40 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 16, 189i. 
form in which it can be offered. The funds of the Institution are not 
wasted on buildings and costly administration, but the whole of them 
are paid away, and the recipients are enabled without breaking up their 
homes to pass the remaining years of their life in comparative comfort 
amongst their own relatives and friends. (Cheers.) The Institution 
has now lasted for more than half a century, and it has had a career of 
continued and increasing usefulness and prosperity. At the present 
time, as I learn, there are 156 pensioners, male and female, and they are 
receiving the bounty of our Society at a cost of something approaching 
£3000 a year. My Lord and Gentlemen—It only remains for me to 
appeal to you, and appeal to all who have derived profit or pleasure from 
the gardener’s skill, to assist this Institution to meet all the claims that 
may be made upon it, so that no deserving applicant shall be turned 
away, so that all shall find relief in their time of need ; and I feel 
assured that we shall aH take the greater pleasure in our pirrsuit if we 
know that those who have grown grey in their service will not suffer 
want or dishonour in their declining years. In proposing this toast I 
shall couple with it the name of Mr. Harry Veitch, a name which for its 
owner’s own merits as well as for the services which have been rendered 
by his family to the Institution through a long course of years, may 
very fitly be associated with the toast of the evening. (Cheers.) 
Harry J. Veitch, Esq., said :—Mr. Chairman, my Lord, and gentle¬ 
men, in responding to the toast which has been so eloquently proposed, 
I feel that it is not necessary that I, as Treasurer of the Institution, 
should enter into any statistics this evening with reference to its affairs. 
On a similar occasion to the present this time last year, when 
my friend, Mr. Sherwood presided, the details of the work of the 
Institution were given very fully, and it is not necessary that I should 
repeat them. But there are one or two points to which I should like to 
allude. In the first place, sir, I must thank you as Chairman for the 
admirable manner in which you have advocated the cause of the Insti- 
tion. (Cheers.) I am quite sure that the weighty words which have 
fallen from your lips have found not only an echo but a resting place in 
the hearts of all who beard them ; and I wou'd offer you the thanks, not 
merely of the Executive, but of every gentleman present, for your 
kindness in coming amongst us this evening. Knowing as we all do how 
many public duties you have to perform we cannot fail to appreciate 
your kindness in devoting this evening to the claims of our Institution. 
Vou have, sir, alluded to the fact that we have 156 pensioners. Since 
our last festival our oldest pensioner has passed away. I should like to 
mention that that pensioner died at the age of 103, that he subscribed 
1 guinea per annum for eighteen years, that he became a pensioner in 
1872, and that he received up to the time of his death £520 from this 
Institution. That, I think, shows the advantage which may arise from 
a gardener becoming a subscriber ; while if, in God’s providence, he 
should never have occasion to apply to us for a pension, surely he ought 
to feel glad that he has been able to help others who have been less 
successful in life than himself. Some other pensioners have passed away 
since our last festival. Of those who remain the average age is seventy- 
two years and two months, and we do all we can to take care of 
them in their old age. But, while we have 156 pensioners, I 
think we ought to look a little at the other side of the picture. We 
took on eleven new pensioners in January last, but we had to decline 
fourteen applicants. One applicant was within seven votes of being 
successful ; but for want of funds we were obliged to decline to add the 
name to the list, and that poor woman will have to wait until the next 
election, when I trust she will be successful. Since then we have had 
many other candidates, and although the Chairman has spoken of the 
Institution as a successful one, I can assure you that we are still sadly in 
want of funds, and I would earnestly ask you to bear in mind the kind 
words in which Mr. Chamberlain has pleaded our cause this evening. 
I should like just to allude to the death of some friends whose faces we 
miss this evening—I refer to Mr. B. S. Williams, Mr. Shirley Hibberd, 
and others.- I must also mention the names of Mr. G. Deal, who was 
taken from us very suddenly ; and Mr. Backhouse of York. I cannot help 
alluding to the death of one whose face you doubtless all well remember, 
our late Secretary, Mr. E. R. Cutler. It cannot be necessary for me to 
say anything in praise of Roger Cutler, who was the Secretary of this 
Institution for fifty years, and to whom it was my privilege to present a 
testimonial in acknowledgment of his long and faithful services not 
long before his death. Mr. Cutler was a man to whom this Institution 
owes a very great deal. He was elected as Secretary, I believe, at a time 
when there was neither a pensioner on the books nor any money 
invested, and when he was removed by death he left behind him 
156 pensioners and £25,000 invested in Consols. (Cheers.) If he did not 
do all the work of the Institution, he did, at any rate, the lion’s share, 
and the record of that fact appears tome the best monument that he could 
have. He was a wonderful worker. He was, I may add, at the office on 
Monday afternoon, and he passed away on Tuesday at two o’clock. As you 
might well imagine, the Committee were afterwards very quickly called 
together. I am thankful to say that we have a good Committee of 
Management, headed by Mr. John Lee. I am not myself on the 
Committee, and therefore can speak of it the more freely, and I do 
claim for the Committee that they met the terrible difficulty in which 
they found themselves on the death of Mr. Cutler in a manner that 
deserves our admiration and gratitude. I think you will all agree with 
me that the affairs of the Institution have not stood still since the death 
of the late Secretary, but have gone on well ; and I feel bound to say, 
Sir, that we attribute this in a great degree to your having kindly 
consented to take the chair on the present occasion and thus support us 
in our difficulty. When you came forward to our assistance in our 
dilemma it seemed to give us fresh life, and I venture to say that this is 
one of the most successful festivals that we have ever had. The Com¬ 
mittee had, as it were, to take the bull by the horns, and I think they 
did the work before them wonderfully well. The first thing they had to 
do, in order to keep the Institution in good working order, was to elect 
a new Secretary. Then came a great difficulty. The applicants were 
most numerous. The Committee felt that there must be great difficulty 
in getting a man fit to succeed Mr. Cutler, but I do hope, and I do 
think, that we have in Mr. Ingram a man worthy of the position- 
(Cheers.) Let me add, gentlemen, that if you should find that every¬ 
thing is not at first quite what you have been accustomed to you must 
recollect that after fifty years’ service there is likely to be something a 
little different, and I feel sure that if you communicate with the 
Secretary or with myself you will not make any complaint or remark 
in vain. I will not, gentlemen, detain you any longer. I thank you 
very cordially for having received the toast as you did, and once again 
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your kindness in presiding this evening. 
(Cheers.) 
N. Sherwood, Esq., proposed “ The President and the Vice- 
Presidents,” and Herbert J. Adams, Esq., responded. 
Sir John T. Dillwyn Llewelyn proposed “ The Royal Horti¬ 
cultural and Botanic Societies of London and the United Kingdom,” 
and the Rev. W. Wilks, M.A., responded. 
Lord Stanley of Alderley proposed, in eulogistic terms, “ The 
Health of the Chairman,” which was received with enthusiasm. 
The Chairman said, I thank you very much for the compliment 
you have paid me, but, as I said before, it is a pleasure and a duty for 
me to have been present among you, and I claim to be one of your body. 
I have taken great interest in gardening for thirty years. During that 
time I have grown, or have attempted to grow, everything, from Dande¬ 
lions to Orchids, and what I chiefly pride myself upon is Dandelions^ 
(Laughter.) But I can assure you that in my devotion to this pursuit I 
have had my rewa and I believe it would be impossible for anyone to 
find a more healthy and delightful recreation, or a greater cure for 
trouble and anxiety, than is found in the pursuit of gardening. During 
all this time, or at least in later years, my business has been the business 
of politics, and my pleasure has been the pleasure of gardening, 
I sometimes think that a parallel or an analogy might be drawn between 
these two pursuits. The progress of political ideas and the growth of 
flowers have something in common, and they both require ventilation- 
daughter.) But I don’t think the parallel ends there. It is certain 
that they both very often succeed best in heat. Then you know that in 
gardening we are troubled greatly by obstructive proceedings on the 
part of noxious insects, which we know by the names of thrips, red 
spider, mealy bug, and Orchid devil. (Great laughter.) Well, gentlemen, 
if you have read your newspapers you must be aware that we politicians 
are also troubled with insects (laughter), although 1 should be very sorry 
here to mention their names. Gentlemen, you will readily understand 
that, having derived much advantage and pleasure from this pursuit, I am 
delighted to have any opportunity of helping, however humbly, to 
provide in some measure for those who are also engaged in it, but under 
less fortunate circumstances. I again thank you very much for the 
compliment you have paid me. (Cheers.) 
The Secretary announced that the contributions to the funds of 
the Institution in connection with the dinner amounted to £1450,. 
including 50 guineas from the Chairman and 10 guineas from Mrs. 
Chamberlain. 
A selection of music was performed under the direction of Mr. Herbert 
Schartau, assisted by Miss Ethel Bevans and the Meister Glee Singers 
(Messrs. W. Sexton, Gregory Hast, W. G. Forington, and Webster 
Norcross). 
Some extremely fine blooms were shown by A. Tate, Esq., Downside, 
Leatherhead, at the recent metropolitan Show of the National Rose 
Society at the Crystal Palace, and Mr. Mease, the gardener, has soon 
again taken a place amongst successful competitors after leaving the 
north. The bloom of Tea Rose Madame Cusin represented in the wood- 
cut (fig. 7) was adjudged ithe prize as the premier Tea in the amateurs’ 
classes, an honour it well merited, for beautiful as this variety always is, 
it was exceptionally so in this case. The flower was of great size, the 
outer petals broad and of remarkable substance, while the colour was 
richer than is usually seen. It was a centre of attraction for quite a 
crowd of rosarians during the day of the Show, and very seldom has it 
been equalled. 
Rose Souvenir de la Malmaison. 
This being a favourite variety, a considerable number of dwarf 
bushes on their own roots are grown in the open, and also against 
sheltered walls for the purpose of affording cut blooms. I have never 
yet known it to fail, but at one time it looked very much like a total 
loss, the late severe winter having much blackened the wood. Fortu¬ 
nately there were no losses, and many early blooms have been cut, a 
