Jan CART 1912 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



65 



A, 



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Photo: J. ^^\ Beaufort.] 



^R. ROBERT SYDENHAM, 



'-"^m of the National Sweet Pea Society. 



;;;;'-t Sy,l.nham occupies a promi- 



luul al„H,st written unique, 



•^"nalitvTnv" ''I",'" "- '"'^^ '''-^ genial duties that fall to his share. Ho has been 

 »rion-is". iu-'l!""'* ''"p^*^' numbers from the time it was established the life 



America, Europe, the Mediterranean re- 

 gion, and in South Africa, and is contem- 

 plating a visit to Ca-lifornia. An early 

 liser and a hard worker himself. Mr. Sy- 

 denham sets the pace in any society witli 

 which he is connected, never .shirking the 

 duties that fall to his share. He has been 



»rion-i." n, 'nju large numbers 



^«.'lo„,„ , • recreation he took 



in- business. But 



,^ to,, 1 he commencecl to sell 

 --in S;^^'^ deve'oped a large 



to seeds was an easv step. 

 - a. grown to be a ve^v 



('.n n, d , I^'""'^^, «^ Tenby 

 tb; ' taxed to their 



n^^^^^^ Though 



V"^- -l^iini '^ir"*- of the most 

 ''^^ travelled J, ^' infectious, 



^nsiderably in North 



and smil of tht^ MidUind Daffodil Society, 

 wliich lias dout^ so much to promote the 

 cultivation and iTiip.»xjvementof the narcissi^ 

 spending time and rioney freely to main- 

 tain its high positiovi. He is a member 

 of the Eoyal Horticultural Society's Nar- 

 cissus and Tulip Committee, and his know- 

 ledge of varieties is a wide one. Mr. 

 Sydeuham is a great believer in "taking 

 notes/' and he is mostly found wnth a 

 note book in his hand. 



For many years Mr. Sydenham grew car- 

 nations and picotees for exhibition purposes 

 with wonderful ftuccesvs, and was difficult 

 to beat at the Midland shows, a fact of 

 interest as showing that he ha>s the florist^>' 

 instincts as weU as a strong love for these 

 two classes of flowers. Latterly he has 



as a cultivator, taken (special interest admirably. 



in the cultivation of bnlbous plants 

 in fibre, in undrained pots ; indeed, he 

 may be regarded as the pioneer of this 

 useful form of cultivation. As so well 

 known to al! wlio are in. any wav concerned 

 with sweet peas, these cliarming flowers 

 occupy a large share of his attention, and 

 in his privat-e garden he grows them freely 

 and well, while he travels far and wide 

 to see new varieties and inspect seed stocks. 

 It is of interest to recall the fact that Mr. 

 Sydenham was a member of the committee 

 that carried through the celebration of the 

 bi-centenary of the intro^luction of the 

 Sweet Poa. at t!i(^ C/rystal Pahice. in 1900, 

 whicii had .sut h an <mormous influence on 

 the extension of the cultivation of sweet 

 peas and on the development of new forms. 

 Since the formation of tin- X-.tiortal Sweet 

 Pea Society he has alwnys inH-ii a promi- 

 nent and official member/ ami so, in recog- 

 nition of services rendered, the members 

 of this vsocietv unanimously elected him, 

 at the recent annual meeting, president for 

 1912. a position of which Jlr. Sydenham is 

 justly proud, and one which ho will fill 



