358 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARBLEER. 
[ April 30, 1885, 
shall have power to admit such society subject to confirmation at the next annual 
meeting. 
V. —The annual meeting shall be held on the last Monday In September at such hour as 
the Committee may determine. At this meeting th^ Committee shall present a 
report of the proceedings of the Association during the past year, together with a 
statement of the accounts duly audited. The President, Vice-Preudeuts, Treasurer, 
Secretary, and Trustees shall be elected, the place of the next annual meeting fixed, 
and such other business as may relate to the operations of the Association may be 
discussed. 
VI. —Each society shall annually elect two of its members as representatives of such 
society to act on the Committee of the Association. 
VII. —The annual subscription (on the 1st of September in each year) shall be as follows: 
Societies having less than fifty members or subscribers, les. 6d., or 31. per member; 
societies having more than that number, £1 Is.—half payable on May 1 st, the other 
half in September. 
VIII. —The secretary of each society shall forward to the Secretary of the Association a 
copy of the annual report, lecture or essay lists, schedules, &c., of such society as soon 
as they are issued. 
IX. —Any member of a society in the Association shall have the privilege of attending as 
a visitor the ordinary meetings of any other society in the Association. 
X. —The Committee shall have power (subject to the approval of the annual meeting) to 
consider the membership of any society at an end, in case it shall not have conformed 
to the rules or otherwise acted in a' manner inconsistent with the objects of the 
Association. 
XI. —The Secretary shall call a special general meeting of the Association whenever 
requested so to do by the Committee or by any three societies in the Association, and 
twenty-eight days’ notice shall be given to each society of such meeting, or of any 
general meeting of the members. 
XII. —The Committee shall meet for the transaction of the business of the Association 
twice in every year, and such meetings shall be held on the first Mondays in March 
and September each year in the town or place where the last annual meeting took 
place. 
XIII. —The President, Treasurer, and Secretary of the Association shall be elected from 
the society where the annual meeting is to be held for that year, and in case of two 
societies being in one town they shall act entirely as two distinct societies, and as 
such individually and seDarately. 
XIV. —No addition or alteration shall be made in these rules except at the annual 
meeting. Any society proposing to make any addition or alteration shall give not 
less than one month’s notice in writing to the Secretary of the Union, who shall 
notify such proposals to each society. 
The annual meetings are to be held in the different towns in turn, in¬ 
cluding, where practicable, an excursion to places of local interest, after 
the manner of the Archeological and other scientific societies, the first 
gathering to take place in Wakefield in September next. The dinner above 
mentioned was a signal success. The chair was occupied by T. Senior, Esq., 
the much-esteemed.President of the Paxton Society, who was supported by 
Alderman Moorhouse (Mayor), Mr. W. H. Lee, J.P. (ex-Mayor), Mr. W. H. 
Stewart, J.P., Major Taylor, J.P., and other gentlemen, the room being 
tastefully decorated with plants and flowers. The speeches delivered were 
exceptionally meritorious, and evinced the deep interest that is felt in the 
promotion of horticulture in the district. After the usual loyal and 
patriotic toasts, that of the Wakefield Paxton Society was introduced by 
Mr. Stewart in terms so felicitous that they cannot be entirely omitted 
here. After remarking that he considered it the toast of the evening, he 
said the Society was an institution of which Wakefield was proud. In the 
Society there were no unhappy divisions either social, political, or 
religious. Those three elements of dissension were wisely kept aside, and 
all the members met on one common ground and had one common object. 
The art of gardening was an old art; indeed, it was said to be as old as the 
world itself. They we-e told that their first forefather, Adam, when he 
was turned out of Eden made himself a garden, and his choice of the pro¬ 
fession must have been due to a recollection of the happy state of things 
in Eden. From that time up to the present there had always been men 
in whom a passion for gardening was strongly implanted. Gardening was 
certainly an art which was most closely allied with Nature itself. Nature 
presents to us many beauties, and we ought all to feel it a great honour and 
privilege that we are enabled in any way by our intelligence and industry 
to heighten her effects. There was an old tradition, an old Eastern story, 
which he considered a very beautiful one, which told them that when their 
forefathers were turned out of Eden the angels wept, and that where every 
tear fell a flower sprang up to be a comfort to man. He thought the soul of 
that man was dead within him which the beauty of a flower could not cheer, 
and, with Shakespeare, he would say “ Beware of him.” Any man who 
could pass through a garden full of beautiful flowers and then say he saw no 
beauty in it could haye no great degree of imagination. It was also said 
that the art of gardening when most truly appreciated was an art which 
kept men closely to Nature, and he was the best gardener who most closely 
followed Nature. He thought the Wakefield Paxton Society closely copied 
Nature in putting forth new life in the spring. He regarded the Society as 
a very useful one,because it taught men what could be accomplished by energy 
and attention. The Society had not been bolstered up by patronage, but 
had depended for success upon the individual efforts of its own members. 
Gardeners not only produced plants and flowers, but a very serious and im¬ 
portant item of the national food. He wished the time might come when 
every man could be induced to take a reasonable interest in gardening, and 
when every man could have the facilities for doing so; because he was 
satisfied that if a working man could do a little gardening at night, and 
then return home with a Cauliflower in his buttonhole, he would meet with a 
smile and a happy welcome. The interest in gardening was very different 
now from what it was twenty years ago, and the amount of gardening under 
glass must be tenfold more now than it was then. He was sure that any 
amateur or professional gardener who felt proud of his profession would 
agree with him that the Paxton Society was an institution from which they 
derived considerable benefit and great instruction; and he felt sure that he 
need not further appeal to them to enlist their sympathy in the toast of 
“ Continued Prosperity to the Wakefield PaxtonlSociety ” (applause). 
Nor can the reply of the President be passed in silence, so admirably 
condensed is the character of the Society. He said when he took the 
position of President he did so with a full determination to discharge the 
duties to the best of his ability, and he had found it a labour of love. He 
thoroughly enjoyed the weekly meetings of the Society, and he was very 
sorry when he was prevented by other engagements from attending them. 
The objects of the Society were to encourage a love for flowers among 
the general public, to assist professional gardeners in the duties of their 
profession, to impart information to amateur gardeners, to instil into the 
young of the town a love for horticultural pursuits, and to promote, as far 
as they could, all that was beautiful, great, and good in Nature (hear, hear, 
and applause). Since the Society was formed it had gradually grown from 
year to year until it had become a somewhat important institution. He was 
very proud to be at the head of it, and he believed that by the efforts of its 
officers it would become a still more important factor in the education of 
the morality and virtue of the town (hear, hear). He then alluded in very 
complimentary terms to Mr. Herbert Chapman, Secretary, and said that too 
much praise could not be given to him for the infinite trouble and pains he 
had taken with reference to the formation of a Yorkshire Association of 
Horticultural Societies, a meeting in connection with which had been held 
that afternoon (applause). The President referred to the Society’s library, 
to the active staff of officers in connect’on with the Society, and said that 
probably there was no society in the town which had so many advantages 
in connection with it. Whilst the committees of the Mechanics’ and Church 
Institutions had often difficulty in arranging a course of lectures from 
October to March, the Paxton Society had something both useful and 
instructive in the form of a lecture or essay every Saturday evening from 
January to December in each year (applause). 
Is there another horticultural society in England that can command the 
voluntary preparation of an original paper every Saturday evening through¬ 
out the year ? Many other gentlemen ably addressed the meeting, including 
the Mayor of the Borough, who said he pitied the man who could not 
appreciate the masterly speeches which had been delivered that evening ; 
for he knew of no society the members of which could speak with so 
much intelligence. He thought the Paxton Society washable to hold its 
own, and need not be afraid of comparison with any similar society in 
England. If they succeeded in cultivating a taste for horticultural pursuits 
amongst working men, he believed they would have done a great and a 
good work, because in nine cases out of ten where they saw a well-cultivated 
garden they might rely upon it there was a happy home. 
Altogether the assemblage was one of the largest, most earnest, and best 
conducted of its kind we ever attended, and we scarcely expect to see its 
like again—until our next visit to Wakefield. 
NOTES AT THE GARDENS OF ST. JOHN’S HOUSE, 
WAKEFIELD. 
The gardens attached to the residence of R. B. Mackie, Esq., M.P., 
are well known to residents of Wakefield and district, principally on 
account of the fine display of Chrysanthemums which has for several 
years past been there produced by Mr. Garnet, the esteemed head gar¬ 
dener, and during the continuance of which the gardens are, by the kind 
permission of his employer, thrown open to the public. At the time of 
my visit—April 21st—the plants, numbering five to six hundred, were 
being hardened off in cold frames without glass, but protected at night by 
mats previous to being placed out in the open grounds. They were all 
potted singly in 32 and 48-sized pots, and were mostly strong sturdy 
plants, 10 to 12 inches in height. Mr. Garnet appears to stop all his 
plants once at about that height, afterwards taking up three stems and 
having one good bloom on each. At flowering time a long lean-to house 
facing east is cleared for their reception, the plant stage which is con¬ 
tained in it at other times being taken out, and the plants arranged in a 
sloping back some 6 feet in width from the back wall to the pathway 
along the front of the house. This house at the time of my visit was 
nearly filled with a very fine collection of Roses in pots, mostly Hybrid 
Perpetuals, in robust health, clean, and very vigorous, each opening 
numbers of very large and fine flower buds, but which are cut as soon as 
ready and sent to Mr. Mackie’s London house. 
In the same garden is a splendid range of glass, built about four or 
five years since, and containing a large and finely arranged Peach house, 
three vineries, a conservatory, and a small but very beautiful fernery. 
The vineries consist of an early house, a Muscat house, and a late house. 
In the two first-named the Vines are strong and carrying heavy crops of 
fruit ; the Vines in the late house also are breaking strongly and showing 
plenty of fruit. In the Peach house there is abundance of fruit set, the 
trees upon the front trellis especially being very heavily ladeD. 
The conservatory contained a very fine display of bloom, consisting 
principally of Azaleas, Cytisus, Spiraeas, Deutzias, Rhododendrons, Cine¬ 
rarias, and Cyclamens. Of the last-named there are large numbers of 
plants in 6-inch pots, which have been very fine. The Cinerarias are 
large plants now at their best, and include many very fine varieties, some 
of the seifs especially being equal to the best named varieties. Mr. 
Garnet tells me he procures his seed from Messrs. Sutton & Sons of 
Reading. 
Over the pathway which traverses the back of the conservatory, and 
which, like the vineries and Peach house, is a “ lean-to ” facing south, 
is a wire-trellissed archway, over which are trained the Lapagerias red and 
white. The plants are healthy, and are making fine new growths. I was 
especially pleased with the system of training adopted, which is both 
novel and effective, and one which might in many cases be advantage¬ 
ously copied. The top of the wire archway, which will be 4 to 6 feet 
from the roof, is connected therewith along its entire length by very 
numerous lengths of stout black thread, up which the young growths 
freely climb, requiring but little attention on the part of the cultivator. 
When growth is completed and flower buds formed, these threads are 
detached from the roof, and the young growths thus brought down and 
trained horizontally along the trellis, the flowers being brought through 
the wires to the under side immediately above the head of the observer. 
They are thus most effectively placed, and make a beautiful archway far 
several months during autumn and winter. 
The fernery is most effectively arranged in a series of light rustic 
arches covered with cork bark, and entirely clothed with Ficus repeDS, 
which forms a very pleasing effect. Many varieties of Ferns are grown 
as specimens in pots and as smaller plants in pockets arranged in the cork 
bark. At the back of this are the potting shed, office, fruit room, frame 
ground, forcing pits for Cucumbers, Melons, Strawberries, stove 
plants, &c.; also an excellently arranged Mushroom house underneath the 
potting shed, and a large wooden building recently erected for the storage 
