JannaTy 1, 1881 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 
O one interested in horticulture can think, speak, or write of 
the year that has now closed without somewhat depressed 
feelings. Never in the many years that I have been associated 
with horticulture have so many in all its departments passed away 
from amongst us. Never have I had to mourn the loss of so many 
“valued friends with whom I have been associated in our common 
love. From the accomplised artist, probably the best, and certainly 
fhe most adventurous and enthusiastic botanical artist of modern 
times. Miss Marianne North, down to the working gardener, many 
■and many a gap has been made, and my first thought in reviewing 
the past year must be given to them. Passing by, then, those 
with whom I was not acquainted, what a list there is of friends 
whom one will never again meet here. Early in the year we 
Teceived the news of the death of Mr. Wildsmith, the aocom- 
■plished gardener at Heckfield. No one who has ever visited 
that charming spot, and had the privilege of being shown over 
it by ]\Ir. Wildsmith is likely to forget it, and when some years 
:ago the members of the Horticultural Club spent one of their 
most pleasant outings there, it was a day in all the memories 
■of those who shared in it to be marked with the whitest of 
white chalk, and the memorial w'hich was founded by his 
friends in connection with the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund is ample 
testimony that the feeling of sorrow was not confined to them 
•Mone, but was shared by a large circle of admirers. 
In the month of June there passed away two very prominent 
■figures in our metropolitan horticultural circle. Mr. B. S. Williams 
{Ben Williams, as he was generally known), the eminent nursery¬ 
man of Holloway, but who is more associated in my mind with 
Manchester, where in former years I used to meet him at the 
great Whitsuntide festival, which he energetically supported, and 
where he was a general favourite. He w^as too well known 
for me to do more than say that as a grower of Orchids, Ferns, 
and stove and greenhouse plants he had few to equal him. A 
Williams’ memorial, also in connection with the Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund, and which was one of the last generous acts of dear Shirley 
Hibberd, is a witness to the worth which made him so many 
friends. In George Deal horticulture had to mourn not a grower 
of plants, but a warm and sympathetic friend to any movement 
likely to advance the material interest of the gardener. More 
•especially does the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund owe him a deep and 
lasting debt of gratitude, for as its Chairman he threw a vast deal 
of life and energy into it, and by his thorough financial knowledge 
placed it on a firm and substantial basis. It was a graceful act in 
kind and generous Mr. Harry J. Veitch and Mr. N. Sherwood to 
■contribute a sum which, supplemented by the contributions of 
other friends, enabled the seven unsuccessful candidates at the 
last election to be placed on the list of recipients. There is no 
one more missed at our horticultural meetings than our genial 
and hearty friend. 
No one ever was in the company of James Backhouse of 
York, I am sure, without feeling drawn towards him, there was so 
much of that simple piety and quiet gentleness which belonged to 
the Society of Friends of which he was a member, and no one has 
ever visited the York Nurseries under his guidance without being 
charmed by his extensive and accurate knowledge, more especially 
of alpine and herbaceous plants ; many were the pleasing stories of 
No. 549.— VoL. XXII., Third Series. 
his rambles in seaic'i of them, and of his journey to see the 
“ midnight sun,” of which he made a beautiful oil painting, for 
he Avas an accomplished artist. Another who is associated in my 
mind Avith these plants, although he was an excellent and suc¬ 
cessful Orchid grower, was Mr. Enoch Harvey, whom, however, I 
saw but once at his home at Aigburth. I have already in my review 
of the Rose season alluded tu the death of that very successful 
raiser of Roses, Mr. Henry Bennett of Shepperton, and I need not 
further refer to it. 
For many years we have missed at our horticultural gatherings 
the presence of that most generous and kindly of the patrons of 
horticulture, Mr. James McIntosh. Of him, too, I have already 
written in the pages of the Journal, and therefore I need do no 
more than say that every day proA'es how great is the loss that we 
have sustained. 
The Chrysanthemum Centenary, however successful it may 
have proved, will be ever remembered by all lovers of the flower 
with mournful feelings, as directly or indirectly it occasioned the 
death of two of the most ardent supporters of the flower, Mr. Wm. 
Holmes and Mr. Shirley Hibberd. The former was, indeed, suffer¬ 
ing from a disease which sooner or later must have carried him 
off, but his arduous exertions to secure a success for the Exhibition 
no doubt hastened his end, while I believe there is little doubt that 
that “chamber of horrors” called St. Stephen’s Hall with its 
wretched cold draughts brought on the illness by which Shirley 
Hibberd was done to death. No figure was more conspicuous in 
horticulture, no name more generally honoured, and no one could 
possibly be more genial and energetic than the good friend whom we 
all m.ourn. 
But now passing away from our death roll let us turn to some 
brighter subjects, and now at any rate no one interested in 
horticulture can avoid giving the first place to the Royal Horticul- 
cultural Society. Time was, in the days when the nursemaids and 
babies reigned supreme at South Kensington, when all its doings 
were looked on with alarm, wondering AA^hat might come next. 
We now feel that all its intentions are designed for the good of 
horticulture, and are, therefore, prepared to welcome them. The 
grand idea what has been a long time in the air of having a central 
Hall for Horticulture has culminated this past year in a decided 
step in advance, and although it now somewhat hangs fire, yet it 
is but undergoing the process which so many of us know so well, 
when in building a school, restoring a church, or some similar 
effort the last portion of the money is that which it is most 
difficult to pull together, so half or more than half of the money 
is subscribed, and there it seems to stop. Let us hope that 1891 
may see it carried out or advanced a still further step. The 
meetings in the Drill Hall have been most interesting, and it 
shows much love for the Society when such men as Baron 
Schroder, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Major Mason, and the leading 
nurserymen will exhibit their rich treasures in so wretched a 
place as it is. If I could give a note of warning it is that the 
Society should not assume too much. There are some fetish 
worshippers amongst its members who think no good to horticulture 
can come from any other source, and who look jealously on 
all societies that Avould seem to them to detract from its im¬ 
portance. 
In looking back at the novelties of the past year the most 
noticeable have been, as in the past few years, amongst the Orchids, 
where the hybridisers are “ bothering ” the botanists by the intro¬ 
duction of garden varieties, which they have so strenuously 
ignored ; and among Orchids Cypripediums still hold in general 
estimation the first place. Amongst stove and greenhouse plants 
there has not been, as far as I recollect, anything very remarkable- 
The novelties amongst Roses I have already spoken of, and in 
other florists’ flowers there has not been anything exceptionally 
fine. One striking feature in the taste for special flowers has been 
the great interest which has attached itself to Carnations, The 
No. 2205.—VoL. LXXXIV., Old Series. 
