270 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 28,1895. 
is needed. A steady circulation of air is really necessary to the healthy 
development of fruit and foliage. 
I have yet to learn how it is that hothouse builders come to know 
so much better what kind of houses are most suitable for Vine-growing 
than a gardener who has spent his life in his calling. Each builder has 
his idea and patent, but it seems useless to build a bouse in such 
a form that afterwards it is necessary to shade it to prevent the sun 
damaging the Vines. Surely this is short-sighted policy considering the 
amount of trouble connected with the operation of shading, at a time 
too when gardeners’ hands are full enough otherwise. 
With a span-roofed vinery the circumstances of the case are mate¬ 
rially changed, the position being due north and south. Even although 
the angle of the house may be somewhat steep, the sun will not have 
the same power on the foliage although it shines directly on it in the 
morning, and as a natural consfquence the moisture of the house is not 
so readily dried up, and by noon, when the sun is at its fullest, it will 
fall on the ridge, and be equally divided on each side. Thus there is 
no chance of it doing injury to the foliage, although the glass squares 
may be of large size. I have just touched on the outside points of this 
important subject, and should be glad to hear what others have to say. 
—A. Kemp, Coollmrst, Horsham. 
DEATH OF MR. WILLIAM DEAN. 
Flokists all over the kingdom, as well as secretaries and managers 
of horticultural societies, and our readers generally, will share with us 
the deep regret we feel in announcing the death of this genuine florist 
and estimable man. Pansies, Violas, and Pinks were perhaps the 
favourite flowers of Mr. William Dean, but all kinds were dear to him, 
and no one than he was more quick to perceive the merits and defects 
of the several varieties. Mr. Dean was the originator of the character¬ 
istic and expressive name of “ Fancy Pansy,” and to him more than 
to any other man we are all indebted for 
the beautiful race to which the term 
applies. Fancy Pansies were at the first 
and for some time lightly regarded, but 
they have long since won a leading posi¬ 
tion, and are grown in increasing numbers 
yearly. 
In 1883 Mr. Dean wrote the history 
of the “ Fancy Pansy ” in the Joxirnal of 
Hoiticulture, and this, with his history 
of the Show Pansy, is embodied in Mr. 
James Simkins’ (King’s Norton, Birming¬ 
ham) excellent work.* This work gives 
beautiful coloured illustrations of early 
Show Pansies as they were in 1833 ; also 
of Mr. Dean’s beautiful “Fancies”—Mrs. 
Dean, Her Majesty, His Majesty, and 
Harlequin, as sent out by him in 186G. 
The difference is almost startling, and the 
last-named varieties show the marvellous 
advance that had then been made in the Pansy since it was introduced 
from the cornfields into Lord Gambler’s garden at Iver in 1833-4, and 
improved by his Lordship’s gardener—Mr. Thompson. The Pansy is 
emphatically the flower of evolution. Mr. Dean, always abreast of the 
times with the flowers of his heart, had of late given much attention 
to the smaller types as represented in the charming Violas, which are 
deservedly spreading far and wide. Our departed friend raised many 
of these from time to time, but the one to which his name may be more 
particularly and appropriately identified is Dean’s True Blue—one of 
the most floriferous and best of bedders and the favourite of one of 
the truest florists of his day and generation. 
Mr. William Dean had an extremely varied career, as will be 
admitted on perusal of the following interesting biographical notes, 
with which we have been favoured by his brother—Mr. Richard Dean 
of Ealing :— 
I'la. 46.—MB. WILLIAM L)EAX. 
“ My brother William was born on July 8th, 1825, on the Hill Nursery 
of Mr. William Bridgewater Page, a noted botanist, horticulturist, and 
landscape gardener of Southampton. My father was foreman at this 
nursery for a number of years, and William was taken into the nursery 
when quite young as office clerk, and here he remained until 1843, when 
he went to Belfast as foreman to Messrs. Scott, Bros., being then just 
turned eighteen years of age. His youth and nationality combined 
appeared to have prejudiced the employer against him, and after a year 
or two in the north he came to London, and obtained employment in 
the Wellington Road Nurseries of Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son at 
St. John’s \Vood, eventually becoming salesman and traveller. About 
1850 he went into business with a Mr. Somerville, as nurserymen and 
florists at St. John’s Wood, but abandoned it towards the end of 1853, 
going to Slough to take a responsible position in the Royal Nurseries 
under the late Mr. Charles Turner. There he remained until 1857, when 
he went to Shipley, Yorkshire, and established what was known as the 
Shipley Nursery, Bradford, doing a general nursery and seed business. 
“In 1859 Mr. Andrew Henderson of the Wellington Road Nurseries 
rent my brother some new forms of blotched Pansies he had met with 
I n a recent visit to France with a request that he would grow them at 
th'pley, a London nursery not being favourable to their well-doing, 
making a stipulation that all the plants obtained should be sent to 
London. These Pansies had been raised by a M. Miellez of Lille, and 
were all named varieties. More eame to Shipley in 1860, and more in 
1861, all improvements upon the preceding ones, and then the supply 
failed through the death of M. Miellez. Meanwhile my brother had 
obtained seed, and in the autumn of 1861 he was able to send out the 
first batch of English-raised Belgian Pansies, as they were termed in 
those days. It is to my brother’s enterprise we are largely indebted for 
the family of Fancy Pansies of the present day. 
“ In 1865 my brother acted as Local Secretary for Bradford and 
district in furtherance of the International Horticultural Exhibition 
and Botanical Congress of 1866, and he had the satisfaction of sending 
up the second largest amount obtained in that way—viz., £78 Is. He 
was one of the 110 jurors who made the awards at that memorable 
exhibition, of whom only a tithe remains alive to this day. 
“ In 1876-77 he sold his business at Shipley, and came to London 
to take charge of the London branch of the Lawson Seed Company in 
Southwark Street. When the London branch was given up, he went 
to Chad Valley, Edgbaston, Birmingham, as manager to Mr. R. H. 
Vertegans, and subsequently with Mr. Thomas Hewitt, and with Messrs. 
A. Blizzard & Co., Edge Lane Nursery, Solihull. Then some years 
ago he settled down in the Dolphin Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, 
as florist and seedsman, making a speciality of Pansies and Violas, 
and was very successful as a raiser of the latter. He originated and 
carried out to a successful issue the Viola Congress held in the Botanical 
Gardens, Edgbaston, last year, and prepared the report of its proceed¬ 
ings for publication, and which will always stand as a memorial to his 
exertions in popularising the Viola. At the time of his death he was 
assisting Mr. H. A. Barberry in bringing out a new edition of his book 
on Orchids. As assistant secretary to his friend Mr. Robert Sydenham, 
he carried cut the arrangements of the exhibitions of the Midland 
Counties’ Carnation Society, and assisted in all the exhibitions held in 
the Botanical Gardens. As a judge at flower shows his services were 
in request, but his health would not permit of his travelling long 
distances. 
“ For years past he had been a martyr to asthma and bronehial 
aflfections, which kept him a close prisoner in his house for weeks 
together during winter. In a letter I had from him a few days ago he 
spoke very hopefully of an improvement in his health when warmer 
weather came, but it was destined not to be. His end (on the 23rd 
inst.), was somewhat sudden and unexpected ; to all appearance, 
pneumonia having set in in an acute form. He was twice married, 
having a family by each wife ; and he leaves a widow and children to 
mourn his loss.” 
“ In the early part of 1860 he became associated with Mr. E. S. 
Dodwell and Mr. John Sladden (A.S.H) in the conductorship of 
‘ Gossip of the Garden,’ and carried on the work until it ceased at the 
end of 1863. He was editor of the ‘ Florist’s Guide,’ which succeeded 
‘ Gossip of the Garden,’but it did not get beyond the second year of 
publication.” 
Mr. William Dean was a most pleasant and genial man, ever ready 
to help any who needed his assistance in connection with floricultural 
matters. His quick pen and great experience rendered him a welcome 
guest in many a committee tent at flower shows. On such occasions 
few men worked harder than he, and the more he could do the happier 
he appeared to be. He was a careful and a just judge of flowers, and 
though, like most other judges, had occasionally to disappoint exhibitors 
who were his personal friends, he was never more pleased than when he 
M'as authorised to give awards of extra medals or commendations to 
meritorious productions that were equally recognised by his colleague.®. 
He will be missed at many floral gatherings and by a host of friends 
who were wont to associate with him, as well as by others with whom 
he corresponded, for he never seemed to tire of writing about flowers to 
those who loved them, whether they were strangrers or not. Mr. William 
Dean was in a sentence a real, true, genuine florist and an excellent 
man, whose name will be held in pleasant remembrance by a wide 
circle of friends who had the pleasure of his association. 
We reproduce an excellent miniature portrait of our deceased 
friend by favour of Messrs. Dobbie & Sons, Rothesay who had it 
engraved for one of their publications. 
EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE. 
Many difficulties arise over the books to study for the above 
examination, and as your two correspondents said (page 251), the books 
mentioned for gardeners’ study by the Royal Horticultural Society are 
very expensive, but they can to a great extent be substituted for others 
much cheaper. Perhaps a few words about those I found most useful 
last year may help others who are in a difficulty in the choice of suitable 
books out of it. 
I think the best book to commence the study of horticulture is 
J. Wright’s “ Primer of Horticulture,” Is. ; afterwards R. P. Wright’s 
“ Text Book of Agriculture,” Is.6d. ; and William Oliver’s “Elementary 
Text Book of Botany,” 23. 6d. These, with a certain amount of practical 
experience and a weekly paper on gardening (similar to the Journal of 
Horticulture), will be found (I speak from experience) sufficient to gain 
a first-class certificate. Those wishing to extend their knowledge can 
do so by getting the books recommended by the R.H.S., but I think the 
above books come within the range of all. 
A plan we have started amongst ourselves, which perhaps others do, 
or might like to follow our example, is for six or seven to each buy one 
* •' Ihe Pansy ; How to Grow and Show It.” 
