156 
JOURXAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
August  15,  1896. 
Calvat’s  Chrysastheiiums,  1895. 
The  set  of  new  seedlings  from  this  eminent  grower  number  thirty- 
five,  and  will  unquestionably  contain  many  novelties  of  merit.  Some 
were  certificated  last  season  by  the  N  C.S.,  and  others  have  received 
awards  in  France.  Perhaps  the  largest  and  most  striking  will  be 
Atniral  Avellan,  a  yellow  Japanese  ;  C.  Harman  Payne,  a  long  petalled, 
dark  purple  Jap  with  white  spots  ;  Direoteur  Tisserand,  a  lartre  yellow 
and  orange  Japanese,  figured  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  last 
November;  Mrs.  H.  J.  Jones,  an  incurving  creamy  white  Japanese; 
M.  Chbnon  de  Lechb,  a  Japanese  of  rosy  hue  ;  Mr.  K.  Ballantine,  car.mine 
lilac  Japanese  ;  Pres.  Ldon  Say,  a  bronzy  yellow  ;  Professor  Lachmann, 
amaranth  ;  and  Peine  d’Angleterre,  a  very  large  flower,  which,  like  the 
three  preceding,  is  a  Japanese  but  of  a  dull  mauve  colour. 
Exhibitors  will  do  well  to  keep  a  look  out  for  these  in  the  coming 
season  at  our  trade  displays,  as  they  have  all  been  shown  in  England  by 
the  ra’ser  prior  to  being  distributed,  and  have  been  favourably  spoken  of 
by  the  few  persons  who  have  seen  them. — P. 
Chrysanthemums  at  the  Royal  Academy. 
Artists’  pictures  of  florists’  flowers  are  usually  disappointing  when 
looked  ac  from  the  special  standpoint  of  the  cultivator.  Those  of 
Chrysanthemums  in  this  year’s  exhibition  at  Burlington  Plouseareno 
exception  to  the  rule,  for  the  majority  of  them  depict  poor,  undersized, 
weedy-looking  blooms  that  the  humblest  amateur  of  this  noble  autumn 
flower  would  blush  to  own.  It  is  rather  a  curious  fact  that  some  of  the 
best  are  in  the  portrait  pictures,  where  they  merely  occupy  the  place  of 
accessories.  No.  20o,  No.  281,  and  No.  497  are  cases  in  point. 
Of  peculiar  interest  is  “  A  Flower”  (No.  244)  by  W.  Q.  Orchardson, 
R.A.  This  might  very  appropr’'ately  have  been  called  “  The  Rival 
Queens,”  for  a  young  girl  holds  in  one  arm  a  pot  containing  a  flowering 
plant  of  a  white  Japanese  Chrysanthemum,  while  with  the  other  she  is 
reaching  to  her  a  yellow  Rose  to  smell.  ”  Fair  Flow’ers  of  Gentle  Grace,” 
(No.  488)  is  rather  a  puzzle.  A  female  figure  clad  in  Greek  costume 
is  busy  watering  gome  Chrysanthemums  in  a  brown  pot  which  stands  on 
a  marble  pedestal. 
Lying  on  a  tessellated  pavement  are  more  Chrysanthemums  of  every 
hue  and  colour  known  to  the  Jin  de  siccle  growers,  and  in  the  back¬ 
ground  is  a  basket  containing  some  more.  It  is  a  pretty,  delicate 
little  picture,  and  may  be  taken  to  represent  a  scene  in  classic  times  ;  but 
surely  the  Chrysanthemums  known  in  those  days  were  not  the  brightly 
coloured  flowers  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  origin,  but  the  original  yellow 
type  upon  which  the  name  was  founded. 
Popular  taste  ih  Chrysanthemums, 
The  way  in  which  popular  taste  is  likely  to  run  may  generally  be 
pretty  accurately  guaged  by  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  American  and 
Continental  lists  of  novelties  each  year.  For  some  little  time  to  come 
we  may  expect  the  Japanese  and  Incurved  varieties  to  reign  almost 
supreme,  for  out  of  all  the  new  seedlings  distributed  this  spring  there 
are  scarcely  any  Anemones,  either  Japanese  or  Chinese,  Pompons  or 
Reflexed  announced. 
Even  in  the  new  Japanese,  one  type  the  most  modern,  the  incurving 
Japanese  with  broad  florets,  promises  to  take  the  lead.  Popular  taste  in 
floriculture  is  always  a  fickle  thing,  but  it  has  to  be  catered  for  by  those 
who  have  their  living  to  get. — P. 
DISQUALIFYINa  AT  SHOWS. 
Not  having  great  experience  in  judging,  and  for  the  past  year  or 
two  very  little  in  the  way  of  exhibiting,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
opinions  of  others  of  riper  judgment  in  these  matters  may  be  more 
acceptable  than  mine.  A  “  ticklish  affair,”  to  say  the  least  of  it,  is  the 
question  raised  by  “A.  D  ,”  page  129.  To  my  mind  a  difficulty  arises 
as  to  where  the  line  is  to  be  drawn  between  culpable  neglect  of  taking 
the  necessary  trouble  to  become  properly  acquainted  with  the  require¬ 
ments  of  a  schedule,  or  ignoring  of  rules  in  such,  and  a  really  innocent 
case  such  as  “  A.  D.”  quotes. 
I  am  afraid  that  my  inclination  would  have  been  to  let  the  exhibit 
spoken  of  compete,  but  then  exhibitors  should  know  how  many  beans 
make  five,  or,  I  should  say,  twenty  ;  and,  again,  the  other  competitors 
who  have  given  themselves  time  to  count  and  arrange  their  produce  in  a 
proper  manner,  according  to  schedule,  must  be  considered,  and  their 
little  extra  trouble  taken  into  account.  It  would  seem  rather  a  harsh 
decision  for  the  estimable  coadjutors  of  “A.  D.”  to  have  come  to  ;  but 
if  we  allow  these  little  things  lo  pass  unnoticed,  where  are  they  likely 
to  end  ?  Is  it  not  possible  that  others  may  notice  these  innocent  sins, 
who  may  ask  some  awkward  questions  after  the  awards  have  been  made, 
and  want  to  know  the  why  and  the  w’herefore? 
Again,  to  my  way  of  thinking  it  simplifies  matters  in  a  great  measure 
for  the  judges  themselves,  if  they  adhere  strictly  to  the  provisions  of  the 
schedule,  even  though  it  is  possible  at  times  for  some  clauses  in  the 
latter  to  be  anything  except  easy  to  understand  or  define  as  to  their 
exact  meaning.  However,  I  think  if  a  list  says  twenty,  one  should 
expect  the  exhibit  to  be  twenty  of  whatever  is  specified,  and  not  more 
or  less  ;  and  for  a  judge  to  lake  away  or  add  to  (what  I  consider  is 
already  by  the  schedule  a  disqualified  exhibit)  in  ever  so  slight  a  degree 
is  to  tamper,  and  not  by  any  means  honest  or  fair  to  the  other  exhibitors 
in  the  same  class. — J.  W.  K. 
I  quite  agree  with  what  “  A.  D.”  says  anent  the  disqualifying  of 
exhibits  at  shows  under  the  conditions  which  he  describes  on  page  129, 
when  it  must  be  obvious  to  the  judges  that  the  eircumstance  of  twenty- 
two  Beans  having  been  staged  instead  of  twenty  was  simply  a  mistake 
made  in  counting  in  perhaps  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  moment  at 
the  time  of  staging.  Whenever  I  have  come  across  a  case  of  this  kind 
I  have,  with  the  consent  of  my  colleague,  always  removed  the  surplus 
number  or  numbers,  and  judged  the  remaining  and  required  number 
together  with  those  staged  against  them.  On  one  occasion,  at  Basing¬ 
stoke,  in  making  the  awards  in  the  fruit  and  vegetable  classes  my 
colleague  and  myself  found  in  the  Peach  or  Nectarine  classes  one  fruit 
too  many  staged  in  one  dish  of  six.  We  simply  removed  one  fruit,  and 
that  not  the  best,  and  placed  it  on  the  stage  close  by.  It  would  have 
been  simply  monstrous  to  have  disqualified  that  exhibit,  which  we  placed 
first.  The  same,  I  kjelicve,  happened  in  a  class  for  twelve  Onions.  If 
there  had  been  one  fruit  or  one  bulb  short  disqualification  must  have 
followed. — H.  W.  Ward. 
EEMEROCALLIS  AURANTIACUS  MAJOR. 
With  the  introduction  to  commerce  of  this  handsome  variety  the 
popularity  of  Day  Lilies  will  receive  a  great  impetus.  Hitherto  the 
common  sorts,  such  as  H.  flava  and  H.  fulva,  have  been  grown  in  many 
gardens  and  the  better  kinds  in  a  few,  but  this,  for  which  we  have  to 
thank  Messrs.  Wallace  &  Sons,  Colchester,  will  meat  assuredly  soon  he 
accorded  a  place  of  honour  in  all  gardens,  whether  large  or  small,  and 
it  cannot  be  other  than  an  ornament.  A  reference  to  the  woodcut 
(ng.  23)  will  convey  to  our  readers  an  idea  of  the  size  of  the  flowers, 
which  measure  upwards  of  G  inches  across,  and  are  of  remarkable 
substance,  so  much  so  in  fact  that,  when  cut  and  placed  in  water,  the 
blooms  remain  in  good  condition  for  considerably  longer  than  the  other 
and  better  known  sorts.  The  colour  is  a  very  rich  orange  yellow,  and 
w'hen  a  plant  was  exhibited  at  the  Drill  Hall,  Westminster,  at  a  recent 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticulmral  Society,  it  attracted  an  extra¬ 
ordinary  amount  of  attention.  The  Floral  Committee  rightly  accorded 
a  first-class  certificate  to  this  acquisition  to  our  hardy  flowers. 
VICTORIA  PARK. 
To  some  readers  the  east  of  London  may  not  seem  the  place  to  see 
bedding,  but  once  within  the  precincts  of  this  noble  park  any  unfavour¬ 
able  impressions  given  by  the  surroundings  arc  immediately  dispersed 
by  the  brightness  and  diversity  of  the  display  of  flowers,  the  rich  green 
of  the  numerous  forest  trees,  and  the  air  of  neat  cleanliness  that  every¬ 
where  prevails.  In  the  fresh  clear  air  of  the  country  chere  would  he 
nothing  extraordinary  about  this  ;  but  here  the  conditions  differ  mate¬ 
rially — turn  which  way  you  will,  the  dingy  smoke  fiom  a  thousand 
chimneys  fills  the  air,  and  the  crowded  streets  of  mighty  London  streteh 
far  away  for  miles  on  every  side.  A  strange  place,  one  would  naturally 
think,  for  a  gardener  to  exercise  his  skill,  or  to  find  any  of  the  un¬ 
resisting  beauty  of  Nature  ;  but  so  kind  is  the  latter  in  her  dealings, 
that  she  willingly  lends  her  charms  in  forming  a  quiet  resting-place  for 
thousands  whose  only  landscape  lits  in  the  miles  of  dreary  streets  all 
round. 
The  position  of  Victoria  Park  of  course  forbids  it  boasting  a  Rotten 
Row  or  Vanity  Fair,  but  in  spite  of  this  it  has  long  stretches  of  green 
turf,  avenues  lined  with  handsome  trees,  quiet  shady  nooks,  a  large  lake 
of  water,  sweeping  carriage  drives,  public  recreation  grounds,  and  last, 
but  not  least,  a  display  of  flowers  unexcelled  in  London.  It  is  impossible 
in  only  a  casual  stroll  round  to  grasp  fully  the  magnitude  of  the  bedding 
department  at  Victoria.  And  why  ?  Because  there  are  flower  beds 
everywhere  ;  turn  down  one  walk  and  a  rockery  furnished  with  Cacti 
and  succulents  meets  the  eye,  and  w'here  least  expected,  there  is  to  be 
found  quite  a  compact  little  garden  where  flow'ering  and  sub-tropical 
plants  abound,  and  a  little  furtner  on  the  intricate  and  artistic  design  of 
a  carpet  bed  presents  itself.  In  <  rder  to  miss  nothing  on  the  occasion  of 
our  visit,  and  to  save  confusion,  the  services  of  the  indefatigable  super¬ 
intendent,  Mr.  Moorman,  were  enlisted,  and  in  a  tone  somewhat 
approaching  regret,  his  first  words  were,  ‘‘You  should  have  seen  them 
before  the  rain  came  !  ”  We  were,  how  ever,  satisfied  with  the  display 
as  w’e  saw  it,  w'ell  knowing  that  any  damage  suffered  by  the  flowers  had 
been  more  than  counterbalanced  by  transformation  of  brown  sun-burnt 
grass  into  a  carpet  of  emerald  hue. 
What  it  must  mean  to  annually  fill  that  multitude  of  beds  with 
plants  we  could  only  surmise,  and  were  not  surprised  to  hear  that 
upwards  of  200,000  are  propagated  each  year  for  the  purpose.  Yet  so 
efficiently  is  this  giant  task  accompliehed  that  there  seems  nothing 
wanting.  After  seeing  a  brilliant  display  at  one  point  one  would  almost 
expect  to  find  another  more  sparsely  furnished,  but  such  is  not  the  case, 
as  one  portion  vies  with  another  in  beauty,  and,  what  is  even  more 
