October  19,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
339 
who  desire  to  compete  in  any  of  the  sixtv-six  classes  must  send  their 
addresses  to  Mr.  W.  Ralphs,  St.  Peter’s  Square,  Stockport,  by  Friday, 
November  3rd.  Four  prizes  of  the  respective  values  of  £5,  £2  10s., 
£2,  and  £1  are  offered  for  a  group  of  Chrysanthemum  plants  in  which 
•quality  of  bloom,  variety,  and  general  effect  are  to  be  the  great 
desiderata.  Specimens  of  Chrysanthemums  and  other  plants  have 
several  classes  allocated  to  them,  with  money  prizes  in  each  instance. 
Mr.  J.  Hamilton  Leigh,  F.R.H.S.,  offers  a  silver  cup  as  first  prize  in 
a  class  for  twelve  Japanese,  besides  which  there  are  three  other  prizes. 
Mr.  Henry  Bell  offers  a  silver  cup  for  twelve  Japanese  and  twelve 
incurved,  and  the  winner  takes  in  addition  an  award  of  30s.  The 
•second  prize  will  be  £2,  the  third  £1,  and  the  fourth  10s.  We  might 
enumerate  the  many  other  classes  did  space  permit,  but  schedules 
And  full  particulars  may  be  had  from  the  Honora  y  Secretary  at  the 
address  given  above. 
Taunton  Deane. — October  31st  and  November  1st. 
This  West  of  England  Society,  of  which  Mr.  J.  S.  Winsor,  16, 
Hammet  Street,  Taunton,  is  the  well  known  Secretary,  provides  a 
•capital  schedule  for  its  supporters,  and  usually  has  a  fine  exhibition. 
The  dates  chosen  this  year  are  given  above,  the  entries  will  be  received 
up  till  October  25th.  With  such  adjudicators  as  Mr.  W.  Herbert 
Fowler  and  Mr  E.  Molyneux,  V.M.H.,  exhibitors  may  be  sure  that 
the  merits  of  their  flowers  will  be  carefully  estimated.  The  principal 
•class  is  for  thirty-six  Japanese,  distinct,  in  which  the  first  prize  is 
£3  with  the  addition  of  a  silver  challenge  cup,  with  further  awards  of 
£3,  £2,  £1,  and  10s.,  which  should  bring  forth  excellent  competition. 
For  a  group  of  eighteen  Chrysanthemums  £4,  £3,  and  £2  are  offered, 
there  being  besides  these  several  other  classes  for  plants  in  pots,  cut 
flowers,  Primulas,  and  fruit. 
Wolverhampton. — October  31st,  November  1st  and  2nd. 
The  fixture  of  the  Wolverhampton  Chrysanthemum  Society  occu¬ 
pies  a  prominent  position  amongst  Midland  shows,  and  the  displays 
brought  together  are  usually  most  interesting.  Those  who  wish  to 
compete  this  year  must  send  their  entries  to  Mr.  J.  H.  Wheeler,  The 
Gardens,  Glenbank,  Tettenhall,  on  or  before  October  24ih.  The  schedule 
contains  particulars  of  about  four  dozen  classes,  with,  in  addition,  a 
small  section  <or  amateurs.  While  these  are  mainly  for  Chrysanthe¬ 
mums,  provision  is  also  made  for  general  plants,  fruits,  and  vegetables. 
Glass  1  is  somewhat  of  a  novelty,  inasmuch  as  a  £10  silver  cup  and 
£4  in  cash  are  offered  for  the  best  group  of  Chrysanthemums  with  Ferns 
and  foliage  plants,  but  there  are,  according  to  the  schedule,  no  second, 
third,  or  fourth  prizes.  There  may  be  some  rule  referring  to  this,  but 
there  is  such  a  superabundance  of  advertisements  mixed  up  between 
the  various  classes,  sections,  and  rules  that  if  so  we  failed  to  find  it. 
In  two  classes,  for  thirty-six  incurved  and  thirty-six  Japanese  respec¬ 
tively,  £5  cups  are  added  to  the  premier  awards  of  £4,  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  prizes  in  each  case  being  £3, '£2,  and  £1.  For 
further  particulars  growers  must  procure  a  schedule  from  the  Secretary, 
as  above. 
Aquarium  Show. 
We  were  unable  in  our  report  of  this  Show  last  week  to  include 
the  awards  that  had  been  made  to  non-competitive  exhibitors.  These 
medals  were:— Gold  medals  to  Mr.  H.  J.  Jones,  Lewisham;  and 
Messrs.  J.  Laing  &  Sons,  Forest  Hill.  Silver-gilt  medals  to  Mr.  S. 
Mortimer  ;  Mr.  W.  J.  Godfrey,  Exmouth  ;  Messrs.  H.  Cannell  &  Sons, 
Swanley;  Messrs.  Dobbie  &  Co.,  Rothesay;  and  Messrs.  W.  Cutbushand 
Son,  Highgate.  Silver  medals  to  Mr.  T.  S.  Ware,  Limited,  Tottenham  ; 
and  Mr.  Prewitt,  gardener  to  C.  A.  Pearson,  Esq.,  Farnham.  Small 
silver  medal  to  Mr.  H.  Deverill,  Banbury.  Bronze  medals  to  Messrs. 
R.  &  G.  Cuthbert,  Southgate ;  and  Miss  Easterbrook,  Fawkbam, 
Kent. 
Exhibitions  in  the  London  Parks. 
The  annual  Shows  of  Chrysanthemums  at  Southwark  Park, 
Finsbury  Park,  Victoria  Park,  and  Waterlow  Park  are  now  open  for 
the  public  inspection  and  appreciation.  The  display  at  Battersea 
Park  will  open  on  October  25th.  We  do  not  expect  either  of  the 
•collections  will  be  at  its  best  until  about  the  end  of  the  month. 
GARDENIA  THUNBERGI. 
Although  introduced  as  long  ago  as  1773,  this  plant  appears  to  be 
little  known  in  this  country.  The  reason  for  this  is  doubtless  its  shy 
flowering  qualities.  Early  in  the  present  century  it  is  recorded  as 
flowering  well  in  several  places,  and  a  figure  of  it  was  prepared  for  the 
41  Bot.  Mag.”  t.  1807  from  a  plant  flowering  in  Mr.  Greville’s  garden  at 
Paddington.  Of  late  years  its  flowering  appears  to  have  been  at  very 
rare  intervals,  and  though  it  has  been  in  cultivation  at  lvew  for  a  long 
period,  it  has  resisted  all  attempts  to  flower  it  until  recently.  Several 
plants  were  planted  in  a  border  of  loam  in  the  Mexican  house  two  and 
a  half  years  ago,  and  one  of  those  plants  is  now  in  bloom. 
The  flowers  are  produced  singly  from  the  ends  of  the  branches. 
They  are  glistening  white  and  sweetly  scented.  They  are  nearly 
3  inches  across  the  top,  the  eight  petals  uniting  and  forming  a  narrow 
tube  24  inches  long,  which  is  white  like  the  limbs  and  sessile  on  the 
branch.  On  strong  growing  plauts  the  leaves  are  often  8  inches  long, 
and  are  very  dark  green  in  colour.  Age  appears  to  be  what  the  species 
wants  to  make  it  flower  ;  if  this  is  so,  and  plants  could  be  got  to  flower 
freely,  it  would  be  a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  warm  greenhouse.  It 
is  an  African  plant,  being  widely  d’stributed  in  the  central  aud  southern 
portions  of  the  Continent. — W.  K. 
THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE. 
Young  Gabdeners. 
Is  it  a  fact,  and  the  question  is  asked  in  all  seriousness,  that 
there  is  at  present  a  deartli  of  young  gardeners  ?  We,  on  the 
shady  side  of  the  walks  of  gardening  life  know,  some  of  us  to 
our  cost,  that  there  is  a  plethora  of  old  ones ;  still,  though  it  be  not 
our  prerogative  to  enter  the  promised  land  of  better  things,  we  can 
view  any  outlook  tending  to  a  better  balancing  in  this  direction  with 
a  measure  of  unselfish  satisfaction.  The  question  is  prompted  by  a 
recent  interview  with  a  nobleman’s  gardener,  who  said,  apropos  of 
some  additional  glass  he  was  erecting,  that  he  purposed  augmenting 
his  bothy  staff  by  two,  but  up  till  then  (mid-September)  had  not  been 
able  to  get  them.  When  the  power  of  speech  reasserted  itself  after 
this  startling  statement,  the  questions  were  put  to  him,  “  Are  jou 
serious  ?  is  it  a  fact  ?  if  so  to  what  do  you  attribute  this  phenomenal 
change?”  He  was  certainly  serious,  it  was  a  matter  of  fact,  so  far  as 
he  was  conceined,  and  his  theory  was  that  the  change  was  brought 
about  by  the  absorption  of  young  men  into  the  building  and  its  allied 
trades.  Simple  as  is  the  matter,  it  is  rather  a  momentous  one  for 
gardeners,  andcorrelatively,  for  gardening,  hence  that  maybe  sufficient 
plea  for  ventilating  it  in  the  Journal,  whose  motto  sympathetically 
interlinks  them  to  the  common  welfare  of  both. 
Anticipating  such  reasoning  as  would  resolve  itself  into  regarding 
the  example  furnished  as  being  not  only  an  isolated  case,  and  there¬ 
fore  of  merely  local  interest,  but  the  garden  one  of  indifferent 
character,  consequently  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  young  garden¬ 
ing  world,  it  must  be  stated  that  the  garden  in  question  is  a  good  one, 
the  gardener  a  good  one,  and  a  good  man  to  boot.  Its  young  men  are 
well  paid,  well  lodged,  and,  to  sum  up,  circumstanced  as  well  as 
probationers  could  expect  to  be,  and  better  than  many  ever  experienced. 
It  is  as  well  to  add,  however,  that  none  but  the  best — viz.,  smart, 
intelligent,  well-conducted  young  men  would  be  acceptable  to  its  ruling 
head.  Perhaps  he  has  found  them  by  this  time,  perhaps  not ;  if  he 
has,  in  view  of  the  rush  and  crush  of  recent  years,  there  are  sufficient 
signs,  one  thinks,  to  indicate  a  change  ;  and  if  he  has  not,  then  there 
is  more  than  a  suspicion  that  a  strong  ebb  tide  is  bearing  off  our  boys 
to  ports  foreign  to  gardening. 
In  support  of  the  theory  that  building  and  its  allied  trades  have 
checked  recruiting  in  the  great  army  of  gardeners,  some  data  to 
hand  may  be  adduced.  Statistics,  although  accredited — or,  rather, 
decredited — with  proving  nothing,  should  at  least  serve  to  show  in 
which  direction  the  wind  is  blowing.  The  “  Financial  Times,”  of 
September  16th,  under  the  heading  “Remarkable  Additions  to  the 
Wages  Bill,”  in  speaking  of  the  changes  during  1898,  says,  “The  net 
result  was  to  raise  the  wages  bill  by  over  £95,000  per  week.” 
Gardeners,  it  is  needless  to  say,  have,  practically,  not  participated  in 
that  increase  of  wages,  which  the  paper  quoted  says  affected  more  than 
a  million  men.  To  make  the  matter  clearer  the  following  quotation 
may  be  added,  “  The  bulk  of  the  increase  in  wages,  both  in  1898  and 
in  the  first  half  of  the  present  year  (which  still  shows  a  further 
advance)  is  accounted  for  by  the  better  pay  which  miners  have 
received,  though  in  the  building  and  engineering  and  allied  trades  a 
marked  advance  must  also  be  recorded.”  Putting  the  digging  of 
dusty  diamonds  aside  as  being  quite  unlikely  to  affect  the  question 
under  notice,  the  remainder  endorses  the  opinion  given  to  the  writer, 
who  by  mere  chance  came  across  the  above  article. 
Further  statistics  are  provided  in  the  advertising  columns  of 
“  our  Journal  ”  for  the  week  ending  September  28th.  In  it  there  are 
fifty-six  advertising  for  situations,  of  which  number  fifty-three  seek 
head  places,  the  small  minority  of  three  representing  the  young 
fellows,  or,  at  a  rough  calculation,  6  per  cent,  only  in  the  advertising 
columns  for  that  week.  As  previously  remarked,  and  too  well  known, 
there  is  no  lack  of  heads, hence  the  congestion  is  still  as  acute;  but  if 
l.igh-water  mark  has  been  reached,  and  the  tide  is  really  turning,  of 
which  there  seems  to  be  sufficient  evidence  to  warrant  the  assumption, 
fierceness  of  competition  must  at  no  distant  date  give  way  to  healthier 
conditions.  Those  who  have  put  their  hand  to  the  plough  may, 
perforce  of  circumstance,  look  back  somewhat  regretfully,  but  rarely 
indeed  is  an  attempt  made  to  turn  back  when  the  usual  turning  point 
in  life  has  been  left  far  behind.  It  is  hoped  that  no  inference  may  b8 
