596 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  23,  1897. 
of  exhibitors  at  any  one  show  has  never  exceeded  half  a  dozen,  and  I  do 
not  at  present  know  of  one  amateur  who  cares  to  take  the  trouble  of 
bringing  his  flowers  to  the  show  ;  indeed,  there  is  now  very  little 
encouragement  for  him  to  do  so.  The  Crystal  Palace  Show,  that  was 
held  early  in  September,  always  used  to  bring  a  certain  number  .of 
exhibits,  but  that  is  now  abandoned,  and  gives  place  to  the  great  fruit 
show  that  is  held  at  the  end  of  the  month.  There  are  prizes  offered  by 
the  National  Chrysanthemum  Society  at  the  Aquarium,  but  from  this 
amateurs  are  excluded — not  avowedly,  but  the  prizes  offered  are  for 
collections,  not  for  any  specified  number,  and  a  collection  which  takes  the 
prize  consists  of  about  150  spikes,  and  an  amateur’s  small  number  would 
look  very  out  of  place  in  competition  with  such  an  exhibit. 
There  is  no  regular  competition  at  the  exhibition  held  at  the  Drill 
Hall,  so  here  again  it  is  the  nurseryman  who  comes  to  the  front.  In 
August  Messrs.  Kelway  &  Son  always  stage  some  magnificent  collections, 
and  Mr.  Burrell  of  Cambridge  comes  out  later  on.  This  is  one  reason,  I 
think,  why  the  flower  is  not  so  popular  as  it  ought  to  be,  for  disguise  it 
as  you  may,  it  is,  I  think,  a  fact  beyond  dispute,  that  when  a  flower  does 
not  attract  exhibitors  it  falls  into  the  background. 
But  there  are  other  causes  tending  to  the  same  end.  I  have  already 
alluded  to  the  fact  of  the  difficulty  of  keeping  up  a  stock  ;  this  can  be 
done  with  pains  and  care,  but  it  needs  both.  The  corms  which  you  plant 
this  year  may  last  for  three  or  four,  though  in  truth  they  are  not  the 
same,  for  the  old  one  dies  and  the  new  one  is  formed  on  it.  For  all 
practical  purposes,  however,  it  is  the  same,  and  therefore  those  who  said 
that  they  degenerated  were  in  one  sense  correct ;  at  the  same  time  the 
variety  does  not  degenerate.  I  saw,  for  instance,  this  year,  a  bloom  of 
Orph^e  with  sixteen  flowers  expanded  on  it,  and  yet  this  sort  has  been  in 
commerce  for  more  than  thirty  years.  This  apparent  contradiction  is 
reconciled  by  the  fact  that  each  variety  throws  out  more  or  less  a  number 
of  cormlets  which  growers  call  spawn;  these  when  taken  off  and 
carefully  planted,  will  grow  in  a  couple  of  years  into  a  flowering  size, 
and  thus,  although  the  bulbs  from  which  these  have  been  taken  have 
perished,  the  small  ones  produced  do  not  seem  to  inherit  any  delicacy  of 
constitution. 
I  have  said  more  or  less,  for  in  truth  the  difference  between  varieties 
in  this  respect  is  amazing.  I  have  mentioned  Orph4e,  from  which  I 
recollect  taking  from  one  bulb  in  one  season  more  than  a  hundred  small 
ones,  while  there  are  other  sorts  which  hardly  ever  throw  out  a  cormlet. 
There  is  a  remarkably  fine  variety  raised  by  Mr.  Burrell  called 
Snowdon  ;  it  is  the  purest  white,  with  flowers  of  a  large  size,  forming  a 
grand  spike  containing  eighteen  to  twenty  expanded  blooms  ;  but  it  is 
utterly  valueless  to  the  raiser,  for  it  hardly  overproduces  a  small  bulb,  and 
this  explains  the  fact  that  many  sorts  do  not  drop  in  price  like  others.  There 
are  those  which  came  out  in  the  same  year,  of  which  one  can  be  had  for  a 
few  pence,  while  the  others  are  still  priced  at  a  few  shillings,  and  so  I  would 
say  that  those  who  wish  to  keep  up  a  collection  must  depend  for ’a 
continuance  of  their  stock  on  these  small  corms. 
There  is  also  another  cause  why  this  flower  is  so  sparsely  exhibited — 
it  involves  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in  bringing  it  to  the  place  of  exhi¬ 
bition.  Various  have,  been  “  the  dodges  ”  to  which  growers  have  resorted 
for  this  purpose,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  you  cannot  bring  them 
in  the  stand  in  which  they  are  to  be  shown.  I  myself  used  to  try  this, 
but  was  ultimately  obliged  to  abandon  it.  They  are  mostly  taken  now  in 
frames  covered  with  canvas  and  securely  fastened,  and  anyone  who  knows 
the  remarkable  agility  which  railway  porters  always  manifest  wherever 
flowers  are  concerned,  will  readily  imagine  that  it  requires  a  somewhat 
watchful  eye  and  a  liberal  expenditure  of  “  tips  ”  to  get  them  safely 
through.  Then  when  you  have  your  flowers  at  the  table  for  exhibition 
you  have  to  take  them  out  and  arrange  them  in  the  show  stand.  Compare 
this  with  what  an  exhibitor  of  Chrysanthemums,  Dahlias,  Asters,  and 
other  autumn  flowers  has  to  do,  and  the  difference  will  be  at  once  seen. 
Their  flowers  are  already  arranged  on  the  show  stand,  and  all  the 
exhibitor  has  to  do  is  to  draw  them  out  of  the  case  in  which  they  have 
been  brought  to  the  place  of  exhibition.  He  may  have,  it  is  true,  a 
desire  to  fiddle  about  with  them,  but  that  is  the  way  of  florists  ;  they 
always  think  they  can  make  their  flowers  look  a  little  better,  and  so  as 
at  our  Bose  and  Dahlia  shows  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  exhibitors  away 
from  their  boxes  to  make  room  for  the  judges. 
These  difficulties  have  prevented  our  amateur  growers  from  continuing 
to  exhibit  Gladioli.  I  used  to  be  a  constant  exhibitor  at  the  Crystal  Palace, 
but  when  that  show  was  given  up  I  had  no  place  at  which  to  stage  ;  in 
the  same  way,  two  very  ardent  and  successful  cultivators,  Mr.  Herbert 
Fowler  of  Taunton,  and  Mr.  Lindsell  of  Hitchin,  contributed  some 
grand  stands,  but  they  too  became  tired  of  it,  and  although  they  both 
exhibited  once  or  twice  at  the  Aquarium,  they  afterwards  abandoned  it. 
Other  varieties  besides  those  of  Gandavensis  have  been  exhibited  at 
the  Drill  Hall,  such  as  those  of  the  Lemoinei  and  Nancianus  section,  and 
some  also  raised  in  America  by  Mr.  Childs,  but  I  do  not  think  any  of 
them  can  ever  hold  the  place  in  the  estimation  of  the  true  florist  that 
the  Gandavensis  varieties  have  obtained. 
The  following  new  varieties  have  obtained  the  award  at  the  shows  of 
the  R.H.S.  in  the  Drill  Hall,  and  came  from  Messrs.  Kelway  &  Son  of 
LangiDort : — Carlton,  a  large  and  well-formed  flower  of  rich  rose  purple 
colour  ;  J.  C.  Clarke,  a  soft  rosy  purple,  the  flower  is  large  and  the  spike 
good,  but  it  is  not  of  a  colour  that  everybody  would  admire  ;  Countess 
Amy,  a  very  beautiful  flower  of  large  size  and  good  substance,  colour  a 
bright  rosy  purple  with  white  throat ;  Mike  Lambourne,  a  rich  deep 
velvety  crimson,  the  form  is  excellent  and  the  substance  of  the  flowers 
good  and  firm  ;  and  Countess  of  Leicester,  a  large  flower,  the  giound 
white  with  rose  and  purple  markings. 
There  was  a  very  beautiful  stand  exhibited  by  Messrs.  Burrell  on 
September  21st,  but  as  the  raiser  was  very  much  occupied  with  some 
seedling  Cactus  Dahlias  that  were  of  such  merit  that  out  of  the  four  set 
out  for  certificates  three  of  them  obtained  awards  of  merit,  that  he  had  no 
time  to  set  up  his  Gladioli,  evidently  impressed  with  the  idea  that  in  a 
commercial  point  of  view  the  Dahlia  surpassed  the  Gladiolus. 
The  following  new  varieties  from  the  Continent  have  been  grown  in 
my  garden  : — Acteon,  salmon,  pink  striped  ;  Duguesclin,  described  by  the 
raiser  as  a  brilliant  scarlet,  with  a  large  white  centre  and  a  good  deal  of 
slaty  marking  in  it,  but  it  did  not  strike  me  as  being  anything  remarkable  ; 
Hebe,  white,  striped  rather  heavily  with  deep  purplish  crimson  ;  Helle, 
a  very  pretty  pale  flower,  with  cream  ground  and  blotch,  and  slight  lilac 
pink  markings ;  Le  Cid,  a  grand  deep  scarlet  lined  with  white,  the  blooms 
very  large  and  the  spike  good  ;  Marie  C  aroline,  rose  colour,  large  flowers  ; 
Marquis  de  Mores,  a  large  well-opened  flower  of  bright  cherry  red  colour, 
lined  and  blotched  with  pure  white  ;  Menelik,  a  novel  and  unique  colour, 
flowers  not  very  large  ;  Toison  d’Or,  a  pretty  flower,  pale  yellow,  with 
slight  pink  striping,  a  remarkable  combination  of  colour  ;  Tristan,  a  fine 
flower,  red,  with  stripes  of  darker  red  ;  Alm^e,  clear  yellow,  slightly 
tinted  with  pink  at  the  edges  ;  and  SabD,  a  curious  combination  of 
colours,  deep  orange  scarlet,  blotched,  lined,  and  spotted  with  bright 
yellow. — D.,  Deal. 
ROYAL  HORTICULTURAL  SOCIETY. 
December  14th. 
Scientific  Committee. — Present  :  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in  the 
chair)  :  Mr.  Michael,  Rev.  W.  AVilks,  Mr.  Sutton,  Prof.  Church,  and  Rev. 
G.  Henslow  (Hon.  Sec.). 
Cypripedium,  Monstrous. — With  reference  to  the  specimen  sent  to  the 
last  meeting  by  Mr.  Veitch,  Dr.  Masters  reports  that  the  lip  was  wanting, 
but  the  dorsal  and  ventral  sepals  as  well  as  the  lateral  petals  were  normal; 
both  stamens  were  present,  but  only  two  carpels,  standing  in  an  antero¬ 
posterior  position. 
Tuberous  Growths  on  Vines. — Mr.  S.  T.  Wright  sent  some  gall-like 
structures  taken  from  Vines  in  the  large  vinery  at  Chiswick.  He  observes 
that  “  many  of  the  old  and  young  rods  are  similarly  malformed  at  their 
base.  It  does  not  appear  to  affect  the  health  and  vigour  of  the  rods.  In 
all  the  malformations  grubs  or  maggots  are  present ;  but  neither  moths 
nor  weevils  have  been  seen  in  the  house.”  Mr.  Michael  pronounced  the 
grubs  to  be  coleopterous,  but  they  were  not  likely  to  have  been  the  cause. 
Prof.  Church  undertook  to  examine  them  chemically.  There  was  no 
apparent  structure  in  them  beyond  a  mass  of  cellular  tissue  with  a  corky 
exterior  surface. 
Hellebores  Diseased. — Some  badly  diseased  plants  were  received  from 
Mr.  F.  AV.  Burbidge,  Botanic  Gardens,  Dublin.  They  were  submitted  to 
Kew  for  examination.  The  report  was  as  follows'; — “  Phoma  effusa, 
Desm.,  is  the  name  of  the  fungus  attacking  the  Hellebores.  The  diseased 
portions  should  be  removed  and  burned,  as  at  this  season  the  fungus  is 
producing  myriads  of  spores,  which  live  as  saprophytes  on  humus  in  the 
soil  for  some  time  before  they  are  capable  of  acting  as  parasites.  The 
Hellebore  shoots  of  next  year  will  be  infected  by  these  spores.  The  above 
alternation  from  a  parasitic  to  a  saprophytic  mode  of  life  enables  the 
fungus  possessing  one  form  of  fruit  only,  as  in  the  present  instance,  to 
tide  over  the  period  during  which  its  host  plant  is  not  actively  growing. 
Spraying  with  a  solution  of  potassium  sulphide  (1  oz.  to  3  gallons  of 
water)  when  the  leaves  first  appear  next  season  would  to  some  extent 
prevent  the  chances  of  inoculation  from  floating  spores.’’ 
Holly  with  Red  and  Yellow  Berries. — Mr.  Ch.  Turner,  Slough,  sent  some 
sprays,  on  which  he  remarks,  “They  are  cut  from  a  large  tree  which 
retains  its  berries  for  two  years.  The  berries  are  yellow  in  the  first  year, 
but  change  to  red  in  the  second  year.’  As  no  seasonal  break  was  dis¬ 
tinguishable  between  the  group  of  yellow  and  that  of  the  red  berries  below 
it  on  the  same  stem,  some  doubt  was  expressed,  and  some  further  infor¬ 
mation  desired.  This  Mr.  Turner  has  kindly  promised  to  furnish. 
SOLUBLE  PHENYLE. 
Allow  me  to  thank  your  correspondent  “  Halogen  ”  for  his  clear 
remarks  about  soluble  phenyle  and  its  composition  (page  579),  and  also 
for  the  three  remedies  he  has  given  us  for  the  destruction  of  eelworm.  It 
seems,  from  what  he  says,  that  there  is  practi  ally  no  plant  food  in  soluble 
phenyle.  I  thought  there  could  not  be  any,  hence  my  remark  on  page 
547,  viz.,  “  I  have  yet  to  learn  what  soluble  phenyle  contains  to  make  its 
application  valuable  to  crops  as  food.”  If  it  contains  no  plant  food, 
why  are  such  statements  made  as  we  find  on  Alay  6th  (page  400),  and 
July  1st  (page  140)  ?  On  the  former  date  we  are  told  that  ‘‘  soluble  phenyle 
will  give  value  for  outlay  as  a  manure,  ’  and  on  the  latter  date,  “it  acts  as 
a  fertiliser.’  Surely  there  is  something  wrong  somewhere. 
So,  “  By  the  Sea  ”  has  turned  his  back  on  soluble  phenyle.  All  I  can 
say  is,  he  is  not  the  only  one  who  has  done  so.  Perhaps  I  may  suggest  to 
him  a  practical  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  eelworm  in  his  Cucumber  house. 
Procure  some  quicklime  fresh  from  the  kiln.  Slake  it  in  a  tub  with 
boiling  water,  adding  enough  of  the  latter  to  make  the  lime  just  workable. 
After  clearing  out  all  the  old  soil,  put  the  thick  limewash  on  the  walls 
with  an  ordinary  whitewash  brush,  being  careful  to  fill  up  every  crevice. 
After  finishing  the  walls,  put  a  quarter  of  an  inch  of  the  thick  wash  all 
over  the  ground  inside  the  houses,  and  allow  it  to  remain  until  the  houses 
are  required.  The  heaps  of  soil  for  planting  the  Cucumbers  in  may  be 
