332 THE GARDENER. [July 



was at Drumlaurig; and Mr Knight at Floors Castle. lie could mention a long 

 list of noblemen to wbom be had supi»lied gardeners; and he believed that in 

 every case tliey had given satisfaction. Jf he had accomplished nothing more in a 

 comparatively long and arduous life than the training and bringing into good social 

 position in the calling they followed of so many excellent men, he would have 

 felt that he had not laboured in vain. No man could occupy the position he had 

 so long filled — for nearly thirty-fcur years now as master — without doing some- 

 thing towards the promotion of horticulture as a science. He had done what lay 

 in his power to advance that noble art ; for, after all their flights of fancy and fine 

 philosophies, they must return to the earth for their sustenance. He held that 

 horticulture was the pioneer of all successful cultivation ; and the only thing 

 which he regretted in the part of it to which he belonged, was the want of a pro- 

 per definition as to what a gardener was. Every man who handled a spade or a 

 knife was called a gardener ; it would be as well to call every butcher a doctor. 

 But a man, to be a scientific horticulturist, required a course of study not very 

 different from that required by the medical profession. In fact, as surgeons the 

 gardeners were before the medical profession. For instance, if they met with a 

 tree with a bad head, they cut it off at once, and put on a good one ! The doctors 

 had not arrived at that yet ; and when they did, there would be a great demand 

 for good ones ! Mr Thomson made some further remarks expressive of his grati- 

 tude for the kindness which had been extended to him, and his pleasure at seeing 

 so many present from a distance to testify their respect for himself. He resumed 

 his seat amid loud cheers. ' 



BEPORT OF WEATHER.— 1871. 



Drumlanrig, June 14. — On June the 9th and 10th the thermometer, fully ex- 

 posed, registered 3° and 2° below freezing. North and easterly dry winds have 

 prevailed for weeks, and vegetation is languishing for want of rain, the grass 

 being quite crisp and brown. It would appear from the following, received from 

 a correspondent, that very similar weather prevails on the Continent : — 



Haarlem, June 6. — Our weather is, alas ! very raw. We have had north wind, 

 which blights everything, for six weeks continuously. The meadows are almost 

 red ; there is scarcely any grass, and the farmers are compelled to feed the cattle 

 at the steadings. Vegetables can hardly be procured, and as we have had fre- 

 quently hard frost till the beginning of June, all our Apple and Pear blossom has 

 perished. ' J. C. 



REVIEW. 



The Subtropical Garden : or. Beauty of Form in the Flower-Garden. By 

 AVilliam Robinson. John Murray, Albermarle Street, London. 

 Another volume of some 250 pages from the busy pen of Mr Robinson. He 

 has long waged a furious war against the popular system of bedding- plants in flower- 

 gardening ; and while we think he has been too indiscriminate at times in doing 

 bO, we at the same time agree with him and many others that beauty of form has 

 not been sufficiently studied in decorative gardens ; and in this volume he has 

 amplified and illustrated what many practical men have been successfully working 

 out for some years. The first part of the work is devoted to the general principles 

 of mingling plants with graceful foliage among and along with the gayer flowers ; 

 but the latter and greater part of it is taken up with practical notes, descriptive 

 and cultural, on the many plants suitable for subtropical gardening, and is illus- 

 trated with numerous engravings of what may be considered representative plants. 

 They cannot fail to be useful to those who are wishful to become acquainted 



