January 27, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



63 



following honorary officers of the several auxiliaries which 

 hae been and are of such invaluable assktance to the 



Institution :— 



BRISTOL AND BATH. 



/ residents. 

 Col. H. Cary Batten. 



lit. Hon. Earl Beau- 

 champ, K.C.M.G. 



Hon. Treasurers. 



\V. A. Gar away, 

 Esq. 



WORCESTER. 



John White, Esq. 



Hon. Secretaries. 

 Mr. Geo. Harris. 



Mr. Percy 

 White. 



G 



DEVON AND EXETER. 



| Mr. W. Mackay. | Mr. W. Mackay, 



WOLVERHAMPTON. 



C. T. Mander, 

 J.P. 



Esq., 



Mr. Geo. Bnidley. 



Mr. Geo. Bradley, 



BERKSHIRE, 



Mrs. Rowland Sper- 

 ling. 



READING AND DISTRICT. 



Arthu. W. Suttcn, 

 Esq., J . P . , 

 V.M.H. 



Mr. I*. Castle, 



LIVERPOOL AUXILIARY. 



The Rt. 



Earl 



KG. 



Hon. The 

 of Derby, 



Mr. A. J. Criptin. 



Mr. R. G 



man. 



Water- 





Unfortunately the Committee have to deplore the loss of 

 a large number of subscribers by reason of death during the 

 past year, amongst those may be mentioned :— Mr. James 

 Douglas, Mr. James Walker, both members of committee, 

 the former having served on the Board for 35 years. Both 

 these gentlemen were whole-hearted supporters of the Insti- 

 tution, and their presence and help will be sadly missed. 



In conclusion, the Committee most ea-rnestly appeal for 

 further support and renewed effort on behalf of this 

 National Horticultural Charity. After tc-day's election 

 there will be 51 applicants left on the list who are appeal- 

 ing for aid, every one of them fully investigated deserving 

 cases. To help them, an increased income is sorely needed, 

 although the Committee are deeply sensible of the generous 

 support accorded to them in the past, they again plead for 

 further aid to enable them to extend the benefits of the 

 Charity to those who are in so much need. 



HARRY J. VEITCH. Chairman. 

 GEORGE J. INGRAM, Secretary. 



Messrs. Donald MacDonald, E. A. Bun- 

 yard (of the Royal Nurseries, Maidstone), and 

 R. G. Cuthbert (of the firm of Messrs. R. & G. 

 Cuthbert, Southgate Nurseries, Middlesex) were 

 elected members of the committee. 



FRIENDLY SUPPER. 



A good company assembled in the evening of 

 the same day at the annual friendly supper, the 

 chairman on this occasion being Mr. S. M. Segar. 

 In the course of the proceedings, Mr. N. N. Sher- 

 wood announced his intention of making a dona- 

 tion of £20, to be divided between the unsuc- 

 cessful candidates at the election. Mr. George 

 Munro gave a sum of £10 towards a pension in 

 favour of one of the candidates. 



ULSTER HORTICULTURAL. 



January 11. — The annual meeting of this 

 society was held on the above date under the 

 presidency of the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr. 

 R. J. M'Mordie, M.P. The income from all 

 sources amounted to £725 3s. 8d., and the ex- 

 penditure to £760 16s. 6d. 



Mr. Alexander Dickson, in seconding the adop- 

 tion of the report, stated that an important fea- 

 ture of the year's work had bean the extending of 

 direct financial assistance to the society by the 

 Department of Agriculture. The society had for 

 many years been spending a great deal of money, 

 for which the public who subscribed saw very 

 little return beyond a few dishes of ordinary mar- 

 ket fruit iu the show. But in St. George's Market, 

 when the fruit was coming in from the country 

 in the course of business, there could be observed 

 eigns of the marked improvement in the packin" 

 grading, and handling of the fruit, the result of 

 this branch of the society's efforts. The Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture had at last acknowledged 

 that this work was worthy of support, and had 

 helped them generously. 



The following office-bearers were elected:— 

 President, the Lord Mayor of Belfast (Mr. R. J. 

 MMordie, MA, M.P.); hon. treasurer, Mr. 

 Uayid Allen; hon. secretary, Mr. Thomas Paul: 

 and secretary, Mr. J. MacBride. 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL. 



The annual meeting of this 



January 16. 

 association was held" on this date! Mr. Massie, 

 presided, and there were 155 members present. 



I he annual report stated that the work of the 

 association had been well maintained, and that 

 tnere had been an average attendance of 100 



tLJ a° rdinar y meetings. The list of members 

 showed a small decrease for the year. The 

 Chrysanthemum Show resulted in a profit of 



v£LT i 1 fhe . council recommended a re- 

 W ?K 6 ^trtution and by-laws, embody- 



ing the proposals set forth by the president in 

 his inaugural address, and providing for other 



developments in the near future. The leading 

 proposals were: A readjustment of the finances; 

 immediate steps to be taken to start a fund for 

 the foundation of a Horticultural Institution and 

 Library ; more facilities for the young men to take 

 part in the work ; and the starting of a Benevolent 

 Fund to aid gardeners who may be overtaken 

 by misfortune. Other proposals included the 

 holding of examinations in horticulture, and the 

 providing of bursaries for students in horticul- 

 ture. The most important of the financial pro- 

 posals was to abolish the uniform annual sub- 

 scription of 2s. 6d., and to adopt a scale varying 

 from 2s. 6d. to £2 2s. As regards the founda- 

 tion of a horticultural institution, it was stated 

 that the council were already in possession of 

 the nucleus of a fund for the purpose, consisting 

 of a donation of £80 from the surplus of the 

 Scottish National Exhibition (1908), and cf pro- 

 mises of donations from the office bearers of the 

 Association of about £200. It was also stated 

 that an anonymous donor had promised £25 to 

 start a benevolent fund. 



The chairman moved the adoption of the re- 

 vised constitution and by-laws, and after some 

 slight amendments had been accepted these were 

 adopted. 



Captain Stirling, of Keir, was elected honorary 



president for the current session. Mr. Massie 



was re-elected president, and Messrs. Jas. Dobbie 



and D. W. Thomson were elected to the vacant 



vice-presidencies. The following were elected to 



vacancies on the council : — Messrs. D. Kidd, Jas. 



Whytock, A. Chalmers, J. Highgate, T. Fortune, 



E. P. Laird. Mr. W. J. Thomson was re-elected 

 secretary and treasurer. 



It was intimated that Captain Stirling had in- 

 vited the members to visit Keir on July 27. 



Fifteen new members were elected. 



The president will deliver his opening address 

 on February 6, his subject being " Garden City 

 Problems/' 



NORTH OF ENGLAND HORTI- 

 CULTURAL. 



January 17. — The first annual meeting of this 

 society was held in the Queen's Hotel, Leeds, 

 on the above date. The chairman of the 

 council, Major Dent, presided over an attend- 

 ance of 60 Fellows and Associates. The annual 

 report and balance-sheet were submitted by the 

 chairman, who briefly reviewed the work of the 

 society during the past year. He alluded to the 

 energetic and whole-hearted work of the secre- 

 tary, Rev. J. B. Hall, who w r as responsible for 

 much of the success the society had attained. 

 The list of members numbers considerably over 

 200, and the number of Associate members is 

 about the same. Twelve societies are in affilia- 

 tion. The balance-sheet shows a loss on the 

 year's working of about £150, which is accounted 

 for by (1) the heavy preliminary expenses; (2) 

 about £100 deficit on the monthly shows. In 

 future these shows will be held in the Corn 

 Exchange, which has been acquired at a 

 moderate rental. 



On the motion of the chairman, Earl Grey was 

 unanimously elected president. 



The council was re-elected, and the following 

 names added : Professor R. S. Seton, and 

 Messrs. W. Cuthbertson and T. H. Gaunt. 

 The Hon. Rupert Beckett was again elected 

 treasurer, and Mr. J. C. Jackson, A.C.A., 

 auditor. The committees were also appointed. 

 Several minor alterations were made in the by- 

 laws, the chief of which were (1) That the 

 council be increased to 30 members. (2) That the 

 members of the R.H.S. Committees be honorary 

 members of the N.E.H.S. Committees. (3) That 

 R.H.S. Fellows and bona -fide gardeners be en- 

 titled to become Fellows on payment of 10s. 6d. 

 (4) That all affiliated societies be empowered to 

 send one of their members with powers to vote 

 at the annual general meetings. 



The programme for the ensuing year was 

 placed before the meeting. It comprises a series 

 of shows to be held in conjunction with several 

 local societies in various localities. Arrange- 

 ments have also been made for several shows and 

 lectures to be held in Leeds. 



During the evening a lecture on " The Develop- 

 ment of the Modern Sweet Pea " was given 

 by Mr. Wm. Cuthbertson. There was a good 

 attendance, and Mr. Ker, Liverpool, presided. 

 The lecturer traced the historv of the Sweet Pea 

 from the date of its introduction in 1700 until 



the present time. He said that the National 

 Sweet Pea Society was the outcome of the 

 bicentenary meeting and conference held in 1900. 

 The lecturer refer^?d to the work done bv such 

 pioneers as Mr. Laxton and Mr. H. Eckford. 

 To show how largely Sweet Peas are cultivated, 

 Mr. Cuthbertson said that one firm, Messrs. 

 Moss, of California, cultivated 400 acres of 

 Peas for seed purposes. In his, Mr. Cuthbert- 

 son's opinion, the American stocks were not so 

 pure as those grown in Great Britain, because 

 the American firms grew varieties on a large 

 scale from many plants, instead of breeding from 

 single plants. The latter course, although slower, 

 is essential if stocks are to be kept true. Re- 

 ferring to the first variety having a waved stan- 

 dard, Countess Spencer, Mr. Cuthbertson gave 

 the following history of its origin : The variety 

 "Lovely" was crossed with "Triumph." The 

 resulting seed was saved and a good seedling 

 crossed with "Prima Donna." The result of 

 this latter cross was Countess Spencer, but only 

 five seeds were obtained. These were sown, but 

 three were destroyed by mice ; the others grew 

 successfully. The following year a waved variety 

 was also raised by Mr. Eckford. 



In the Countess Spencer type the keel is com- 

 pressed or clamped, and the anthers laid close 

 in, whilst in flowers of the older type the keel 

 is more open, and the anthers stand out. 



Mr. Cuthbertson prophesied that the double 

 variety " Duplex " was the forerunner of a 

 wonderful race of flowers. 



Lantern slides, illustrating choice varieties of 

 Sweet Peas, were shown during the delivery of 

 the lecture. 





LAW NOTE. 



ACTION AGAINST A HORTICULTURAL 



SOCIETY. 



Mr. W. H. Ewen, Lanark Aerodrome, Lanark, 

 recently sued the Kirkcaldy Horticultural Society, 



in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, for the sum of £50, 

 which he claimed in terms cf contract. Mr. Ewen 

 alleges that he entered into a contract with the 

 society to bring an aeroplane to their show in 

 August, and that he was to be paid £50 on the 

 aeroplane arriving on the ground and another £50 

 on giving two flights. Owing to the weather con- 

 ditions, the flights could not take place, but he 

 claims that he is entitled to the £50 for bring- 

 ing the machine on to the ground. The de- 

 fenders state that the pursuer was to bring an 

 aeroplane capable of flying, but that the machine 

 he brought was broken, that the pursuer was 

 aware of this, and that the machine was in- 

 capable of flying. They allege that the weather 

 was quite favourable for flying, and make a 

 counter-claim of £100 for breach of contract. 

 The Sheriff has fixed the proof for February 23. 



©bttuarj). 



Michael Murphy. — Mr. Michael Murphy, 

 gardener at the Harry P. Whitney Estate, 

 Newport, U.S.A., died at his home on the 1st 

 inst. Mr. Murphy was a native of Queenstown, 

 Ireland, and settled in Newport 58 years ago; 

 he held the post of gardener on the estate men- 

 tioned for 46 years. 



Thomas Purves. — The death of Mr. Thomas 

 Purves, managing director of Messrs. F. H. 

 Brunning, Ltd., 64, Elizabeth Street, Mel- 

 bourne, on October 4, 1911, is announced in The 

 Journal of Horticulture of Australia. The 

 deceased gentleman was born in 1840, in the 

 Lothians. After learning the business of farm- 

 ing, he proceeded to Australia in 1863, and for 

 13 years managed the business of Messrs. Law, 

 Somner & Co. He afterwards took over the busi- 

 ness of Adamson's Seed and Plant Warehouse, 

 which is now one of the principal seed firms in 

 Melbourne. 



John Bowler. — Mr. John Bowler, gardener 

 for the past 46 years at Caldecote Hall, Nun- 

 eaton, died at Caldecote on the 13th inst. Mr. 

 Bowler was a skilful gardener and was well 

 known in the Midlands. He was churchwarden 

 and overseer for the parish. The funeral took 

 place at Caldecote on the 17th inst., the 

 mourners including Captain Townshend, de- 

 ceased's employer. 





