October  6,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
271  i 
LIGUSTRUM  WALKERI. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  held  in  the  Drill 
Hall  on  the  20th  ult.,  Messrs.  Paul^  &  Sons,  Old  Nurseries,  Cheshunt, 
exhibited  Ligustrum  Walkeri,  for  which  a  first-class  certificate  was 
recommended  by  the  Floral  Committee.  As  may  be  seen  from  the  wood- 
cut  (fig.  48),  the  leafage  is  very  handsome,  and  the  plant  should  be  very 
popular.  It  has  been  described  as  “  a  species  newly  introduced  from 
Ceylon,  where  it  grows  at  an  altitude  of  5000  feet.  A  fine  shrub,  preserving 
its  magnificent  foliage  in  winter.  Its  leaves  are  sessile,  round,  undulated 
at  the  edges,  of  a  fine  deep  shiny  green,  resembling  a  Roman  Myrtle, 
with  which  it  may  be  advantageously  compared.  The  white  flowers 
are  produced  in  large  and  long  panicles.  Its  beautiful  habit  and 
its  foliage  suffice  to  make  of  this  novelty  an  ornamental  shrub  of  the 
first  rank."  Messrs.  Paul  &  Son  say,  “  We  value  it  as  likely  to  make  a 
very  pretty  pyramid  tub  plant,  like  Bays  or  Euonymus,  a  probable 
window  plant,  and  a  useful  evergreen  for  sea-coast  and  western  districts.' 
It  is  not  hard}'  at  Ivew. 
ISLE  OF  WIGHT. 
Ox  Thursday  evening  last  a  lew  of  the  most  enthusiastic  horticul¬ 
turists  of  West  Cowes  called  a  public  meeting  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  Horticultural  Improvement  Society.  Their  invitation 
was  well  responded  to  considering  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  for 
there  was  a  regular  and  steady  downpour  of  rain  during  the  afternoon 
and  evening.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  under  the  chair¬ 
manship  of  Mr.  S.  Heaton,  Horticultural  Instructor  for  the  county,  in 
the  unavoidable  absence  of  Geo.  Fellows.  Esq.,  County  Alderman. 
Mr.  Heaton  gave  an  interesting  address  on  the  objects  of  such 
societies,  the  importance  of  instruction,  and  the  progress  of  Island  horti¬ 
culture  during  the  past  five  years.  At  the  close  of  the  address  it  was 
unanimously  resolved,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  R.  Saunders,  and  seconded  by 
Mr.  John  Hygate,  “That  it  was  desirable  for  the  best  interests  of  Cowes 
to  form  a  horticultural  society,  and  to  encourage  the  development  of 
window,  town,  cottage,  and  allotment  gardening,  as  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  the  town  depended  to  a  large  extent  on  visitors,  who  were 
most  numerous  during  the  yachting  season.” 
Names  of  members  were  afterwards  taken,  and  a  committee  elected, 
with  Mr.  T.  Richardson,  Chairman,  and  Messrs.  A.  Saunders  and 
C.  Creighton  joint  Secretaries.  It  was  a  most  successful  meeting,  which 
augurs  well  for  the  future  success  of  the  newly  formed  Society. 
ONION  AND  CELERY  GROWING  AND 
SHOWING  IN  THE  NORTH. 
If  any  body  of  gardeners  in  the  North  of  England  were  asked 
the  question,  What  branch  of  gardening  would  you  wish  me  to  write 
about  ?  the  reply  would  be  Onions  and  Celery  growing,  because  at  this 
moment  in  one  of  the  towns  within  sight  of  Windermere  Lake  (Kendal) 
we  are  in  the  midst  of  the  showing  season,  when,  practically  speaking, 
everything  is  left  alone  in  the  garden  but  Onions  and  Celery  and 
occasionally  Red  Cabbage.  ^ 
During  last  season  over  eighty  exhibits  of  Onions  alone  were  staged 
at  different  shows,  and  over  200  heads  of  Celery.  This  season  promises  to 
fully  equal  if  not  surpass  the  above  numbers.  One  of  the  most  remark¬ 
able  features  of  these  shows  is  that  formerly  they  w'ere  invariably  held 
in  public  houses,  whereas  now  they  are  worked  in  connection  with  the 
Church  temperance  societies  with  one  or  two  excepiions.  Each  exhibitor 
is  allowed  one  entry  for  Celery  and  one  each  for  Onions  and  Cabbage, 
for  which  he  pays  a  total  fee  of  2s.  6d.,  this  entitling  him  to  two  tickets 
for  the  tea  and  concert  which  follow  the  show,  and  there  is  no  doubt  the 
smiling  and  happy  faces  are  an  abundant  reward  to  the  committee  and  to 
the  generous  persons  who  contribute  to  the  success  of  the  show.  The 
prizes  consist  entirely  of  articles  of  household  furniture,  copper  kettles 
being  special  favourites.  I  know  of  one  home  where  four  of  these  articles 
adorn  the  side  tables,  and  are  proudly  pointed  to  as  family  trophies. 
At  the  Parish  Church  Show  held  on  Saturday,  September  24th,  this 
being  the  largest  in  the  town,  fifty-one  exhibits  of  Celery  were  staged 
in  pairs.  The  exhibits  generally  were  not  very  big,  those  of  the  first 
prizewinner,  Mr.  John  Turnbull,  measuring  10J  inches  in  circum¬ 
ference  and  38  inches  full  length.  Mr.  George  Hill  was  second,  and  Mr. 
Robert  Halhead  third.  The  specimens  were  all  well  grown  and  splendidly 
blanched.  All  the  Celery  is  cut  for  judging. 
The  Onions,  to  my  mind,  formed  the  great  feature  of  the  show,  and  as 
one  of  the  judges,  I  can  truly  say  made  the  finest  collection  ever  staged 
in  Kendal — indeed,  the  task  of  placing  them  in  their  proper  order  of  merit 
severely  taxed  both  patience  and  ability.  As  a  lover  of  Onion  growing,  I 
would  like  to  say  here  that  it  only  requires  some  enthusiast  to  offer  a 
substantial  prize  (open  to  all  the  town),  and  thus  draw  all  the  exhibitors 
together  to  insure  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  Onions  ever  seen  in  the 
North  of  England. 
Twenty  boxes  of  Onions  were  placed  in  competition  for  the  six  prizes, 
and,  as  in  the  Celery  class,  the  first  prize  winner  was  Mr.  Turnbull,  with  six 
splendid  bulbs  of  Cranston’s  Excelsior,  the  largest  measuring  14^  inches  in 
circumference,  and  good,  solid,  well  finished  specimens.  Mr.  John 
Humphrey  was  second,  and  Mr.  Wm.  Atkinson  third,  'each  with  the 
same  variety.  nnu-^v.n 
Twelve  very  fine  trays  of  vegetables  were  staged,  and  the  first  prize 
winner,  Mr.  Robt.  Halhead,  deserves  a  word  for  his  all-round  excellence. 
I  would  like  to  mention  some  exceedingly  fine  Leeks  shown  by  Mr.  John 
Crossley.  The  variety  was  Dobbie’s  Large  Flag,  and  they  measured 
7  inches  in  circumference,  and  60  inches  full  length.  Mr.  John  Turnbull 
was  second  with  the  same  variety,  and  Mr.  E.  Hesmondalgh  third,  wm 
Perhaps  a  little  information  as  to  the  mode  of  culture  with  us  will  be 
interesting.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  well  known  fact  the  North  country 
people  do  not  like  change,  therefore  it  is  very  hard  to  persuade  anyone  to 
Fig.  48.— Ligustrum  Walkeri. 
make  their  Onion  beds  in  the  autumn.  For  one  made  then,  nearly  twenty 
are  made  in  the  spring,  and  until  that  is  done,  we  shall  never  be  able  to 
beat  our  friend  Bowerman  with  his  4-pounders. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  an  ample  supply  of  manure,  both  artificial  and 
real,  is  used,  and  1  would  like  to  repeat  in  these  pages  what  I  have  so 
often  said  at  home,  that  the  greatest  mistake  here  in  the  growth^ of  the 
Onion  is  the  liquid  manure  poured  on  when  the  Onion- is  heading — indeed, 
almost  to  the  show  day  do  we  find  this  done.  Hence  we  have  when 
staged  many  soft  flabby  bulbs. 
Again,  when  planting  out  it  is  impossible  almost  to  make  Onion 
growers  understand  here  that  fine  exhibition  bulbs  cannot  be  produced 
when  planted  5  or  6  inches  apart.  Very  seldom  do  we  find  them  12  or 
14  inches  apart,  and  what  a  disappointment  when  the  first-class  seed  has 
been  purchased  and  the  plants  carefully  nurtured,  and  even  then  are  not 
so  fine  as  we  would  like  them.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  imagine  that 
quantity  gives  the  greatest  weight.  I  have  myself  this  season  a  bed  of 
Ailsa  Craig,  planted  out  over  a  foot  apart,  and  it  is  the  general  opinion 
that  a  finer  lot  has  not  been  seen  in  Kendal. 
Now  a  word  or  two  about  Celery.  Unlike  Onions,  the  real  work 
begins  almost  as  soon  as  it  is  planted.  It  does  not  grow  many  weeks 
