IRISH GARDENING 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



VOLUME X ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND November 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



Editor-J W. Besant 



Obituary* 



»OTA 



In the October number of Irish Gardening 

 interesting extracts from letters written by Mr. 

 (*. F. Ball were published, and it seems tragic to 

 learn that at the moment of publication Mr. 

 Ball was dead. The news of his death will come 

 as a shock to readers 

 of Irish Gardening 

 and to the gardening 

 fraternity in general, 

 both in Ireland and in 

 Great Britain, and will 

 evoke feelings of sincere 

 and genuine regret at 

 the loss of a friend and 

 feelings of sympathy 

 for his bereaved re- 

 latives. From news 

 recently received it 

 appears that poor Ball 

 had been in the thick 

 of the fighting, and that 

 his detachment was 

 sent to a rest camp for 

 a short respite. In the 

 rest camp he was struck 

 by a fragment of a 

 shell on 13th Septem- 

 l)er, and so seriously 

 w o u n (1 e d t h at he 

 gradually sank and 

 ])assed away the same 

 day. He went to rest 

 covered with glory and 

 honour, and followed 

 l)y loving regrets of all 

 who had the honour of 

 knowing him, l)y the 

 regrets of "all,"" as he had no enemies 

 IVom soldiers in the same detachment received 

 since his death give instances of braveries and 

 self-sacrifice unostentatiously performed, and 

 of which no hint is given in his own letters to 

 friends and relatives. These letters reflect the 

 feelings of esteem and affection entertained 

 towards liini 1)\- liis comrades. 



Mk. C. F. Ball. 



Late Editor of Irish Gakdkn 



Letters 



Charles Frederick Ball was born on 13th 

 October, 1879, at Loughborough, in Leicester- 

 shire. He was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. 

 Alfred Ball of that city. Ball commenced his 

 gardening career at Messrs. Barron & Sons' 

 Nursery at Elvaston, 

 Derby, where he re- 

 mained for three and 

 a half years. From 

 Elvaston he went to 

 Messrs. Barrs Nursery 

 at Long Ditton, work- 

 ng there for one year. 

 He entered Kew in 

 July, 1900, and was 

 ])romoted to be sub- 

 foreman in the her- 

 baceous and alpine de- 

 partment in 1902. He 

 worked with his brother 

 at market gardening 

 for a year, but, as this 

 branch of gardening 

 was not to his taste, 

 he returned to Kew. 

 In December, 1906, he 

 received an appoint- 

 ment at Glasnevin, and 

 in June, 1907, having 

 passed the necessary 

 ([ualifying exa-nination. 

 he w a s ap pointed 

 Assistant to the Keeper, 

 a position which he 

 filled with credit and 

 success until he obeyed 

 the call of duty in Sep- 



tember of last year, and joined the 7th Battalion 

 of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the " Pals "" or foot- 

 ball corps. With such a sound ])ractical training 

 and aninuxted, as he was, by a keen love of i)lants, 

 Ball c[uickly rose to a prominent position in the 

 horticultural world. He was widely known to 

 British gardeners, and regarded as a sound 

 authoritv on niativ branches of horticulture, his 



