July  0,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
11 
Tl|e  R.H.S.  Sl|ow  at  Richmond. 
One  special  feature  of  the  recent  most  interesting  exhibition  and 
meeting  of  the  R.H.S.  at  Richmond  was  the  fidelity  shown  by  the 
horticultural  trade  and  some  other  exhibitors  in  following  the  council 
to  the  Old  Deer  Park,  and  thus  producing  so  fine  a  display.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  result  financially  to  the  Richmond  Society,  certainly 
the  visitors  had  a  splendid  show  to  look  upon.  One  could  but  be  sorry 
that  so  little  seemed  to  be  done  previous  to  the  show  to  make  it  more 
widely  known,  especially  in  London  and  the  western  suburbs.  Fine  as 
was  the  attendance  on  the  first  day,  it  should  have  for  such  an  occasion 
been  doubled — indeed,  I  cannot  but  think  that  thousands  of  persons 
would  have  delightedly  gone  a  few  miles  to  have  enjoyed  the  show  and 
the  surroundings  of  the  Old  Deer  Park.  Still  the  primary  fact  was  the 
splendid  way  in  which  the  council  of  the  R.H.S.  found  itself  supported 
by  so  many  exhibitors. 
The  second  day  was  chilly,  the  atmosphere  heavy  and  smoky,  indeed 
at  times  was  very  threatening,  yet  was  but  London  smoke  after  all ; 
it  had  a  bad  effect  on  the  attendance.  A  sagacious  ex- police  inspector 
remarked  that  the  second  day  should  have  been  Wednesday,  the  popular 
half-day  for  shop  closing.  That  is  good  advice  no  doubt.  Still  far 
more  would  the  local  people  be  wise  did  they  introduce  some  elements  of 
popular  attraction,  especially  towards  night,  such  as  a  grand  display  of 
fireworks,  as  that  would  no  doubt  bring  in  5000  people  at  sixpence  each. 
There  is  so  much  room  for  entertainment  of  this  nature  in  the  Old  Deer 
Park  that  those  who  cater  for  flower  shows  should  not  scruple  to  cater 
for  the  million  also,  especially  if  they  wish  to  make  their  exhibitions 
pecuniary  successes. — A.  D. 
- - 
Mr.  Pearson’s  Apple  Election. 
As  my  mite  to  Mr.  Pearson’s  Apple  election,  I  will  add  the  name  of 
what  I  believe  to  be  a  good  early  cooking  Apple,  especially  as  doubts 
are  being  expressed  against  the  credentials  of  Ecklinville.  As  an  early 
Apple  I  should  like  to  mention  Professor.  This  is  apparently  a  little 
known  Apple,  but  it  is  much  more  satisfactory  than  Ecklinville.  It  is 
earlier,  a  better  and  surer  cropper,  does  not  spot,  is  of  good  appearance, 
heavier  in  weight,  an  excellent  cooker,  and  moreover  is  a  healthy  and 
good  grower,  bearing  freely  as  a  bush  or  as  a  standard  on  the  Apple 
stock.  My  opinion  is  there  is  a  future  for  Professor  as  an  early 
cooking  Apple,  either  for  home  use  or  for  market.  We  are  working  up 
a  stock  for  estate  planting.  In  our  home  nursery  we  grow  thousands  of 
fruit  trees  for  plauting  on  the  farms,  also  for  all  cottagers  who  apply 
for  trees  and  will  take  care  of  them,  so  we  make  a  note  of  any  good 
Apple  that  will  suit  our  purpose. 
Whilst  the  pen  is  in  hand  I  may  add  a  few  more  jottings  on  our 
national  fruit.  I  agree  with  Mr.  Pearson  that  Beauty  of  Kent  deserves 
more  notice  than  it  received  in  his  election.  It  is  quite  equal  in  many 
respects  to  Lane’s  Prince  Albert.  It  is  a  prodigious  bearer,  a  good 
grower,  and  of  excellent  quality,  being  also  a  variety  that  may  be 
gathered  and  sold  from  the  trees  or  stored  till  February  or  March. 
Baumann’s  Red  Reinette  is  another  good  Apple,  and  of  a  colour  that 
gladdens  the  salesman’s  heart.  I  am  surprised  to  note  that  Cox’s 
Pomona  does  not  hold  a  better  position,  as  it  is  of  fine  quality  and  an 
excellent  bearer.  An  Apple  that  does  not  find  a  position  is  Tower  of 
Glammis.  The  pity  is  that  it  is  a  straggling  grower,  but  this,  to  a 
certain  extent,  can  be  obviated  by  shortening  the  branches.  Its 
bearing  propensities  are  prodigious,  and  the  qualioy  excellent.  King  of 
Tompkins  County  will  be  much  sought  after  when  better  known,  being 
one  of  the  best  of  the  American  varieties  which  succeed  with  us.  Last 
season  it  was  grand,  and  the  fruit  will  keep  in  fine  condition  until  far 
on  in  the  spring.  I  well  remember  its  being  exhibited  at  the  Apple 
Congress  at  Chiswick  in  1883. 
Annie  Elizabeth  is  too  shy  a  bearer  in  its  young  state  for  it  ever 
to  become  popular,  and  I  do  not  care  much  for  its  cooking  qualities. 
Golden  Noble  requires  more  than  passing  notice,  bat  should  be  grown 
as  a  standard  ;  treated  as  a  bush  it  is  a  shy  bearer.  It  is  an  excellent 
cooker,  having  that  pleasant  acid  flavour  so  agreeable  to  most  palates.  I 
am  at  one  with  Mr.  Pearson  when  he  asserts  that  Alfriston  should  have 
a  better  position,  being  a  free  bearer  and  of  excellent  quality  ;  it  keeps 
well.  Ot  course,  Wellington  on  a  warm  and  well  drained  soil  has  few 
equals,  and  it  bears  freely  as  a  standard.  Pew  Apples  have  better 
cooking  qualities  than  this  old  favourite.  Stirling  Castle  is  well  worthy 
of  its  position  as  second  in  the  list  for  bushes.  These  few  passing  notes 
do  not  by  any  means  exhaust  my  “  store  ”  of  good  cooking  Apples,  and 
I  note  several  other  old  favourites  in  Mr.  Pearson’s  election.  I  am  sure 
such  a  private  election  serves  its  purpose  ;  it  revives  old  memories,  and 
does  good  in  many  ways. — A.  Young,  Witley  Court,  Stourport. 
Noteworthy  Asparagus. 
I  READ  last  year,  and  again  this  (pages  463  and  487),  with  much 
interest  the  notes  on  the  Asparagus  grown  by  Mr.  (Jdale  on  the 
Experimental  Gardens  at  Droitwich.  I  also,  by  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
Ddale,  visited  the  Gardens,  and  was  very  much  interested  in  what 
was  being  carried  out  there.  Some  years  ago,  probably  ten  or  twelve, 
I  sent  to  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  a  specimen  of  what  I  was  cutting, 
but  I  forget  the  exact  weight,  circumference,  and  length.  I  took  some 
specimens  to  our  amateur  gardeners’  meetings  which  astonished  the 
members,  and  one  gentleman  to  whom  I  gave  a  taste  was  so  much 
interested  in  it  that  he  has  had  a  large  portion  of  his  garden  planted 
with  Asparagus.  A  few  lines  may  not  be  out  of  place  on  the  history 
of  my  successful  treatment.  The  plant  grew  from  an  accidental  seed 
in  some  soil  used  to  level  up  an  old  garden  walk  to  the  depth  of 
about  6  inches.  No  preparation  of  subsoil  took  place,  which  is  a  stiff 
clay  and  gravelled,  instead  of  being  raised,  as  is  the  custom,  into 
mounds,  ridges,  or  beds.  The  plant  grew  well  and  has  received 
manure  some  seasons,  and  in  others  nothing  but  liquid  manure,  which 
is  used  chiefly  in  summer  after  cutting  is  over,  from  a  cess-pit,  and 
slops  from  washing  days.  It  has  lasted  over  twenty  years,  and  I  had 
some  from  it  recently  for  dinner. — James  Hiam,  Astwood  Bank, 
A  London  Horticultural  Haii- 
In  view  of  the  unborn  London  Hall  of  Horticulture,  a  reference  to 
page  529  of  your  issue  of  last  week  seems  pertinent.  Certainly  America 
is  to  the  fore  in  horticulture,  for  we  there  read  of  the  example  furnished 
by  Boston,  Massachusetts.  This  enterprising  town,  as  there  stated, 
acquired  ground  in  1865  in  a  central  part,  and  erected  a  building 
containing  a  hall  equal  to  about  150  feet  square,  this  being  only  10  feet 
less  than  covered  by  canvas  annually  for  the  show  in  the  Temple 
Gardens,  as  can  be  verified  on  reference  to  page  432,  iu  your  issue  of 
24th  of  May.  Thus,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  Boston  dealt  with  an 
area  in  1865,  when  its  inhabitants  numbered  barely  a  quarter  of  a 
million,  as  London  does  now  with  twenty  times  that  population.  The 
Boston  Hall  is  now  assessed  at  about  £18,000.  It  is  being  quitted  for 
another  site,  leaving  in  the  hands  of  the  society  a  ground  value  now 
greatly  exceeding  £100,000.  Where  is  Boston  in  the  race  of  world 
cities  as  against  London  ?  and  yet  where  is  the  London  ideal  in  relation 
to  the  centre  of  horticulture  ?  London  without  any  such  centre 
certainly  stands  on  a  lower  grade  in  horticulture  than  does  Boston 
among  the  world’s  cities  ! 
Is  this  disgrace  to  be  any  longer  tolerated  by  that  colossal 
indifference  and  ineptitude  that  reign  supreme  in  these  matters  in  this 
world’s  metropolis  ?  Is  the  horticultural  world  of  London,  nay,  of  the 
kingdom  and  empire,  so  devoid  of  enterprise  and  patriotism  as  to 
begrudge  the  small  item  of  cost  that  would  fall  to  the  share  of  every 
well-to-do  Fellow,  man  or  woman,  of  the  united  horticultural  societies  ? 
Ic  would  clearly  be  an  absurdity  to  continue  to  support  two  shadows  of 
horticulture  now  prevailing  in  place  of  one  enlightened,  from  all  points 
of  view,  truly  representative  centre. 
This  centre  should  be  inaugurated  in  1904,  the  centenary  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society,  and  I  hope  then  in  connection  with  an 
International  Horticultural  Exhibition.  Is  the  Government  inaccessible 
as  regards  Green  Park — viz  ,  a  grant  of  it  to  the  R.H.S.  in  exchange 
for  the  latter  undertaking  to  maintain  the  park  as  a  modal  of  all  the 
exquisite  unconventional  plants  for  appropriate  naturalisation,  to  teach 
the  people  to  unlearn  the  craze  for  formality,  abhorred  by  Nature,  aud 
which  is  continued  in  almost  every  garden  of  the  kingdom,  turning 
them  into  gaudy  caricatures  of  noble  simple  Nature. 
Few  persons  of  any  knowledge  of  the  subject  would  doubt  that  we, 
as  a  nation,  spend  on  horticulture  annually  double  of  what  any  other 
country  in  the  van  of  civilisation  does,  and  yet  we  must  appear  as  the 
laughing  stock  of  the  world,  seeing  that  the  man  in  the  street  cannot 
show  the  way  to  our  horticultural  centre  to  strangers,  and  is  oblige  1 
vaguely  to  refer  to  “our  parks.” — H.  H.  Raschen,  Sidcup,  Kent. 
I  was  privileged  a  few  weeks  since  to  point  out  that  the  only  way 
in  which  it  seemed  possible  to  obtain  the  desired  London  home  for  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  was  through  the  instrumentalitv  of  a 
limited  liability  company.  It  has  leaked  out  that  a  site  sufficiently 
extensive,  eminently  suitable,  and  in  a  first-rate  position  for  a 
horticultural  hall  and  offices,  such  as  is  so  desirable,  has  been  offered 
for  the  purpose  at  the  small  sum  of  £45,000.  It  is  doubtful  whether  a 
better  or  cheaper  for  the  position  can  be  found  in  London.  But  it  is 
evident  that  the  R.H.S.  could  never  furnish  the  sum  required  to 
purchase  this  site,  much  less  to  spend  £50,000  on  the  needful  erections. 
For  that  reason  it  is  folly  to  expect  that  the  R.H.S.  can  provide  its 
own  hall,  which  shall  exceed  in  size  or  be  better  than  the  Drill  Hall  is. 
It  is  worth  being  known  also  that  by  the  terms  of  the  charter  the  society 
is  prohibited  from  spending  any  money  whatever  except  for  purposes 
that  are  purely  horticultural. — A  Fellow. 
