532 
JOURNAL  OP  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  11,  18R 
Rose  Show  Fixtures  in  1896. 
June  17th  (Wednesday). — York.f 
„  18th  (Thursday). — Colchester  and  Isle  of  Wight  (Ryde). 
„  23rd  (Tuesday). — Langham  Place,  London,  S.W.f 
„  24th  (Wednesday). — Reading  (N.R.S.),  Richmond  (Surrey). 
„  25th  (Thursday). — Hereford. 
„  27th  (Saturday).— Canterbury,  Southsea,  and  Windsor. 
,,  30th  (Tuesday). — Maidstone  and  Sutton. 
July  1st  (Wednesday). — Croydon,  Ealing,  Farnham,  Farningham,  and 
Leatherhead  (Brockham  Rose  Association). 
„  2nd  (Thursday")  — Bath,  Eltham,  and  Norwich. 
„  4th  (Saturday). — Crystal  Palace  (N.R.S.) 
„  7t’n  (Tuesday).— Harrow,  Wolverhampton,  f 
,,  8th  (Wednesday).— Canterbury  (Hospital  Fete),  Chelmsford, 
Hitchin,  Lee,*  Newcastle-on-Tyne,-}-  Redhili  (Reigate),  and 
Tunbridge  Wells. 
„  9th  (Thursday). — Helensburgh,  Woodbridge,  and  Worksop. 
„  11th  (Saturday). — New  Brighton. 
„  14th  ^Tuesday). — Westminster  (R  H.S.). 
„  15th  (Wednesday). — Ulverston  (N.R.S.) 
„  16th  (Thursday). — Halifax. 
„  2l8t  (Tuesday). — Tibshelf.*- 
„  25th  (Saturday). — Manchester. 
„  29th  (Wednesday). — Chesterfield. 
,,  30th  (Thursday). — Trentham. 
Aug.  5th  (Wednesday). — Chester.* 
„  19th  (Wednesday). — Shrewsbury.* 
f  A  show  lasting  three  days.  *  A  show  lasting  two  days. 
Any  dates  not  appearing  in  the  present  list  I  shall  be  glad  to  publish 
in  the  next  one.— Edward  Mawley,  Rosebanh,  Rerhhamsted,  Herts. 
Brockham  Rose  Association. 
In  your  “Rose  Show  Fixtures’’  will  you  kindly  add  in  brackets  after 
J aly  1st,  Leatherhead  (Brockham  Rose  Association)  ?  as  it  is  in  reality 
the  Brockham  Rose  Association  who  are  holding  their  Show  this  year 
at  Downside,  Leatherhead. — Alfred  Tate,  Member  of  the  Committee 
of  the  B.R.A, 
THE  N.R.S.  AT  READING. 
The  visit  of  the  N.R.S.  to  Reading  on  June  24th  is  already  exciting 
considerable  interest,  and  is  causing  the  Society  a  satisfactory  sensation 
through  the  influx  of  new  members.  The  Queen  of  the  West  will 
endeavour  to  give  her  welcome  visitors  a  due  reception,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  weather — and  the  season  so  far  is  early — will  allow  of 
this  show  being  at  least  equal  to  that  of  Windsor  of  last  year.  Reading 
cannot  vie  with  the  Royal  borough  in  some  respects,  though  it  also 
has  had  much  to  do  with  royalty.  It  has  no  existing  castle,  but  it  has 
its  Abbey  ruins,  which  for  beauty  and  extent  have  not  many  real  rivals. 
In  prospect  of  a  large  infl  ix  of  comparative  strangers,  and  with  a  view 
to  enabling  exhibitors,  after  the  show,  to  see  as  much  of  the  local  lions 
as  possible,  it  has  been  thought  desirable  beforehand  to  give  some  slight 
sketch  of  the  town’s  principal  objects  of  interest. 
The  show  will  be  held  in  the  centre  of  the  very  chiefest.  Perhaps 
nowhere  in  England  could  there  be  found  a  more  accessible  or 
picturesque  spot.  The  Abbey  precincts  originally  extended  over  some 
25  acres.  The  Abbey  ruins  (with  its  outer  court,  now  called  the 
Forbury)  still  occupy  a  very  considerable  space.  There  is  a  great 
extent  of  grand  old  wall,  now  denuded  to  its  flint  core,  but  still  massive 
and  magnificent,  extending  on  all  sides.  On  the  walls  are  placed 
notices  of  what  were  the  various  localities,  particularly  the  site  of  the 
once  most  magnificent  Abbey  church.  The  Forbury  used  to  be  the 
scene  of  tournaments  and  court  pageants  ;  it  is  now  a  beautifully  laid- 
out  garden,  having  in  one  corner  a  Hornwork,  with  a  Russian  cannon 
mounted  on  it,  the  only  relic  of  the  extensive  fortifications  of  Reading 
during  its  siege  in  1643.  But  the  show  place  1  Well,  next  to  the  grand 
old  Consistory,  that  magnificent  hall  where  so  many  Parliaments  have 
been  held,  and  where  policemen  are  now  drilled  ;  next  to  this  there  is  a 
wide  space,  once  the  underpart  of  the  dormitories,  which  the  Corpora¬ 
tion  grants  for  local  shows  to  the  Reading  Horticultural  Society,  and 
which,  on  such  occasions,  is  covered  over  with  huge  tents.  In  the  vast 
space  underneath  grassy  banks  will  be  found  rising  ledge  above  ledge, 
affording  a  very  different  and  far  prettier  setting  for  Rose  boxes  than 
the  ordinary  range  of  rows  of  not  remarkably  handsome  tables.  Beyond 
this,  again,  is  a  beautifully  shaded  walk,  once  part  of  the  Abbot's 
garden,  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  united  waters  of  the  Holy  Brook 
and  Rennet. 
It  is,  indeed,  an  ideal  spot  for  preliminary  arrangements  and  setting 
up  boxes  in  the  shade  ;  whilst  close  by  is  an  absolutely  limitless  supply 
of  that  priceless  mineral  water.  Strictest  privacy  can  be  secured  ;  there 
will  be  no  inroad  of  pretty  stallholders,  as  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  begging 
for  Rose  biooms.  The  Abbey  ruins  and  the  Forbury  are  the  property  of 
the  Mayor  and  Corporation,  and  on  occasions  of  flower  shows  are  not 
open  t )  any  but  ticket  holders  and  bv  payment.  The  Forbury  gardens 
themselves  contain  a  fair  number  of  Roses,  which,  perhapB,  after  Buch  a 
show  will  have  a  chance  of  being  joined  by  more  modern  compatriots. 
When  the  settiDg-up  labours  are  over,  and  the  anxious  period  of  the 
Judges’ inspection  has  arrived,  those  turned  out  of  the  tents  will  find 
solace  and  a  good  deal  to  interest  them  in  the  various  surroundings.  I 
spoke  of  the  lions  of  Reading,  and  we  need  not  go  far  to  find  one.  There 
is  a  very  literal  and  a  very  grand  one,  on  a  pedestal  too  small  for  it,  in 
the  very  centre  of  the  Forbury.  It  is  the  work  of  a  Mr.  Stevens,  a 
native  artist,  and  is  very  effective.  It  is  a  memorial  to  eleven  officers 
and  317  rank  and  file  of  the  66th — the  famous  Berkshire  regiment — 
which  has  its  depot  here.  These  all  fell  at  Mai  wand,  or  during  that 
partially  disastrous  Afghan  campaign.  The  names  are  inscribed  on  the 
pedestal.  And  now  visitors  may  pass  at  once  from  modern  times  to 
ancient  by  going  out  by  the  Abbots’  Walk  and  inspecting  the  only 
remaining  Gateway — the  inner  gateway  of  the  great  Abbey. 
It  has  been  rather  too  much  restored,  and  is  now  like  the  lady 
who  was  assured  by  the  polite  Irishman,  “  Madam,  whatever  your  age  is, 
you  don’t  look  it.”  Still  advancing  towards  the  town  St.  Lawrence’s  is 
reached,  one  of  the  three  principal  and  oldest  churches.  Here  Laud’s 
father  was  churchwarden,  and  Queen  Elizabeth  often  occupied  the 
Knollys’  pew,  on  which  occasions  fresh  rushes  were  in  requisition.  It  has 
many  objects  of  interest.  It  borders  on  the  little  market  place, 
where  befel  one  of  the  only  fatal  encounters  during  the  advance  of 
William  of  Orange  up  to  London.  Some  Irish  cavalry  were  driven  out 
by  the  advancing  troops  of  the  Prince,  and  the  townspeople  are  said  to 
have  fired  on  them  to  accelerate  their  departure.  The  victory  was  long 
commemorated  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  is  also  kept  in  memory  by  a 
doggerel  rhyme  of  the  period  : — 
“  Five  hundred  Papishes  came  there, 
To  make  a  final  end 
Of  all  the  towne,  in  time  of  prayer, 
But  God  did  them  defend !  ” 
With  limited  time  there  will  be  an  embarras  de  richesse.  Anti¬ 
quarians  will  certainly  visit  the  Silchester  Museum,  where  His  Grace 
of  Strathfieldsaye  has  loaned  to  the  town  all  that  the  Society  of  Anti¬ 
quarians  has  been  uncovering  for  some  years  past.  This  is  described  in 
the  New  Guide  to  Silchester  (Miss  Langley,  London  Street).  Practically 
minded  men  may  prefer  the  Messrs.  Sutton’s  seed  establishment  or 
the  Messrs.  Palmer’s  biscuit  factory  (where  they  will  be  courteously 
taken  over,  so  long  as  they  are  not  engineers).  Ecclesiastically  minded 
persons,  on  the  other  hand,  will  visit  St.  Mary’s,  Minster  Street,  open  all 
day  long.  They  should  particularly  notice  the  roof,  with  its  not 
ecclesiastical  dormer  windows  ;  it  is  in  fact  the  roof  of  the  despoiled 
Consistory,  which  the  town  bought  of  the  then  Abbey  owners,  and 
evidently  it  might  have  gone  further  and  fared  worse.  On  the  right 
coming  out  is  a  bright  looking  green  sward,  which  could  tell  a  strange 
tale  of  those  who  lie  below.  It  was  the  place  where  they  buried  the  once 
many  executed,  and  a  skeleton  with  a  chain  binding  it  was  found  there 
Dot  long  ago.  After  St.  Mary’s,  and  before  it  in  architectural  and 
antiquarian  interest,  comes  Gray  Friars  in  Friar  Street,  I  believe  a 
unique  example  of  a  friary  church  in  England.  When  the  Grand 
Benedictine  Abbey  broke  down  under  its  own  weight  the  more  humble 
Franciscan  Monastery  weathered  the  storm  ;  the  monks  here  were 
merely  pensioned  off,  and  turned  out ;  whereas  poor  Abbot  Hugh, 
having  been  found  to  have  sent  money  to  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  was 
hung,  drawn,  and  quartered  in  front  of  his  own  abbey. 
After  going  through  various  vicissitudes  Gray  Friars  was  well 
restored,  some  fifty  years  ago,  by  an  energetic  archdeacon,  and  now 
makes,  as  it  were,  a  fourth  parish  church.  It  is  of  grand  dimensions, 
and  great  grace  and  beauty  internally.  The  west  window  should  be 
particularly  observed,  “  being,”  says  a  local  guide,  “  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  elaborate  specimens  of  network  tracery  in  existence.” 
But  after  all  I  am  writing  for  horticulturists,  and  no  doubt  their  steps 
will  at  once  be  directed  to  the  Messrs.  Sutton’s  “  Portland  Road 
N  urseries,”  where — 
“  The  daughters  of  the  year, 
One  after  one,  through  that  fair  garden  pass, 
Each  garlanded  with  her  peculiar  flower.” 
There,  under  glass,  Primulas,  Cyclamens,  Cinerarias,  Gloxinias,  Begonias 
— I  am  not  at  all  sure  whether  I  have  got  the  names,  or  order,  right — are 
to  be  seen  month  by  month  in  Nature’s,  or  rather  Art’s,  highest  develop¬ 
ment.  There,  if  the  visitor  is  fortunate,  he  will  find  the  genius  loci ,  Mr. 
Martin,  ready  to  expound  the  mysteries  of  hybridising,  and  perhaps  to 
show  some  of  the  Sutton  marvels — Tomatoes  growing  on  Potatoes,  and 
•vice  versa ,  and  so  on.  A  real  object  of  interest  will  be  the  splendid 
R.  rugosa  hedge,  over  40  yards  long,  and  the  new  rugosa  seedlings,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  then  in  flower.  _ 
There  is  some  reason  to  expect,  also,  that  the  great  Rose  gardens 
of  the  place  at  Leopold  House  may  also  be  on  view  to  members  of  the 
