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JOUBNAX OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ Maroh 24, 1863. 



brought before your readers. We must certainly interchange 

 opinions and receive information from one another through the 

 medium of your valuable Journal, yet still we are disunited as if 

 we had no common interests to aid. We are unlike any other 

 body of men in this, and, as " G-. A." observes, we are each 

 striving for his own aggrandisement irrespective of the results 

 to our brothers of tlie spade. Surely, we could rise better 

 were we to consult each other's welfare and work together in 

 unity, which makes strength. 



Shall we not, then, make as a body some response to 

 "G. A.'s" propositions? I hope we shall, and I hope we are 

 on tlie verge of some measures to the end we have to attain. 



Could we not, a3 other professions and trades have done, join 

 hand-in-hand to try to eradicate the existing evils which 

 " G. A." mentions ? Shall we not rally round the standard of 

 the proposed Society, and, each, putting his shoulder to the 

 wheel, give a hearty strong push in the right direction and push 

 the quacks, ai the poet Hood says, " anywhere, anywhere, out 

 of the world," at least out of tlie gardening world ? 



Surely, no one will doubt that we have men in our profession 

 who are competent to effect such a union of purpose, and I do 

 not doubt their willingness to take the management of such a 

 Society could they but be sure of the co-operation of the gar- 

 deners. Surely we are not so blinded to our own interests as 

 to withhold our help from those who would be trying to help us ; 

 and that a Society of the character is very necessary must be 

 obvious to all who, with an unprejudiced eye, will look at the 

 proposal. 



Who has not seen those whom " G, A." terms " utilitarians," 

 when they have been with Dr. or Mr. So-and-So for a year or 

 two as groom, gardener, cowman, and errand-boy creeping in as 

 head-gardener? It is this false way of gardener-making that is 

 ruining our profession. Wot that I would try to keep these 

 men from getting on and bettering their station in life — so far 

 from it, that I would help them to attain it in a trustworthy way. 

 Let them study and pass some such examination as " G. A." 

 suggests before they are permitted to practise, and there is not 

 one in ten who would then have to be allowed to practise. 



Who has not seen many instances of the character just men- 

 tioned ? I could give instances were they necessary, but every 

 one with open eyes must have seen numbers of them; and yet 

 they are placed on the same level as the person who has served 

 an apprenticeship of seven or more years, aod studied hard too. 



Is it not surprising that gentlemen will employ such persons 

 to take charge of valuable plants ? yet they do it often. Surely, 

 it is plain that a Society would be of great service both to 

 masters and gardeners. The masters would then be sure of 

 having a competent man and of good character ; and if the pro- 

 posal were explained to them, would surely come to our side 

 and give us a helping hand to promote the interests of both, 

 and we should take our stand in the world as a united instead 

 of a divided body. 



There are undoubtedly that wish and Iooking-forward amongst 

 the gardeners of England for some such Society to unite them 

 and to protect them. I am glad to know that this is the case ; 

 and it is my opinion that, were a Society of the kind formed, they 

 would with one accord support it, as they would be in duty 

 bound to do. It cannot be expected that all will agree with 

 "G. A.'s" proposition as to the government of the Society 

 named, but his are merely hints he has been at the trouble to 

 prepare and throw out. I certainly think the expenditure 

 might be to a considerable extent reduced and thereby greatly 

 bettered, for one of the points in the successful management of 

 the Society would be to do it as economically as would be con- 

 sistent with other points. But a committee of energetic men — 

 and we have a great many in our profession — would soon 

 surmount these matters, and every obstacle that would seem to 

 prevent the formation of the Society proposed would vanish. — 

 A Young Gakdener in Yorkshire. 



In your Number of the 10th there is a communication from 

 a correspondent signing himself " G. A.," relative to the forma- 

 tion of a company, to be styled " The Company of Gardeners 

 of Great Britain and Ireland." 



All honour to him for being the first to introduce the subject ; 

 and although he may be rather sanguine, still I think the general 

 outline of his plan is good ; and as far as my humble means would 

 allow (and I speak the sentiments of several gardeners of my 

 aquaintance), I would give it my hearty support, for it ia a want 

 long felt by gardeners in this country. 



There is one thing I would like it better for, if it were more 

 of a gardeners' than an employers' and amateurs' company. — 

 E. B., Cappoquin, Co. Watetford, 



[There can be no question of the importance of the subject 

 you allude to. The difficulty would be to find gardeners of 

 sufficient standing, and with time at their disposal to work the 

 Society up, so as to give it a fair start. We have every reason 

 to believe that Mr. Eish and others you. name, will have some- 

 thing to say on the subject. We know that though Mr. Eish 

 looks on the whole scheme as Bomewhat over-sanguine and 

 impracticable, that yet, like you, he is convinced that gardeners 

 ought to do something of the kind to lessen those scenes of 

 suffering and of destitution which are now so common when 

 gardeners are laid aside by affliction, or are taken away when 

 young, leaving families iinprovided for, and for whom the 

 Gardeners' Benevolent Society can do nothing. Before such a 

 society in its more prominent features is organised, no respect- 

 able young gardener ought to take upon himself, the respond 

 sibility of being the head of a family, without, by insurance or 

 other means, making some provision for the day of affliction, and 

 the probability of leaving young children behind him. The too- 

 common carelessness Bhown in this respect is not creditable to 

 gardeners in general.] 



EOYAL HOETICDLTUEAL SOCIETY. 

 March 18th. 



Floral Committee. — The Eloral Committee held its meeting 

 this day in conjunction with the second spring or the Camellia 

 Exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society at South Ken- 

 sington. The plants placed before the Committee were neither 

 numerous nor particularly novel and interesting. The most 

 attractive plants were the two specimens of Aucubas sent by 

 Mr. Standisb, of Ascot ; the one a female in flower of the green- 

 leaved variety, till lately unknown in England, and introduced 

 by Mr. Fortune from Japan ; the other a small male plant in 

 flower of the well-known variegated Aucuba, so common in all 

 suburban gardens. The plant so well known to us is a fjmale, 

 and it ia remarkable that the pollen-bearing plant has never 

 before been brought into our country. We may now hope to 

 see our old variegated friend under a new aspect, as Mr. Fortune 

 informs us that under favourable circumstances it produces 

 abundant scarlet berries, three times as large, and as brilliant as 

 our common holly berries. These plants had been before the 

 Committee on a previous occasion, and received their award. 

 At this meeting a special certificate was voted for their being 

 exhibited under such interesting circumstances. Mr. Standish 

 also sent a plant of a new Skimmia in flower, which is supposed 

 by some botanists to be the true S. japonica. Should that new 

 variety produce an abundance of berries similar to the plant now 

 known as S. japonica it will be a great acquisition. A first)- 

 class certificate was awarded. 



Mr. Bull, of Chelsea, sent a new plant, Pandanus elegantissimus, 

 a handsome-foliaged plant, with long, narrow, deep green, highly- 

 polished leaves, edged with a brown margin, to which a first- 

 class certificate was awarded. Mr. Bull also sent a, new and 

 interesting Fern, Trichomanes spicatum, which also received a 

 first-class certificate. From the same firm were sent plants of 

 Alocasia pieta, Nephelaphyllum cordatum, Fuchsia variegata, 

 a Begonia, and Yuoea Stokesii; also three promising varieties 

 of Scarlet Pelai-goniums, but of which at this early period of the 

 season no decisive opinion could be formed.. 



Mr. Turner 6ent two Cinerarias, one named John Spencer, 

 which received a label of commendation, a very handsome, 

 bright, showy, crimson variety, commended as a useful decora- 

 tive plant. The other, named Mrs. Harley, was not considered 

 an improvement on other varieties in cultivation. 



Specimens of Rhododendron Bomain de Smet were sent from 

 Messrs. Lee, Hammersmith, and from Mr. Bull, Chelsea. A 

 label of commendation was awarded to this plant as an early- 

 flowering variety, with pale rosy lilac, profusely spotted flowers, 

 but much resembling other well-known kinds. 



Messrs. Lee also sent two Camellias — Napoleon IIL, a delicate 

 rose flower, shading to white, with well-cupped petals ; to which 

 was awarded a label of commendation. The other, Jubilee 

 rosea, said to be a. sport from Napoleon III., with deeper-shaded 

 flowers of the same colour^ but inferior in form. From the 

 same firm was sent also Hebeclinium atro-rubens and cordatum, 

 large and coarse-foliaged. plants producing heads of grejj OJt 



