October 25, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



327 



congratulated on the marked proof of inventive genius and 

 talent they display. 



In my notes of the Rose Show I have stated what I cannot 

 but reiterate, that nowhere amongst my wanderings do I meet 

 with more thorough kindheartedness and hospitality than 

 amongst the lovers of gardening in this somewhat remote 

 Scottish town ; and in this I shall, I am sure, be joined by 

 Messrs. George Paul and Cant, who were my companions on 

 this occasion. — D., Deal. 



DEATH OF MR. THOMAS RIVERS. 



It is with feelings of great regret that we have this week to 

 announce the death of Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, which 

 took place on the evening of the 17th inst., about half-past 

 eight o'clock, in the 80th year of his age. 



now among the oldest existing in this country, were commenced 

 some time between the years 1720 and 1730 by John Rivera, 

 who was a native of Berkshire, and so they have been in the 

 possession of the same family for a century and a half at least. 

 The estent of the grounds at that time and for some years 

 after was, like the beginning of most great enterprises, limited, 

 and might be regarded as an easy-going common-run sort of 

 country nursery, the produce of which consisted of anything, 

 no matter what, by which an honest penny was to be earned. 

 Fruit trees and forest trees for the neighbouring gentry, 

 Cabbage plants for those who had gardens, and market-garden 

 produce for those who had none ; flowers, fruit, and nosegays 

 were alike in readiness for all comers, and, that the tastesof 

 each might be further gratified, one of the staple commodities 

 was a glass of good currant wine. To such an extent did this 

 last branch of the business become, that in 17C1 we find his 



Fig. 64. — MB. THOMAS E1VEBS. 



For a long time past the sad event was looked forward to by 

 his family and those who were most intimate with them with 

 feelings of sadness and of hope — of sadness at the prospect of 

 parting, and of hope that a life of so much energy and useful- 

 ness would not be prolonged in a state of suffering ; for during 

 the last four or five years Mr. Rivers haB been a confirmed 

 invalid, and totally laid aside from work of any kind. Though 

 his mental faculties were sound to the last he has long suffered 

 from disuBe of the lower limbs, and the disease from which he 

 suffered appears to have been a sort of creeping paralysis, 

 which gradually extended upwards till it reached the vital 

 parts, and thus ended peacefully a life of marvellous energy, 

 an intellect of no ordinary compass, and the work of one who 

 has added perhaps as much as anyone to the pleasures and 

 enjoyments of his fellow creatures. 



Mr. Rivers was born at Sawbridgeworth on the 27th of 

 December, 1798. He came of a long line of ancestors who 

 had followed the same calling in the same place for nearly 

 a century at the time of his birth. The nurseries, which are 



son and successor, Thomas Rivers, actually built, for the pre- 

 servation and maturation of hia domestic vintage, an immense 

 vaulted cellar, 30 feet long by 10 feet wide — a fact which he 

 recorded, for the information of subsequent generations, on a 

 square stone bearing the initials of his name and the date of 

 the year when the event took place. The cellar is still in ex- 

 istence, and is now applied by the present proprietor for the 

 purpose of a fruit room, and a very excellent one it is. The 

 houge at that time was known by the sign of " The Fox;"* 

 and the swinging board, which for several years battled with 

 many a summer's breeze and winter's blast, is still in posses- 

 sion of the family, having been converted into an article of 

 household furniture ; but the pictorial delineation of " The 



* Many of our readers may not be aware that it was oustomary in those days, 

 and for many years afterwards, for nurserymen and Beedsmen to designate 

 their establishment by bucq signs. The more common were " The Acorn,." 

 "The Rose," &c. George Riceetts, at Hogsden -(Hoxton), adopted "The 

 Hand ; " Edward Fuller, in the Strand, " The Three Crowns and Naked Boy ; " 

 and Francis Weston's, in the Strand, was known by " The Flower de luce." 



