144 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



[March 2, 1912 



That is the only way to get grand flowers — 

 flowers two or more inches across the standard, 

 three and often four flowers on each stem, the 

 stems being from 12 to 18 inches long. 



In an average season flowers such as these 

 should be available for three months in the South 

 of Kngland, and for four or five months in the 

 North of England and in Scotland if the plants 

 are well looked after, and not a single pod of 

 seed allowed to form. 



Sweet Peas are being sown more ajid more 

 every season under glass. By sowing in Septem- 

 ber and growing the plants under cool conditions 

 till January, when they should be potted and 

 grown in a little heat, Sweet Peas may be had in 

 good bloom during April, May, and early June. 



HORTICULTURAL CLUB. 



ANNUAL MEETING AND DINNER. 



February 20. — On this date, at the Hotel 

 Windsor, the home of the Horticultural Club, 

 the annual meeting was held under the chair- 

 manship of the president, Sir John T. D. 

 Llewelyn, Bart. The report of the management 

 committee for 1911 as read by the hon. secre- 

 tary, Mr. R. Hooper Pearson, stated that the 

 committee had the satisfaction of being able 

 to point to a year in which the basis of the 

 Club had been strengthened by the 

 election of 46 new members. The losses 

 by death and resignation numbered five, 





SIR JOHN T. D. LLEWELYN, Bart. 



Retiring President of the Horticultural C ub. 



showing a net gain of 41. The membership was 

 now 161, this being the largest number the Club 

 has recorded since its establishment in 1875 by 

 the late Rev. H. H. D'Ombrain, Dean Hole, 

 Dr. Maxwell Masters, Mr. Harry J. Veitch, 

 Sir Edward Lee, and others. A separate report, 

 prepared by Mr. Harry Yeitch, the honorary 

 treasurer, showed that the income of the Club 

 for the year amounted to £172 18s. 9d., and 

 the excess of income over expenditure to £12 

 18s. Id., notwithstanding the fact that consider- 

 able sums had been spent on printing (list of 

 members, rules, &c). The present funds 

 amounted to £450 in Consols, and £100 18s. lid. 

 bank balance. 



During the past year monthly dinners and 

 lectures were held as usual, excepting in June, 

 August and September. s 



Concerning the management of the Club, the 

 committee had to record the resignation of the 

 hon. secretary, Mr. E. T. Cook, which took 

 place at the last annual meeting. Following 

 this resignation, the committee obtained the 

 consent of Mr. R. Hooper Pearson to fill the 

 position. Another change in the personnel of 

 the Club had now to be made. The committee 

 regretted to state that the esteemed president, 

 Sir John Llewelyn, had felt it necessary 

 to resign the position, which he had occupied 

 since 1892, as he found it no longer possible 

 to attend evening meetings. The Club would 



desire to offer Sir John Llewelyn their thanks 

 for the services he had rendered for so long a 

 period. 



Following the resignation of the president, 

 the committee asked the vice-president, Sir 

 Frank Crisp, to allow them to nominate him for 

 the office of president, and Sir Frank had kindly 

 acceded to that request. 



Sir John Llewelyn moved the adoption of the 

 report and balance-sheet. He said that he had 

 obtained great pleasure and profit from the 

 Club during the 20 years he had been president. 

 He had formed friendships in that room that 

 he hoped would last as long as life, but he was 

 nevertheless certain that the best interests of the 

 Club would be served if a younger man than he 

 accepted the presidency, for, unfortunately, he 

 could no longer attend evening meetings 

 with any degree of regularity. At the 

 same time, he would always retain his interest 

 in the Club and attend the meetings as often as 

 possible. Sir John Llewelyn then proposed 

 the election of Sir Frank Crisp to the office of 

 president, and the motion was carried with 

 acclamation. The committee was re-elected, and 

 votes of thanks were passed to Sir John Llewelyn 

 and the Hon. Secretary. 



The meeting was followed by the annual din- 

 ner, which was attended by 75 members and 

 friends, including ladies. The proceedings 

 were enlivened by a musical programme, gener- 

 ously supplied by Sir Fra-nk Crisp, who pre- 

 sided. The tables were tastefully decorated 

 with flowers by Messrs. Jas. Veitch & Sons. 

 Sir Frank Crisp, in proposing the toast of 

 his Majesty the King, laid particular emphasis 

 upon the courage evinced by the King and 

 Queen in undertaking the visit to India. 

 The toast of " The Club " was proposed 

 in happy terms by Mr. W. A. Bilney, and 

 responded to by Sir Frank Crisp. " The Royal 

 International Horticultural Exhibition," pro- 

 posed by Mr. P. Rudolph Barr, was responded 

 to by Mr. J. Gurney Fowler, who took the 

 opportunity of giving his audience a clear and de- 

 tailed account of the various arrangements made 

 in connection with that great horticultural enter- 

 prise. Mr. Fowler's speech was followed by a 

 statement from the president to the effect that 

 the Club would contribute a cup, value £25, to 

 be awarded at the exhibition. 



Mr. W. Cuthbertson proposed the toast of 

 " The Visitors," and this toast was appro- 

 priately responded to by Mrs. H. W. 

 Nutting. Mr. Harry J. Veitch proposed the 

 toast of "The President," and, in a few 

 happily-chosen words, welcomed Sir Frank Crisp 

 to his new office. The toast was received with 

 musical honours. The president replied, and next 

 proposed the toast of " The Hon. Secretary, 

 Mr. R. Hooper Pearson." The hon. secretary 

 responded, and the proceedings afterwards 

 terminated. 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL. 



THE GARDEN CITY MOVEMENT. 



(Concluded from p. 128.) 



" Other things essential to the success of the 

 garden city are a reasonably go#d soil, and a 

 fairly pure atmosphere ; above all, there must be 

 no crowding of the dwellings and there must be 

 plenty of open space. Comparisons have been 

 made between Bournville boys and girls, and 

 boys and girls reared in the slums of Birming- 

 ham. At the age of six, the weight of the 

 Bournville boy exceeded that of the Birmingham 

 slum boy by 6 lbs., and at the age of 12 by 

 8.6 lbs., while the difference in their heights at 

 these ages were 2.2 and 2.5 inches respectively; 

 in the case of the girls, the balance in favour of 

 the Bournville girl at the ages of 6 and 12 were 

 in weight 4.1 and 9 lbs. respectively, and in 

 height 2.5 and 2.9 inches respectively. These 

 bear out the accuracy of the experiment made by 

 Glasgow School Board on over 70,000 school 

 children, when it was found that children of 

 families living in one room were shorter than 

 the children of two-roomed families, and that the 

 height of the children increased further as the 

 rooms occupied by the family increased. The in- 

 fluence of the garden city environment, as com- 

 pared with the slum environment, or even our 



modern tenement environment, on the improve- 

 ment of the intellectual and moral condition of 

 the people must be immense, r^ The idea that 

 tenement houses are essential in our climate, as 

 seems to be believed by some, is a delusion, as 

 is also the idea that gardening cannot be so suc- 

 cessfully prosecuted among the working classes. 

 " Nowadays, we hear a great deal about school 

 gardening in connection with the education of 

 our children, and a very laudable effort is being 

 made by the Open Spaces Committee of the Out- 

 look Tower to convert waste spaces in the old 

 town of Edinburgh into gardens for the people; 

 and quite recently a proposal was made to estab- 

 lish gardening allotments in the Gorgie district. 

 There can be no doubt about the propriety of 

 instilling into every boy and girl by a little prac- 

 tical demonstration, no matter what walk in life 

 he or she may afterwards tread, a love for gar- 

 dening, and it can have nothing but an elevating 

 influence, if nothing else, on the minds of our 

 slum children, to draw them from the streets into 

 these open spaces, in order, if possible, to 

 give them a little interest in the art ; but in our 

 garden city all this would be part of their 

 existence. The allotment idea is all very well in 

 a way. To the town dweller who, perforce, has 

 to live in one of these tenements I have been 

 alluding to, the allotment affords a means not 

 only of indulging in a hobby, but of providing 

 healthy recreation for both mind and body, but 

 to my mind the allotment is only a makeshift at 

 the best. The tenant himself may benefit, but 



SIR FRANK CRISP. 

 President of the Horticultural Club# 



as the allotment must of necessity, in the 

 majority of cases at any rate, be at some distance 

 from his home (and the distance will generally 

 be found to be greater or less according to 

 whether he happens to live in a more or less 

 densely populated part of the city), it cannot 

 afford much in the way of facilities for obtaining 

 fresh air and healthy enjoyment to his wife and 

 family. Possibly, in some cases, it may even be 

 the means of drawing the husband away too mucn 

 from his family circle, whereas the garden city 

 mode of life would have the opposite effect. 1& 

 any case, the allotment garden is no solution oi 

 the housing question. 



" Given cheap land and cheap and rap/d 

 transit I have said that all the other difficulties 

 would vanish. Let us now refer for a moment to 

 some of the advantages we now enjoy in the pos- 

 session of plant materials of all kinds comparea 

 with what our forefathers had. We have now 

 a wealth of hardy flowers and shrubs which were 

 unobtainable, and in many cases unknown, 

 years ago. I need only mention the decorative 

 Eoses and Chrysanthemums, the new types o 

 Sweet Peas, and the hardy herbaceous plain* 

 and bulbs which can be grown by the humbles* 

 cottager. , 



"It has often been remarked that in Scot- 

 land the working classes are far behind tneir 

 English brethren in the cultivation of flowers, 

 fruit, and vegetables, but I believe the reason w» 





I 





