Georg 
134 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
[August 4, 1883. 
favoured gardens there are fair crops, but gene- 
rally the crop is poor, and may be classed as 
very moderate. 
Plums universally are thin, the best results 
being seen on walls ; but on orchard trees the 
produce is a very poor one, even Damsons 
being a failure. 
Cherries of all sweet kinds are few indeed, 
and apparently better in Scotland than else- 
where ; but the returns probably chiefly apply 
to Morellos, which are fairly good, as usual. 
Apricots are a universal failure, and need no 
farther comment. 
Peaches and Nectarines are very fair 
generally, tjiat is to say, in some places a heavy 
crop and in others thin. Of course, in Scot- 
land and Ireland these are not largely grown on 
open walls ; but in England and Wales all 
localities give good and indifferent returns alike, 
but the fairly good ones predominate. 
Bush Fruits and Strawberries seem to 
have been as universally abundant as Apples 
are, the season seeming specially to have 
favoured them. Finally, 
Nuts of the smaller kinds are a very poor 
crop indeed, but in many localities Walnuts are 
fairly abundant. 
It is not possible to take leave of what is not 
an altogether unclouded resumd of the fruit 
crops without commenting upon the great social 
and economical value a good fruit crop is to the 
kingdom. By it myriads live ; by it the wealth 
of the country is increased, and vast sums of 
money are liberated for employment in other 
profitable channels. By it also the comforts 
and pleasures of the people are vastly increased, 
and may we not hope the health also. F rom 
afar come sad accounts of choleraic visitations, 
but these are the products of dirt and of foul- 
ness, not of the consumption of ripe, wholesome 
fruits. We trust no foolish alarms will inter- 
pose to prevent our growers from reaping to the 
full the benefits to which they are entitled from 
the plentiful Apple crop. Better, a thousand 
times to purchase good fruit than poisonous 
liquid compounds and cheap questionable 
solids, the constituents of which none can tell. 
If we will take of the good things of God, surely 
none better merit such an epithet than a luxu- 
riant crop of delicious wholesome fruits. 
CHARLES TURNER. 
When the Royal Nursery, Slough, was founded is 
involved in some obscurity, and owing to an unfortu- 
nate fire, which destroyed the dwelling-house and offices 
with their contents, much historical information was 
thereby lost. The name of Brown was associated 
with the proprietorship of the nursery for many years. 
In a letter received from Mr. Edward Brown, the 
sole surviving partner of the old firm, bearing date 
May, 1872, he states, “The cultivation of fancy or 
named Tulips commenced during the partnership of 
Elizabeth and Charles Brown, the former being my 
mother, and the latter a cousin or trustee under my 
father's will.” Mr. Brown is unable to give the exact 
date, but it is believed to have been somewhere about 
1820 to 1825. “I am unable to give you an account 
of the foundation of the nursery, but as my father 
was born here, and if living would have been 95 years 
of age (in 1872), and as he was not the eldest child, 
I think I may presume that it cannot be much less 
than a century since my grandfather commenced a 
nursery, on I daresay a very small scale. At that 
time he held land at the west end of Slough, and at 
Upton (Slough being comprehended in the parish of 
Upton-cum-Chalvey), and also about the centre of 
the town ; and it is upwards of 60 years since the 
present nursery came into the possession of my family. 
I think I may state broadly, that the originator, Mr, 
Thos. Brown, commenced about 1774, and was 
and Edward Brown ; and on the death of Charles, in 
the year 1836, Thomas, my brother, and myself, 
became the sole partners, and traded as T. & E. 
Brown. On the retirement of myself, in 1837, my 
brother Thomas carried on the business until 1840.” 
Mr. W. Cutter was the proprietor of the nursery for 
about four years, when it passed into the hands of Mr. 
Charles Turner, the genial and enthusiastic florist whose 
portrait will be found on p. 145. Mr, Charles Brown 
was one of the earliest members of the London 
Horticultural Society, and was also a member 
of the Council at the time of his death, at the age of 
41 years. The firm for a number of years regularly 
and most successfully exhibited at the meetings of the 
Horticultural Society of London, as well as at exhi- 
bitions in the large provincial towns. Lonicera 
Brownii, Lilium Brownii, Brown’s Superb Rose, and 
many fine new varieties of Tulips, Dahlias, Pansies 
in very large numbers, Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, 
Phloxes, &c., originated at this nursery. It is believed 
that one of the first descriptive catalogues of flower 
seeds was sent out by the firm of Thomas and Edward 
Brown. 
In May, 1864, The Midland and Northern Florists ’ 
Guide , then edited by Mr. William Dean, gave a por- 
trait of Mr. Turner, accompanied by a racy and genial 
sketch from the pen of the Rev. Canon Hole. It set 
forth that Mr. Turner “ was born at Wilton, near 
Salisbury, just at that season which we florists love 
so dearly — when all things are bursting into life and 
loveliness, blossom and bloom— on May 3, 1818. 
This date will surprise many, for he looks fully ten 
years younger than he is ; but so it is, that garden 
life is the youngest, freshest life of all, and the 
heart which loves flowers, rightly and reverently, 
enjoys a perpetual spring.” 
“He was a mere boy (but, in vivid illustration 
of Wordsworth’s words, ‘ The boy was father to the 
man’) when he began his floral career. At that 
time the ‘ pink of fashion ’ was the Pink itself, and 
there were exhibitions almost entirely restricted to 
the display of that dainty flower. In 1832 he won 
his first prize. One fancies how some of the older 
competitors would grin derisively at the stripling, 
<$t. su . 14, as he entered the show-room with his 
box, but it was Goliath despising David; and I 
should like to have seen Master Charley’s face as 
he went home to tell the news that day, the proudest 
and happiest boy in England .” 
“ This early success confirmed for ever his floral 
bias, united him to his first love in bonds never to be 
broken, and finally decided his vocation in life. From 
that day of victory he was never happy out of the 
garden. The jockey had won his first race, and the 
world was a dreary wilderness when viewed from the 
saddle. His parents kindly conformed to his wishes, 
and in 1834, when his enthusiasm had mounted to 
‘fever-heat,’ on his again winning the 1st prize for. 
Pinks, and also the 2d for Dahlias, he was apprenticed 
to a nurseryman at Salisbury. Here his previous 
talent grew and throve as rapidly, but withal as 
robustly, as one of his show Pelargoniums. Plis master 
was an invalid, and many things were entrusted to his 
supervision which are usually cared for by the owner 
himself, and which, perhaps, no other youth in exist- 
ence would have successfully undertaken as he did. 
In 1 835 'he went to Bath with Dahlias, and brought 
home a £12 and an ^8 cup.” 
“ He went from Salisbury to the nurseries of Messrs. 
Cormack, New Cross, Surrey, and thence to the 
Messrs. Brown, of Slough, whom he ultimately 
succeeded ; wherever he went victory went with him, 
and as he gradually extended his ambitions, so has 
honour always rewarded enterprise. He has tried no 
branch of floriculture without improving it, nihil tetigit 
quod non ornavit : he has aspired to no prizes which 
he has not obtained. In 1840 he won a ^20 cup at 
Cambridge, and a £25 cup at Norwich ; and in 1841 
three £20 cups in one week — namely, at Tam worth, 
Warwick, and Halstead — for Dahlias, which were then 
the favourite flowers for exhibition. From 1832 to 
1848 the number of prizes awarded to him was 498, 
and since that date no account has been kept.” 
The outline so pleasantly sketched by the Rev. 
Canon Hole may be filled up in a small particular or 
two by stating that Mr. Turner was foreman to Messrs. 
of Mr. Cutter that Her Majesty the Queen paid a 
visit to the nursery, hence the prefix, Royal. 
If the subject of this sketch is not the oldest living 
florist, he has been conspicuously before the public 
longer in point of time than any other member of the 
fraternity. Fifty-one years is indeed a long time to 
be actively engaged in any profession, but labour is 
pleasant if congenial to the taste. We think we may 
safely say that Charles Turner has taken more first 
prizes for his productions than any other grower in 
his or any time, and has awarded more prizes than 
any man living, his services as a judge having always 
been in great demand. The great characteristic of all 
his work has been its superb finish ; everything he has 
placed on the exhibition stage has illustrated a high 
standard of cultivation, and many a one has had his 
perceptions quickened and his knowledge enlarged 
by a sight of what is done at the Royal Nursery, and 
has resolved to emulate so much of this standard as it 
was possible he could reach to. In the case of cut 
flowers, after winning all along the line for a series of 
years, Mr. Turner gave up exhibiting for a time, but 
now they receive the same attention at Slough as of old. 
Carnations and Picotees have never ceased to be 
favourites, and at the present time Roses have taken 
the high place Dahlias once occupied— and, indeed, 
still occupy — on the occasion of any great contest. 
Time was when it was not uncommon to have half-a- 
dozen collections of Dahlias, a hundred varieties in 
each. The old Pink, once so popular, and endeared 
to Mr. Turner as the flower with which he won his 
first floricultural victory, is rising into favour again, 
and the collection at Slough is one of the most com- 
plete and perfect to be met with. One great achieve- 
ment has been the marked success with pot Roses. 
The leading characteristic of the Slough mode of cul- 
ture was to show naturally grown bushes instead of 
the old fan-shape, at one time so prevalent. These 
took the place of the once splendid Azaleas that used 
to come from Slough to the London exhibitions ; but 
the Azalea is by no means neglected, as in the spring 
time it is not unusual to see very fine collections of 
remarkably well-grown and flowered specimens sent 
from the Royal Nursery, and new varieties are con- 
stantly appearing in season from there. The Slough 
Pelargoniums are known far and wide, and are gener- 
ally placed first on the exhibition stage. There was a 
time when the Pansy was extensively and successfully 
grown at Slough, but they will not now succeed in 
the warm and dry South as formerly. The battle 
against adverse influences was manfully kept up for a 
time, and only brought to a close when surrender was 
inevitable. 
As an exhibitor, who shall attempt to estimate the 
prowess of Charles Turner ? What a long line of suc- 
cesses are written in the chronicles of the Horticultural 
Press ! A man vsrho can hold his own against all 
comers for the space of half a century must have that 
within him which cannot be overcome uritil human 
power fails in old age. Emerson’s remark may be 
appropriately quoted here : ‘ * This man accomplished 
by some magnetism. His victories are demonstra- 
tions of superiority. He conquers because his arrival 
alters the state of affairs.” In a piquant passage in 
his Book About Roses the Rev. Canon Hole has 
sketched Charles Turner as an exhibitor Mr. 
Turner does not show his cards, but when he comes 
to play them on the green cloth or baize of the exhi- 
bition table no man deals more fairly, knows his 
game more thoroughly, holds more trumps, or scores 
the honours more frequently.” The number of prizes 
gained in 1883 amounts already to ninety, fifty of 
these being 1st prizes. 
A list of the novelties in plants, flowers, fruits, and 
vegetables sent out from the Royal Nursery during 
the proprietorship of Mr. Turner, would fill a small 
volume. Their name is legion. New Auriculas, 
Azaleas, Carnations, Cinerarias, Dahlias of all kinds, 
Fuchsias, Gloxinias, Pelargoniums of every section, 
Picotees, Pinks, Roses, Verbenas, &c., have been from 
time to time sent forth until they can be counted by 
the hundred. A large number of these novelties are 
raised at Slough ; a great proportion by others. The 
opportunity to secure and send out a good thing is 
never lost. Two of the best and most useful Straw- 
berries ever raised — President and Sir Joseph Paxton 
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 M.ssouri 
. . . Botanical 
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