February  11,  1904. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
125 
Liverpool :  Annual  Meeting. 
The  twenty-fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  Liverpool  Horticul¬ 
tural  Association  was  held  in  1  ictoria  Street  on  Saturday 
evening.  The  report  wa.s  presented  and  adopted  after  various 
comments  having  been  expressed.  The  shows  held  last  year 
were  financially  a  failure,  esnecially  the  Chrysanthemum  show 
held  in  the  Drill  Hall,  Botanic  Road.  Several  new  members 
were  elected  on  the  committee  of  management,  and  various 
suggestions  were  brought  forward  as  to  how  to  make  the  shows 
more  attractive  to  the  general  public.  The  usual  donations  of 
£3  3s.  Od.  to  the  Gardeners’  Royal  Benevolent  Institution  and 
£2  2s.  Od.  to  the  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund  were  given. 
]Mr.  Thos.  Foster  presided,  and  the  usual  vote  of  thanks  was 
pa.ssed  to  that  gentleman  for  his  services.  Mr.  Shrivell,  F.L.S., 
will  lecture  on  ‘‘Manures”  on  Saturday  evening,  February  13, 
when  we  hope  to  have  a  good  attendance. — J.  S. 
Birmingham:  “Horticultural  Exhihitions.” 
Anticipatory  of  a  more  than  ordinarily  interesting  discussion 
upon  the  advantages  and  beneficent  influences  derived  from 
horticultural  exhibitions,  there  was  a  good  attendance  of  the 
members  of  the  Birmingham  Gardeners’  Society,  when  Mr. 
Walter  Jones  essayed  to  open  the  discmssion  on  February  1. 
Mr.  W.  B.  Latham,  the  esteemed  veteran  chairman  of  the  associa¬ 
tion,  presided.  Mr.  Jones  ably  digested  the  subject,  arguing  to 
the  effect  that  the  influences  of  horticultural  exliibitions  were  ■ 
far-reaching,  affecting,  as  they  more  or  less  did,  every  class 
of  the  community,  the  amateur  and  cottager  especially.  The 
rich  employer  enjoyed  in  the  highest  stage  of  ciuality  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  his  garden,  bi'  allowing  his  gardener  to  grow  them  for 
exhibition  purposes,  and  this  without  materially*  adding  to  the 
ordinary  expenditure.  At  the  same  time,  it  behoved  the  gar¬ 
dener  not  by  any  mean.s  to  neglect  his  ordinary  duties  for  the 
sake  of  exhibiting,  as  unfortunately  it  has  been  too  often  the 
case,  thus  annoying  the  employer.  Succes.sful  exhibiting  also 
augmented  the  none  too  well-paid  services  of  the  gardener,  and 
the  better  enabled  him  to  provide  a  modicum  of  support  against 
the  exigencies  of  old  age.  Illegal  and  dishonest  exhibiting  was 
severely  denounced,  and  recjuired  drastic  measures  for  its  pro¬ 
hibition,  a  potent  one  being  the  exclusion  of  the  delinc|uent 
from  ever  exhibiting  again. 
In  the  animated  discussion  which  followed  parts  were  taken 
by  Messrs.  Alfred  Cryer,  H.  Lohrman  C.  H.  Herbert,  W. 
Spinks,  R.  J.  Hamill,  W.  Gardiner,  and  F.  Dedicott.  In  pro¬ 
posing  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the  lecturer  Mr.  Thomas 
Humphreys  gave  a  concise  digest  of  the  various  arguments 
which  had  been  advanced.  A  certificate  of  merit  was  worthily 
awarded  to  Mr.  A.  Crjer  (gardener  to  J.  A.  Kenrick,  Esc]., 
Berrow  Court,  Edgbaston)  for  half  a  dozen  exceedingly  well 
grown  Cyclamen  plants,  profusely  hearing  a  multiplicity  of  very 
large  blooms  in  variety  of  colour,  Mr.  Cryer  being  esteemed  as 
the  doyen  of  growers  in  the  ^Midlands. 
The  Metropolitan  Public  Gardens  Association. 
Open  Spaces. — At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Metropolitan 
Public  Gardems’  Association,  held  at  83,  Lancaster  Gate,  on 
Wednesday  afternoon,  the  Earl  of  Meath,  chairman;  presiding, 
a  letter  was  read  from  the  IMost  Rev.  Archbishop  Bourne,  con¬ 
senting  t-o  become  a  vice-chairman  of  the  association  in  the 
place  of  the  late  Cardinal  Vaughan.  It  was  agreed  to  offer 
seats  for  St.  Giles’s  Churchyard,  Cripplegate,  for  a  .space  in 
Grove  Lane,  Camberwell,  and  for  a  proijosed  park  at  Upper 
Clapton,  and  to  make  a  grant  of  some  gymnastic  apparatus  for 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk’s  Cadet  Corps,  Mile  End  Road,  subject  to 
the  premises  being  satisfactory.  It  was  stated  that  the  associa¬ 
tion  had  agreed  to  lay  out  the  Norfolk  Square  area,  Lslington, 
specially  adapting  it  for  the  use  of  children,  at  a  cost  of  about 
£400,  which  offer  was  now  under  consideration  of  the  Borough 
Council,  and  that  trees  were  being  planted  in  the  upper  part 
of  Lamb’s  Conduit  Street,  and  in  St.  Philip’s  Churchyard, 
Battersea. 
Letters  were  read  from  the  Shoreditch  and  Camberwell 
Borough  Councils,  accepting  with  thanks  the  offers  made  by  the 
association  to  provide  handsome  drinking  fountains  for  a  site  in 
the  City  Road  and  for  Addington  Square  Garden.  It  was  stated 
that  eighteen  of  the  Metropolitan  Borough  Councils  had  now 
replied  in  favour  of  the  association’s  proposal  to  enable  them 
to  assist  in  the  provision  of  open  spaces  by  means  of  a  clause 
in  the  London  County  Council’s  General  Powers  Bill,  and  that  j 
no  adverse  replies  had  been  received.  Progress  was  reported  ' 
with  regard  to  the  scheme  for  extending  Hampstead  Heath. 
.Several  members  criticised  the  embankment  enclosure  recently 
made  in  Hyde  Park,  and  it  was  explained  that  it  was  intended 
as  a  site  for  greenhouses  and  storage  yard,  and  that  a  site 
adjoining  Kensington  Palace,  hitherto  utilised  in  this  way,  would 
be  laid  out  as  a  garden  and  opened  to  the  public,  so  that  the 
area  of  public  space  would  not  be  diminished.  It  was  agreed  to 
effer  to  adapt  the  enclosure  in  Golden  Square  for  public  u.se  if 
transferred  to  a  public  body  for  maintenance,  and  a  letter  was 
read  from  the  owners  of  .St.  Peter’s  .Square,  Hammersmith, 
which  is  in  danger  of  being  built  over,  in  regard  to  their  offer 
to  sell  this  fine  enclosure  for  £12, .100,  a  price  which  was  con¬ 
sidered  prohibitive. 
Cardiff  Chrysanthtmum :  Annual  Meeting. 
The  seventeenth  annual  meeting  of  members  of  the  above 
society  was  held  on  Friday  evening,  February  .1,  at  the  Grand 
Hotel,  West  gate  .Street,  Cardiff.  Mr.  John  Juliair  occupied  the 
chair,  and  the  interest  evinced  in  the  society  was  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  attendance  was  much  more  numeroms  than  usual. 
The  annual  report  was  submitted  by  the  chairman.  It  .stated 
that  the  year  1902  ended  in  a  loss  of  £18  Is.  3d.,  contingent  on 
the  outstanding  subscriptions  being  recovered.  Unfortunately, 
£4  9s.  was  irrecoverable,  and  this  left  a  total  deficit  of 
£22  10s.  3d.  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1903.  The  whole  of 
that  had  been  paid  off,  and  the  society  starts  this  year  clear. 
The  total  subscriptiens  for  last  year  amounted  to  £124,  about 
Caryota  excelsa. 
£8  more  than  the  year  previous.  The  door  receipts  were  most 
encouraging,  and  amounted  to  £138  os.  lid.,  being  the  highest 
since  the  year  1899,  which  was  coirsidered  a  record  year, 
£129  9s.  3d.  being  taken  at  the  doors.  Altogether,  this  was  the 
best  account  presented  for  many  years.  The  late  show  was 
admitted  to  have  betn  one  of  the  best,  both  in  respect  of  com¬ 
petitive  and  trade  exhibits.  The  date  of  the  next  show  has  been 
fixed  for  November  2  and  3. 
C,'ouncillor  Curtis  wa,s  unanimously  re-elected  president  of  the 
society.  The  whole  of  the  vice-presidents  were  re-elected.  ^Ir. 
.Tohn  "Julian  (who  vacated  the  chair)  was  unanimously  elected  a 
vice-president,  as  a  recognition  and  appreciation  of  his  services 
to  the  society,  especially  for  the  past  two  years,  during  this 
time,  as  chairman,  he  being  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  the 
society  up  to  the  high  standard  of  excellence  and  efficienc.y  to 
which  it  has  attained.  Mr.  J.  Grimes  was  elected  chairman  of 
committee;  Dir.  F.  G.  Treseder,  vice-chairman:  Dir.  H.  Gillett. 
secretary;  Dir.  Crouch,  treasurer;  and  DIessrs.  Boon  and  Dled- 
•  hurst,  auditors.  Reference  was  made  by  the  chairman  and 
