1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



them all in a growiug state it would have been better, as speci- 

 nieus of cut flowers convey no idea of the growth and habit of 

 the plant. Kor a like reason the coUeelion of herbaceous plants 

 from Mr. Ware, of Tottenham, was sliorn of much of its interest, 

 although it contained some good old things as well as new ones. 

 The double yellow Rocket (so called, but not properly so) and 

 the Fraxinella were both there, as well as other favourites. 

 Near to them was a collection of dried ornamental Grasses, very 

 interesting, and highly deserving of notice as affording, in con- 

 junction with Everlasting Flowers, the means of having a very 

 pretty bouquet at aU seasons. The Grasses referred to were 

 certainly very ornamental, but I should like to know a little 

 more about them, and whether they are easily gi-own and dried in 

 the condition of those exhibited, as their whiteness seemed to 

 indicate a bleaching process not, perhaps, easily practised by 

 every amateur who may gi-ow a patch or two in his garden. 



Another feature in the Show, and one which I have for many 

 years advocated as deserving as much encouragement as fine- 

 foliaged plants, was a collection of succiUents; their diversi- 

 ties of form and all other characters being such that no one 

 could look upon them without feeling surprised at their 

 singular gi-owth Several of them were also in flower, and 

 some not devoid of beauty. A much less interesting part of the 

 Show was a collection of Liliums, which fell far short of what 

 was expected of them. Scarcely less satisfactory was the com- 

 petition in Palms— a class of plants that might assist materially 

 in giving effect to a show, especially the tall-growing ones, in 

 which the Show, as a whole, was deficient. 



There were one or two collections of cut blooms of Pyrethruras, 

 resembling (Ternuin Asters in size and colour— a class of plants 

 I have not" vet found so satisfactor-^' as could be wished, and 

 unless hardy, or nearly so, they will scarcely answer the pur- 

 pose of tlie' ordinary Hower gardener— 1 do not mean florist. 

 I fear the aim at very large flowers will result in so many of 

 them hanging their heads down, that a smaller bloom would be 

 much more nseful. As they were staged they looked beautiful 

 enough, and possililv may not aU possess the defect I allude 

 to. Pansies were also sliowu, but as the season hitherto has 

 been so favourable to this plant, good flowers with a tolerable 

 diversity of coloirr are met with in most gardens where they are 

 tnown; whereas in a dry hot season it is no easy matter to keep 

 them alive where water is scarce. 



One more remark I must make bearing on the pubhc taste, 

 and tliat is not at all complimentary to the admirers of a class of 

 plants that have for many years been considered the aristocracy 

 of the vegetable world, and these plants are Orchids. The col- 

 lections, good as they were, received Tei7 little attention ; occa- 

 sionally an ardent admirer might be seen book and pencil in 

 hand noting their peculiarities, and it was no disparagement to 

 ill.' members of this once-exalted famUy to find that most of 

 their admirers were of the class to whom the use of lad gloves 

 is a bore ; in fact, beyond the attention paid them by gardeners 

 and professional growers, the once-aristocratic Orchids had few 

 admirers; while opposite to them, on the other side of the 

 thoroughfare, I saw a group of herbaceous Calceolarias of no 

 extraordinary merit beyond being healthy and in small pots, 

 that everyone seemed to stoop over and admire, showing un- 

 mistakeab'ly that colour, after all, is more attractive than form. 

 T cannot say that it was pleasing to see this ; for although the 

 I )rchids, from their costliness and diificirlty of gi-ow^.h, may not 

 ilesei-ve so high a position in public esteem as their most enthu- 

 siastic admirers claim for them, they are still entitled to .as 

 much attention as a varied collection of one species of flower. 

 Public taste, however, is very capricious, as was evinced in the 

 almost total neglect of some baskets of Tricolor Ger.amnms. 

 These, although well gi-own and attractive in every respect, were 

 all bnt ig:nored by the mass of observers.— J. Robson. 



U-R. GEORGE LIGHTBODY, OP FALKIRK. 



Thebe has passed away, after years of protracted sui^ering, 

 one of the foremost of the old race of florists, a race whose 

 successors it seems more and more difficult to find— who find no 

 favoiu' with the modem school, that sniff at them as narrow- 

 minded, bigoted, Ac, but who could devote their time with a 

 patience that nothing could battle to the perfecting of the 

 especial objects of their care. Such a one was George Light- 

 body, of Falkirk, of whose death I have just received an uit;- 

 matiou. We have corresponded for thirty years, but we never 

 met, and yet I feel as if 1 knew him, and his loss comes to me 

 as that of an old and valued friend. In early life Mr. Light- 

 body served in Her Majesty's navy, but retired to bis native 

 town, Falkirk, where he made himself a name, not only by the 

 skill with which he cultivated florists' flowers, but also by his 

 success in raising new varieties. In his palmy days he culti- 

 vated the Fink, Carnation, Tulip, Pansy, Auricula, and Ranun- 

 culus. He suffered for many years from a most distressing 

 complaint, and this led bim to restrict bis cultures to the 



Ranunculus, Tulip, and Auricula. The year before last he 

 parted, however, with his magnificent stock of Ranunculus to 

 my brother and myself ; and it is with a melancholy pleasure 

 I now look out froni where I am writing on the splendid beds, 

 nearly all of his own raising, that are now m full bloom in my 

 garden. Last year he parted with his collection of Tulips to 

 a gentleman near Manchester, still clinging to what I believe 

 was his especial favourite, the Auricula. With this flower his 

 name will be associated as long as Auriculas are growia, not 

 only from his own seedlings but also from that raised by Mr. 

 Headley, of Stapleford, and named after him. His Lord Clyde, 

 Richard Headley, Meteor Flag, Sir Charles Napier, and Star 

 of Bethlehem bear witness to his skill and perseverance. No 

 one knew the plant better, no one cultivated it with greater suc- 

 cess and no one was fairer or more upright in all his dealings. 

 Like so many that I have known as florists, a simple and 

 unaffected piety was a strong trait in his character ; and while 

 to many who, like myself, have never seen him, be has afforded 

 much enjoyment through bis productions, there are many who 

 will miss iiira as a kind friend and neighbour. His latter 

 years have been full of suffering, hut his spirit still remained 

 unbroken. He had even contemplated a visit to Mr. Headley 

 this year. But all is over now, and we must number him 

 amongst the many whom horticulturists mourn for ns taken 

 from them during the last year or two.— ]>., I><-iil. 



" DiEn, .Tune 9th, 1K72, at Falkirk, after very seveie and 

 lengthened suft'erings, George Ligbtbody, aged 77 years." Ihe 

 tidings that George Tnghtbodylias passed away will be received 

 by many Horists, especially the older ones among us, with 

 feelings of siucerest sorrow. Those, however, who either per 

 sonally knew Mr. I,ightbody or were acqu.ainted with hun 

 through his kindly and instructive letters, can be now but 

 Httle surprised to bear that he is gone. His life, assailed a.s 

 it bad loii" been by a disease which caused him seasons ot the 

 acutest suffering, had already lasted far beyond lus own e^ 

 pectations. Truly he had a very vocation of siiffermg, bu 

 there was most patient endurance of it. Often, in the muls 

 of some simple and toucbmg allusion to his illness, he n-ould 

 write a quiet word of bis thankfulness for the intervals of easo 

 during which he could write at all-thankfulness, as we may 

 say, for the lesser mercies of these short recoveries. Little by 

 Uttle and one by one he had laid aside most of bis favourite 

 flowers. The Tulips were the last to go. His Auriculas remain 

 behind. He told me he should keep this gentle favourite- 

 perhaps his chief-as long as be should live ; and it speaks 

 much; to my thinking, for this pearl of flowers that it could 

 have the last hold of them all upon an old man's love and lu. 

 within the shortened compass of an old man's care. If anyone 

 miagine there is " nothing much " in "the unmanageabl," 

 Auricula," let bim thmk of an attachment like to this. 



I have not the honour to belong to the now veteran Re"""' 

 tion of florists who were young men with George Lighthody 

 so am not the fittest to speak of his life and times, but we all 

 knew him for a hearty true old florist. His judgment on tlu' 

 flowers he was familiar with, his counsels on their cultivation, 

 his dealings with us in them aU were trustworthy O'rongliou 1. 

 Perhaps the Auricula and Ranunculus, especially the toime , 

 are the florists' flowers with which the naiue of^''^"^f /;'f''/. 

 body remains most intimately connected. Although he told 

 me be had forty years' work with the Auricula and mo- 

 destly called his success in raismg new varieties but small, 

 still we shaU have some of bis flowers for long to come. He 

 hoped some one would lead the Auricula on, and !"« ;™>* 

 were not lost on me for one. No one, I believe, would have 

 rejoiced more than George Ligbtbody to see improvemen s 

 beyond his own. I was to he careful to show bmi any, and he 

 took great pains to aid other younger growers beside myself. 



I repeat, I cannot attempt to do adequate justice to t he 

 memory of George Ligbtbody, but having been ^"t;"^*"^ ^^^ ' 

 a mission to simply announce bis death, I "^"""t ^f ^/^/^ 

 from the few words I have written over a very kind fi.eiul t . 

 me, and a very old friend of my father's before me.-K J). 

 HoENER, A'l'rA-fc;/ Malieanf, Eipmi- 



LAMPORT HALL. 

 LAJiroaT Hall, Northampton, is the seat of Si'' tni"rles 

 Edmund Isham, Bart., and is near the railway station of the 

 same name, about six miles to the north o the county town 

 on the Ime between BUsworth and Market H'ir\oro 'Sh In 

 Domesday Book it is named Langeport.bemg the Anglo-Saxon 



