r>34  ^  JOLim A L  OP  iionnGtiLftjRp  ako  oottaop  oardpxpu.  Becomb«  m.  isso 
employed  in  one  way  or  another  in  discoursing  oh  the  progress  of 
horticulture  daring  Her  Majesty’s  long  reign  I  shall  scrupulously 
avoid  that  subject,  and  only  do  as  I  have  done  in  former  years — 
write  of  the  events  of  the  past  twelve  month*,  and  without  doubt 
that  which  comes  uppermost  in  my  mind — m  it  will  do  in  that  of 
many  of  our  readers— is  the  partial  retirement  of  him  who  has 
been  the  pilot  and  captain  of  our  vessel  for  so  manj  years,  prudently 
re»igning  business  cares  to  his  diligent  and  experienced  son.  To 
very  many  Dr.  Hogg  has  been  not  merely  the  Editor  of  the 
J onrnal,  but  a  personal  friend.  For  now  nearly  forty  years  I  have 
been  associated  with  him  ;  we  are  exactly  of  tire  same  age,  and  the 
subjects  which  interested  us  both  formed  a  strong  bond  of  union. 
The  services  which  “the  Doctor”  has  rendered  to  horticulture 
generally  cannot  be  over-estimated.  The  plucky  manner  in  which 
he  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  R.H.S.  in  its  gloomiest  time,  and 
the  valued  work  he  has  done,  especially  for  fruit  culture,  in  our 
island,  cniminating  perhaps  in  that  which  is  likely  to  be  for  many 
long  years  a  standard  work  on  fruit  culture,  are  all  matters  too 
well  known  to  need  more  than  a  passing  reference ;  while  to  all 
who  have  been  brought  in  contact  with  him  in  the  a:Sairs  of  the 
J  onrnal  his  kind  and  genial  spirit  has  ever  proved  that  he  was  one 
whose  friendship  was  worth -having,  and  whea  obtained  was  not 
likely  to  be  easily  given  up. 
-  The  Journal  has  maintained  its  reputation  and  character  under 
his  management,  assisted  by  his  able  staff,  and  it  is  mainly  owing 
to  him  that  it  has  (if  1  may  use  the  expression)  a  family  character 
which  is  unique  amongst  horticultural  papers,  and  leads  its  con¬ 
tributors  to  write  of  it,  not  as  the  Journal,  but  as  our  Journal. 
Passing  away,  then,  from  these  domestic  Gonsiderations,  as  I 
may  perhaps  fitly  call  them,  we  naturally  fix  our  attention  on  that 
which  ought  to  be  the  central  point  of  horticultnral  interest  in  the 
kingdom — the  R.H.S.,  and  I  feel  sore  it  has  been  a  matter  of  great 
pleasure  to  all  who  have  to  do  with  it  to  see  its  invaluable  and 
energetic  Secretary  so  much  recovered  from  his  severe  throat 
attack  that  he  has  been  enabled  to  superintend  the  Society’s 
operations  during  the  past  year,  and  these  have  been  eminently 
successful.  The  two  great  exhibitions  held  under  its  auspices — 
the  one  in  the  Temple  Gardens  in  May,  and  the  other  at  the 
Crystal  Palace  in  September — brought  together  in  the  one  case  a 
magnificent  collection  of  flowers,  and  in  the  other  an  equally  fine 
collection  of  Rritish  grown  fruit  ;  while  the  fortnightly  meetings 
at  the  Drill  Hall  show  most  clearly  how  large  a  hold  the  Society 
has  on  the  horticulturists  of  the  kingdom. 
We  may  safely  say  that  everything  that  is  novel  and  good  is 
brought  to  these  meetings,  and  even  up  to  the  last  meeting  in  the 
year  the  Hall  was  gay  with  beautiful  flowers  and  fine  fruit.  It  it 
of  no  use  mourning  over  the  place  of  exhibition,  which  is  decidedly 
bad,  but  one  may  lament  that  so  few  of  even  the  London  members 
think  of  coming  to  these  meetings  ;  it  is  so  thoroughly  central  that 
one  would  think  that  members  might  come  with  their  families  to 
see  the  productions  there  bronght  forward. 
The  Royal  Botanic  Society  seems  to  be  making  an  effort  to  do 
something  more  than  it  has  done,  but  I  am  afraid  that  its  financial 
condition  is  not  such  as  to  give  ua  many  hopes  of  a  strong  revival  ; 
and  yet  one  does  recollect  that  some  of  4;he  most  beautiful  exhibi¬ 
tions  in  or  about  the  metropolis  have  been  held  there. 
There  are  two  other  metropolitan  places  of  amusement  with 
which  flowers  are  always  asiSociated.  One  the  Crystal  Palace, 
unquestionably  the  place  -of  all  others  ,for  such  purposes,  and  the 
Aquarinm,  which  is  a  most  nnsuitable  place.  One  cannot  mention 
the  Crystal  Palace  without  alluding  to  the  painful  and  serious 
illness  of  Mr.  W.  G.  Head,  under  whose  able  management  for 
many  years  the  exhibitions  of  the  Naijional  Rose  Society  and  the 
National  Dahlia  Society,  and  other  floral  exhibitions,  have  been 
held.  Anyone  who  has  had  any  experience  of  such  cases  as  his 
knows  what  a  drain  they  are  upon  the  resources  of  the  poor 
sufferer,  and  I  know  no  more  fitting  Way  in  which  horticulturists 
could  display  their  “  goodwill  towards  nien  ”  at  this  season  than 
by  helping  in  such  a  case,  and  I  would  earnestly  appeal  to  my 
brethren  in  the  craft  to  give  speedy  help,  in  this  most  sad  : 
emergency,  remembering  the  old  Latin  proverb  Bis  dat  oid  cito  dat.  ' 
I  have  already  spoken  of  the  National  Rose  Society’s  exhibition, 
and  although  I  did  not  see  the  others  I  hear  that  they  were  as 
successful  as  usnaL  The  .Aquarium  ia  noted  this  year  for  a 
magnificent  jubilee  exhibition  of  the  National  Chrysanthemum 
Society,  which  was  an  unqualified  success,  notwithstanding  its 
disagreeable  surronodings  ;  but  here  again  I  siippote  exhibitors 
must  make  the  best  they  can  of  it,  unleas  it  could  be  agreed  upon 
by  members  to  hold  their  show  at  the  Crystal  Palace. 
I  do  not  think  that  as  far  as  the  new  plaats  and  flowers  are 
concerned  that  the  year  has  been  a  very  sensatioual  one  ;  .no,  new 
plant  of  aarpassing  excellence,  such  as  we  have  had  in  former  years, 
has  been  brought  forward,  while  it  is  curious  to  remark  how  the 
noveltie*  run  on  much  the  same  lines  as  before.  Orchids,  Dahlias, 
Chrysanthemums,  and  Carnations  holding  the  foremost  place.  In 
some  cases  the  novelties  are  new  introductions,  and  in  othera 
garden  hybrids.  In  Orchids  the  great  bulk,  of  the  novelties  wai 
confined  to  a  few  families  ;  Cypripediums,  Cattleyas,  Liclias, 
Odoutoglossams,  and  Dendrobiums  being  the  special  favourites. 
Thus  awards  of  merit  have  been  accorded  to  twenty-one  Cypri¬ 
pediums.  twenty-eight  Cattleyas,  twenty-one  Lselias,  two  Lselio- 
Cattleyas,  twenty  Odotoglossums,  and  fourteen  Dendrobiums.  How 
Orchid  growers  must  be  puzzled  as  to  which  oi  these  they  shall 
add  to  their  collections,  and  how  botanists  must  gnash  their  teeth 
at  the  manner  in  which  hybridisers  are  upsetting  their  carefully 
arranged  species.  'Phey  used  to  laugh  at  the  florists  at  the 
innumerable  varieties  they  were  introducing,  and  now  the  tables 
are  tamed. 
The  prevailing  taste  is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  awards  of 
merit  were  given  to  forty-three  Carnations  !  Not,  be  it  remem¬ 
bered,  the  beautiful  flakes  and  bizarres  we  older  florists  used  to 
delight  in,  but  to  what  are  now  called  border  Carnations,  which, 
although  very  beantiful  and  better  adapted  for  garden  decoration, 
cannot  bold  the  same  place  in  one’s  estimation  that  the  older 
flowers  did  ;  and  so  it  happens  that  only  one  Picotee  has  received 
an  award  of  merit,  the  run  evidently  being  upon  fancy  and  border 
Carnations. 
I  suppose  we  may  safely  say  that  the  most  popular  flower  is 
the  Chrysanthemum  ;  but  what  grower,  however  enthusiastic,  can 
keep  pace  with  the  multitudinous  varieties  that  are  being  brought 
forward  ?  Thus  daring  the  last  season  fifty-one  received  certifi¬ 
cates  and  awards  of  merit  from  the  R.H.S.  and  N.C.S.,  yellows  and 
whites  largely  predominating,  and  size  appearing  to  be  the  great 
desideratum.  I  must  confess  that  I  sigh  for  some  of  those  older 
flowers  which  have  been  pushed  out  of  cultivation  by  the  newer 
varieties. 
Begonias,  at  least  the  tuberous  section,  are  now  joined,  I  think, 
to  Cinerarias  and  other  flowers,  and  are  grown,  not  from  named 
varieties,  but  from  seed  from  a  good  strain,  which  may  now  be  relied 
upon  to  produce  during  the  same  year  in  which  the  seed  is  sown 
flowering  bulbs  equalling  in  merit  the  named  varieties.  The 
same  has  happened  with  the  Gloxinia,  and  will,  I  dare  say,  after  a 
time  bo  the  case  with  the  Zonal  Felargoninm. 
How  completely  the  show  Pelargonium  has  gone  out  must  be 
patent  to  everyone,  and  yet  how  beautiful  they  are,  but  when  they 
had  arrived  at  such  a  state  of  perfection  that  when  new  varieties 
were  announced  it  was  almost  impossible  to  say  wherein  their 
improvement  consisted,  people  began  to  tire  of  them,  and  yet  there 
is  no  more  refined  or  beautifnl  a  flower  than  this. 
The  taste  for  herbaceous  planes  has  gone  on  increasing  to  the 
manifest  improvement  and  interest  of  onr  gardens,  and  many 
valuable  and  beautiful  plants  have  been  shown  during  the  past 
season,  though  hardly  anything  very  remarkable  as  a  new  flower 
has  been  introduced,  and  perhaps  the  most  strib’ng  plants  at  the 
Drill  Hall  have  been  the  spikes  of  Eremuri  exhibited  by  Messrs. 
Veitch  &  Sons  and  others. 
There  has  been,  I  think,  no  diminution  in  the  interest  felt  in 
gardening  throughont  the  kingdom,  and,  in  fact,  so  far  as  I  can 
judge,  the  interest  has  been  increasing,  and  the  wide  diffusion  of 
ioformatioa  as  to  the  best  varieties  and  the  best  methods  of  cultivation 
has  greatly  tended  to  increas-.  this  interest.  No  one  who  has  hit 
upon  any  better  plan  of  growing  a  difficult  plant  thinks  of  biding 
