384- Obituary. 



by the fluctuations in the season ; but, on the whole, an improvement in 

 the prices has consequently taken place. • 



Very large supplies of potatoes from Scotland, in the month of April, 

 depressed the prices very materially, and some serious loss to the shippers 

 must have been the consequence : but, from the continued coldness of the 

 spring, they have now become more in demand, and obtain higher prices ; 

 and as the prospect of the new crop has been retarded for at least three or 

 four weeks, in consequence of the severe and frequent frosts, it is probable 

 they may maintain the present prices for some time to come. — G. C. 

 Covent Garden Ma,Let, May 19. 1831. 



Art. IX. Obituary. 



Died, on the 18th of November, 1830, suddenly, at his residence in 

 Huntingdon, Mr. James Wood, aged 38, nurseryman and florist, who had 

 been for some months afflicted with dyspepsia, accompanied by great de- 

 pression of spirits. He was highly respected in his own neighbourhood, 

 and well known to a large circle of horticulturists and florists ; having 

 for nearly twenty years had the superintendence of the business established 

 by his father at Huntingdon, which was carried on under the names of 

 " Messrs. J. Wood and Son." He I'cceived the usual education of a 

 tradesman's'son at the grammar schools of Kimbolton and Biggleswade, and 

 having early manifested great love of plants, with a singular precocity in 

 acquii-ing a knowledge of their names, peculiarities, and habits, he became, 

 when very young, a valuable acquisition to the j'apidly increasing business 

 of his father. By unremitting assiduity, punctuality in his engagements, and 

 obliging manners, and animated with an ardent deske for self-iinprovement, 

 together with great zeal in the general advancement of horticulture, he 

 soon became not only advantageously connected with the trade, but con- 

 spicuous in the floral world, and mainly contributed to the foundation and 

 prosperity of that now flourishing establishment, the " Huntingdonshire 

 Horticultural Society." In that and similar institutions at Baldock, 

 Biggleswade, Bedford, Cambridge, and Whittlesea, he was one of the most 

 successful competitors, particularly in the auricula and carnation tribes ; 

 though producing of late years at those Societies principally his own seed- 

 lings. "VVe are indebted to him for those magnificent flowers, the -Delphi- 

 nium grandiflorum majus, Dodecatheon Meadia gigantea, and the Dode- 

 catheon Meadi« elegans : the latter two raised from seeds. His sudden 

 death is deeply lamented by his family and friends, and may justly be 

 regretted bj' the profession, of which he was an ornament. — F. 



Robert Barclay, Esq., of Bury Hill, Surrey, a distinguished patron of 

 botany and vegetable culture ; and Thos. Hope, Esq., of Decpdene, near 

 Bury Hill, a man of highly cultivated taste in architecture and landscape- 

 gardenmg ; both died within the last three months. Mr. Hope was the 

 author of an Essay on Gardening, which first appeared in T/ie Review 

 of Works of Art, a periodical published some years ago. We had INIr. Hope's 

 permission to reprint this article in the Gardener's Magazine, together with 

 his promise to look over the proofs ; but, unfortunately, we neglected to 

 do this iii time to obtain the author's last corrections. How much the 

 botanical and gardening world are indebted to Mr. Barclay, this Maga- 

 zine and most of our botanical periodicals attest in almost every number 

 published during the last twenty years. Mr. Barclay was not less esti- 

 mable as a liberal enlightened, and most benevolent man, than as a patriot 

 and an encourager of botany and gardening. — Cond. 



