32 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . t January is, mi. 
gardener to the Marquis of Lansdowne that he made his mark in 
the pursuit which he so much adorned. 
It is near upon fifty years since Mr. Spencer went to Bowood as 
gardener to the grandfather of the present Marquis, and up to the 
year 1860, when he resigned this appointment to take the more 
responsible position of steward of the Bowood estates, the services 
he rendered to horticulture are recorded in almost every horti¬ 
cultural periodical and work of the period, and as a recognition of 
his merits in this respect he was early elected a corresponding 
member of the Horticultural Society of London, to the Journal of 
which he contributed several useful papers, and of the Council of 
which he was for several years a member, when it extended its 
work to South Kensington. In 1862 he became associated with 
his friend, Dr. Robert Hogg, in the proprietorship of “The 
Florist,” which had been previously conducted by Mr. Edward 
Beck and Mr. Charles Turner ; and now it was issued in a new 
series under the designation of “ The Florist and Pomologist,” on 
account of the greater prominence given to fruit in the new 
series. As his duties in connection with the Bowood estates and 
his public engagements required his attention, Mr. Spencer was 
obliged after a time to relinquish his literary connection with 
the gardening press, though from time to time he continued an 
occasional contributor to the pages of this Journal. 
In 1851, in conjunction with Dr. Hogg, Mr. Spencer was 
instrumental in forming the British Bornological Society, and 
along with him was for several years joint honorary secretary. 
There was no important horticultural movement at that time with 
which Mr. Spencer was not associated ; and there was none, the 
success of which was not nourished by his presence and influence. 
Like his old friend, Sir Joseph Paxton, he was a great power in 
horticulture, and not in horticulture alone, but in every social 
movement which required sound judgment and deliberate per¬ 
sistent action with which he was invited to co-operate. 
It was not, however, in horticulture alone that Mr. Spencer was 
proficient: other branches of science and of general knowledge 
had equally their attractions for him, and especially in geology lie 
acquired a wide reputation. On this subject he was a frequent 
lecturer at the provincial institutes of the district, and there was 
perhaps no one who could speak with higher authority and had 
greater experience of the geology of the Oxford oolite and the Bag- 
shot Sand, both of which were abundant in the district, than 
Mr. Spencer. No greater treat could be enjoyed than to have the 
privilege of a drive through the picturesque country in which 
he lived, and to listen to his pleasant talk and exposition of the 
formations over which we were travelling and by which we were 
surrounded. These were occasions which will always remain 
fresh and green in the memory of the writer. 
It is impossible in a short notice like the present, which has 
been hurriedly prepared, to give anything like a perfect sketch of 
the career of this estimable man, and we will therefore merely 
mention some of the public offices he held, and which will show 
the high position he held in the esteem and confidence of the 
county and district in which he resided. Up to the time of his 
death, which took place on the morning of the 10th inst. a little 
after ten o’clock, he was Vice-Chairman for a great many years 
of the Caine Union, and Chairman of the Assessment Com¬ 
mittee. He was also for some years one of the Directors of the 
North Wilts Bank, and subsequently, on the amalgamation of 
that with the Hampshire Bank, then styled the Hampshire and 
North Wilts Banking Company. This subsequently became the' 
Capital and Counties Bank, and he retained his seat on that 
board as a Director to the end of last year, when he resigned con¬ 
sequent on his failing health. He was one of the oldest Free¬ 
masons in the province of Wilts, in which he had held every 
office, and was a Past Provincial Grand Senior Warden. 
Mr. Spencer was born at Langley in Derbyshire, on the 27th of 
June, and was consequently in the seventy-second year of his age. 
DEATH OF MR. WM. GORRIE OF EDINBURGH. 
We are sorry to have to announce the death of Mr. William 
Gorrie, President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh. On 
the evening of Thursday last, the 6th inst., Mr. Gorrie was on his 
way home in the train from Edinburgh to Newhaven, and expired 
in the railway carriage of heart disease. Mr. Gorrie has been 
a prominent figure in Scottish horticulture for nearly fifty years. 
Trained by his father, the late Mr. Archibald Gorrie of Annat 
in Perthshire, he early exhibited those qualities which led him 
to take an important place in the world in after life. When 
yet a young man he entered the establishment of Messrs. Peter 
Lawson & Son of Edinburgh at the time when the late Mr. Charles 
Lawson originated the Agricultural Museum, which afterwards 
became the property of the Highland and Agricultural Society 
of Scotland, and the care of the museum was entrusted to Mr, 
Gorrie, who for several years continued to be its curator. During 
this time he was also occupied in the preparation of the Agricul¬ 
turists' Manual , published by Messrs. Lawson, and which was the 
joint production of Mr. Gorrie and Mr. Charles Lawson, the former 
getting the matter together, conducting the experiments in the 
experimental nursery at Meadowbank, and the latter giving a 
general supervision and advising on the technical parts of the 
work. For some years afterwards he acted as steward to the Earl 
of Stair at Oxenford Castle, where his attention was much occupied 
with the culture and crossing of Rhododendrons, and subse¬ 
quently he returned to Edinburgh to take charge of the extensive 
nurseries of Messrs. Lawson. Of late years Mr. Gorrie has retired 
to comparatively private life, though still active in the pursuit of 
his love of plants and botanical studies. His little garden at 
Raitt Lodge, Trinity, was a Noah’s ark of horticulture, where 
he delighted to spend, no matter how long, with friends who 
would enter into and appreciate his tastes, and his spare time was 
occupied in practising landscape gardening and garden designs. 
WORKJOIUHeWEEK. . 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
The favourable change in the weather will admit of pruning being 
completed. Apples and Pears grown as pyramids, bushes, or cor¬ 
dons should have attention, so that the borders can be cleaned and 
mulched with rich material. In pruning it should be remembered 
that some Apples and Pears produce their finest blossoms and fruit 
on the terminal points of the last year’s growths ; therefore pruning- 
in too closely should be avoided, except in the case of very gross 
shoots. If summer pruning, and, with extremely vigorous trees, root- 
pruning, have been attended to, there should be very little use for 
the knife at this season, though it may be advantageously employed 
to thin out wood or spurs where too thickly placed. For weakly 
trees with an overcrop of bloom buds it is advisable to remove some 
of the buds where too closely set to give additional strength to those 
retained, an overcrop of blossom taxing the energies of the trees so 
severely as to prevent the fruit setting and swelling freely. Plums 
as bushes make a quantity of spray, soon becoming crowded with 
spurs, and unless they are thinned some are likely to die. Remove 
dead spurs and all unnecessary growths. The pruning, dressing, 
nailing, or tying of the above-named trees and Cherries should be 
concluded as soon as possible. Apricots are best pruned early, as 
the wounds have more time to heal, and are consequently less liable 
to gum than when the sap is active. Beyond cutting out the old 
weak bare wood, shortening any long spurs, thinning where too 
crowded, and keeping the growths close to the wall, the knife should 
be used as little as is necessary to ensure the symmetry of the trees. 
FRUIT HOUSES. 
Cherry House .—If the house was closed early last month a little 
fire heat will now be needed to keep the temperature at 40° at night 
and 45° to 50° in the day, allowing an advance of to 10° und r the 
influence of sun heat. It is, however, a great mistake o proceed too 
hastily in the early stages of forcing fruit trees, partic arly with the 
Cherry ; therefore commence ventilating the house at 0°, and when 
the weather is mild and sunny admit air abundantly. Attend regu¬ 
larly to watering trees in pois, syringing them occasionally, and 
damping as required to promote growth. If black aphides are present 
fumigate repeatedly, so as to have the trees clean before the blossoms 
expand. 
Cucumbers .—Plants in bearing will require to be examined at least 
twice a week, removing all weakly and exhausted growths, and 
reserving as many of the young bearing shoots as will maintain a 
balance between the roots and foliage, retaining, however, no more 
than can have full exposure to light. Stop the shoots one or two 
joints beyond the fruit, keeping strong plants more closely stopped 
than those that are weakly. If mildew appear promptly dust the 
foliage with flowers of sulphur,’also applying it to the hot-water 
