250 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



Maech 30, 1912. 



ment that in some counties it has been 

 found that farmers can themselves obtain 

 trees at practically the same price as that 

 at which the County Committees can sell 

 them, and that in such counties the prac- 

 tice of obtaining trees in bulk and selling 

 them to occupiers has been discontinued." 

 It is also stated in this letter that the 

 Department's scheme has been the means 

 of largely extending the sale of trees in 

 Ireland. Also that over 600,000 trees were 

 purchased by farmers in this manner last 

 year; but the increase in the sale of the 

 trees under the scheme and the distribution 



struggled bravely to maintain a family of 

 five, that Mr. Carver takes such a keen 

 interest in the Royal Gardeners' Orphan 

 Fund, and acts as Iwal secretary for the 

 Leeds district. If every gardening district 

 had such an energetic and self-sacrificing 

 horticulturist as Mr. Carver, the varied in- 

 terests of gardeners throughout the count rv 

 would be geatly improved. Mr. Carver 

 writes: ''We appear to have made a spe- 

 ciality of long service in our family. Mv 

 father had been over 30 years in his situa- 

 tion when he died. I am the youngest of 

 four brothers, and all the others h;ive a 



of over half a million of trees in 1911 can better record in their present positions than 



hardly be a source of satisfaction to the nur- 

 serymen, whose business is of a retail cha- 



even my thirty-one years at Allerton Hill." 

 We wonder who to confrratnlate thp ninaf 



racter, if they have not derived any ad- the Carver brothers or their employers ! 



vantages from such sales. The Association, 



Wat 



it need hardly be said, did not accept the In our next issue we shall give vspecial at- 



Department's view of the question, and in 

 a second letter the secretary states that he 

 has made fidler enquiries^ and that the 

 result of these enquiries is to fully confirm 

 the statements made in my previous letter. 

 Correspondents from all parts of the coun- 

 try state that these operations are not con- 

 fined to cottagers and small holders. I en- 

 close three lists for tender, in which vou 

 will see that more than half the trees for 

 which tenders were asked, or orders soli- 

 cited, are totally unsuited for small holders, 

 such as forest trees, and more especially 

 ornamental evergreen and flowering 

 shrubs." The letter from which the fore- 



going is a short extract was evidently un- 

 answerable, for the only point in the reply 

 is to the effect that what is done with the 

 trees obtained in the open market by tender 

 is a matter which concerns. the Department 

 and the County Committees only. We cer- 

 tainly do not agree with that view of the 

 case, for the competition by public bodies 

 with private traders on the lines indicated 

 by the correspondence is a matter of pub- 

 lic interest, and assuredly concerns those 

 who help to provide the funds by which 

 these bod es are enabled to carrv on their 

 work. 



Mr. George Carver.— Few men are 



better known in the horticultural circles of 

 the Leeds district than Mr. George Carver^ 

 of the Grange Gardens, Scarcroft. Born 

 at Great Bardfield, in Essex, Mr. Carver 

 commenced his gardening career in the 

 vicarage gardens of his native place^ and 

 in 1874j at his employer's suggestion, went 

 to Marton Vicarage, North Yorkshire, 

 where he spent two years, and then passed 

 on to Busby Hall, Stokesley. Here he re- 

 mained four years, and the varied experi- 

 ence gained enabled him at an early age 

 to take charge of gardens at Nordley, 

 Stockton-on-Tees, but, after a short period 

 of service, he was invited to become head 

 gardener to the late T. Fenwick^ Esq., 

 Allerton Hill, Leeds. Mr. Fenwick died in 

 1905, but Mr. Carver remained as head gar- 

 dener to Mrs. Fenwick until her death in 

 November, 1911, having been thirty-one 

 years in the service of the family. Since 

 then he has occupied his present position 

 as head gardener to C. F. Ryder, Esq., and 

 it is interesting to notice that Mrs. Ryder 

 is granddaughter of Mr. Carver's old em- 

 ployer at Marton. Soon after coming to 

 Leeds, Mr. Carver joinetl the Professional 

 Gardeners^ Friendly Society, and became its 

 secretary in 1899 ; he has done excellent 

 work in this connection, and it is due 

 largely to his efforts that the society was 

 reorganised, and is now on a sound finan- 

 cial basis as a special Lodge of the Odd- 

 fellows. Mr. Carver lias a penchant for 

 helping others, and it is })ro))ably due to 

 the keen recollection of his earlier years, 

 when, having lost his father, his mother 



tention to roc'k and w^ater gardening, and 

 the matters that will be dealt with will, for 

 the most part, be directly associated w4th 

 the work that should be carried out at this 

 season. The contents will include articles 

 on the renovation of rockeries, aubrietias 

 on walls, moss pinks, the finer saxifrages, 

 the making of water gardens, choice water 

 lilies, primrose-fringed streamlets, and 

 plants for water margins. The issue will be 

 freely illustrated. 



The Late Sir Joseph Hooker,— 



A portrait bust of this distinguished botan- 

 ist from a sitting taken a short time before 

 his death has now been completed by Mr. 

 Pennachine, the sculptor. Those who have 

 had an opportunity of seeing the bust in 

 Mr. Pennachine's studio describe it as an ex- 

 cellent piece of work. Sir Joseph Hooker left 

 estate of the gross value of £36,861, of 

 which £32,390 is net personalty. The tes- 

 tator left £100 each to the Linnean Society 

 and the Scientific Relief Fund of the Royal 

 Society. 



Austria a.nd the Royal Inter- 

 national Horticultural Exhibi- 

 tion.— The 



tural exhibition, to be held at Chelsea, to 

 which we are all looking forward with 

 much interest, is evidently receiving a full 

 share of atention from the Austrian horti- 

 culturists. The Vienna Horticultural Society 

 is arranging a ten-day excursion to London 

 for the purpose of enabling its members to 

 visit the exhibition under the most favour- 

 able conditions. The party will leave 

 Vienna on May 22, and will proceed direct 

 to London. In addition to spending some 

 time at the exhibition, visits will be made 

 to the principal nurseries, the Ro\'al Gar- 

 dens, Kew, the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety's gardens at Wisley, the Hampton 

 Court Gardens, and other places of in- 

 terest. On the return journey the Austrian 

 horticidturistvs w^ill make a halt at Rotter- 

 dam, and spend a few days in Holland and 

 Belgium, the programme terniinatiii<^ at 

 Frankfort-on-the-Main after a visit to the 

 celebrated palm garden in that citv. 



great international horticul- 



-A.S.E. 



tion 



■several 



ursery and Pianta 

 mpetition. ~ For 



years past the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety of England has given s])ecial 

 encouragement to forestry, and included 

 in the schedule of prizes offered for com- 

 petition at its annual shows classes for 

 plantations and home nurseries. The 

 encouragement will not be less liberal 

 at the Doncaster meeting this year, for the 

 old classes for plantat'ons are retained and 

 several new ones added. There are four 

 classes for plantations, of which the final 

 crop is to be bard-woods, niul four foi- plan- 

 tations of which tlie final cioj) is to hf loni- 

 fers. The now classes include i)?ie foi- pl-in- 

 tations nut fxcctMluig tuoat rcs, con.sistiui'* 

 of Oorsican ]>ifie. Douglas fir, Ja]>anese 

 larch, and Sitka »spruce^ and one for the 



best example showing systematic manage- 

 ment of an existing woodland area, includ- 

 the renovation and conversion of an 

 unprofitable wood into a thrifty condition. 

 The orizes cons'st of 



uig 



prizes 

 bronze medals 



so 



gold, silver, and 

 The forestry exhibition, 

 to be held in the show grounds at Doncas- 

 ter from June 2 to 6^ should be extensive 

 and of much interest, for twentv-one 

 classes have been provided, with silver and 

 bronze medals as prizes, and promises of 

 support have been received from some of 

 the principal landowners in England. 



Spring Flowers at Kew.— Asthe 



result of the relatively high temperature 

 that has been experienced for some time 

 past, spring flowers are now abundant in 

 the Royal Gardens, Kew. Especially at- 

 tractive are the great breadths of daffodils 

 in various parts of the gardens, the groups 

 of forsythias, and the specimen magnolias 

 in the azalea garden. The forsythias are 

 flowering with exce])tional freedom, and in 

 no year have we known them to be 

 effective as they are this season. 



Wart Disease of Potatoes. 



An order of the Board of Agriculture, en- 

 titled " The Wart Disease Order/' was pub- 

 lished in the London Gazette on the 

 22nd inst. It makes compulsory the notifi- 

 cation of the disease to the local authority, 

 and forbids the removal of tubers from anv 

 premises on which the dise^ise exists or ap- 

 pears to exist until investigation by the 

 local authority. The order applies to Great 

 Britain. 



Cinerarias from Wordsley.- 



From Messrs. E. Webb and Sons, of "Word- 

 sley^ we have had the jjleasure of receiving 

 a gathering of flowers of cinerarias, repre- 

 sentative of their tine strain known as 

 '•Webbs' Superb." The flowers before us 

 fuUv iustifv the title that has been g^-en 



*' 111 



the strain, for they are equally remarkable 

 for their large size, breadth of floret, fine 

 form, and the rich and diversified coUmrs. 

 The latter, it should be mentioned, range 

 from the richest shades of crimson and blue 

 to the more delicate shades that are so well 

 represented in strains of the highest class. 

 Verv l)eaut:fid also are the white-centred 



lege, Swanley, Sir John 



varieties. 



Women and Horticulture.— In 



moving the adoption of the report at the 

 annual meeting of the Horticultural Col- 



Cookburu. ivlio 



presided, said that it was tAventy-oiie years 

 since women were first admitted to the col- 

 lege as students, and later it was open to 

 women only. The work done by the college 

 was most important, for women were noted 

 for their care of all living things,, and gar- 

 dening was an occupation well adapted to 

 their abilities. The prosperity of the col- 

 lege was shown in the number of student*. 

 In the spring term there were ^' 



se^ 



th 



th 



eiity 

 (1 in 



ree, in the summer term ninety, ami lu 

 e autumn term eighty-four. The Colo- 

 nial branch, under the care of ^Irs. 'JO" 

 Hopkinson, was doing good work m sent - 

 ing out trained students to the Col<)iue> 

 They prided themselves on their expouj 

 from this country, but there was no expor 

 which approached in value t^^'^^^P'^^^.i" 

 educated British women. In 

 Dominions some of the very best ot tne^_ 

 trained voung women they were, , . 

 sidered, doing Imperial work of the 

 importance. - 



Market Gardeners' Compen 



sation.- The Market (ianlc.iers l 

 pensation Hill, whic'h ha.s been "'f';! 

 to the House of Commons, has becti p> . 

 The olnect of the Bill is to restore flu ^ r 

 of the market gardeners to 

 for retrospective improvenieiits./iA " - 

 i.itende.l To 1)0 given by the original . 

 ket Gardeners' Act 



