70 



THE FLORIST A NT) POMOLOGIST. 



Wbigela Stebzneri.— Mr. Standish: Commendation, May 6.^— A Belgian hybrid of 

 compact habit, with abundant blossoms of moderate size, and of a deep rose colour. 



[From a great press of matter we have been prevented publishing these useful lists of awards so promptly 

 as we could have wished, and as their importance demands; but in future they shall appear more rapidly 

 than hitherto. Nevertheless, though too long after the times of exhibition, they still furnish a valuable 

 lecord of these novelties.— Ed. F. and P.] 



' OBITUARY. 



THE HEV. GEOKGE JEANS, VICAK 03? ALIOIID. 

 {Abridged from the Journal of Horticulture) 

 Rarely has my humble pen undertaken a more melancholy task (so selfishly, alas ! do 

 ■we regard the ways of our Heavenly Father), than in conveying to many who have benefited 

 by his remarks, or who have known his name as intimately connected with gardening 

 pursuits, the news that my valued friend whose name heads this notice has gone from 

 amongst us. 



It is now some years since that the cause of one of our great religious societies in which 

 I was interested, led' me to visit Alford as its advocate. I was then a stranger to the Vicar, 

 but had been assured that I should meet with a hearty welcome. In this I found that my 

 information had been correct ; my work's sake was sufficient to insure me that. 



On the following morning, taking, as is my wont, an early stroll, I espied in the garden a 

 frame of Auriculas then coming into bloom. This soon led us to touch upon another subject 

 on which we had common sympathies. And as each recurring year led me to Alford, and 

 other opportunities of meeting one another were afforded us, our acquaintance ripened into 

 friendship ; and 1 have for many years esteemed it a great privilege to number amongst my 

 friends one who was so fine a type of an English gentleman, a ripe scholar, and a Christian 

 pastor, as my late revered friend. 



Distinguished in early life, when scientific pursuits were not so much in vogue as they 

 are now, for his attention to philosophical inquiries, astronomy (on which he published an 

 excellent and most readable treatise), geology, chemistry, &c, found in him one who 

 appreciated their value and could bring them practically to bear. These studies he never 

 allowed to pass out of sight. He eagerly read all that was really valuable in connection 

 with them ; and no way led astray by injurious theories which had no foundation better than 

 a "hypothesis," he was yet by no means opposed to whatever new light advanced knowledge 

 on these subjects from time to time produced. He was not one of those who believed that 

 God's words and God's works are contradictory. He did not consider it derogatory to 

 Science to regard her as the handmaid and not the mistress of Revelation ; and works of a 

 contrary tendency were regarded by him as hurtful to the cause of truth as well as of science. 



His transit instrument on the lawn, his geological specimens, and lectures delivered only 

 last year, clearly showed that these earlier pursuits had still their charm for him ; while his 

 conversation on these and kindred subjects showed how fresh were still his thoughts and 

 feelings. But it is as connected with floriculture that his name will be especially regarded 

 by the readers of The Journal of Horticulture. For many years under his nom deplume of 

 "Iota," latterly, since his friend Mr. Edward Beck's death, exchanged for his real signature, 

 he contributedlargely to various gardening publications. His philosophic, mind could only 

 view even floriculture in this aspect ; and I have always felt that it was something for 

 florists to be able to number amongst them one who did not think flowers, despised by many 

 scientific persons, as unworthy of his notice. "When Mr. Beck in 1848, disbking the tone 

 that then pervaded gardening literature, determined on starting a periodical in which a 

 better spirit should prevail, he summoned to his aid, for the columns of The Florist, the Vicar 

 of Alford ; and I may be excused for referring to a notice in the volume of that work for 

 1861, prefixed to a touching notico, written at my request, of his friend's death — all the more 

 so as he has so soon followed him : — " It woidd ill become us to add anything to the very 

 interesting account that he has given of the life and character of his deceased friend ; but 

 we may say that which his modesty forbids Mm saying himself—that the pages of The 

 Florist in those days to which he refers owed a great portion of their attractiveness to his 

 own writing. Pago after page bears the evidence of his clear and graphic pon, even where 

 his signature appears not." 



While the wide field of information over which my friend's discursive fancy could roam, 

 enabled him to grapple with many subjects connected with gardening, it was of the Auricula 

 he chiefly delighted to write. It was his pet, par excellence, and a collection unsurpassed for 

 variety testified to the energy with which its cultivat-on was carried on. His judgment was 

 sound ; for as a thorough florist he admitted no restriction of rules, ru hlessly consigning to 

 the border flowers unworthy of the stage ; and when admitting^ varieties that were not 

 excellent in their character to a, place in his frames, assigning as his reason the real cause of 



