8 I supplemeis^t] 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



May I83 1912. 



social life of the place, and here, 

 amid au array of old armour and weapons, 

 fine old paintings, and flags and banners 

 carried though many a well-fought fight, 

 the pensioners meet for various amusements 

 and entertainments- In this Great Hall 

 the four hundred members of the jury 

 will meet at 7.30 a.m. on AVednesday, May 

 22, to be divided into seventy-five sets, prior 

 to their task of judging the greatest flower 

 show ever seen. Some visitors mav have 



an opportunity of inspecting the beautiful 

 Chapel, famous for its windows, its gold 

 plate, and exquisite carvings by Grinling 

 Gibbons. 



To the north of the Uanelagh Gardens 



tree-skirted park and cricket ground, and 

 it is here that the enormous tents and 

 other buildings have been erected for the 

 more tender subjects that will be brought 

 for exhibition. The tall Chilianwallah 

 monument,, with its flanking guns, is 

 covered in, and will doubtless form a ren- 

 dezvous for friends who may desire to meet 

 each other^ for it will be a quite easy 

 matter to search in vain for a friend in 

 this huge exhibition unless a time and 

 place are appointed. But you cannot miss 

 the Chilianwallah monument. 



Between the park and the Ranelagh Gar- 

 dens runs an avenxie of lime trees, and this 

 is remarkable from the fact that the trees 



is a piece of land divided into one hundred were pollarded long years ago, with, the 



-.1' 



^^^^^ ■ 



AVENUE OF POLLARD LIMES, ROVAL HOSPITAL GROUNDS CHELSEA. 



and seventy plots, each plot a little garden 

 with which a pensioneK who has a likmg for 

 gardening, may do what he pleases. Ihese 

 plots are of great interest, and exceedingly 

 ingenious are the methods followed by some 

 of the old gardeners. In many cases the 

 cultivator has in view a modest addition 

 to his pocket money, and as visitors seem 

 ever ready to purchase flowers and plants 

 from these plots, there is no difficulty in 

 disposing of the resuits of one's labours. 

 I have told before how one old pensioner 

 gardener ra^se<l a batch of sturdy seedlings 

 of Impatiens lloylei in 

 frame^ and eold them si>eedily as 

 fuchsias." 



To the south of the hospital buildings, 

 and stretching to the Embankment, is the 



an improvised 



. restilt' that, from a point about eight feet 

 from the ground they produce from four to 

 eight limbs, which bend outwards, and then 

 ascend to a considerable height. In all 

 * the freshness of their delicate greenery 

 these old lime trees will provide grateful 

 shade next week, if the weather is bright, 

 and between their stems there will be 

 groups of ornamental trees and shrubs, and 

 a series of kiosks for horticultural publica- 

 tions, and in one of the.se kiosks tlie 



r 



Gardeners' Magazine, and its sister paper, 

 Amateur Gardening/' will Ije represented. 

 There will be on view a volume of the 

 new Gardeners' Magazine for 1866, containing 



a report of the International Exhibition of 

 that year, a full-page phan of that show, 

 and also an illustration showing the tents 



and buildings occupied by the exhibition 

 for then, as now, the G.M/' was easily 

 ahead of its contemporaries for illustrated 

 reports. 



The present superintendent of the gar- 

 dens and grounds attached to Chelsea 

 Hospital is Mr. T. W. Turner^ formerlT 

 general foreman at the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society's gardens at Chiswick. Mr. 

 Turner succeeded Mr. Graham. Some 

 previous occupants of the post rest in the 

 little cemetery that Mr. Turner has beauti- 

 fied with breadths of daffodils an<l other 

 spring flowers, and the records tell of Henrv 

 Story, gardener twenty years (1713); Mr. 

 James Allen^ gardener (1817) ; and Mr. J 



" Gardnr." a838^. Mr. 



(1838). 



close to the pensioners 



of Burton 



Bruce, Mastr. 

 Turner's house is 

 gardens. The management 

 Court, the Guards' sports ground, also falls 

 to Mr. Turner, who, on the terraces in 

 front of the hospital, annually provides a 

 bright display of summer bedding from 

 plants grown on the place— .no mean feat 

 for Chelsea. C. H. Curtis. 



HOW TO REACH THE 



EXHIBITION, 



The Royal Hospital, Chelsea, with its 

 historic associations and extensive groimds, 

 is generally regarded as one of the mut 

 interesting featured of the Metropolis; but 

 of those who are not well acquainte<l with 

 the topography of London, few are able to 

 slate offhand its exact whereabouts and tl:e 

 best means of reaching it. This is i'j a 

 measure due to the fact that it is some- 

 what off the beaten track, and, ; o hr- as 

 horticulturists are concerned, there has 

 been no event in the neighbourliood of 

 special interest to them, with the eiceprion 

 of the summer exhibition held by the lloyal 

 Horticultural Society in the grounds a few 

 years since. 



By some of our friends in the provinf-es 

 whose visits to the Metropolis are of short 

 duration, Chelsea Hospital is rega xled 

 vsituate in a somewhat remote part of Lon- 

 don, and not particularly convenient of 

 access. This is not, however, the case, for 

 the site is as couA^enient of access as any 

 position well could be. It is less ttir.n 

 miles from Charing Cross, and within fivf 

 minutes^ walk of a station of itie 3lGtV'>- 

 j.olitan Railway, which is more or 

 directly connected with all the railwav 

 termini in London Avith the exception of 

 Ix)ndon Bridge (London, Brighton, am 

 South Coast) and Waterloo (London and 

 South Western), and there is no diflBoulty 

 in reaching the exhibition grounds fioi" 

 these two termini. 



Chelsea Hosjiital occupies a prominent 

 position on the Chelsea Embankment, an|i 

 the principal entrance therefrom leatis 

 direct into the exhibition with the great 

 tent on tho right and the marquees 

 vided for the display of the Products trom 

 foreign countries on the left. This "^^'^^'^ ^ 



the most convenient entrance for those ^ 



or taxi-cab. 



arrive by motor, carriage, ^ 

 Those who travel by railway should alig 



liaht 



at Sloane Square Station on the Metro- 

 politan District Railway, which is 'I'^o^ 

 five minutes' walk from the i 

 on the north-west side of the Hospit^ 



grounds. 



Visitors travelling to L-^nd-^n l)V 

 Great Northern and the Midland Rail^^^ 

 should, on reaching King's Cross aml^^,^ 

 Pancras respectively, proceed to the 

 Cross Station of the Metropolitan V 

 and book to Sloane Square. Those tia 

 ling by the London and North Wcstern^^^j 

 way should, on reaching Euston, pr 

 to Euston Square, also on the Metropoi 



