548 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. i December u, im. 
- A career of great promise has been brought to a close by 
the sudden death, which we regret to announce, of Mr. John 
Sadler, Curator of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens, which 
occurred on Saturday last, the 9th inst. Although Mr. Sadler had 
been unwell for some time nothing serious was apprehended until 
Thursday last, when for the first time he was unable to leave his 
bed. The cause of death has been certified as disease of the 
kidneys. Mr. Sadler was born at Gibbeston, Fifeshire, in 1837, 
and was consequently only forty-five years of age. His connection 
with the Royal Botanic Garden commenced in 1854, when, at 
seventeen years of age, he entered as junior assistant. He even¬ 
tually became chief assistant to Dr. Balfour, Professor of Botany. 
This position he continued] to hold until 1878, when he was 
appointed Curator on the death of Mr. M’Nab. He was also 
Curator of the new Royal Arboretum for Scotland. He acted for 
twenty-one years as Secretary to the Edinburgh Botanical Society, 
and was also Secretary of the Scottish Arboricultural Society for 
nineteen years, and on his retirement from these offices was 
presented with a gold watch and appendages, and a purse of a 
hundred sovereigns ; also with a timepiece bearing a Latin 
inscription written by the late Sir Robert Christison, Bart., and 
a purse containing seventy-one sovereigns. He was a Councillor 
of the Royal Physical and the Royal Caledonian Horticultural 
Societies; President of the Edinburgh Fungus Club; a member 
of the Scottish Alpine Botanical Club, and Edinburgh Naturalists’ 
Field Club. He was examiner in botany to the Edinburgh Uni¬ 
versity Local Examination, and also for many years lecturer on 
botany in the Royal High School of Edinburgh. In 1869 Mr. 
Sadler was awarded the Neill prize of £50 by the Royal Cale¬ 
donian Horticultural Society. Added to his industry and ability 
Mr. Sadler possessed an urbanity of demeanour which won for 
him hosts of friends, and his loss is deeply mourned by all who 
knew him. He leaves a widow and seven children, with whom 
much sympathy is felt in their great bereavement. 
- A correspondent, “ Refulgens,” writes as follows on 
bush Chrysanthemums at Liverpool “ It is evident to any¬ 
one visiting the Chrysanthemum Show at Liverpool that the 
strong point of culture in the neighbourhood is the production of 
incurved blooms and closely trained specimen Pompons. I was 
surprised to see such poor examples grown and shown as bushes. 
They were the more conspicuous to me after seeing the fine plants 
that have been staged at Manchester during the past two or three 
years. The Manchester plants display a very high standard of 
cultivation. They do not average 3 feet in height, and are fur¬ 
nished with bold green foliage to the base, and each shoot ter¬ 
minates with a large well-formed flower that would not disgrace 
an exhibition stand of cut blooms. 1 hope this hint may induce 
the exhibitors of bush plants in Liverpool to exert themselves to 
grow and show these plants in creditable condition, so that this 
portion of their exhibition may not be the weakest feature as it 
has been during the past two years.” [Our correspondent should 
show them how to do it, as he is a successful exhibitor.] 
- A correspondent writes : — “ Phal^enopsis amabilis 
and P. Schilleriana are quite at home and growing splendidly 
on blocks of wood in the stove at Wyncote, Allerton, under the 
charge of Mr. W. Mease. The pieces of wood are about 1 foot in 
circumference and about 18 inches high, and are stood on the 
trelliswork over a tank of water. The plants have been placed 
on the top of the wood with a little sphagnum moss, which is 
growing freely, and the roots are clinging to the wood, and could 
not possibly be doing better in any other position. The foliage is 
remarkably fine, and the flower spikes conspicuous for their 
strength.” 
- It will be useful to record the names of the synonymous 
Roses bracketed in the National Rose Society’s catalogue, and 
concerning which it was resolved at the annual meeting (see 
page 555) that only one of those too-much-alike varieties would 
be admitted in stands exhibited at the shows of the National 
Society, or those of Societies affiliated with them. The varieties 
are as follows :— Hybrid Perjoetuals —Charles Lefebvre, Mar¬ 
guerite Brassac, and Paul Jamain; Duchesse de Caylus and 
Penelope Mayo ; Eugenie Verdier and Marie Finger; Mardchal 
A aillant and Avocat Duvivier; Marie Rady and Comtesse de 
Choiseuil; Maurice Bernardin, Exposition de Brie, Ferdinand de 
Lesseps, and Sir Garnet Wolseley; Monsieur Boncenne and 
Baron de Bonstettin ; Prince Camille de Rohan and La Rosiere. 
Teas and Noisettes —Adam and President ; Chromatella and 
Cloth of Gold ; Devoniensis and Climbing Devoniensis ; Madame 
Bravy, Alba Rosea, Josephine Malton, and Madame de Sertot. 
- On the 11th inst. a meeting of the members of the Dundee 
Horticultural Society was held to consider the proposal in 
reference to holding an International Show in 1884. Provost 
Moncur presided, and there was a good attendance. It was stated 
that a number of gentlemen had guaranteed a fund to the amount 
of £125, which it was thought could be easily doubled, and it was 
agreed that not less than £1000 should be given in prize money. 
The proposition was duly seconded, and carried unanimously. 
We trust the project will be successfully carried out. 
- A correspondent has sent us three fruits of General 
Garfield Tomato of enormous size and very ugly, not with the 
object of recommending the variety, however, but to show that 
outdoor-grown fruits approaching ripeness on the eve of winter 
will ripen when cut and hung in a warm room. He had pre¬ 
served many bunches in this manner, and has now a good supply 
of Tomatoes. Those sent to us a fortnight ago have changed to 
a much brighter scarlet colour in our office, and they are of fair 
quality. This variety is described as requiring too much room, 
and is not sufficiently prolific for many cultivators. 
- Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 62, Camden Square, London 
N.W., requests us to publish the following note on British rain¬ 
fall :—“I am just preparing to issue to all the observers of rain¬ 
fall known to me blank forms for the entry of their records for 
the year shortly about to close. This staff now exceeds two 
thousand ; but still, as they are not unfrequently rather clustered, 
there are many parts of the country where additional records are 
needed. I have no doubt that records are already kept in many 
places unknown to me, and I shall be glad if you will allow me to 
invite communications from anyone who has kept an accurate 
record, and to supply either those already observing or contem¬ 
plating doing so with a copy of the rules adopted by British ob¬ 
servers, and with all necessary blank forms—all, I may perhaps 
as well add, free of charge, as our greatest requirements are ample 
and accurate records.” We shall be glad if those of our readers 
who are able to do so will co-operate with Mr. Symons in the 
work in which he has been so long, industriously, and usefully 
engaged. 
- Relative to table plants at the Brighton Aquarium 
Show, “An Old Decorator” writes:—“I believe it was quite 
as great a surprise to your correspondent to find himself placed 
first as it was to many others who visited the Show, numbers of 
whom expressed the opinion as published by your reporter. As 
to the attempted disparagement of the second-prize collection, I 
can say, after many years’ experience in floral and table decora¬ 
tions, they were just the size I should select, as I should be ex¬ 
tremely puzzled what to do with the very small plants staged by 
your correspondent.” Another correspondent says the remarks 
in our report were quite justified, and our reporter assures us that 
the dissent of several persons against the awards were expressed 
very forcibly, while he “ put the matter in the mildest possible 
form.” 
