,  we  talked  the  matter 
over,  and  that  was  the  beginning  of  our  close  and  intimate  friendship. 
During  my  intercourse  with  Dr.  Hogg  I  was  struck  by  his  wide  and 
extensive  knowledge  of  everything  connected  with  horticulture,  for 
though  he  is  best  known  to  the  horticultural  world  as  the  author  of 
the  “  Fruit  Manual,”  he  was  also  a  keen  florist,  being  very  fond  of 
florist  Tulips.  Of  these  he  had  an  extensive  and  valuable  collection, 
and  he  continued  to  cultivate  them  until  the  close  of  his  life  at  his 
home  in  Sussex.  Having  so  much  in  common,  we  had  much 
pleasant  intercourse,  and  when  his  death  occurred  it  was  a  great 
pleasure  for  me,  in  conjunction  with  my  friend  Mr.  Harry  Veitch  and 
several  other  of  his  friends  to  obtain  a  die  which  was  presented  to  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society.  From  this  medals  are  cast  every  year 
and  presented  to  successful  fruit  growers  under  the  designation  of  the 
Hogg  Memorial  medals. 
Some  years  later  I  became  in  1861  the  Editor  of  the  “  Floral 
Magazine,”  published  by  Messrs.  Lovell,  Reeve  &  Co.  There  was  a 
great  dearth  of  floral  artists  in  tho^e  days.  Mr.  Fitch  was  the  artist 
to  the  “  Botanical  Magazine,”  and  as  that  was  published  by  Messrs. 
Lovell,  Reeve  &  Co.,  he  was  naturally  chosen  as  the  artist  for  the  new 
venture.  However  artistic  his  drawings  were  he  did  not  satisfy  the 
raisers  of  florist  flowers  to  which  the  new  magazine  was  especially 
devoted.  I  had  therefore  to  engage  the  services  of  Mr.  James  Andrews, 
who  for  several  years  had  been  well  known  as  the  artist  for  various 
publications,  and  he  undertook  the  work  of  the  pictorial  portion  of 
the  magazine.  Many  persons  contendel  that  the  drawings  which  he 
made  were  not  the  flowers  as  he  saw  them,  but  rather  idealised. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  popularity  of  the  magazine  rapidly  increased, 
and  as  it  was  a  time  when  general  prosperity  was  increasing  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  it  came  in  for  its  full  share  of  success. 
After  some  years  Mr.  Andrews  retired  from  the  post  of  illustrator, 
whereupon  it  was  taken  up  by  Mr.  Worthington  G.  Smith,  and  we 
worked  together  until  the  time  came  that  I,  too,  gave  it  up.  It  was 
always  a  difficult  matter  to  know  what  flowers  to  choose,  for  four  had 
to  be  selected  each  month.  I  have  no  doubt  that  mistakes  were  made, 
and  as  I  look  at  the  volumes  now  I  am  forced  to  confess  that  some 
of  the  strictures  made  were  just,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
some  of  the  flowers  figured  were  essentially  formal  in  themselves, 
and  consequently  were  very  difficult  to  make  good  pictures  of. 
They  were  all  coloured  by  hand,  and  in  that  respect  presented  a 
feature  peculiarly  their  own,  as  there  was  no  other  publication  of  the 
kind  at  that  time. 
Two  events  as  I  said  before  occurred  in  the  sixties  of  peculiar 
interest  to  horticulturists  ;  one  the  opening  of  the  Royal  Plorticultural 
Society’s  gardens  at  South  Kensington,  the  other  the  grand  exhibition 
of  1866.  The  ground  of  South  Kensington  had  been  acquired  by  the 
society  from  the  Commissioners  of  1851,  and  they  passed  it  over  to 
the  Society,  holding  a  mortgage  on  it.  This  in  effect  left  them  in  the 
position  of  owners,  for  it  was  stipulated  that  if  the  Society  failed  to  pay 
the  interest  it  should  forfeit  all  rights  under  the  deed.  I  believe  that 
about  £120,000  was  the  amount  of  the  mortgage,  and  it  soon  became 
evident  that  the  whole  thing  was  not  intended  to  advance  the  interests 
of  horticulture,  but  to  be  a  sort  of  recreation  ground  to  those  Fellows 
of  the  R.H.S.  who  iived  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  opening  day  was, 
however,  most  auspicious  ;  a  large  number  of  phnts  were  collected  and 
the  fine  conservatory  and  the  arcades  were  well  filled,  new  and  rare 
plants  were  brought  forward,  and  all  seemed  to  promise  well.  There 
were  many,  notwithstanding  this,  who  shook  their  heads  and  were 
inclined  to  adopt  the  saying  of  General  Pelissier  when  he  saw  the 
magnificent  charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  at  Balaclava,  “  It  is 
magnificent,  but  it  is  not  war;  ”  saying  “  This  is  all  very  fine,  but  it 
is  not  horticulture.”  For  many  years  the  society  dragged  on  a 
troubled  existence  at  South  Kensington,  until  at  last  the  R.H.S.  shook, 
itself  free  from  the  entanglement. 
My  recollection  of  the  exhibition  at  the  opening  of  the  gardens 
centred  especially  around  two  plants;  one  was  the  first  flowering  bulb 
of  Lilium  auratum,  exhibited  by  Messrs.  James  Veitch  &  Sons  of 
Chelsea.  Drawings  of  this  gorgeous  flower  had  been  sent  fr^m  Japan, 
and  some  people  regarded  them  as  the  result  of  the  imagination  of  the 
Jap  inese  artists,  while  others,  who  knowing  how  faithful  they  had 
proved  in  the  representation  of  other  flowers,  believed  that  ave  should 
one  day  see  this  gorgeous  Lily  as  delineated.  The  other  was  a  group 
of  that  beautiful  terrestrial  Orchid,  Disa  grandiflora,  exhibited  by  my 
