JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  OARDENEF^ 
September  3,  ISML 
234 
commence  opening  their  fioweri.  To  show  how  accommodating 
the  Tuberose  plant  is,  it  may  be  stated  that  late  bulbs  have  been 
stood  in  vineries  where  the  roof  is  covered  with  foliage,  the  house 
has  been  closed  only  when  there  has  been  a  prospect  of  frost,  and 
the  plants  have  commenced  produeing  their  spikes  freely.  We  have 
kept  them  in  this  position  for  at  least  a  month  without  the  slightest 
sign  of  injury.  Plants  started  late  and  grown  on  under  glass  in  a 
sunny  position  frequently  produce  the  majority  of  their  flowers 
early  in  September.  During  the  season  of  growth  abundance  of 
water  at  the  roots  is  needed,  in  fact  the  soil  must  never  be  allowed 
to  become  dry.  Weak  stimulants,  whether  the  plants  are  early  or 
late,  are  very  beneficial. 
Only  the  other  day  we  were  told  that  the  bulbs  after  flowering 
could  be  dried  and  utilised  another  year.  Such,  however,  is  not  the 
case.  When  strong  bulbs  have  flowered  they  are  useless  for  another 
season.  But  those  which  fail  to  flower  and  make  a  good  growth 
may  be  ripened,  and  they  will  flower  equally  as  well  as  imported 
bulbs.  The  old  plants  are  certainly  prolific  in  the  production  of 
young  bulbs,  but  so  far  we  have  failed  to  see  that  their  retention 
for  future  use  is  advisable,  especially  as  they  can  be  annually 
purchased  at  very  low  rates.  Probably  also  from  the  freedom  by 
which  they  can  be  increased  they  will  be  cheaper  in  the  future  than 
they  have  been  in  the  past.  The  variety  known  as  Pearl  is 
decidedly  the  best,  but  other  varieties  as  well  as  the  single  form  are 
by  no  means  to  be  despised.  The  Pearl  is  not  so  tall  as  any  other 
variety  known  to  me. — N. 
THE  GARDENER’S  HOLIDAY. 
The  general  idea,  if  a  concensas  of  opinion  could  be  taken,  would 
be  that  the  gardener,  surrounded  as  he  is  by  sweet  and  beautiful 
influences  immediately  about  him,  and  in  the  most  delightful  spots  on  our 
earth  in  our  beautiful  and  peaceful  country,  would  be  the  last  man  to 
need  a  holiday.  The  townsman  would  consider  that  the  gardener  had 
the  blessing  of  perpetual  holidaybood,  and  would  be  disposed  to  envy 
him  such  pleasant  surroundint  s.  But  even  country  life  can  become  dull 
and  monotonous — nay,  by  the  very  isolation  of  the  man,  by  distance 
from  his  fellows,  the  country  gardener’s  life,  were  it  not  for  the  deep 
interest  he  has  in  his  work,  would  be  likely  to  become  unvariably  dull 
and  monotonous,  and  make  him  occasionally  sigh  for  conversational  con¬ 
tact  with  his  brethren,  and  a  peep  into  some  of  the  other  places  of  the 
world  that  he  reads  about  and  can  rarely  see. 
Indeed,  we  know  no  man  who  would  be  more  likely  to  profit,  and 
profit  largely  too,  by  a  little  holiday,  than  would  the  gardener.  His  life 
habit  of  close  observation  j  his  quick  intuition  and  his  breadth  of  judg¬ 
ment  would  cause  him  to  get  out  of  his  holiday  just  those  lessons  of  life 
which  would  be  of  incalculable  benefit,  not  only  to  himself  personally, 
but  to  his  employer  and  the  place  under  his  charge.  Masters  and 
mistresses,  then,  niight,  more  often,  alas !  than  they  do,  take  into  con¬ 
sideration  the  gardener’s  holiday,  and  we  know,  from  a  long  line  of 
observation,  that  that  consideration  and  that  holiday  would  not  be  thrown 
away,  always  provided,  of  course,  that  the  man  was  worthy  of  such  a 
benefit.  Too  true  is  it  that  there  are  black  sheep  in  the  flock  of  gardeners, 
but  we  maintain  that  they  are  very,  very  few  indeed.  Just  lately  we 
met  with  a  little  note  which  pleased  us  much,  and  which  we  will  give 
precisely  as  it  is  written,  making  our  comments  upon  it  later  : — 
“  In  these  August  days,  when  the  busiest  man  snatches  some  leisure 
from  the  grasp  of  business  cares  and  duties,  there  must  come  to  all, 
at  moments,  a  consciousness  of  the  need  of  those  deeper  resources 
which  feed  the  springs  of  individual  life.  When  a  man  is  busy  ten 
hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  sleeps  eight  more,  and  fills  the  other  six 
with  the  routine  functions  of  a  civilised  existence,  he  is  so  absorbed 
that  for  weeks  and  months  together  he  has  barely  time  to  think  of  him¬ 
self.  But  when  the  grip  of  work  is  relaxed,  the  daily  round  inter¬ 
rupted,  and  the  man  taken  out  of  his  treadmill,  he  becomes  aware  that 
there  is  something  in  him  which  is  neither  permanently  absorbed  by 
nor  wholly  satisfied  with  work.  It  is  dangerous  to  the  conceit  of  a  man 
of  intense  objective  activity  to  take  him  out  of  affairs  and  place  him  in 
the  remote  woods  or  beside  a  mountain  stream.  He  is  very  likely  to 
discover  that  he  has  no  resources  for  entertaining  himself  ;  he  awakes 
to  the  humiliating  fact  that  he  is  utterly  uninteresting  to  himself. 
There  are  several  remedies  for  this  state  of  things,  and  one  of  the  most 
effective  is  a  constant  use  of  poetry.  No  one  needs  poetry  so  much  as 
the  man  of  affairs  ;  he  needs  it  for  his  own  sake,  and  he  needs  it  for  the 
sake  of  hi*  friends.  A  touch  of  poetry  relieves  the  hardness  of  the  most 
successful  business  career,  and  makes  even  the  millionaire  interesting  to 
himself  and  to  others.” 
All  the  comment  we  desire  to  make  on  this  note  is,  we  shall  not 
remove  the  word  “  poetry  ”  from  the  remedy  for  life  weariness,  nor 
reduce  by  the  slightest  word  the  effect  of  poetry  in  its  recreative  and 
elevating  influences.  We  should  only  for  our  present  purposes  sub¬ 
stitute  “  holiday  ”  for  “  poetry,”  and  then  we  should  be  satisfied, 
because  we  contend  that  the  same  uplifting  influences  come  from  the 
holiday  as  come  from  poetry,  and  when  the  busy  man  on  taking  his 
holiday  includes  poetry  with  it,  as  he  will  if  he  is  a  sensible  man, 
then  bis  recreation  will  be  completed.  We  are  drawn  into  this  because 
we  are  enjoying  at  the  present  time  a  glorious  week  of  holiday  in  the 
beautiful  county  of  Salopia.  Truly  it  is  a  beautiful  county  ;  a  place 
of  sunshine  and  sweet  and  balmy  breezes,  of  splendid  hills  and  lovely 
vales,  of  “the  stately  homes  of  England  and  the  cottage  homes  of 
England  ”  that  Mrs.  Hemans  so  poetically  and  patriotically  describes, 
so  picturesquely  grouped  in  the  landscape,  with  comfortable  farms, 
surrounded  by  well  filled  stackyards  suggestive  of  the  plenty  which 
made  glad  and  thankful  the  heart  of  ipan  ;  with  smiling  orchards  of 
— more  than  average  this  year — well  filled  fruit  trees.  The  drought 
of  the  year  has  been  more  severe  here  than  in  some  other  places, 
but  sti'l,  barring  a  few  instances  of  failure  as  to  root  crops,  it  has 
brought  an  early  harvest,  well  got,  and  with  ears  well  filled  and  heavy, 
telling  of  sound  food  to  come  when  thrashed  out.  And  thus,  in  this 
place  we  are  resting,  recreating,  but  quietly  observant  ;  relaxing  our¬ 
selves,  not  doing  anything  in  particular,  not  doing  anything  that  we  are 
not  obliged  to  do,  but  just  letting  the  gracious  influences  of  time  and  place 
soak  into  us  to  fortify  us  for  the  labours  of  another  year.  Not  absolutely 
indeed  did  we  lose  sight  of  our  profession  when  Salopia  was  selected 
for  our  holiday  week; 
We  had  an  eye  on  the  great  horticultural  fete  held  in  August  each 
year  at  Shrewsbury,  and  that  has  come  into  our  idle  week,  well  diver¬ 
sifying  our  time.  Well,  what  can  we  say  of  the  show  ?  Not  enough,  by 
any  means.  The  largest  list  of  adjectives  that  could  be  compiled  would 
be  deficient  to  describe  in  adequate  terms  the  entire  marvels  of  the  show 
at  Shrewsbury.  York  Show  has  its  speciality.  Chester  has  its  peculiarity, 
as  indeed  some  of  the  other  towns  as  to  their  shows  have  theirs,  but 
Shrewsbury  stands  out  boldly  above  them,  in  the  matter  of  taste.  The 
floral  designs,  bridal  and  other  bouquets,  buttonholes,  and  other  flower 
devices  are  very  dreams  of  loveliness,  and  on  first  seeing,  almost  take 
the  breath  away. 
This  year  a  new  feature  has  been  added  at  enormous  expense,  tables 
laid  out  and  decorated  with  fruit  and  flowers,  and  the  judging  of  these 
separate  points,  and  these  points  recorded  and  placed  on  the  tables  so 
that  everyone  could  judge  the  judges,  and  see  what  was  thought  of  each 
exhibit,  and  of  the  whole.  The  three  Judges,  Mr.  Wright  of  the  Journal 
of  Horticulture  ;  Mr.  0;ven  Thomas  of  the  Royal  Gardens,  Windsor  ;  and 
Mr.  A.  F.  Barron,  late  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens, 
Chiswick,  had  no  easy  task.  The  only  objection  which  we  could  dis¬ 
cover  to  this  system  of  judging  was,  that  the  quality  and  richness  of  the 
fruit  carried  so  many  points  as  to  swamp  tastefulness  and  gracefulness 
of  arrangement.  That  is  what  occurred  to  us,  but  it  is  easily  explainable 
why  it  was  so,  and  may  be  remedied  another  year  by  giving  higher 
points  to  graceful  arrangement  than  to  richness  of  fruit.  Whatever 
may  be  said,  it  was  a  novel  and  interesting  feature,  and  these  tables 
were  one  of  the  great  centres  of  attraction  of  the  show.  We  need  not 
particularise  the  other  specialities,  they  are  so  many. 
Grapes  are  one,  vegetables  are  another,  cut  flowers  are  another,  and 
last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  cottagers’  tent  is  another,  and  the  amuse¬ 
ments,  bands  and  fireworks  are  of  the  first,  and  when  we  say  that  the 
bands  of  the  Grenadiers  and  Coldatreams  were  there,  personally  con¬ 
ducted  by  Messrs.  Dan  and  Charles  Godfrey,  we  have  said  enough  to 
show  that  everything  was  well  done.  The  weather  broke  on  the  first 
day,  Wednesday  the  19th,  but  that  did  not  disturb  the  arrangements, 
nor  keep  back  the  people,  and  the  high  class  town  and  country  people 
too,  for  they  assembled  in  their  thousands  and  were  as  bright  and  cheery, 
and  chirpy  in  their  talk  as  if  the  sun  were  smiling  in  all  his  glory. 
What  to  them  were  a  few  showers  which  the  country  wanted  so  badly  7 
Nothing  at  all,  and  they  laughed  and  joked  through  the  showers  with 
the  most  praiseworthy  optimism.  It  was  good  to  see  them  and  to  hear 
them,  and  it  was  another  feature  of  our  holiday,  and  a  very  pleasant 
one  too.  Altogether  we  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  our  period  of  rest,  and 
sha’l  return  to  our  work  rested  and  recreated. — P.  (in  “  Belper  and 
Alfreton  Journal”). 
HORTICULTURAL  SHOWS. 
BATH. — August  26th  a:nd  27th. 
The  Bath  Floral  F&te  Committee  has  fallen  upon  bad  times. 
Excellent  exhibitions  are  held  only  to  be  marred  by  unfavourable 
weather.  On  the  occasion  under  notice  heavy  thunderstorm*  were 
experienced  just  when  the  visitors  ought  to  have  thronged  the  Sydney 
Gardens,  and  the  consequence  was  a  poor  “  gate.”  It  is  to  be  hoped  the 
attendance  was  satisfactory  on  the  second  day.  In  some  respects  the 
show  was  scarcely  up  to  the  high  standard  set  at  Bath  in  previous  yeais, 
but  from  a  gardener’s  point  of  view  the  grand  display  of  Grapes  and 
hardy  fruit  amply  compensated  for  any  shortcomings  in  the  other  tents. 
Fuchsias  have  in  former  years  been  a  leading  feature  at  the  Bath  late 
summer  shows,  but  there  was  a  great  falling  off  this  time  both  in  quality 
and  quantity  of  the  plants  shown.  By  far  the  best  specimens  were 
staged  by  Mr.  G.  Tucker,  gardener  to  Major  W.  P.  Clarke,  Trowbridge, 
who  was  first  for  nine  plants,  consisting  of  Charming,  Harriet  Lye, 
Favourite,  Bountiful,  Arabella,  Surprise,  Mr.  Bright,  Mrs.  Rundle, 
and  Final,  all  grand  pyramids.  Mr.  G.  Snell,  gardener  to  Mrs.  Counsell, 
Bath,  was  second,  and  Mr.  W.  Marsh  third.  For  six  varieties  Mr.  J,  H. 
Wilcox,  Bath,  was  first,  showing  well-flowered  pyramids  of  Letty  Lye, 
elegans.  Majestic,  Blushing  Bride,  Charming,  and  Lye’s  Favourite.  Mr. 
W.  J.  Mould  was  second.  Mr.  W.  Haskell  was  the  only  exhibitor  of 
four  varieties,  and  was  given  a  first  prize.  Mr.  Tucker  was  first  for  a 
single  plant  of  both  light  and  dark  coloured  varieties,  showing  handsome 
specimens  of  Arabella  and  Charming  respectively.  Messrs.  Snell  and 
Wilcox  were  the  other  prizewinners. 
Stove  and  greenhouse  plants  were  not  so  numerous  as  usual,  but  the 
quality  was  good  throughout.  The  principal  class  was  that  for 
eighteen  varieties,  six  of  them  to  be  in  bloom.  Mr.  J.  Cypher,  Chelten- 
