CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 186, 6 August 1923, Page 7

CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW.

NEW ZEALAND MOUNTAIN DAIST. Wl .LEY EXHIBIT*. (From Our Own Correspondent.! LONDON. May 31. If summer comes: That is wuat we are savin;. i'Ht now. and very heartii.. for here we are in Chelsea Flower Sho* week, tramping about in mud or pr>cariouslv stemming the tide of gardening enthusiast-, on a few du.k boards let. as rafts in the sea of mud underfoot. It wa.s. of course, vvorl.i it all to see the show, which is the- climax of InRoyal Horticultural Society's year. Ihe blaze of orchid., the perfection of vegetable ami fr_i. exhibits, always to .*■ j seen Caere were perhaps al! the greater jbc-._-U__ of a humidity and cold not usuiallv associate.! with May in England. I - ."or tiie New Zealand, r. the exhibit I I which came nearest the lirart was t.;e Celn-isia Kp_..t_l.Hi_ Argen'.ift: w( 'll grown plant., but not specially so- Ihe li.hoto_r_.pli whi.li Mr. Macpherson showed | the other week of those he had growling in his own g.rJen at Dunedin were | finer specimens of New Zealand's Mountain Daisy. A South* ..neap Daisy, too. was on . how--D_i_orp.ho.heea AuranI tinea—of a most brilliant orange, worthy ! of the Oran.e Kree >t_tc! One oi the j novelties shown deserves mention as| i coming from nearer your latitude -the I j Notofazu. Antarctic—a shrub of ,he| South Polar region-. It wa- .hown by Mr. G. Reuthe. The display of Hydrangeas was c.iaracterised hy'the delicacy of the colours. and it is stated that the bo*, blues in this very decorative plant are to l>e obtained" only by growing -hem in volcanic soil—of which New Zealand has enough! It is said further thai soil, whieli has been dosed with iron will also prod ure the prized blue to the same perfections a. volcanic soil. Blue-so favourite a colour- was to he seen iv perfection also in a rockgarden of waterworn Yorkshire liniel stone. This was seen in ■the How-ere of ! the Aquilegia Glandi'.'.os.i which .Messrs. | i r-llioitt. of Stevenage, showed. They I [seem to have discovered the secret of growing this rare plant by raising it from | seed in this country, and the specimens j shown are models of healt.i and vigour. I Of the outdoor effects in lands-ape gai- I deninz —the Queen 'braved tile pouring I rain to see these—one of the mo«t admired is a dainty hit of scenery, where i a miniature torrent comes down throu_sh Somerset limestone rocks, outcropping from the earth, meandering past bankand beds of Hybrid Saxifrages, mo.-t of which are so new as not yet to have found a name. As usual, the new varieties are marked by names of the personalities of the day. Naturally, a. new orchid was named tiie Duchess of York—light red scarlet. Th. be_t ebow was made by Sir Jeremiah Colman, the best-known orchid grower I now .since Mr. Joseph Chamberlain's day. Among the orchids shown 'by iliim is a new variety, maroon spot on white, which rejoices in the name of Odonto Crispum Solem, and which lias a three-figure value set upon it. ! A show to make the mouth water was I the prize e_ihil.it of etrawlierries by 1 I.axton. It was hard to say whetther j their Sir Dougtas Haig, with its brilliant j j colour, large .ize. line flavour, and it« i early habit, was any more luscious than JThe Duke, the "best early strawberry ever' j raised." Lord Beatty. Marshal Koch, char- j j aeteristica'.y a largish but not an enor-I iinous fruit—the King <.eoige. a fine j early forcing variety obtained by .tossing Louis (Jatitier with Royal Sovereign. It is impossible to .single out more in Iso big a show, but special mention must |be given to the exhibits from Wi=lev. i he research headquarters of the R. 11.5. j One showed the growth of some quickgrowing I.eguminosac in ordinary air. I and side by side that of similar plants With a ten-fold increase in the supply of I carbonic acid. While 'the presence of this excess of carbon peroxide was marked it did not seem marked enough to have ' any commercial advantage. Research has | been carried on as to the best means ... fighting the Aster will, which has been I annoying the jieople who grow Michael- j mas daisies for years. Tile best vv.v to | beat the {Mat apparently -or rather to evade it—-b to take cuttings from the side shoots ii; spring. Another demonstration «et showed a point of value to orehar<li_t*. It demon j Crated that healthy tr.es. w_c.!_>r j fruitful or not. will (..vc bud. and grafts (for propagation, which will reproduce jvigour an.l fertility of the v.iriet.v so i as .he trees raised from theni a.c ■ grown properly and given proper stocks, soil. pT.rrting. ciiltiva'ition. ct.-. -Mr. E. A. Bunyard giv_3 an example of the painstaking research work he is carrying out with re.ard to th' origin of cultivated fruits. In this instance, .he deals with the origin of r_.l currant, and shows some interesting cro.-5,.. between w,ld specie*. Messrs. Hearson and Co of billow Walk. Bermondsev. show an example of the bath for .leatin* l.ulh. i wh,..h has enabled the Narcissus pimver ! to overcome the celwonn. which threat- I ene*t o destroy the in.iu.4n.