May 4, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
861 
II. P. Glendeaning, H. Herbst, \V. Iceton, P. E. Kay, F. Q. Lane, W. 
Marshal], G. Manro, A. Moss, W. N, Nutting, AV. Poupart, E. Rochford, 
S. M. Segar, J, Smith, G. F. Strawson, J. Sweet, O. Thomas, A. W, G. 
Weeks, J. Wills, J. AVillard, and J. Wimsett. The tables were beautifully 
decorated with flowers and fruit kindly supplied by Messrs. B, S. 
Williams & Sons, J, Laing & Sons, F. Sander & Co., AVills and Segar, 
H. Cannell & Sons, J. Walker, G. AVythes, and J. Smith. 
The Chairman, after the customary loyal toasts, proposed the toast 
of “Success to the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund,” associating with it 
the name of Sir J. T, D. Llewelyn, Bart. Baron Rothschild said he 
need hardly tell the company what the nature of the Institution was, 
because they were all acquainted with it. It was, however, compara¬ 
tively speaking, an infant among the many charitable institutions of the 
great metropolis ; it was not only an infant, but it might also be 
described as a dwarf, but age would diminish the fault of its being an 
infant. (Hear, hear,) They were assembled together that evening to 
obviate that defect in the stature of the institution, and by their 
generosity to enable it to increase its size to the proportions of a giant. 
The infant had, in his opinion, done very well during the first few years 
of its existence. He was pleased to know that during the past year it 
had given weekly allowances of 63 . to fifty-six children under fourteen 
years of age, which distribution represented an outlay of £750. 
(Applause.) That was, he considered, a most creditable piece of work. 
The metropolis abounded with not only hospitals, but homes and 
charitable institutions of every kind. He knew that that evening there 
were several dinners being held in the City in aid of similar insti¬ 
tutions, and the pockets of the benevolent were always being called 
upon to keep pace with the growing demands of charitable causes. In 
spite of these numerous dinners, however, they were gathered together 
that evening in the interests of the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, and 
he looked forward confldently to an excellent result in the shape of 
subscriptions, (Hear, hear.) The charity, as they all knew, had been 
established for the maintenance of gardeners’ orphans, and although the 
occupation of gardeners was a good and healthy one, yet they were 
exposed to certain risks which often left children fatherless, and therefore 
orphans. He did not know what the statistics of gardeners’ lives were, 
but in the proper execution of their work in hothouses, and during 
the night lime, gardeners caught chills, and died sooner, perhaps, 
than might be expected. Gardeners were, moreover, frequently 
transferred from one place to another, and were thus compelled to 
reside in localities that were perhaps the reverse of beneficial to them. 
He was not aware if the children of gardeners travelling about the 
world in the course of their occupation were included among those 
benefited, but if not, he certainly thought they ought to be. Who 
knows, the Chairman said, but that the men who had administered to 
our luxury in gardening had contracted some disease ? For instance, 
he had an Orchid in his coat that evening, and no one knew whether a 
man had not died in the discharge of his duty in some foreign land ; if it 
was so, the children of that man should be as well looked after and 
cared for as those of a gardener who had died at home. (Hear, hear.) 
He considered the opportunity of allowing the orphans a sum of £10 
when the weekly allowance ceased, when the children had arrived at the 
age of fourteen, a most excellent measure, for it was just the time when 
boys were becoming young men and when girls were growing into 
womanhood, that £10 would be almost a means of salvation to them. 
It may happen that £10 judiciously laid out at that period of a boy’s 
life may be the means of producing some great man to whom they 
would be indebted. He did not believe there was a charity throughout 
the length and breadth of the country which was more economically 
administered than this Fund. (Applause.) By a reference to the 
report they would see that the cost of the Institution had been quite 
trifling compared with the expenses of others, He was bound to 
say, therefore, that the balance-sheet was a credit to the charity. 
At the dinner last year the handsome sum of £1000 was subscribed, 
and the Chairman on that occasion possessed some rich relations 
and friends in the City, but although he had done his best his 
influence had not been quite so successful as that of Sir James 
Whitehead. Last year, continued the Chairman, his friend Mr. A'^eitch 
celebrated his silver wedding, and in memory of that auspicious occasion 
he presented the Fund with a splendid donation of £500. (Applause.) 
He hoped that other gentlemen present had that year celebrated their 
silver wedding, and looking around him he did not think that any of 
them had celebrated their golden wedding yet, or he might look perhaps 
for a donation of £1000. (Laughter.) He trusted, however, that Mr. 
Veitch, when he celebrated his golden wedding, which he sincerely 
hoped he would do, would make a donation perhaps of £1000. (Ap¬ 
plause.) He would conclude by pointing out that if each of the 
hundred gentlemen present added four times 5s.—he would not call it 
a pound—it would mean an additional £100 to the sum which had been 
promised. If gentlemen were to realise this fact it would be the means 
of relieving the sufferings and raising the hopes of many a young man 
and many a young woman. The Chairman subsequently announced 
that Mr. Sherwood had handed him a cheque for £100 as a donation to 
the Fund. (Applause). 
Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, Bart., in responding to the toast, said the 
institution was doing an immense amount of good, and as one of the 
Trustees he was sure no one had the welfare of the Fund more at heart 
than he had. It ought to be remembered that the parents of the orphans 
they were called upon to assist had taken their share in gardening. The 
profession of gardening had made very rapid strides during the past 
half century, and no one could say where it was going to end, to what 
extent it would grow, and what further improvement would take'place 
in fruit and flowers and vegetables. Kew had set a valuable example in 
horticulture ; indeed, it had been the means of greatly improving the 
welfare of the people living in the colonies, and the value of those colonies 
to a very appreciable extent. (Hear, hear.) This, he thought, was 
sufficient evidence as to the beneficial results of gardening, and those 
who represented the “ upper ten ” of horticulture should not forget that 
it was part of their duty to make the existence of orphans a little more 
tolerable. The work which had been done through the Fund proved 
how much lay before it in this direction. In 1887 the Fund was started, 
and a commencement was made with the election of eleven children. 
The number grew in the following year to thirty, and from thirty to 
fifty, and last year eight more were elected, making a total of fifty- 
eight, and only two had arrived at the age of fourteen. Fifty-six 
children were therefore on the books of the Fund, and if it progressed 
in the same ratio year by year there was a great future before it. 
(Cheers.) All should put their shoulder to the wheel, and much more 
might then be done. The most satisfactory feature during the past 
year’s operations was that H.R.H. the Princess of Wales had graciously 
consented to become Patroness of the Fund, expressing at the same 
time a hope that the association of her name with it might be the means 
of benefiting it. This had clearly been the case, for their excellent 
Secretary, Mr. Barron, had now secured the Duke of York and the 
Duchess of Albany as life subscribers ; that was the first fruit of the 
Princess of Wales being Patroness of the Fund, and he doubted not 
that it would bring a further accession of supporters. (A.pplause.) The 
handsome donation which Mr. Veitch presented to the Fund could not 
fail to have a good influence upon the leaders in the horticultural world, 
and he confidently looked forward to their patronage. He thought also 
they might approach the professional gardeners of the country. During 
the five years the Fund had been in existence the sum of £0570 had 
been invested. The value of such an invested sum as that could not be 
over-estimated, especially in the future if subscriptions did not come in 
so readily, although he hoped the day was far distant when they would 
be compelled to touch the capital, at the same time it was most desirable 
to have such a sum invested. (Cheers.) 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., gave the next toast, that of “Gardeners 
and Gardening.” In doing so he said the British people could fairly 
lay claim to the possession of the most beautiful gardens and the most 
skilful gardeners. (Hear, hear.) He had travelled about a great deal, 
and he had frequently been asked to go and look at some garden that 
was thought beautiful in the locality he might for the time be staying ; 
but although he had seen some fine gardens he could hones'ly say he 
had never seen anything on the Continent equal to what could be found 
in this country—(applause)—indeed, he believed the British had 
established throughout the world their reputation for the highest form 
of cultivation and the good standing of the calling of a gardener. 
Whether one went to the northern or southern part of these isles the 
same thing was noticeable. The sentiment applied also to cottage 
gardens, which sometimes succeeded in producing plants which the park 
or mansion could not do, and one of the great attractions about a garden 
was that whether it was large or small the owner felt an equal pride in 
it. He thought there was as much pleasure derived by the owner from 
a few plants in a window as from a large garden. (Hear, hear.) Re¬ 
ferring to his recent visit to the Ghent Quinquennial Sir Trevor remarked 
that although the Show was a very good one, and the Belgians the most 
hospitable race in the world, he had no hesitation whatever in declaring that 
English horticulturists could do equally as well, and he venture! to say 
a great deal better. (Hear, hear.) He trusted that as long as England 
lasted the beauty of her gardens would be maintained, ani, further, that 
the interests of such an excellent and most intelligent body of men as the 
British gardeners would never be forgotten. (Applause.) 
N. N. Sherwood, Esq., responded to the toast, and said he almost felt 
the wrong man in the right place. He could not call himself a gardener, 
but he rather wished he was able to do so, after hearing the high praise 
Sir Trevor Lawrence had showered on British gardeners. He expressed 
a hope that gardeners would always gain the approbation of gentlemen 
like the Chairman and the proposer of the toast, and that the Fund would 
ever receive the support and sympathy of such distinguished men. He 
was sure that gardeners in this country could hold their own. It was 
quite true that gardening had made immense progress during the past 
fifty years, and it was not to be surprised at when they remembered 
that almost every little village and provincial town in this country had 
its flower show ; and then looking at the magnificent show that was held 
annually at the Temple, he thought gardeners could not help feeling 
proud of their calling. (Hear, hear.) With respect to the Fund itself, 
this happened to be the Jubilee year of the firm he represented, and he 
asked the Committee to accept a cheque for £100. (Applause.) He 
knew of a very sad case in which a poor gardener had recently died and 
left a family of seven children. He wished to pay for the maintenance 
of one of those children, and would be perfectly willing to pay down in 
a lump sum the amount which was necessary for the maintenance of the 
little orphan for the next seven or eight years. (Applause.) 
Dr. Walker proposed “The Chairman,” and briefly remarked that 
they all knew that Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild was always ready 
with his assistance when the interests of horticulture were at stake, 
although he did not give that indiscriminate charity which did more 
harm than good. 
The Chairman in responding said that he had always taken great 
interest in gardening, and after many dreary hours of parliamentary 
duties he fully appreciated his garden. Mr. R. Dean submitted the 
