May  6,  189?; 
JOURNAL  OP  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
381 
the  foregoing  paragraphs  was  the  following,  in  which  it  will  be 
perceived  Mr.  W  ilks  adduces  further  evidence  of  the  effects  of  the 
Diamond  Jubilee. 
THE  R.HS.  FRUIT  SHOW— £100  MISSING. 
I  feel  inclined  to  head  my  letter,  “  Lost,  Stolen,  or  Strayed,  £100,” 
for  though  not  “  lost  ”  or  “stolen”  the  £100  required  for  the  autumn 
show  of  British  grown  fruit  certainly  seems  to  have  “  strayed  ”  into  the 
all-devouring  capacity  of  the  many-mouthed  Diamond  Jubilee  projects. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  missing. 
You  will  remember  that  when  the  autumn  fruit  show,  which  had 
been  held  from  time  immemorial  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  had  fallen 
through,  the  R.H.S.  offered  to  revive  it  as  a  show  of  British  grown  fruit, 
with  prizes  to  the  value  of  £250,  on  condition  that  those  interested  in 
the  encouragement  of  fruit  growing  in  this  country  would  subscribe  not 
less  than  £100  towards  the  unavoidable  expenses. 
For  the  last  few  years  this  £100  has  been  forthcoming,  and  magnifi¬ 
cent  shows  have  resulted,  teaching  thousands  and  thousands  of  spectators 
what  fine  fruit  can  be  grown  in  Great  Britain,  and  instructing  very  many 
planters  as  to  the  best  varieties  with  which  to  stock  their  orchards  and 
gardens. 
Alas!  this  year  of  especial  grace  the  £100  has  strayed;  it  is  not — 
or  at  least,  is  not  as  yet.  Letter  after  letter  reaches  me  to  the  effect — 
“  Very  sorry,  but  am  so  bled  with  Jubilee  projects  that  I  cannot  help 
this  year.”  In  fact  Peter  is  to  be  robbed  in  order  to  pay  Paul. 
May  I  be  allowed  to  appeal  to  all  interested  in  British  fruit  not  to 
let  our  grand  annual  show  fall  through  for  lack  of  £100?  Immediate 
help  is  wanted,  as  the  schedule  is  all  ready  for  issue — all  ready  with 
this  one  all-important  exception. — W.  Wilks,  See.  Vicar  of 
Shirley ,  Croydon. 
Perhaps  Mr.  Wilks  may  consider  the  advisability  of  inaugurating 
a  Yictoria  Medallists’  dinner.  It  seems  to  have  leaked  out  that 
there  are  to  be  sixty  of  them  (not  dinners,  but  Victorians),  and 
surely  they  could  raise  half  the  £100  or  more. 
GERMAN  SHOWS  THROUGH  ENGLISH 
SPECTACLES. 
Berlin. 
When  we  get  that  Horticultural  Hsll  on  the  Thames 
Embankment,  with,  presumably,  gardens  thrown  in,  we  shall  be 
in  a  position  to  work  up  our  exhibitions  in  the  same  style  and 
with  the  same  effect  as  our  German  cousins  do  theirs.  Until  that 
happy  time  arrives  we  must  grovel  instead  of  soar.  The  great 
exhibition  which  took  place  in  Berlin  from  the  28th  April  to  the 
9th  May  came  as  a  sort  of  electric  shock  to  one  fresh  from  a 
Drill  Hall  meeting.  Of  course,  it  will  be  said  that  there  is  no 
fair  comparison,  the  one  being  a  special  affair,  and  the  other  part 
of  a  yearly  programme,  and  that  is  certainly  so.  Still,  London  is 
London,  and  Berlin  is  Berlin,  and  writing  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  general  spectator,  who  ought  to  discriminate,  but  does  not, 
London  is  unquestionably  “  in  a  fog.” 
To  get  an  idea  of  the  condition*  of  the  German  Show  we  must 
begin  by  taking  a  2d.  steamer  from  the  Temple  Pier  down  to 
Battersea  Park.  We  must  then  proceed  to  provide  the  river  front 
there  with  a  series  of  handsome  permanent  exhibition  buildings, 
interspersed  with  trees  and  shrubs  (throwing  in,  in  a  merely  casual 
way,  a  spacious  and  well  patronised  refreshment  bar)  ;  then  we  are 
well  on  the  way.  Battersea  Park  in  Berlin  becomes  Treptower  Park, 
the  Thames  becomes  the  Spree.  There  are  differences  in  the 
nursemaids,  there  are  differences  in  the  lady  cyclists,  there  are 
differences  in  the  noblemen  who  navigate  the  barges  down  the 
river  ;  still,  the  parallel  is  plain  enough,  and  to  complete  it  we  have 
only  to  include  a  few  cheap  steamers  swaggering  offensively  up  and 
down. 
However,  it  might  be  well  to  begin  at  the  beginning.  Reaching 
the  Park  at  Treptow  from  the  Friedrichstrasse  proved  to  be  a  very 
simple  matter,  thanks  to  the  assistance  of  an  amiable  gentleman  in 
the  train,  who,  being  asked  for  assistance,  bowed  gracefully  out  of 
the  window  at  each  station  and  inquired  if  the  train  were  the  right 
one.  It  was  observable  that  although  the  gentleman  lifted  his  hat 
freely  to  the  porterB  they  did  not  respond  in  kind,  but  gave  very 
scant  attention  and  very  brief  replies. 
We  met  at  the  Chemiehalle,  some  100  to  120  of  us.  There  was 
an  oration,  delivered  by  a  gentleman  whose  name  was  not  grasped, 
and  then  an  explanation  of  the  judging  arrangements,  given  by  the 
excellent  General  Secretary,  Dr.  Wittmack.  These  preliminaries 
were  as  deliberate  and  sedate  as  subsequent  proceedings  proved  to 
be.  Each  section  was  indicated,  and  then  the  Judges  were  told  off 
in  sets  of  three — such  an  array  as  speedily  put  to  rest  any  fears  of 
overwork.  Our  first  task  was  to  find  the  classes,  and  in  order  to 
make  sure  we  missed  none  we  went  steadily  round  the  whole 
Exhibition  several  times  over.  There  was  one  advantage  of  this 
plan,  and  that  is,  it  enabled  the  Journal  representative  to  get  a 
good  general  idea  of  the  character  of  the  Exhibition.  He  is  not 
going  to  report  it  in  detail,  as  that  would  have  no  value  or  interest 
for  British  readers,  but  a  few  jottings  may  be  of  interest  as  giving 
an  idea  of  the  way  in  which  the  Germans  grow  and  show  plants. 
The  comparative  fewness  of  Orchids  was  noticeable.  There 
were  none  of  the  large  groups  that  the  early  days  of  the  Temple 
Show  gave  us.  Possibly  the  number  of  wealthy  Orchid  lovers  is 
not  so  great  in  Germany  as  in  England.  In  the  first  large  hall 
there  was  a  fairly  representative  collection  from  Mr.  J.  C. 
Schmidt,  but  the  specialities  in  it  were  not  numerous.  Cypripedium 
Morganiac,  0.  Harrisianum  superbum,  and  C.  hirsutissimum  were 
good,  and  so  were  several  Cattleyas,  amongst  them  C.  Mendeli 
Souvenir  de  la  Reine,  but  they  cannot  by  any  stretch  of  imagina¬ 
tion  be  described  as  novel  in  their  interest.  Cypripedium  Exul  in 
Mr.  Brandt’s  collection  was  fresh,  and  Mesospinidium  vulcanicum 
not  an  everyday  affair,  _ _ _ 
There  was  a  small  contribution  from  England  bearing  the 
familiar  name  of  Sander  ;  not  all  Orchids,  however,  but  the  two 
new  Dracaenas  Sanderiana  and  Godseffiana,  Caladium  albanense, 
Cypripedium  Rothschildianum,  with  a  few  other  novelties. 
There  was  no  lack  of  general  flowering  plants.  Three  parts 
of  the  Hydrangea  hortensis  were  blue,  and  this  would  suggest 
either  that  the  soil  of  the  growers  is  naturally  well  stiffened  with 
iron,  or  that  they  artificially  provide  for  a  special  public  taste. 
Amongst  the  happy  ideas  in  the  way  of  simple  grouping  was  a 
circle  of  Boronia  elatior  surrounded  by  the  attractive  yellow  and 
white  variegated  plant  Ophiopogon  jaburan  aurea  variegata.  The 
Boronias  were  free,  loose,  profusely  flowered  plants,  about 
18  inches  high  by  12  inches  through,  and  very  beautiful  the  whole 
arrangement  looked.  The  principal  Hall  was  nearly  full  of  Roses. 
There  were  abundance  of  pot  standards,  4  to  5  feet  high,  and  this 
type  of  plant  appears  to  be  in  strong  favour.  They  can  hardly  be 
called  handsome,  however,  and  it  is  a  little  odd  that  they  can  be 
in  such  demand  as  is  indicated  by  the  number  shown.  The  bushes 
were  mostly  small  plants,  about  2  feet  high,  and  one  German 
gentleman  shrugged  his  shoulders  as  he  recalled  a  visit  to  the 
Crystal  Palace  in  the  days  gone  by. 
Rhododendrons  were  one  of  the  best  features  of  the  Show,  and 
it  is  clear  they  are  popular  in  the  Fatherland.  The  varieties,  too, 
are  of  the  best.  There  was  one  magnificent  trophy  of  them, 
200  feet  by  150,  arranged  on  a  sloping  bank,  as  naturally  as  possible, 
with  a  waterfall  in  the  centre.  It  was  a  triumph,  and  if  we  had 
something  of  the  same  sort  to  show  we  should  think  ourselves 
clever.  It  was  pleasant  to  see  a  number  of  first-rate  varieties  of 
English  origin  amongst  the  collections  of  smaller  plants.  There 
were  specimens  by  the  hundred,  about  18  inches  high,  in  6-inch 
pots,  and  they  were  exceedingly  beautiful.  Amongst  them  was 
the  splendid  white  Helene  Schiffner  ;  a  good  carmine,  named 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  ;  a  crimson,  called  Bernhard  Lauterbach  ;  a  blush, 
named  Comte  de  Gomer ;  and  a  splendid  crimson,  called  L.  L.  Liebig. 
These  would  strengthen  any  collection.  The  German  florists  are 
exceedingly  strong,  too,  in  Pelargoniums  of  the  Odier  section.  Mr. 
Biirger  of  Halberstadt  exhibited  a  large  number  of  his.  own  raising, 
some  of  which  we  ought  to  have.  Meta,  rose,  with  purple  shade, 
very  large  ;  Lina,  white,  with  crimson  blotch ;  Onkel  Pitt,  rosy 
carmine,  with  dark  blotch  ;  H.  Kirchner,  rose,  with  dark  blotch  ; 
and  Direktor  Zinck,  rosy  carmine,  are  all  genuine  good  things. 
The  raiser  named  has,  it  is  said,  given  attention  also  to  Begonias, 
and  if  he  does  as  well  with  them  as  with  Pelargoniums  he  is  to  be 
known. 
Of  Cinerarias,  Calceolarias,  and  Cyclamens  the  following  may 
be  said  The  Germans  are  good  with  the  first,  weak  with  the 
second,  and  very  strong  indeed  with  the  third.  They  have  good 
strains  of  Cyclamens,  and  know  how  to  make  the  best  of  them. 
Their  plants  are  large,  and  throw  up  pecks  of  fine  flowers  well 
above  the  leaves.  The  Cinerarias  are  perhaps  hardly  so  good  in 
type  as  the  best  of  ours,  but  they  are  very  little  behind,  and  the 
plants  are  very  freely  flowered.  Calceolarias  are  far  behind  us. 
As  regards  general  culture  with  florists’  flowers  of  this  class  it  is 
very  much  on  a  level  with  that  in  England.  Lilacs  are  a  Btrong 
point  with  the  Germans.  They  may  not  originate,  but  they  can 
make  fine  use  of  existing  material.  The  beautiful  semi-double 
Michel  Buchner,  as  also  Leon  Simon,  Perle  de  Nancy,  and  Madame 
Lemoine,  were  splendidly  shown,  There  were  large  plants,  and  small 
all  healthy  and  very  full  of  bloom . 
