VOL. LV.— No. 3,074. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1912 



THE 



CARD 



NERS 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. 



happiness when success attends their 

 efforts. As regards space^ more than one 



environm-ent, nor to the intelligent observer 

 is there any limit to the material for ob- 



can be done in the gardening line under 

 most unpromising conditions, and tliat, if 



way 



Gardening: as a Hobby. 



To an}" lover of Nature, even the most 

 superficial, the question of the value of a 

 garden as the object of a hobby can only 

 be answered in one way, viz., that it ranks 

 with the most delightfully interesting of all 

 branches of natural study open to the mere 

 amateur. It adapts itself to the pockets 

 of both poor and rich, since even the 



smallest backyard, deA'^id of any apparent Here, by careful study and judicious 

 claims to be considered as a gar- 

 den at all, is capable of accom- 

 modating in sympathetic hands 

 quite sufficient material to 

 evoke and stimulate its |)wner's 

 interest from year's end to 

 years end, since, as we see in 

 the well-known story of Pic- f\ 

 ciola," even a single plant may 

 suffice therefor. 



lecture delivered of late at the Horticul- servation which it, Jike every other natural 

 tural Club, and illustrated by most interest- hobby, provides. Furtliermore, if the 

 in§r lantern slides, has demonstr^ited what hobby-rider be a sociable man or woman, 



for gardening is ai& open to the fair sex as 

 the so-called sterner one, what greater 

 pleasure is there than consorting with one's 



In point of 

 fact, we have often thought 

 that a restricted collection of 



plants, where every individual 

 becomes as it were a personal 

 friend, where ei'ery phase of 

 growth and develoi)ment can be 

 watched and noted, contri- 

 butes more thoroup;hlv to the 

 hobby-rider's enjoyment than 

 does an immense collection of 

 mnumerable kinds of plants, 

 wbose ver}' extent invoh'es a 

 ^^ore superficial acquaintance 

 ^vith the individuals composing 

 it. Here of course, comes in 

 the question of the amount of 

 leisure available for study, but 

 for the ordinary amateur with 

 whom such leisure is very 

 'iniited, tber(. is no doubt that 

 ^ small number of clioiee i)lants, 

 ^v^'ll witlun the scope of careful 

 ^tiuly. is capable of evoking and 

 a fSo r d i n g much more i n t o r es t 

 ^*nd consequent pleasure than 

 ^ere numl)ers. It is in this direction na- 

 turally that the specialist scores wlu) 

 ^f^votes his energies to some particulai' 

 species of plant or plants adapted to tin- 

 accommodation he can afford them, and 

 in this way many a working man has ob- 

 tained a reputation and carried off 

 many prizes over the heads of wealthier 

 ^■ompetitors, purely by virtue of the 

 personal concentration which he devotes 

 to study and culture. In many towns and 

 ^*'"^*gos, more particularly in the Midlands, 

 ^^en of this class abound, who, instead of 

 ^nj^ting the little leisure they have in 

 P^i^^bc houses or futile amusement, devote 



only the ''will" be present, the 



can be found. We have a vivid recollection fellows of like tastes and comparing notes, 

 of a series of views taken at various seasons making exchanges, and vieing with each 

 of a small suburban garden cramped up be- <^ther in the same natural pursuits? In 

 tween the high walls of adjacent houses, the garden there is ever something new 



to observe and note, every montli brings 



its particidar phase of develop- 

 ment, every season demands its 

 particular arrangements, not 

 merely in its own special con- 

 nection, biitas regards prepara- 

 tion for future ones. The 

 gathering of seed or its soAving, 

 the planting of bulbs, propa- 

 gating, repotting, or planting, 

 and indeed a thousand and one 

 matters of that kind, each and 

 all of which involve study and 

 , and possess a particular 

 interest of their own, as con- 

 tributorv to eventual success. 

 The gardening hobby, in short, 

 is one which brings its pursuer 

 into immediate contact with 

 Nature and all her infinite won 

 ders, and by virtue of such in- 

 finity constitutes an inexhausti- 

 ble fount of pleasure and 

 instruction. 



Mr. H. Merryweather^ 



J. P., the bead of the firm of 

 Messrs. H. Merryweatlier and 

 S<ms, Lim., whose portrait we 

 liave the pleasure of .uivini; 

 lierewitb. has loiig occupied a 

 loading- ])o^ition in tlio borticul- 

 tural tiade o\ tins <ountry and 

 (Mijovrd ihv cstt'rni of tbe resi- 

 <lents in tlu^ C'itv of Southwell, 

 which he lias, in the course of 

 rangenuMit, an uii i [ittM i upted succession of ), is active lifo. doju^ much to I)*'antify. Tho 

 beautiiul plants w:is uuuntained through- Southwell Nurseries, of wbieh a brief ac- 

 ting year by nirans of perennials and <.()unt is given in this issue, were founded 



an lie>, suspended bask* is. and a})out the middle of the last century by Mr. 

 butter tubs, whose < rndeneNS Merrvweathers father, who was a keen hor- 



ticidturist and gave his son the thorough 



MR. 11. MKUKVWEATHER. J.P. 



annuals. 



even prosaic 



was entirely veiled by the pendent foliage 

 of ivy-leaved pelargoniums surrounding 

 erect-growing flowering plants, and form- 



training so essential to success in horticul- 

 tural activities. Early in life Mr. Merry- 

 ing most attractive g]oui)s in iorners and weatliei* became connecte<l wdth Dean Hole, 

 elsewhere. Another stili smaller area was who then lived at Caunton, near Southwell, 

 <levoted to alpine plants, wbich, witli a and be served on the committee of the old 

 little care adapt themselves s])lendidly Notts Horticultural Society, of which Dean 



to small 



variety. 



spaces, 

 It is, indecnl. in 



and afford iiidiniilc ! Hole was then chairman. He was a contri- 



dircH^tion of variety tbat 



this partieulir 

 tlie gurdenini: 



l.utor to the first National Rose Show, held 

 tbe fifties (if tbe last century, at St. 



in 



- — ^^v^u^ies or rutiie amusement, aevote xj. - . ^ ij n • t i.... nf cii^tv n^nn 



« to _*h.i, .p«ui l»M,y. W .t hobby .«pr.m. : » ~ iirw^^W^'^ W.tX'T.S 



°"<?e better men and wiser ones, plus the 



scope 



