198 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  30,  19C0. 
Theee  is  a  good  deal  of  difference  between  the  beginning  and  the 
end  of  the  campaign.  In  the  former  case  it  is  all  uncertainty  ;  we  do 
not  know  who  the  combatants  may  be,  or  what  will  te  their  success  or 
failure.  Before  the  fight  really  commenc  s  one  tries  to  forecast  its 
character,  although,  as  I  have  always  maintained,  it  is  impossible  to  do 
this  with  any  degree  of  certainty,  as  everything  depends  on  the 
character  of  the  weather  for  two  or  three  weeks  before  exhibition  time. 
Keviewing  it  as  a  whole,  however,  this  has  certainly  been  an 
unfavourable  and  disappointing  season. 
With  regard  to  Kose  societies,  generally  speaking,  some  of  them 
seem  to  have  dropped  out  of  existence,  while  fresh  ones  have  been 
formed  ;  others  maintain  a  struggle  for  existence,  and  some  hold  up 
their  heads  boldly.  Changee  have  taken  place,  too,  as  must  inevitably 
be  the  case  in  the  personnel  of  our  exhibitors.  Death'  has  made  several 
gaps.  We  have  lost  our  most  distinguished  and  successful  professional 
grower,  Mr.  B.  R.  Cant  of  Colchester,  and  our  treasurer,  Mr.  T.  B. 
Haywood,  who  has  of  late  years  come  to  the  front  as  an  exhibitor  in 
our  large  classes.  However,  happily  in  neither  of  these  two  cases  do  I 
think  the  exhibitions  of  the  future  will  suffer  much.  Mr.  Cant’s  two 
sons,  on  whom  during  the  protracted  illness  of  their  father  the  burden  of 
exhibiting  rested,  will,  I  hope,  worthily  maintain  the  honour  of  their 
house,  while  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Haywood  exhib  ted  su  cessfully  at  the 
exhibition  at  the  Crystal  Palace  gives  us  good  hope  that  the  Woodhatch 
Roses  will  still  make  a  prominent  figure  in  our  future  exhibitions. 
In  looking  back  upon  the  Salisbury  Show  one  is  painfully  reminded 
of  the  loss  the  Rose  world  sustained  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Walter  H. 
Williams  some  years  ago.  Perhaps  of  all  places  in  which  the 
exhibitions  of  the  National  have  been  held  there  is  none  so  attractive 
as  that  of  Salisbury.  The  Wilts  Horticultural  Scciety  had  obtained 
permission  from  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  to  hold  its  annual  show  in  a 
meadow  adjoining  the  grounds  of  the  Palace,  and  there,  with  all  its 
beautiful  surroundings,  its  green  grass  and  stately  trees,  with  the 
graceful  tapering  spires  of  the  Cathedral  keeping  guard  over  all, 
the  lovers  of  the  Rose  had  a  treat  of  no  ordinary  kind.  As  for  the 
show  itself,  though  not  up  to  what  might  have  been  wished,  either 
in  quantity  or  quality,  it  still  had  features  of  peculiar  interest. 
I,  Amongst  amateurs  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Pemberton  carried  off  the  chief 
honours,  which  is  the  more  remarkable  because  his  garden  is  not  an 
early  one,  and  no  amateur  grower  of  whom  I  know  has  so  long  a  season 
of  exhibiting.  Garden  Roses,  as  usual,  attracted  much  attention,  and 
in  the  large  class  of  thirty-six  those  redoubtable  champions,  Messrs. 
Paul  &  Son  of  Cheshunt  and  Cooling  &  Sons  of  Bath,  made  an 
admirable  display,  while  Mr.  Charles  Turner  of  Slough  set  up  a 
beautiful  stand  of  eighteen  varieties.  A  gold  medal  was  awarded  to 
Messrs.  Alex.  Dickson  and  Sons  for  a  fine  bloom  of  Alice  Lindsell,  a 
creamy  rose  colour,  which  promises  to  be  a  superb  flower,  and  of 
considerable  staging  qualities. 
The  George  Prince  Memorial  prize,  consisting  of  cup  value  5  guineas, 
was  won  by  Mr.  Alex.  Hill  Gray  ol  Ileaulien,  Bath.  This  prize  was 
instituted  to  keep  the  memory  fresh  of  that  genial  and  successful 
rosarian,  the  late  Mr.  George  Prince  of  Oxford.  It  was  subscribed  for 
by  some  of  these  members  of  the  National  who  regretted  his  loss,  and 
in  order  that  all  growers  of  Tea  Roses  should  have  a  chance  of  obtaining 
it,  it  is  arranged  that  the  competition  should  be  for  eighteen  Tea  Roses 
the  first  year,  twelve  the  second,  six  the  next.  It  has  been  competed 
for  three  years,  and  so  according  to  the  plan  of  the  committee  the 
competition  was  for  eighteen  this.  As  might  have  been  expected 
Mr.  Hill  Gray’s  stand  contained  several  beautiful  Roses. 
At  this  early  season  many  of  the  single  Roses  were  well  exhibited. 
As  the  season  advances  these  drop  out,  and  are  succeeded  by  the 
smaller  Tea  and  Noisette  Roses.  A  very  beautiful  garden  Rose  c^lled 
Bellefieur,  not  quite  single,  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Geo.  Prince  of 
Oxford,  and  received  a  c.ird  of  commendation.  It  is  a  crimson  sc«rlet 
with  a  touch  of  yellow  at  the  base.  It  is  always  a  matter  of  interest 
to  see  what  Roses  are  worthy  of  the  medal  as  the  best  Rose  in  the 
exhibition.  In  the  amateurs’  division  the  best  H.P.  was  Mrs.  R.  G. 
Sharman  Crawford,  exhibited  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Pemberton  ;  the  best 
Tea  or  Noisette  was  Maman  Cochet,  shown  by  Mr.  A.  Hill  Gray ;  and 
the  best  II.T.,  La  France,  by  the  Rev.  A.  Foster  Melliar.  In  the 
nurserymen’s  division  they  fell  as  follows : — Messrs.  D.  Prior  &  Son 
for  La  y  Mary  Fitzwilliam  (H.T.),  Me.-srs.  Burrell  &  Co.  for  Duchess 
of  Tedford  (H.P.),  and  Mr.  Geo.  Prince  for  Comtesse  de  Nadaillac  (Tea 
or  Noisette).  It  must  be  seen  tb.at  both  new  and  old  Roses  shared  these 
honours  between  them,  while  at  the  same  time  some  of  those  flowers 
which  always  run  in  this  race  were  left  out  in  the  cold. — D.,  Deal. 
Tlfe  Growing  Popularity  of  Fruit. 
Mb.  Geoeqe  Moneo  has  been  telling  certain  interesting  facts 
from  his  experience  to  the  members  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society 
which  are  not  altogether  discouraging  to  home  cultivators.  When  he 
entered  into  business  thirty  years  ago  there  was  little  fruit  sold  in 
London  outside  Covent  Garden.  In  the  City  there  were  three 
fruiterers,  but  beyond  these  specialists  none  others  in  the  whole  of 
the  metropolis.  A  few  persons  would  open  shops  during  three  months 
from  the  end  of  June  for  the  sale  of  Strawberries  and  other  fruit,  and 
in  the  "West  End  fruit  was  retail  d  in  a  general  way  by  the  green¬ 
grocers  in  conjunction  with  vegetables,  and  in  one  case  by  a  firm  of 
wine  merchants.  During  the  decade  1870-80,  however,  the  influx  of 
American  Apples,  Bananas,  and  Pine  Apples  increased  so  greatly  that 
fruiterers  began  to  spring  up  everywhere,  and  fruit  departments  were 
attached  to  the  wholesale  stores.  Now  the  quantity  and  succession  of 
fruit,  native  and  foreign,  is  unceasing.  Forced  Strawberries  coming 
in  between  February  and  June  is  the  time  in  which  foreign  competi¬ 
tion  presses  least.  These  are  raised  in  houses  afterwards  devoted  to 
Cucumbers  and  Tomatoes.  Speaking  of  English  Apples,  Mr.  Monro 
admits  that  the  English  grower  is  improving,  but  while  his  best  are 
the  very  best,  he  sends  much  into  the  market  which  is  only  fit  for 
the  jam  pot  or  cider. 
In  Grapes  it  is  otherwise.  The  trade  in  th(  se  has  been, 
revolutionised  by  the  enormous  increase  of  the  home-grown.  Thirty 
years  ago  there  were  very  few  except  the  surplus  of  private  places,  and 
we  had  to  depend  principdly  on  the  Dutch  Hamburghs  coming  in 
round  baskets,  and  the  Lisbon  Sweetwater  through  the  autumn,  and 
through  the  winter  those  cming  from  Almeria  in  barrels.  The  Dutch 
are  never  seen  now,  being  quite  superseded  by  Channel  Islands  and 
English  ;  the  Sweetwater  from  Lisbon  and  the  Almeria  come  in  much 
larger  quantities  ;  and  of  late  years  many  tons  also  come  from  Malaga, 
Denia,  and  Mercia,  all  packed  in  cork  dust,  while  cool  chambers  bring 
a  fair  quantity  from  Cape  Colony  and  a  few  from  Australia.  But 
with  all  the  increase  in  imported  ones,  the  quant  ty  of  home-grown 
has  gone  up  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Thirty  years  ago  there  were  none 
forced  in  Guernsey,  and  at  only  one  place  in  Jersey  (Mr.  Pond’s),  but 
soon  after  that,  one  or  two  other  people  built  for  early  work  in  Jersey, 
and  a  great  many  in  Guernsey  put  up  lean-to’s  at  the  side  of  their 
dwelling-houses,  but  did  not  heat  them.  It  was  soon  found  that  the 
climate  and  soil  suited  the  Yine,  and  the  growth  has^  developed 
marvellously  in  early  and  greenhouse  Grapes,  but  the  air  being  so 
charged  with  moisture  in  winter  prevents  growers  keeping  them  late. 
The  next  place  to  go  into  them  largely  for  market  was  Wor.hing. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  there  were  only  two  or  three  small  places ;  now 
there  are  considerably  over  a  hundred.  The  climate  and  soil  there 
being  also  found  suitable,  especially  for  early  ones. 
Also  about  that  time  came  the  great  increase  from  .Scotland,  prin¬ 
cipally  late  varieties,  as  some  six  or  eight  followed  in  the  steps  of 
Mr.  Thomson  of  Clovenfords,  and  for  many  years  these  all  came  to 
London  and  sold  well ;  but  the  quantity  grown  near  here  was  steadily 
increasing,  and,  prices  falling,  caused  all  those  grown  in  Scotland  to  be 
sold  locally,  and  at  present  more  are  sent  there  from  London  than  used 
to  come  from  there.  The  quantity  now  grown  under  glass  in  the 
Channel  Islands  and  home  counties  runs  into  thousands  of  tons,  and 
covers  the  whole  of  the  year.  One  important  point  has  to  be  studied, 
and  that  ii-’,  to  take  into  account  the  natural  advantage  of  the  different 
situations,  and  grow  early  or  late  ones  accordingly.  Besides  this  great 
increase,  there  are  some  hundreds  o(  tons  grown  in  Belgium,  originally 
for  the  Paris  market,  but,  by  being  shut  out  of  there  by  a  prohibitive 
tariff,  nearly  all  come  to  London.  To  give  some  idea  of  the  trade  done 
in  winter  Grapes,  over  34  tons  were  sold  by  Mr.  Monro  in  the  week 
preceding  Christmas,  1898,  which  does  not  include  any  coming  from 
the  Channel  Islands  or  Belgium,  or  any  sold  by  other  salesmen. 
Another  great  help  to  the  development  of  trade  is  care  used  in 
grading  and  packing,  and  great  credit  is  due  to  our  growers  of  hothouse 
produce  for  success  in  that  direction.  But  this  does  not  apply  to 
growers  of  orchard  fruit  generally.  It  seems  almost  impossible  to 
make  them  realise  the  necessity  of  ])leasing  the  eye.  Quality  is  of 
course  an  important  feature,  but  it  stands  second  in  the  fruit  trade 
to  appearance.  If  a  good  fruit  looks  well  the  public  wi  1  buy  it 
and  ask  for  it  again ;  but  if  it  does  not  look  well  they  will  nt  t  buy  it 
at  all.  Foreigners  have  realised  this,  and  take  no  end  of  trouble  to  put 
fruit  not  only  on  the  market  but  on  the  consumer’s  table  in  as  perfect  a 
condition  as  possible.  They  also  grade  well,  knowing  tbat  some 
customers  have  a  demand  for  best  and  largest  fruir,  while  others  can 
do  best  with  medium.  By  suiting  both  they  put  more  money  in  their 
own  pockets  and  help  to  consolidate  a  trade. 
