318 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  9,  1903. 
Clivias  (Imantophyllums). 
Five  years  ago  I  bought  some  seedlings  of  new  Clivias 
from  James  Yeitch  and  Sons,  which  have  now  bloomed  for  the 
first  time.  One  plant  has  had  a  single  truss  of  bloom  with  102 
flowers,  and  Mr.  James  Veitch  assures  me  that  lie  has  never  seen 
or  heard  of  one  previously  with  so  many  flowers,  or  even  approach¬ 
ing  the  number.  Perhaps  some  of  your  correspondents  will  give 
your  readers  the  benefit  of  their  experience  under  similar  cir¬ 
cumstances? — Arthur  Mesham  (Colonel). 
Judging  at  Flower  Shows. 
lYhen  publishing  the  letter  from  “Amateur”  on  page*298,  I 
am  glad  the  Editor  mentioned  that  the  writer  is  a  midland  gar¬ 
dener,  or  one  would  have  been  at  a  lo.ss  to^  know  what  part  of 
the  country  it  is  where  things  are  in  such  a.  bad  state  asi  your 
correspondent  describes.  My  experience  of  flower  shows  and 
judging,  which  is  by  no  means  small,  is  that  the  instances  in 
which  the  judges  are  unpractical  men  are  vers-  few  indeed,  and, 
as  a  rule,  the  officials  of  societies  do  not  invite  men  to  act  as 
judges  at  their  shows  unless  they  have  some  evidence  of  their 
ability  as  gardeners  as  well  as  judges.  I  might  as  well  add  that 
there  are  two  sides  to  the  que.stion,  and  there  are  many  practical 
gardeners  who  have  no  capacity  for  judging  produce  at  shows; 
and  if  it  came  to  lecturing,  the  only  thing  that  they  would  be 
able  to  do  would  be  to  send  the  audience  to  sleep. — Professional. 
• - - 
Finances  of  (he  Royal  Horticultural  Society. 
My  attention  has  been  called  to  a  pas.sage  in  your  issue 
of  to-day’s  date  (April  2)  in  which  you  say  that  Mr.  J.  Weathers 
“  was  the  first  to  put  the  finances  of  the  Royal  Horticultui’al 
Society  on  a  sound  basis.”  In  justice  to  Dr.  Morris,  C.M.G., 
who  is  in  the  West  Indies,  and  may  probably  never  see  this  state¬ 
ment,  will  you  allow  me  to  inform  your  readers  that  the  present 
“  souiid  basis  ”  of  the  Society’s  finances  was  commenced  by  Dr. 
Morris,  who  entirely  re-organised  that  branch  of  the  Society’s 
business,  and  it  was  further  extended  and  continued  by  the  late 
Mr.  Philip  Crowley  to  whom  the  Society  owes  an  immense  debt 
of  gratitude  ?  It  is  those  two  gentlemen  alone  who  establi.shed 
the  present  “sound  ba.sis  ”  on  which  the  Society’s  finances  are 
now  worked.  Mr.  Weathers  had  nothing  whatever  to  do'  with 
the  finances.  His  work  lay  solely  in  the  secretarial  department, 
which,  ever  .since  the  re-organisation  of  the  Society  in  1887,  has 
been  kept  quite  distinct  from  the  financial  department. — Trev’or 
Lawrence,  President. 
[We  are  always  ready  to  correct  a  mis-.statement,  and  rely 
upon  our  readers  to  notify  us  where  errors  exist. — Ed.] 
- e#.* - 
Counly  Council  Instruction. 
Having  read  your  leading  article  of  last  week,  and  also  the 
list  of  county  instructors  in  horticulture,  I  thought  pos.sibly  it 
would  interest  you  to  know  that  .something  of  the  same  kind  is 
being  done  in  Cheshire.  We  had  an  impre.ssion  that  we  were  the 
pioneer  of  this  kind  of  work,  at  least  so  far  as  the  schools  and 
gardens  are  concerned.  The  whole  of  the  greenhouses,  offices, 
and  walls  for  fruit  growing  have  been  built  since  the  council  took 
possession  eight  years  since,  and  the  kitchen  garden  has  been 
laid  out  and  the  fruit  quarters  planted  during  the  same  period. 
The  ornamental  grounds  have  been  somewhat  remodelled  to  make 
them  suitable  for  our  inirpose.  In  addition  to  the  schools,  a 
great  many  lectures  have  been  given  in  the  county  during  the 
last  ten  or  eleven  jmars.  I  beg  to  send  you  report  of  Potato 
experiments,  on  the  back  of  which  you  may  read  a  short  pro¬ 
spectus  of  the  .school. 
In  1897  the  “  Journal  ”  did  me  the  honour  to  give  an  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  “  Smallest  Yine  border  on  record.”  I  trust  that  tlie 
new  Education  Bill  will  be  the  means  of  extending,  rather  than 
curtailing,  horticultural  instruction,  as  there  is  still  room  for 
improvement. — AY.  Neild,  Cheshire  Agricultural  and  Horticul¬ 
tural  School.  Holmes  Chapel. 
[To  the  list  of  instructors  on  page  299  we  should  have  added 
that  of  Air.  C.  Alartin.  of  the  Isle  of  Wight. — Ed.] 
Conifers  as  Garden  Hedges. 
I  was  pleased  to  see  the  remarks  of  Air.  Thomas  (page  222) 
concerning  the  adaptability  of  the  Conifer  as  a  hedge  plant.  One 
has  been  so  accustomed  to  look  upon  Conifers  as  purely  orna¬ 
mental  specimens  that  their  utility  for  other  purposes  has  to  a 
great  extent  been  lost  sight  of.  I  can,  however,  endorse  all 
that  Air.  Thomas  says  concerning  the  above,  and  in  addition 
to  the  varieties  of  Conifers  which  he  mentions,  those  of 
Cupressus  Lawsoniana  and  Thuyop.sis  dolabrata,  make  excellent 
hedges.  Here  we  have  splendid  hedges  of  both  the  above  varieties 
growing,  perfect  in  shape  and  compactness,  and  feathered  to 
the  ground.  All  the  attention  we  give  them  is  to  knife  the 
leaders  and  a  few  of  the  side  shoots  back  once  in  two  years.  In 
addition  to  the  excellent  hedges  which  they  form,  they  have  the 
advantage  of  being  much  more  oi’iiamental  than  are  most  plants 
of  which  hedges  are  usually  formed.  Added  to  this  is  their 
beauty  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  gardeners  would  do  well 
to  plant  them  as  hedges  more  extensively. — AA’ilmot  H.  Yates, 
The  Gardens,  Rotherfield  Park,  Alton. 
Etberlsalhn  of  Plants. 
I  observe  that  the  subject  of  etherisation  of  plants  still 
interests  your  readers.  A  Mr.  AY.  Kiser,  of  Sw.anley,  in  writing 
to  “The  Fruit  Grower,”  remarks  that  the  tank  should  be  air¬ 
tight,  and  a  hole  should  be  in  the  lid  for  the  purpose  of  pouring 
the  ether  into  the  basin,  and  the  aperture  corked  up  immediately. 
The  temperature  of  the  box  should  not  exceed  Godeg,  or  it  might 
kill  the  plants.  The  quantity  of  ether  should  be  4  grammes  to 
each  ten  litres  of  space,  but  less  is  required  as  the  season 
advances.  The  box  or  tank  should  be  heated  with  pipes  or 
covered  with  hot  manure.  Plants  may  be  laid  on  one  another  in 
order  to  get  as  many  as  pos.sible  in  the  box.  The  box  must 
remain  clo.sed  for  forty-eight  hours,  when  the  plants  should  be 
taken  direct  into  the  forcing  house,  which,  at  90deg,  brings  plants 
into  bloom  in  three  weeks.  Etherised  plants  start  making  roots 
immediately,  unlike  other  forcing  subjects,  and  manure  may  be 
given  with  advantage.  The  above  writer  states  that  Lilacs,  if 
etherised,  flower  in  three  weeks,  while  ordinary  plants  will  hardly 
have  started,  and  in  the  end  are  usually  poor,  whilst  the  former 
give  very  fine  spikes. — O. 
Gardeners’  Commissions^ 
On  page  264  in  the  issue  of  the  Journal  for  Alarch  26,  there 
is  a  notice  of  the  Prevention  of  Corruption  Bill,  which  tc  all 
appearance  is  destined  to  become  a.  part  of  the  law  of  the  land. 
The  references  to  the  letters  in  “  The  Times  ”  in  relation  to  what 
is  there  described  as  “  bribery  amongst  gardeners,”  brings  tO'  our 
attention  a  subject  that  cannot  fail  to  be  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  all  of  us,  whether  employes  or  employers. 
Speaking  generally,  the  gardener  has  from  time  immemorial 
looked  upon  the  five  per  cent,  received  from  nurserymen  as  one 
of  his  rightful  perquisites.  For  many  years  there  was  little,  if 
anything,  said  against  the  practice,  and  had  gardeners  been  wise, 
there  would,  I  believe,  have  been  small  need  of  such  a  Bill  as 
that  spoken  of,  which  we  are  told  is  aimed  chiefly  at  the  rela¬ 
tions  that  are  known  to  exist  between  vendors  and  gardeners. 
The  custom  of  tendering  discount  has  been  so  long  general 
throughout  the  trade  that  scarcely  any  man  thinks  himself 
guilty  of  a  wrong  action  in  pocketing  the  amount  offered  him. 
Here  and  there  isolated  cases  have  been  known  of  employers 
insisting  on  their  men  receiving  such  payments.  But  when 
we  come  to  look  at  the  matter  from  an  ethical  point  of  view, 
there  must  occur  to  many  of  us  the  fact  that  neither  on  the  part 
of  the  gard-?ner  cr  nurseryman  is  the  practice  a  right  one. 
It  seems  to  me  deplorable  to  find  a  member  of  one  of  our 
leading  firms  writing  to  “The  Times”  and  describing  himself  as. 
a  “  helpless  victim  ”  in  this  connection.  AYho  in  the  first  place 
has  incurred  the  greatest  responsibility  in  this  matter?  AA’ho 
will  deny  that  there  has  been  undue  touting  and  bribery  of  men 
at  the  head  of  large  gardens  ?  I  know  thei’e  has  been  in  more 
instances  than  one.  In  my  own  case  an  offer  was  made  of 
twenty  per  cent,  only  last  autumn  in  a  roundabout  way,  an 
offer  which  has  since  been  repeated,  and  I  may  say  not  closed 
Avith.  AYlien  a  rich  company  hold  out  such  terms  to  men  who 
are  receiving  a  low  .salary,  there  can  be  little  reason  for  sur¬ 
prise  if  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  men  gladly  accept  the  terms 
offered.  Yet  it  is  usually  the  latter  Avho  are  blamed,  and  make 
nurserymen  “  helpless  vicltims.” 
But  there  is,  of  cour.se,  another  .side  to  the  question,  and 
though  perhaps  reflection  thereon  can  scarcely  be  other  than 
painful,  it  is  but  right  that  ive  turn  to  it.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  gardeners  have  at  times  run  up  huge  bills  for  the 
sake  of  receiving  discount.  One  such  case  will  be  known  to 
many,  where  the  successor  of  a  vei’y  able  man  found  the  stores 
crammed  Avith  er'ery  conceiA*able  requisite  in  quantities  suffi¬ 
cient  to  last  tAvo  or  three  years.  There  can  be  no  tAVO  opinions 
as  to  AA’ho  Avas  to  blame  here. 
Of  rather  a  different  nature  is  another  instance  that  occurs 
