74 
JOUBiVAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  C0TTA9E  GARDENER. 
January  28,  1904. 
“  Sersieties.” 
I  must  first  explain  to  you,  Mister  Heclitor  and  readers  all, 
that  there’s  bin  ruckshons  in  my  little  family  sirkle  since  last  I 
rote.  The  fact  is,  my  missus  has  set  her  foot  down,  and  when 
she  does  that  I  can  asshnre  yon  that  a  big  lump  falls.  The 
>:tand  the  owd  wooman  takes  is  that  I’m  makin’  a  name  in  the 
world  o’  literatoor,  and  that  I  ought  to  no  longer  be  known 
simply  as  “  the  man  who  serves  the  kitchen,”  but  that  my  full 
and  ’onered  family  name  should  be  at  the  foot  of  all  future 
artikels  I  rite  for  th’  Jernel.  Now,  I’m  a  modest  chap  ineself, 
Mr.  Heditor,  and  would  rather  ha’  .stuck  to  th’  owd  title,  but 
th’  missus  nil  have  no  nay,  so  I've  done  as  th’  lawyers  often 
do  when  they’ve  drained  all  th’  money  out  o’  both  sides  in  a 
case — I’ve  effected  a  comproini.se  l)v  using  th’  name  as  wos  giv'o.n 
to  me  by  my  godfethers  and  godmothers  in  my  baptism,  etc., 
which  is  .Jim,  and  as  I’m  gen’rally  called  owd  dim  in  th’  pottin’ 
shed,  I’ve  ventured  to  add  that  ’ere  adjective  as  well.  In  this 
way  both  th’  missus  and  me  is  satisfied,  and  ’oping,  Mr.  Heditor, 
as  you’ll  be  th’  same.  I’ll  jierceed  wi’  my  tale. 
Sersieties  is  all  the  go  just  now,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  if 
a  chap  wants  to  bring  hisself  afore  the  publick  in  th’  gardening 
world  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  .start  one.  (I  may  tell  you.  IMr. 
Heditor,  that  I’ve  an  ideer  o’  my  own  for  an  Amalgamated 
Sersiety  o’  Garden  Laberers,  but  I  can’t  start  it  goin  just 
yet  cos  I  ain’t  quite  sure  where  th’  moneys  coinin’  from.)  I 
gather  from  what  I  see  in  th’  .Jernel  from  time  to  time  that 
th’  Royal  Horticultooral  Sersiety  is  goin’  .strong,  and  wot  wi’ 
a  new  ’all  in  ljunnon  and  a  new  garden  in  a  nice  quiet  part 
o’  th’  country  somewheer  far  from  th’  maddin’  crowd  wheer 
nobody  can  get  at  it,  the  outlook  seems  bright.  More  fellers 
keep  flockin’  in,  they  tell  me,  and  I  ’ave  thorts  o’  sendin’  my 
own  modest  guinea,  hut  as  it  happens,  our  ’ead  man  is  a 
F.R.H.S.,  and  doe.sn’t  forget  to  rite  th’  letters  aider  his  name, 
and  if  he  seed  letters  come  to  th’  garden  addressed  to  Mister 
Jim - ,  F.R.H.S.,  he  might  not  like  it,  and  I’m  a  man  o’ 
peace. 
Chrysantliems,  Roses,  Dahlias,  and  Sweet  Peas  all  has  their 
sersieties,  and  now  I  ’ear  there’s  bein’  a  spechial  one  made  for 
taturs  and  another  for  th’  gardeners  as  grows  ’em.  From  wot 
I  can  make  out  o’  th’  gardeners’  association  it’s  th’  outcomo 
of  a  gilrdeners’  dinner  as  took  place  la.st  autumn.  Now 
gardeners  like  a  dinner  above  all  things,  cos  it  gives  ’em  such 
oppertunities  for  pattiiT  each  other  on  tlT  back  and  mutual 
hadmiration,  and  I  would  sugge.st  to  th’  infant  association  that 
it  arranges  at  leest  two  dinners  a  year,  and  as  many  more  as 
it  can  .see  its  way  to  work  in.  Dinners  I’m  conwinced  is 
essential  to  th’  welfare  and  siicksess  o’  th’  Gardeners’  A.s.socia- 
tion.  I’m  told  that  one  o’  th’  holijects  o’  th’  body  is  to  raise 
th’  status  o’  gardeners.  Werry  good,  and  if  it  can  see  its  way 
to  raise  their  wages  at  th’  same  time,  and  do  somethin’  towards 
th’  increase  o’  laberer’s  stipends  as  well,  so  much  th’  better.  I 
can’t  see  much  good  in  raisin’  th’  status  (wotever  that  mav  bo 
in  this  partikler  case)  unle.ss  th’  income  goes  up  along  with  it. 
Gardeners  ain’t  to  be  doinestick  .servants  aider  tlT  Association 
gets  inter  lull  swing,  remember  that,  but  just  exacklv  wot  they 
will  lie  ain’t  bin  made  quite  clear  as  yet. 
It  seems  to  me  my  gardenin’  friends  as  the  Association  is 
goin’  to  divide  yer  up  inter  lots,  or  grade  yer,  .same  as  they 
does  Apples  and  Tatuis,  so  that  when  a  gentleman  engages  a 
gardener  he’ll  apply  to  the  Association  for  a  number  one,  two, 
or  three  just  according  to  th’  .soart  o’  chap  he  wants,  and  the 
iunount  o’  wage  he  can  pay.  I  don’t  know  whether  this  will 
eventually  lead  to  gardeners  liein’  registered  and  numliered 
same  as  motor  cars,  cos  if  so  it  ’ud  lie  rather  amusin’  to  see 
all  th'  gardenin’  fraternity  at  th’  Temple  Show,  for  instance, 
wi’  their  number  badges  on. 
M  hether  jerneymen,  inside  foremen,  outside  foremen, 
kitchen  garden  foremen,  flower  garden  foremen,  and  foremen 
over  th  Mustard  and  Cress  department  (it  takes  a  lot  o’  fore¬ 
men  to  run  a  decent-sized  garden)  will  be  included  as  members 
o’  the.  Association  I  don’t  know  ;  Init  if  some  o’  th’  samples  as 
I’ve  come  across  are  to  be  graded,  somebody’.s  goin’  to  ’ave  a 
tough  job.  I  ’ear  that  one  o’  tli’  suggestions  is  that  gardeners 
shall  pass  an  examination  (Ibr!  I’m  sorry  for  some  of  ’em),  but 
if  this  is  so,  all  th’  men  may  as  well  emigrate  to  Canady  at 
once,  cos  tli’  women  can  lick  tlnur  ’eads  off  at  passin’  exami- 
nashons  judgin’  from  th’  record.s  o’  th’  R.H.S.  and  th’  way 
tho.se  la.sses  from  Swanley  and  other  places  capture  th’  marks. 
I  nivver  knowed  but  one  lady  gardener  bv  examination,  and 
she  went  and  married  th’  butler  afore  she’d  bin  in  her  place 
three  months,  so  her  gardenin’  cai’eer  was  nipped  i’  th’  bud 
early. 
Wot  the  Associashun  will  do  for  gardeners  remains  to  be 
seen,  but  I  wish  it  well,  and  in  the  meantime  I’m  waitin’  to 
see  if  any  o’  th’  offishals  are  to  be  paid,  cos  if  so  I  may  interest 
my.self  further  in  it. 
Tatnr.s  ’ave  bin  verv  much  to  the  front  lately,  and  wen  I 
think  o  th’  price  of  them  Northern  Stai'S  and  Elderados  my 
mouth  fairly  waters  for  fh’  possession  of  a  few  ton  of  ’em.  I 
shouldn’t  plant  ’em,  you  bet.  So  at  last  the  old  tatur  is  goin’ 
to  ’ave  a  serciety  all  on  its  own,  is  it?  W^erry  good,  and  it’.s 
a  wonder  to  me  as  nobody  has  thort  o’  such  a  thing  afore. 
Bein’  a  bit  of  a  tatur  man  myself  I  asked  the  old  wooman  to 
look  inside  o’  th’  best  teapot,  as  stands  on  th’  chest  o’  drorers 
and  see  if  there  wos  a  spare  harf  crown  there  for  a  .sub.skrip.shon, 
but  my  missus  is  a  wooman  o’  bisness  and  afore  she’d  move,  a 
peg  .she  wanted  to  know  wot  this  tatur  serciety  is  goin’  to  do. 
She  floored  me  a  bit  there,  but  I  weedled  th’  harf  crown  out  on 
her  b,y  telling  her  wot  it  do. 
Last  yere  I  wanted  a  few  tip-top  taturs  just  to  take  the 
shine  out  of  a  chap  with  at  our  flower  show,  .so  I  sends  for 
harf  a  dozen  .soarts  from  different  places  and  plants  ’em.  Would 
you  beleeve  it,  but  wen  I  coom  to  dig  ’em  they  wos  so  much 
alike  that  I  was  afraid  o’  stagin’  ’em  as  distink  varieties  for 
fear  o’  bein’  disqualified,  and -o’  course  the  other  chap  got  the 
prize.  Perhaps  th’  new  .serciet.y  nil  put  a  bit  of  a  check  on  th’ 
traffik  in  new  varieties,  so  as  one  can  depend  on  ’em  bein’ 
distink.  Elderados  and  Discoverys  ain’t  affected  my  pocket 
much  yet,  cos  I  think  this  ’ere  boom  is  all  ’umbug;  but  you 
may  bet  your  bottom  dollar  that  if  there  are  fortuns  to  be  made, 
out  o’  new  taturs  th’  market  won’t  be  short  of  ’em  unles; 
there’s  some  di.sh interested  authority  just  to  tell  folk  the  truth 
about  ’em. 
I  .should  like  to  see  one  reeal  good  tatur  show  afore  I  ’ands 
in  my  checks  and  there  seems  a  chan.se  o’  such  a  thing  now. 
There’s  one  thing  to  be  remembered,  howivver,  shows  cost 
money,  and  th’  trials  as  they’re  talkin’  about  ain’t  goin’  to 
be  run  wi’out  spendin’,  so  it  seems  to  me  that  if  th’  tatur 
sersiety  is  goin’  to  flourish,  a  good  menny  folks  had  better 
follow  th’  hexample  of  your  ’umble  servant  and  .send  in  their 
subskripshons.  They  needn’t  confine  themselves  to  harf 
crowns  if  they  can  afford  more. 
I  would  serge.st  as  th’  tatur  sersiety  lias  a  kind  o’  medikal 
committee  as  nil  be  able  to  tell  us  why  .sertin  taturs  won’t  grow 
arter  they  are  planted,  and  why  di.sease  upsets  the  show  so 
much  in  spite  o’  Bordo  Mixcher  ;  fact  we  want  some  authority 
to  go  to  wen  in  trouble  ’stead  o’  blunderin’  on  i’  th’  dark 
same  as  we  do  now. 
I  ’ear  that  the  As.sociation  referred  to  is  goin’  to  klassifv 
gardners  and  th’  other  .sersiety  is  goin’  to  do  the  same  wi  taturs. 
Whether  gardeners  want  klassifying  I’ll  leave  others  to  judge, 
but  that  taturs  do  there  ain’t  a  .shadder  of  a  dont  w’en  kidneys 
and  rounds  is  so  mixed  up  that  you  can’t  tell  t’other  from 
which.  There’s  roomers  o’  makin’  that  peetrol  stuff  wot  drives 
motors  along  out  o’  taturs,  but  if  it  makes  ’em  go  any  faister 
than  they  do  now  I  shan’t  vote  for  it,  and  they  tell  me  as  tlT 
fiskal  problem  affects  taturs.  I  ain’t  ’eard  yet  whether  the  tatur 
sersiety  is  to  be  considered  a  free  trade  body  or  whether  it 
throws  in  its  lot  along  o’  Joe,  but  there’s  a  tork  o’  Lord  Ro.se- 
berry  bein’  th’  fust  president,  and  we  know  his  views  on  the 
subject  of  tariffs.  However,  it’s  early  days  yet  to  tork  about 
th’  politiks  o’  th’  new  sersiety,  and  the  thing  is  to  teet  it  goin’. 
My  missus,  who’s  tried  to  boil  three  or  four  o’  my  crack  soarts 
so  as  we  could  eat  ’em,  but  ain’t  suckseeded  yet,  says  as  it’.s 
time  summat  wos  done  to  stop  ’ard-working  men  from  throwin’ 
their  money  away  on  things  as  ain’t  no  good,  and  her  opinions 
are  good  enough  for — Old  Jlm. 
- - - 
The  Seed  Order. 
(  ConeVudeJ  from  pa<je  52.  ) 
Brussels  Sprouts. — The  Cambridge  has  .stepped  into  a  vacant 
place,  and  will  probably  be  more  inquired  after  this  seed  order 
time.  There  are,  however,  so  many  really  excellent  stocks  of 
these  that  the  rest  which  raisers  have  apparently  taken  can  be 
appreciated  by  growers  generally.  All  the  leading  seedsmen 
have  a  selection  of  their  own,  which,  according  to  individual 
opinion,  defy  competition.  Sutton’s  Dwarf  Gem  has  been  very 
good;  so  also  has  Market  Favourite,  Dobbie’s  Selected,  and 
Williams’s  Exhibition. 
Runner  Be.lns. 
Hackwood  Success  is  the  late.st  comer,  and  its  credentials 
point  eloquently  to  a  usefid  future.  One  would  think  in  review¬ 
ing  the  many  dozens  of  handsome  dishes  at  summer  shows  that 
the  acme  of  perfection  had  already  been  found.  Champion, 
Sutfon’s  Best  of  All,  really  a  fine  Bean,  Holborn  Seedling,  Too- 
good’s  Triumph  and  Excelsior  and  others  perhaps  as  good  as 
many  hope  tor. 
Broccolis 
await  a  severe  winter  to  determine  once  again  intrinsic  hardiness 
of  character.  So  long  as  the  weather  does  not  become  too  near 
the  zero  point,  and  makes  but  short  .stays,  any  of  the  kinds 
may  he  depended  on  in  their  season,  and  there  is  ample  and  to 
spare  in  each  section.  I'p  to  the  time  of  writing  wc  have 
