36 
.JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
January  13,  185)8. 
Cheysanthemum  Eaelswood  Beauty. 
The  craze  for  immense  Japanese  Chrysanthemums  appears  to  have 
put  the  more  homely  single  varieties  completely  in  the  background,  and  a 
good  collection  is  comi)aratively  seldom  seen.  This  is  certainly  a  matter 
for  regret,  as  few  dowers  that  are  at  command  in  the  winter  are  more 
graceful  or  more  useful  for  decorative  purposes  than  these.  For  light, 
elegant  arrangements  they  are  really  admirable,  and  fortunately  they 
last  in  good  condition  when  cut  and  placed  in  water  for  a  very  long 
time.  The  natural  result  of  this  neglect  is  that  raisers  of  new  Chrysanthe¬ 
mums  pay  only  a  small  amount  of  attention  to  them,  and  new  varieties 
are  consequently  not  often  seen.  Of  the  few  that  have  been  shown  this 
season,  Earlswood  Beauty,  of  which  we  give  a  photographic  illustration, 
ranks  amongst  the  very  best.  The  dowers  are  large,  the  ray  dorcts 
being  of  great  substance.  The  colour  is  white  with  faint  blush  suffusions 
towards  the  tips  of  the  dorets.  The  raiser  was  Mr.  W.  Wells  of  Earls¬ 
wood,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  photograjih. 
The  N.C.S. — The  Slave  of  the  Aquaeium. 
IvECENTLY,  through  the  assistance  of  your  columns,  I  attempted  in 
clear  and  courteous  language  to  convey  to  your  readers  the  impressions 
I  then  felt,  *•  That  the  N.C.S.  was  not  holding  its  own  in  the  furtherance 
of  its  objects  as  the  premier  Chrysanthemum  Society  against  the  rapid 
strides  and  successes  gained  by  several  provincial  centres.” 
Writing,  as  I  did,  on  my  own  initiative,  I  did  not  anticipate  the  large 
amount  of  support  and  congratulations  which  have  followed  in  corrobora¬ 
tion  of  the  views  to  which  I  so  reluctantly  gave  expression.  The  result 
has  been  most  encouraging,  and  clearly  establishes  the  fact  that  a  sti’ong 
feeling  exists  throughout  the  country  against  holding  exhibitions  of  the 
finest  collections  of  cut  blooms  and  plants  in  a  building  so  thoroughly 
unsuitable  for  the  purposes  of  artistic  arrangement  and  effect  as  the 
A<iuai'ium  has  proved  itself  to  bj.  This  has  been  admitted  by  every 
writer  with  the  solitary  exception  of  Mr.  Richard  Dean. 
These  expressions  of  opinion  should  be  sufficient  to  convince  Mr.  Dean 
that  there  exists  a  very  large  amount  of  public  dissent  against  the 
continuation  of  the  Royal  Aquarium  as  the  home  of  the  N.C.S.,  and  to 
warrant  him  in  assisting  his  Committee  in  seeking  for  a  more  desirable 
quarter,  and  if  not  found  to  report  fully  to  the  supporters  of  the  N.C.S, 
the  result  of  their  labours. 
I  have  carefully  read  all  that  has  appeared  for  and  against  the  present 
abode  of  the  N.C.S.,  and  find,  as  others  must  have  found,  that  not  one  of 
your  correspondents  has  so  strongly  set  forth  the  utter  weakness  of  the 
Society  on  the  lines  it  is  now  running- as  its  own  Secretary  has  ;  and  the 
many  reasons  and  obstacles  he  so  freely  put  forward  in  favour  of 
continuing  its  present  policy  only  prove  most  clearly,  and  beyond  all 
contradiction,  that  the  Society  as  now  constituted  is  the  slave  of  the 
A([uarium  authorities,  and  is  at  present  unable  to  wrench  itself  from 
its  grip. 
1  will  not  attempt  to  follow  Mr.  Dean  in  all  the  praises  he  has  indulged 
in  favour  of  the  Aquarium  Company  and  its  privileges  ;  but  unfortunately 
for  him  his  views  are  so  strongly  in  opposition  to  all  others,  and  these  he 
“  floats  so  gaily  aloft,”  that  the  whole  context  of  his  exultations,  instead 
of  making  a  favourable  impression,  has  the  opposite  effect  of  exhibiting 
the  weakness  of  our  present  constitution  when  he  says  “  that  without 
the  co-operation  and  valuable  assistance  furnished  by  the  Directors  of 
the  Royal  Aquarium  the  National  Chrysanthemum  Society  cannot  exist.” 
Fellow  workers,  there  is  food  for  contemplation.  Are  you  content  with 
the  humiliation  ? 
I  am  no  ultra-purist  or  sentimentalist,  but  delight  in  “  mutual  converse, 
warmth,  light,  and  life,”  and  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  egotism 
when  I  say  that  I  am  well  versed  in  a  large  number  of  the  varieties  of 
Chrysanthemums  that  have  been  in  cultivation  for  upwards  of  thirty 
years.  Our  “  champion  ”  and  I  met  as  exhibitors  at  Southampton  in  1880, 
and  I  had  a  successful  career  as  an  exhibitor  previous  to  that  date,  while 
at  the  present  day  I  am  responsible  for  a  very  large  public  display,  which 
is  usually  open  daily  for  seven  or  eight  weeks,  so  that  I  do  not  write 
without  some  knowledge  of  the  flower  and  acquaintance  with  arrangement 
and  effect. 
Grand  blooms  have  hitherto  found  their  way  to  the  Aquarium,  and 
the  Society  has  been  able  to  hold  its  own  in  both  quality  and  quantity, 
but  of  late  neither  a  satisfactory  arrangement  nor  proper  effect  has  the 
N.C.S.  been  able  to  contribute  to  the  “  devotees  who  worship  at  its 
shrine.”  Through  an  inability  to  furnish  these  important  elements  the 
Society  must  in  time  lose  considerable  status,  and  then  will  both  quality 
and  quantity  of  blooms,  together  with  subscribers,  rapidly  diminish. 
What  a  soothing  and  lasting  effect  any  novelty  in  artistic  arrangement 
has  on  public  opinion.  As  an  instance  of  this,  the  neat  arrangement  of 
cut  blooms  with  table  and  berried  plants,  first  commenced  at  the  early 
Kingston  exhibitions,  is  now  adopted  by  nearly  all  our  local  and  pro¬ 
vincial  shows.  The  magnificent  and  artistically  arranged  groups  brst 
instituted  at  Hull  are  influencing  exhibitors  throughout  the  country,  and 
are  fast  ousting  the  formal  packed  groups  which  used  to  be  so  con¬ 
spicuously  Bet  up  with  sticks  and  pots  so  glaringly  visible  as  to  largely 
detract  from  any  pleasing  effect. 
The  encouragement  of  pleasing  styles  in  beauty  and  effect  is  as 
necessary  for  the  “premier  ”  Society  to  cultivate  for  arousing  “  new-born 
interest  ”  as  is  the  offering  of  substantial  prizes  for  the  best  flowers. 
Any  Society  which  through  force  of  circumstances  is  unable  to  combine 
all  these  elements  in  its  exhibitions  cannot  impart  the  useful  knowledge 
which  its  votaries  look  for,  and  should  rightly  receive. 
It  does,  indeed,  seem  strange,  if  true,  that  in  London  with  its  vast 
populace,  amongst  which  can  be  found  as  many  lovers,  growers,  and 
enthusiasts  of  the  autumn  queen  as  in  any  other  part  of  Great  Britain, 
that  a  society  founded  solely  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  its  cultivation 
cannot  exist  without  a  yearly  subsidy  furnished  by  another  organisation 
whose  objects  and  interest  are,  in  comparison,  as  wide  apart  as  the  North 
and  South  Poles. 
During  the  past  two  decades  has  the  “  National  ”  swung  on  the  same 
pivot  ?  Where  there  was  one  grower  in  its  early  days  there  are  now 
hundreds,  and  I  might  say  thousands,  and  yet  this  Society,  with  all  its 
boasted  progress,  is  utterly  unable  to  do  that  which  nearly  every  local 
and  provincial  society  can  do,  and  is  doing,  from  the  Land’s  End  to 
Aberdeen — namely,  holding  exhibitions  purely  by  their  own  strength 
and  paying  their  way. 
The  “National,”  with  all  the  “  assistance  and  co-operation  ”  received 
from  the  Aquarium  Directors  can  only  boast  of  about  £  100  reserve  fund. 
If  this  crutch  is  necessary  to  prop  us  up,  would  it  not,  I  ask  with  alt 
seriousness,  be  more  prudent  to  hold  fewer  exhibitions  for  a  time  in 
order  that  we  may  be  able  to  put  aside  that  which  would  make  us  more 
really  independent  when  the  crisis  came,  which  sooner  or  later,  it  we 
continue  in  our  present  fettered  state,  must  come  ? 
Mr.  Dean  prides  himself  on  four  exhibitions,  but  as  to  the  S(^ptem- 
ber  show,  as  I  said  in  my  previous  letter,  the  Committee  knows 
very  little  of  its  working.  In  the  N.C. Society’s  report  for  1891 1  find  the 
following  : — “  Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  Royal  Aquarium 
Society  to  hold  three  exhibitions  in  the  present  year  as  in  1893 — in 
October,  November,  and  December,”  and  in  the  report  for  1895,  “The 
Committee  have  arranged  for  the  holding  of  three  exhibitions  at  the 
Royal  Aquarium  during  the  months  of  October,  November,  and  Decem¬ 
ber  ;  and  a  Dahlia  show  will  be  held  by  the  Royal  Aquarium  Society  in 
September,  as  heretofore,  at  which  prizes  will  be  offered  by  this  Society 
for  early  Chrysanthemums,  and  these  will  be  supplemented  by  a  grant  of 
j£  10  for  Dahlias.” 
These  early  flowering  Chrysanthemums,  however  much  I  admire  and 
cherish  them  for  displays  out  of  doors  in  the  autumn,  are  scarcely 
suitable  for  an  exhibition,  when,  at  the  time  they  are  in  flower,  there  are 
a  host  of  other  flowering  plants  far  more  striking  and  attractive,  and  the 
£20  odd  awarded  in  prize  money  at  this  show,  together  with  the  grant 
of  £10  towards  the  Dahlias,  would  be  far  better  serving  the  object  and 
purposes  of  the  National  Chrysanthemum  Society  if  placed  to  the  reserve 
fund  or  even  added  to  the  prize  list  for  the  November  exhibition.  It 
would  then  at  least  be  awarded  in  accordance  with  the  objects  of  the 
N.C.S. — the  sole  encouragement  of  raising  and  cultivating  the  Chrys¬ 
anthemum. 
That  amount  of  £30  represents  the  subscription  of  120  members, 
which  is  a  consideration,  and  should  be  well  weighed  before  receiving  the 
approval  of  the  Committee  in  making  the  grant  for  the  forthcoming 
season. 
From  the  report  it  does  appear  that  in  I^ondon  there  is  a  difficulty  in 
finding  a  more  convenient  home  than  the  present  one  ;  but  no  one  during 
recent  years  has  tried  to  find  a  place,  and  after  the  expression  of  opinion 
made  by  several  eminent  persons  at  the  Hotel  Metropole,  it  was  clearly 
the  duty  of  the  Committee  to  have  taken  some  steps,  and  reported  the 
residt  of  their  labours  at  the  annual  meeting  next  month. 
The  Agricultural  Hall  has  been  named.  During  the  recent  eattle  show 
I  questioned  myself  on  the  point,  and  could  not  help  feeling  that  if  it  could 
be  got  at  any  reasonable  terms,  it  would,  to  all  appearance,  make  an 
admirable  place  for  our  November  exhibition.  No  one  spot  in  London 
will  be  central  from  and  to  everywhere,  but  everyplace  is  considered 
central  where,  from  a  railway  terminus,  a  cab  can  drive  direct  to  the  place 
for  a  shilling  or  two.  The  difficulty  and  dislikes  to  a  building  is  when  a 
cab  is  taken  and  then  another  transhipment  has  to  be  made  for  a  short 
distance  by  rail  to  the  destination. 
In  the  early  part  of  this  letter  I  referred  to  the  congratulations  I  have 
received.  Besides  receiving  numbers  personally,  other  gentlemen  have 
written  from  the  provinces  as  follows  : — “  I  must  thank  you  for  your  clear 
letter  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  last  week  re  the  National  Chrysanthe¬ 
mum  Society.  For  several  years  I  have  thought  the  Committee  ought 
to  have  run  the  shows  on  a  good  business  basis.” 
Another  says  : — “  The  whole  question  will  have  to  be  gone  over,  and 
that  during  the  coming  season.” 
Another  : — “  I  have  been  to  shows  from  the  South  Coast  to  the  far 
North  of  Scotland,  and  the  Aquarium,  which  has  the  best  pi’oduce,  is  the 
worst  managed  and  most  inartistically  arranged  of  any  that  I  have  seen.  ’ 
Yet  another  says  : — “I  greatly  admire  the  bold  position  you  have 
taken  up.” 
Still  another  The  N.C.S.  will  do  no  good  wherever  its  home  is 
under  its  present  management.” 
I  could  cite  very  much  more;  but  the  most  encouraging  congratulation, 
and  the  greatest  compliment,  is  the  unanimous  resolve  of  the  General 
Committee  to  ask  me  to  reconsider  the  resignation  I  tendered  as  soon  as 
I  raised  my  pen  as  a  protest  against  the  conditions  of  affairs  under  which 
we  are  serving.  The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  General  Committee 
