9 



128 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



February 17^ 1912. 



with the celebration of the windows 



^urrentlj' 



society's jubilee. The society was founded 

 in 1862^ and in the following year a sum- 

 mer exhibition was held in Bannister Park 

 under the patronage of the Lord Mayor of 

 London ; and in the following year spring 

 shows were instituted, and continued until 

 1876. At the annual meeting held in 

 January, 1873, Mr. Q. S. Fu.dge was 

 elected as secretary, and there can be no 

 question as to the great service he has ren- 

 dered the society during the long and 

 eventful period that has elapsed since he 

 assumed the responsibilities associated with 

 the office. In the same year a new de- 

 parture was made by the holding of a 

 great flower show and floral fete at West- 

 wood park. In 1879 the late Prince Leopold 

 accepted the position of president, and 

 within two or three months of the election 

 of his Royal Highness, Queen Victoria was 

 pleased to command that the society should 

 in the future be known as the Southamp- 

 ton Royal Horticultural Society. About 

 this t me both Bannistei* Park and West- 

 wood Park came into the market for build- 

 ing purposes ; and the executive, appre- 

 c'ating the importance of obtaining an oj^en 

 space suitable for the holding of the 

 society's exhibitions appointed a special 

 committee to secure, if possible, a portion 

 of Bannister Park as a permanent home 

 for the society. This project having failed, 

 a fourteen years' lease of ten acres of 

 Westwood Park was secured in 1882, and 

 in the following year the grounds were for- 

 mally opened on J une 28, when the 

 Nat'onul Rose Society held its provincial 

 show therein. There was a large accession 

 of new members in that vear, and the series 

 of floral fetes that were held during the 

 period of the occupancy by tbe society of 

 Westwood Park were highly successfid 

 financially and otherwise ; but the profit 

 on them was more than alxsorbed by the 

 expenses incidental to tlie maintenanre of 

 the grounds, and the soc'ety was fared 

 with a heavy debt. The society li:»s con- 

 tinued its work, since leaving Westwood 

 Park, with unabated vigour, and .some 

 yeiirs ago succee<led in paying off the debt 

 incurred. We ment'on these facts as of 

 interest in connection with the jubilee of 

 the >Southampton Royal Horticultural 

 Soc'etv. and as showino; far 1)etter than 

 mere platitudes could do^ the remarkable 

 abilitv and tact of " its secretary, whose 



* ■- 



portrait we have the pleasure of giving 

 herewith. 



Climbers Out of Place.— W 



have persistently advocated the free use 

 of climbing plants in clothing the walls of 

 dwel'ing-houses and other buildings, but 

 we have been careful to differentiate be- 

 tween buildings that are of so common- 

 place a style of architecture that they are 

 improved by a covering of greenery and 

 those of which the architectural features 

 are go beautiful that they should not be 

 hidden. On more than one occasion \\'e 

 have directed attention to the mistake that 

 is made in allowing the more impor- 

 tant, from an architecural point of view, 

 of the buildings belonging to the coMeges 

 at Cambridge and Oxford to be so over- 

 grown by Ampelopsis Veitchi and other 

 free-growing creepers that their architer- 

 turo cannot be readily seen and fully en- 



We are reminde<l of the extent to 

 the i4uirm, and, indeed, the 



of 



pillars 

 The 



by 



and to carry a series 

 that support the cornice of the roof. 

 Icwcr part of the building covered 

 anipclcp is, and had the growth been con- 

 fined thereto no objection coadd well have 

 been raised to the use of the clinnberj but 

 it has been allowed to spread over the upper 

 half and to cover the pillars, .which pro- 

 ject from the wall, and the intervening 

 spaces with its green mantle. The distinc- 

 tive design of the greater proportion of the 

 w indo ws is completely h idden , a nd the 

 effect produced 'by the growths crossing the 

 pilars at right anglcf^ is decidetlly objec- 

 tionable, apart altogether fi-ora the archi- 

 tectural lines being obsc\ired. 



joyefl . 

 which 



terest of a building of architectural im- 

 portance is reduced by allowing climbers 

 to spread over the'r Avails by an iUustration 

 that is before u.s of the Conunon Room and 

 Librarv of Oriel Oxford. This is a 

 massive bn bling of two stories, the 

 wall of the lower portion being of suffi- 

 cient thickness to form recesses for the 



Gardeners' 



Orphan 



Royal 



Fundi — The report presented by the com- 

 mittee of this charity to the nuMubers at 

 the annual meeting on the 9th inst., con- 

 tp.ined much that is gratifying to those 

 who fully appreciate the gre it value of the 

 Avork it is doing in the maintenance of the 

 orphans of gardeners. It .stated, among 

 other things, that at the beginning of the 

 past year there were 118 children receiving 

 the benefits of the funds^ and that 17 were 

 elected at the annual meeting, making a 

 tota^ of 125. During the year 18 children 

 ceased to receive tbe benefits of the fund, 

 15 owing to their having reached the age 

 limit, and three by retirement on leaving 

 the cO'Untry with their mothers. 18 

 candidates were elected at the annual meet- 



th^^t in the 



ing the total is the same as tli^^t ni 

 past year. The family to be provided for 

 is therefore a large one. It is also a .source 

 of much satisfaction to have further proof 

 of the generous nianntn' in which the 

 charity is ^iiipported by owners of gardens 

 and iby those engaged in the various 

 branches of commercial horticulture. On 

 the other hand, we regret to find that, 

 while there was a remarkable advance in 

 the proceeds of the annual fcstiva', the an- 

 nual sUibsci'iptioMS ]-eniain much below wlrvt 

 they should be, and that the committee 

 should, as regards the suibscriptions, have 

 to "appeal for a larger measure of sup- 

 port from gardeners etspecially." Tlie total 

 amount received r.'S subscriptions was only 

 £370, which is a vej*y small sum consider- 

 ing th'it the annual sum required for the 

 maintenance of the orphans is £1,788. We 

 trust that during the present year gar- 



respnn^sibilities 

 in this matter more fully tli-an is at pre- 

 sent the case, and make a hearty response 

 to the appeal made by the cotnimittee. 



The Liverpcoi Horticultural 



Association, — The committee have de- 

 cided to hold the following shows during 

 this year at the Corn Exchange^ Brunswick 

 Street, Liverjwol : Spring Show, Wednes- 

 day and Thursilay . March L^7 and 28 ; 

 Sweet Pea Show, Weflnesdav, July 17 ; 



Chrvsanthemum Show, Wednesdav 

 Thursdn V. Xf)\ cinbei- 13 aiul 14. 



doners will recognise theii 



and 

 and 



tural Society may offer a prize schedule of 



Sir George Kenrick gave £50 \ 

 W. G. Griffitlie £25 : " ' 



£1,000. 

 and Mr. 



Birmingrham Flower Show. — 



lender the chairmanship of Sir GtM)rge 

 Kenrick, an exc<'ilent nUH^ting was la*- 

 cently held at the Birmingham C'ouneil 

 House for the purpose of furthering the 

 aims of the newly-fornu'fl Hiriningliam Hor- 

 ticultural Sccie-ty. It ap]>ears that the 

 Handsworth Horticultural Society has 

 plaoed its balance of £237 9s. 7d. to tbe 

 credit of the new society, in addition to 

 properties valued at £100. The attempts 

 to raise funds for the proposed Great Mid- 

 land Show have resulted in donations of 



two silver CUP'S valued at 



these 



with others promised brought'; 

 fund up to £193 Os. 6d. Local ^ 

 appear to be standing in the : 



thoroughlv 



successful Birmins- 



amounts, 



the prize 

 jealO'U&ies 



way of a 

 ham ishow 



Visitors to the Royal Gardens, 



Kew, 1911. — According to the returns 

 published in the current issue of the Kew 

 Bulletin," 3,704,606 visitors to the Royal: 

 Gardens, Kew, were recorded during 1911. 

 These figures -show an increase of 158,304 

 over those of the previous year , and are the 

 largest on record. During tihe ten years 

 1901-10, 22,459,027 persons visited the gar- 

 dens, giving an averaige of 2,245,902. The 

 total numiber of visitors on Sundays, during 

 .1911 J was 1,517,650, and on week-days 

 2,186,956. The largely-increased number of 

 visitors during the past year must be attri- 

 buted mainly to the remarkable spell of 

 brilliant summer weather and afeo to the 

 large number of visitors to London in con- 

 nection with the Coronation. As in 1910. 

 there were live Bank Holidays, and the at- 

 tendances on Ea.ster Monday, Whit-Mon- 



£59 2^. 6d, two silver oups 

 £11 lis., and trade prizevs of £30 10s. 

 total of £107 3s. 6d. The meeting referred 

 to pledged itsclP ^'to do its best to raise 

 a prize fund of at least £500, so that tiie 

 committee of the Birmingham Horti<-ui- 



tlay, 



and the August Bank Holiday were 

 144,084, 157,425, and 115,833 respectively. 

 The total number of visitors for the five 

 holidays was 446,644, as against 424,010 in 

 1910. . Sunday visitors decreased by 96,435, 

 while the number of visitors on week-days 

 siiow an increase of 254,739. The greatest 

 attendance on any one day was on Whit- 

 Monday, when there were 4,971 more visitors 

 recorded than for the corresponding day in 

 the previous year, which previously held 

 tbe record fotr a single day. The smallest 

 nuniiber on any one day^ was 179 on Decem- 

 ber 20. The largest Sunday attendance 

 was 88,005 on June 4, and the smallest 423. 

 'Jlie former figures .show a decrease of 

 about 3,000 from those recorded in 1910. 



Mr. William Collins, the veteran 



secretary of the United Horticultural Bene- 

 fit and Provident Society, completetl 

 twenty-five years' service in that position 

 on Monday last. The usual monthly meet- 

 ing of the committee was held on that even- 

 ing, and the chairman, Mr. C. H. Curtis, 

 took advantage of the occasion to con- 

 gratuhite Mr. Collins, and to accord him 

 tbe thanks and good wishes of all the 

 officers, committee, and members of the 

 society, adding a hope that he might be 

 spared in health and strength to continue 

 his good work for some time to come. The 

 vice-chairman (Mr. F. Winter) and other 

 members of the committee also added con- 

 gratulations, and expressed their high ap- 

 preciation of Mr. Collins, and the services 

 he has ren dered to horticulture through 

 the I H.B.P.S. 



Record Prices for Peas-— That 



excellent and deservedly po])ular pea 

 Seiuitor. which was introduced by Messrs. 

 K. Webb luul Sons, Stourbridge, a few 

 years since, fully justified during the pas- 

 year the high estimation in which it is 

 held by cultivators for market, as well as 

 ior home supplies. Writing on February 

 8, 1912, to Me&srs. Webb and Sons, a cus- 

 tonu^r of theirs. Mr. F. W. Gwilliam, 



You wdl 

 of AVebbs 



real- 



of 



Milton, Cambs' states": ''Yo- "-''^ 

 pleased to hear that two acres 

 Senator pea grown by me last year 

 ised £98, or £49 per acre. This, I thinK, 

 beats the ' record ' in your catalogue. ln« 

 peas were plante<l in rows, just the same < 

 beans, and kept horse- hoed as long as pos- 

 " - " record " referred to was t-i^ 



a sible. 



The 



and £41 per acre respectively, which prices 



hist for fields of 



July 

 grown 



(Worcester) district. 



were obtained in 

 Webbs^ Senator 



in 



the Stourport 



