68 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 84, 1884. 
this plant is grown in rooms and trained round the walls near the ce ling, 
and from its peculiar succulent structure it would, no doubt, be fitted 
for such dry positions, though its strength would be severely tested in 
ordinary English rooms. The best position for it is a greenhouse or 
cool stove, but the former is preferable, as it cannot endure a moist 
atmosphere. It is not particular as to compost, light sandy Joam with a 
little leaf soil or old decayed manure being suitable, and if grown in a 
pot this must be thoroughly drained and water very carefully supplied. 
The best plan is, however, that adopted at Kew, where it is planted out 
and trained up the roof of the house. 
An allied species, S. mikanioides, is known as “ Nice Ivy,” and in 
St. Helena as “ Ground Ivy,” both names being derived from the 
resemblance of the leaves to those of the Ivy.— L. Castle. 
THE PROFESSIONAL GARDENERS’ FRIENDLY 
BENEFIT SOCIETY. 
In reference to this Society, the seventeenth annual report of 
which was published on page 39 last week, we shall answer some 
inquiries and anticipate others by directing attention to the lead¬ 
ing features of the Association. We do this the more willingly 
since in our remarks on the excellent and admirably conducted 
“ United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society,” esta¬ 
blished in London (see page 349, October 25th, 1883), we stated 
that “ our primary object was to benefit gardeners and not to 
advertise the claims of any particular society ; and if any other 
institution exists of the same nature that offers greater advan¬ 
tages to its members, and is equally and indisputably safe, we will 
on being made acquainted with it not the less readily urge its 
claims for support.” 
The Society under notice, which is established and is so well 
managedat Leeds, is not adducedas offering “greateradvantages” 
than the London institution. The two Societies are different in 
their working, both being safe, sound, and equally well conducted, 
and engaged in a most commendable and important work. 
The principle of the London Society is to act not only as a 
benefit society but as an insurance and bank to the members, 
the surplus funds after the demands for sickness are met being 
invested for each member, and become his property absolutely. 
The payments are based on a scale that time has proved ample 
for meeting the demands of sickness and insuring a substantial 
residue—namely, Gd. a week for insuring a payment of lOs. Gd. 
weekly for twenty-six weeks, and half that sum for a similar 
period, besides small contributions to the benevolent and man¬ 
agement funds. 
In the Leeds Society there is no sui-phis banked for the mem¬ 
bers ; but the management appears to be based on the principle of 
dispensing the greatest amount of benefits in sickness, and provid¬ 
ing grants at the death of members and their wives by the lowest 
possible scale of payment. In this respect the results are remark¬ 
able, and we suspect unparalleled. In return for 3 d. a week the 
payment of 10s. weekly is secured for twenty-six weeks, then 5s. 
weekly as long as the member is ill and conducts himself in 
accordance with the rules of the Society. This 5s. may indeed 
amount to a pension provided a member should be incapacitated 
by illness for an indefinite time. That these privileges can be 
maintained for such a trifling sum is very gratifying. It is 
■evident that the moral character and sober lives of gardeners 
have a powerful influence in contributing to the result, while 
there is always the greatest reluctance on their part to relinquish 
their duties, and for members to place themselves on the funds 
of a society for a slight ailment; and when compelled to do so it 
is incumbent on them from the circumstances of their position 
to resume their work at the earliest possible moment. “ Class 
privileges ” is a term not always of pleasant import; but it is 
clear that there are class privileges possessed by gardeners by 
which they have the utmost right to benefit, and they can do so 
by joining such provident societies as these with much greater 
advantage to themselves than by becoming members of general 
benefit societies that include persons of every calling, and prac¬ 
tically regardless of their habits of life. We are not aware that 
there are any such institutions as the two in question that can 
afford to dispense anything like equal benefits for anything like 
similar rates of payment. We commend them to all members 
of the ci-aft who desire to make some pi-ovision for illness, and 
especially to young gardeners, every one of whom should take 
advantage of their position and the facilities offered by becoming 
members of one or other of these excellent societies. 
At the first glance it seems almost increditable that the Leeds 
Society can offer so much in return for such slight outlay, but 
experience has pi*oved that it can do so safely; and with a 
regular accretion of young members its accumulated fund of 
£075 will increase. There is a rule, however, to provide for 
emergencies to the effect that if the accumulated fund should fall 
to £ 1 1 Os. a member, that an additional sum of 1 d. or more a week 
be paid until the amount is equal to £2 10s. per member, when 
the contributions will be reduced to the nominal sum of 3 d. 
weekly. It is pleasing to record that this rule has never been 
called into operation. So far from this being so the amount per 
member, instead of falling to £1 10s., has risen to upwards of £6. 
The Society is open to the membership of all gardeners, and 
applicants have to sign a declaration that they have worked as 
a gardener for seven years successively (five years for members 
up to twenty-one, three years up to eighteen years of age), and 
should their statements ever be detected as false they lose all 
claims to the benefits of the Society. It is thus difficult for any 
but bona fide gardeners, who must, moreover, be men of good 
character, to get enrolled as members. Initiatory fees are charged 
varying in amount according to the ages «f applicants. 
The northern Society is further supported by a number of 
honorary members, and" the good work of the Committee is 
recognised by the municipal authorities and local dignitaries of 
Leeds, some of whom invariably attend the anniversary dinners 
at which all the benefit members who < an do so assemble. 
At the monthly meetings papers on gardening are read, and 
discussions held thereon. In order to encourage the production 
of papers prizes were offered for the first time last year by a lead¬ 
ing banker, Mr. Oxley; but though eight papers were read only 
three were placed in competition, and as the prizes are repeated 
under different conditions, the members expect greater competi¬ 
tion and better results next year. The three prize papers are in 
our hands, and inversing the usual order we shall publish the 
third first, and the others, or abridgments of them, will follow 
in due time. 
We have only to add that the address of the Secretary of the 
Professional Gardeners’ Friendly Benefit Society is Mr. W. 
Sunley, Bacchus Hill, Moor Allerton, Leeds, who will forward 
rules in return for stamped directed envelopes, and give any 
information that may be needed to gardeners who may desire 
further particulars of the Association. Our advice is that 
gardeners should study carefully the rules of both the excellent 
Societies mentioned, and decide which they consider the most 
advantageous in each individual case. We have observed that 
gardeners who have not joined societies such as these, and who 
are now too old to do so—forty-five years of age being the limit 
—regret that they were not acquainted with their existence 
sooner. With the sole and entire object of helping those who 
are engaged in gardening operations to help themselves by 
making provision for illness we have made these Societies more 
widely known than before, and the Secretary of one of them, 
we are glad to know, has had his labours enhanced accordingly, 
The Secretary of the other will not object to similar work, the 
purpose of both being to do good to their fellow workers in the 
craft in which they are engaged. 
PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 
( Continued from jjage 14.) 
Those who have a greenhouse heated by hot water are to a great 
extent independent of external influences, and all that is necessary 
is to set about the work in the proper wajq for failure is sure to be 
the result of unintelligent and badly performed operations. A 
frame placed at the warm end of the greenhouse over the hot-water 
pipes will enable the amateur to raise a quantity of plants for 
bedding-out, thus making the garden gay in summer, and for raising 
plants in spring, which grown through the summer will make the 
greenhouse bright at that season, besides affording plants for house- 
decoration. 
The bed, for there must be one, is readily formed by bricking-up 
the sides from the floor so as to enclose the hot-water pipes. 
The ends must also be closed in a similar manner, so that the heat 
cannot escape by either the sides or ends. The width ought not to 
be more than 1 foot on each side of the pipe, or pipes if tley are 
above each other, clear of the pipes to the brickwork. This will 
give a space of 2 feet 4 inches clear, and will need a frame 2 feet 
6 inches wide to rest on the brickwork ; or if the bed be against a 
side or end wall of the house the frame on that side may be supported 
by holdfasts driven into the wall, and the side walls should be 
carried up so that they are 6 inches on the level above the hot- 
water pipes. The part below the pipes may be filled in level with 
the bottom of the hot-water pipes solid, and the part around and 
above the pipes filled with coarse rubble surfaced with a layer of 
finer yet open material. The bed is now ready for the frame. 
The frame should have sides about 6 to 8 inches deep, both sides 
