December 30, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
573 
80 
TH 
31 
F 
Sale of Orchids at Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms, Cheapside. 
1 
S 
2 
SUN 
2nd Sunday after Christmas. 
3 
M 
4 
Tu 
5 
w 
GREETINGS. 
WihDpf ERY many readers of this Journal—indeed, the 
majority—will receive the last number for 188G 
on the last day of the year, though others, 
widely scattered in remote villages in Great 
Britain and Ireland, and in more distant homes 
beyond the sea, will have entered on the new year 
before they can peruse its pages. At the time 
of writing the old year is melting away—going 
steadily but surely with the snow that fell on 
the 26 th inst., and which will be recorded as one of the 
“ events ” of the season. We will not dwell on a theme so 
chilling as the storm that will be memorable, but rather 
acknowledge the warm-hearted greetings that have been 
showered upon us during the past few days in the only prac¬ 
ticable form open to us. We accept all the good wishes of 
which we are the recipients, come from whomsoever they 
may, reciprocating them in the fullest manner. Some of the 
letters before us we should like to publish, but as they may 
have been intended for our perusal alone they are regarded 
as private communications. One, however, is clearly not 
included in that category, for we are distinctly enjoined to 
“ print it or not.” As it admirably embodies the sentiments 
of many correspondents expressed in felicitous terms we 
avail ourselves of the privilege accorded, and “print” the 
following greeting from “ A Yorkshire Amateur.” 
“This being the time of year for the sending of good 
wishes and congratulations to all our friends, may I convey 
mine to all connected with this Journal—its proprietor, its 
editors, its contributors, and, last but not least, its numerous 
readers ? I have been for many years a constant and gratified 
reader of its pages, and I feel to have gradually acquired a 
kind of proprietorship in it, and an acquaintance—-I had 
almost written friendship—with those who conduct it, and 
with those contributors who devote their leisure hours and 
spare moments to the pleasant task of writing down for our 
benefit those methods by means of which they have obtained 
almost absolute perfection in the various walks of their pro¬ 
fession. 
“ I have something to say to all and each of the above 
mentioned, and I will begin with the proprietor and editors. 
To you, gentlemen, I say, it must be a great pleasure to 
know that your efforts for the furthering of the cause of hor¬ 
ticulture, the increase of gardening, and the spread of the 
knowledge of the habits and successful cultivation of the 
myriads of beautiful and useful plants and shrubs which a 
bountiful Providence has bestowed on this earth for our 
benefit, have been and continue to be blessed with the largest 
measure of success. Is there a better paper than the Journal ? 
Is there a paper which gives more or better information ? 
There can, in my opinion, be only one answer to these ques¬ 
tions, and it is a most unqualified and most emphatic 
‘ No ! ’ 
“ I read with interest, a few weeks ago, a short history of 
this paper—of its initiation, its progress, and gradually in¬ 
creasing usefulness and success, until now, as I have just 
No. 340.— Vol. XIII., Thibd Series. 
intimated, it stands at the head of the horticultural literature 
of the present day. It is you, gentlemon—you, the editors of 
this Journal—who have done this; by your efforts and your 
care—to use a simile that will go to the heart of every gar¬ 
dener, you watched and tended the paper like a young and 
tender plant, as a good gardener watches and cares for a tiny 
seedling, which in course of time shall distance and outshine 
all competitors. It is a grand thing to deserve success, it is 
doubly gratifying to attain it. You have done well—you 
have done both. 
“ To you, Messieurs, the contributors, lay and clerical, I, 
in spirit (if you will not be offended) tender the right hand 
of fellowship. Ycu too have had much to do with the raising 
of the Journal to the proud position it occupies. Over how 
many hundreds of pages have I followed your thoughts and 
instructions ? Where all do so well it would be invidious to 
mention names, else I have a good many at the end of my 
pen. Some I might mention, I allnde to those who have 
passed away • some, like fully ripened fruit, gathered in at 
the very end of autumn, like the late Mr. G. W. Johnson ; 
others, called away sooner in manhood’s prime, like our 
friend ‘ Single-handed,’ whose articles illuminated these 
pages some years ago. 
“ Yours, my friends—the present contributors—is a labour 
of love, as theirs was ; anybody who reads your articles can 
see that. You, too, have done well, but be not weary of well¬ 
doing. There is still much fallow ground and virgin soil 
untilled, much ignorance to be instructed, many fallacies to 
be eradicated, plenty of work for you yet. Go on and pro¬ 
sper, and may your efforts be crowned with success. 
“And now for you, my friends and fellow amateurs, to you 
too I extend the hand of fellowship, and let me remind you 
that you belong to a grand old guild—the oldest snd best in 
the world, the first to be founded on earth. I should like to 
tell you in a few words (and remember that I am one of the 
humblest among you) what gardening has done for me. 
What it has done for me it will da for anybody else who is 
in earnest. It has taught me many lessons—to persavere, 
for success comes not always at the first attempt. It has 
taught me to think, for knotty problems will arise sometimes 
which require to be solved. It has taught me to see, amongst 
other things, the beauty of every flower that blooms, from 
the exotic Orchid to the “wee crimson tippit flower,” the 
Daisy. Not naturally strong and healthy, it has by keeping 
me out in the fresh air benefited me greatly bodily, while 
mentally it has led me to make inquiries which have shown 
me more clearly what a wonderful connection there is 
between the smallest grain of dust blown about by the wind, 
and the greatest tree, or the greatest animal, even proud 
man himself, in creation. It has led my thoughts into 
channels which I think they could never have reached other¬ 
wise. I bless the day I commenced gardening. It is, if not 
the most, then one of the most innocent occupations possible. 
If any young man just commencing life should read these 
lines ; if he is hesitating between a life of billiard-playing, 
drinking, theatre-going, and town-haunting generally 
(mind, I am no intolerant fanatic—moderation, the true 
temperance, is my motto), let me advise him to pause and 
try gardening—he will never regret it. 
“ Fellow readers, one word more—don’t take offence, I 
mean none. Be earnest; you will do no good otherwise. 
What does the poet say ? 
tl Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time ; 
Footprints that perhaps another, # 
Sailing o’er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing shall take heart again ” 
<< Man is an imitative animal, boy even more so. We 
never know when we may be leaving a footprint that may 
No. 1996.— Yol. LXXV., Old Series. 
