302 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
October  1,  1903 
everyone,  including  exhibitors  and  officials,  was  to  do  bis  best, 
and  tbe  best  can  bardly  be  overrated. 
In  some  quarters  somewhat  gloomy  forecasts  were  made 
regarding  tbe  shows,  which  were  certainly  justified,  considering 
the  unfavourable  season  now  drawing  to  a  close,  but  there  is  a 
common  saying  that,  no  matter  what  the  season  may  happen 
to  be,  there  is  always  something  good  to  be  seen  at  shows. 
This  was  certainly  true  so  far  as  it  applied  to  the  Chiswick  Exhi¬ 
bition,  and  it  afforded  proof  of  the  British  gardener’s  capacity 
for  overcoming  climatic  difficulties.  We  may  fairly  say  that  we 
have  no  ambition  to  see  a  finer  display  of  vegetables,  and  if 
there  were  any  doubts  about  a  vegetable  show  being  of  sufficient 
interest  to  attract  the  public,  we  hope  the  Chiswick  display 
has  removed  it.  Fruit  has,  perhaps,  been  better  shown  and  in 
greater  quantity,  but  think  of  the  season,  realise  the  fact  that 
the  country  is  generally  fruitless,  and  it  will  be  agreed  that  this 
division  was  an  unqualified  success. 
We  are  writing  only  of  the  first  day,  when  the  attendance 
seemed  good,  and  though  it  did  not  include  the  select  members 
of  Society,  such  as  may  be  seen  on  the  green  sward  in  the 
Temple  Gardens,  it  was  comprised  of  an  interested,  practical, 
hardTheaded  collection  of  horticulturists,  who  for  the  most  part 
knew  and  understood  the  points  of  the  produce  staged.  They 
criticised  in  some  cases,  and  admired  in  the  majority,  and  many, 
we  think,  went  away  with  the  acknowledgement  to  themselves 
that  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  learnt  in  the  art  of  growing  and 
staging  high-class  fruit  and  vegetables.  We  can  only  hope  that 
this,  the  first  great  combined  show  of  fruit  and  vegetables  held 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  will  be 
the  forerunner  of  many  others.  This  sentiment,  if  we  mistake 
not,  was  shared  by  the  various  members  of  the  horticultural 
fraternity  who  trooped  from  Chiswick,  having  visited  its  last 
show  in  the  late  afternoon  on  Tuesday,  to  join  in  the  first,  but 
we  hope  not  the  last,  gathering  of  its  kind — the  gardeners’ 
dinner. 
The  Rise  of  the  Daffodil. 
The  great  Daffodil  Conference  of  1884  opened  up  new  possi¬ 
bilities,  and  hybridisers  were  soon  at  wmrk,  and  seven  years  later 
new  Daffodils  were  being  put  before  the  R.H.S.  Daffodil  Com¬ 
mittee  for  honours.  Prices  went  up,  and  now  you  . can  buy  a 
Daffodil  for  700s.  One  lady  paid  a  few  years  back  1,000s.  for  one 
named  after  her.  I  knew  an  amateur  who  sold  his  watch  to  buy 
a  new  Pansy.  A  poor  weaver  at  Nottingham  walked  twenty 
miles  to  get  a  little  offset  of  a  Tulip,  for  which  he  paid  10s.,  when 
someone  suggested  to  him,  would  it  not  have  been  better  to  have 
spent  the  money  on  shoes  for  your  children  ?  but  that  friend  was 
not  himself  a  collector.  A  former  clerk  to  Billingsgate  Market 
bought  at  a  public  auction  some  fifty  or  sixty  years  back,  for  the 
sum  of  seventy  odd  pounds,  a  variety  of  Tfilip  to  add  to  his 
collection.  During  the  Tulipomania  in  Holland,  a  man  ex¬ 
changed  a  carriage  and  pair  of  grey  horses,  with  all  the  trappings, 
and  £300,  for  a  Tulip.  What  the  future  of  the  Daffodil  craze 
may  be  I  should  not  venture  to  forecast.  I  have  heard  of  a  syndi¬ 
cate  of  amateurs  who  have  given  a  Daffodil  raiser  £500  for  a  por¬ 
tion  of  his  new  Daffodils,  and  a  trading  firm  have  invested  £500 
in  the  same  man’s  new  varieties. 
While  the  taste  was  growing  in  Australasia  Mr.  G.  S.  Tithe- 
ridge,  the  well-known  theatrical  artist  there,  was  smitten  with 
Daffodils,  and  became  the  exponent  and  special  pleader  of  the 
family  in  his  own  fascinating  style,  as  he  travelled  from  town  to 
town  and  mixed  with  the  flower-loving  amateurs.  Mr.  Triggs, 
Wellington,  New  Zealand,  also  a  gentleman  at  The  Hut,  near 
Wellington,  were  early  pioneers  in  cultivating  and  spreading  the 
taste  for  Daffodils  by  allowing  access  to  their  collections.  Mr. 
Triggs  frequently  lectured  on  the  beauties  of  the  flower.  At 
Dunedin,  New  Zealand,  the  same  progressivei  spirit  was  mani- 
fe.sted  in  the  headmaster  of  the  Boys’  High  School  lecturing  on 
all  occasions,  and  getting  his  townsfolk  to  become  Daffodil 
amateurs. 
The  leaseholder,  or,  as  he  is  called,  “King  of  the  Isles  of  Scilly,” 
and  his  tenants  derive  a  large  annual  income  from  the  flowers  I 
popularised.  Some  six  years  ago  I  chanced  to  meet  Mr.  Dorrien- 
Smith,  and  he  informed  me  that  he  and  his  tenants  had  shipped 
that  year  to  the  mainland  150  tons  of  cut  Daffodil  flowers.  A 
few  years  before  that  time,  when  on  a  visit  to  him,  he  was  proud 
in  telling  me  fifty  tons  has  been  shipped  that  spring,  and  he 
seemed  to  think  he  had  about  reached  the  limit.  The  quantity 
he  now  ships,  supposing  that  the  development  has  gone  on  at 
the  same  ratio  of  increase,  should  be  about  300  tons. 
In  the  Colonies  of  Australasia,  especially  Melbourne,  the 
flower  boys  sell  an  immense  quantity  of  Daffodils,  “  Princeps  ” 
being  the  favourite,  and  as  there  are  warmer  and  colder  climates 
within  a  few  miles  of  Melbourne,  for  many  weeks  in  succession 
the  Melbourne  public  can  have  their  posy  of  Daffodils  for  a  few 
pence  to  adorn  their  rooms.’  Indeed,  the  Melbourne  people  have 
Daffodils  in  one  form  or  another  for  several  months. 
To  show  the  interest  taken  in  these  flowers,  when  chatting 
with  the  members  of  the  Horticultural  Society  of  Dunedin,  one 
man  told  me  that  he  had  travelled  sixty  miles  to  hear  what  I  had 
to  say  on  the  subjecfiof  his  favourite  flower,  and  for  weeks  after 
letters  of  invitation  were  following  me.  At  Dunedin  and  Inver¬ 
cargill  I  was  made  a  life  member  of  their  horticultural  societies. 
In  Tasmania  the  Daffodil  amateurs  are  numerous,  both 
here,  in  New  Zealand,  and  Australia  I  found  holders  of  the 
newest  Daffodils,  costing  from  200s.  to  300s.  for  one  bulb.  These 
were  very  advanced  Daffodil  amateurs. — (From  an  essay  on 
“  Ancient  and  Modern  Daffodils,”  by  Mr.  Peter  Barr.  V.M.H.) 
Garden  of  the  Royal  School,  Bath. 
The  position  of  Mr.  Drew  as  gardener  to  this  College  at  Bath 
is  not  at  all  an  enviable  one.  The  reasons  annexed  are  that  the 
soil  is  a  stiff,  hard,  unyielding  clay,  cold  and  most  ungenerous  to 
the  tiller ;  and  while  the  ground  is  so  unconquerable,  the  aspect 
lies  high  and  exposed,  and  Bath  is  a  hilly  place  without  a  doubt, 
swept,  too,  in  places  by  winds  the  reverse  of  tender.  Yet  here 
has  Mr.  Drew  lived  and  laboured  for  full  twenty  years,  keeping 
and  dressing,  planting  and  sowing,  and  to  some  purpose,  too,  as 
I  will  presently  show.  He  speaks  in  terms  of  the  warmest  praise 
of  the  Principal  of  the  College,  whose  kindly  addresses  have  been 
the  mainspring  of  the  gardeners’  persistence. 
Truly,  April  is  not  the  time  to  see  a  garden  aright,  but  facts 
can  still  be  gleaned.  To  start  with,  I  was  shown  an  exceedingly 
fine  plantation  of  Sovereign  Strawberries.  This  amounted  to  half 
an  acre  ;  yet  from  so  small  an  area  the  yield  in  pounds  avoir¬ 
dupois  in  *1902  was  1,100,  making  an  average  of  lib  per  plant. 
The  cultural  practice  is  to  take  the  runners  in  August,  grow  on 
the  plants,  but  nip  off  their  flower.s  during  the  next  summer,  and 
allow  them  to  fruit  the  year  after  that ;  or,  in  other  words,  at 
two  years  of  age.  They  are  planted  2ift  apart,  and  liberally 
treated. 
Dessert  ought  tO'  follow  dinner,  but  here  I  have  served  it  first. 
However,  to  Cabbages  ;  and  perhaps  few  have  heard  of  a  variety 
of  Cabbage  named  Goldfinder,  but  from  what  I  saw  of  it  here 
it  is  a  gem  for  spring  work,  forming  neat  conical  heads  that  are 
firm  without  being  hard.  Mr.  Drew  has  grown  the  variety  for 
thirty  years,  and  before  him  his  father  grew  it.  As  the  old 
gentleman  has  a  well-experienced  son  in  charge  of  a  large 
southern  garden  now  in  the  making,  it  will  likely  become'  an 
heirloom  (!)  and  some  day  may  “  bolt”  (in  a  double  sense)  upon 
the  world  with  a  great  history  behind  it.  An  early  summer 
sowing  gives  plants  fit  to  plant  by  the  end  of  September,  and 
these  are  cut  in  March.  Broccoli  are  well  done  ;  and  from  one 
acre,  a  sufficient  stipply  of  Potatoes  for  an  e,stablishment  number¬ 
ing  140  persons  is  generally  available.  The  varieties  depended 
upon  are  Fp-to-Date,  Beauty  of  Hebron,  and  Snowball. 
In  the  way  of  fruit  trees,  the  Victoria  Plums  make'  a  good 
showing,  and  a  crop  of  half  a  ton  was  taken  in  1902  from  a  very 
few  trees.  There  are  no  fine  fruit  walls  here,  yet  this  does  not 
minimise  the  productivity.  Extra  credit  is  due  to  the  gardener 
in  this,  that  he  not  only  tends  them  personally,  and  that  at  a 
disadvantage,  but  he  has  raised  them  and  grafted  them  himself. 
In  this  garden,  ero  w©  C(uit  it,  the  'visitor  will  further  observe 
that  it  can  produce  a  good  Yew  hedge,  for  there  is  one  here 
going  up  Oft  high,  and  the  same  in  breadth.  What  a  growth 
And  how  long  was  it  in  developing  these  proportions?  This  I 
cannot  tell.  That  Mr.  Drew  has  plenty  to  do,  and  has  many 
drawbacks,  no  one  who  has  been  over  the  fourteen  acres  of  col¬ 
lege  grounds  and  gardens  will  controvert-,  and  that  he  does  his 
duty  well,  will  also  be  undisputed.  His  vegetable  quarters,  his 
fruit  trees,  lawns,  and  his  long  flower  border  bespeak  an  anxious, 
assiduous  man,  and  what  I  have  told  of  the  soil  and  i^pcct 
further  emphasises  the  courage  he  evinces  in  his  labours.  H. 
Hybeidists  Axn  “Heredity.” — ;In  a  recent  lecture  Mr.  Bateson 
said  that  hybridists  were  all  limited  in  their  operations  by  the 
laws  of  heredity.  To  everyone  it  was  a  personal  question  \\  hat 
had  he  got  from  his  forbears? — How  much  was  he  likely  to 
imitate  the  qualities  of  his  parents?  The  means  they  had  or 
solving  this  problem  were  based  on  the  discovery  that  Mendel 
made.  That  discovery  was,  in  the  cases  of  the  crossing  of  Peas> 
that  each  germ  cell  would  carry,  not  whole  characters  of  the 
parent  that  produced  it,  but  some  of  them.  The  first  problem 
-ivas— What  were  the  laws  that  governed  the  segre¬ 
gation  of  characters?  The  second  was  \v  hat  would 
happen  when  these  different ,  types  met  each  Mher 
in  fertilisation?  It  often  happened,  he  added,  that  hybrids 
produced,  instead  of  two  parental  types,  a  whole  senes  of  types, 
and  that  each  had  a  different  behaviour  in  heredity.  These  were, 
for  the  most  part,  forms  with  which  the  practical  breeder  was 
concerned,  and  by  knowledge  of  their  properties  he- would  be  able 
to  fix  such  types  as  he  needed  with  certainty. 
