64 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 28, 1888 
then, with the proceeds and a little borrowed money, erect another, so 
continuing your striving for a maintenance. How should you like Mr. 
Assessor to increase your rating with the increase of your stock, until 
your contribution became a hundred per cent, greater than that of your 
neighbour who is not dependant on the products of his garden for afford¬ 
ing him the means to live 1 I cannot think you would like that, nor 
do I believe the owner of the mansion would like it if your positions were 
reversed ; but, however, that may be, please answer the question as 
plainly as I have answered yours. 
of Cheltenham, aged 67 ; Edward J. H. MacGuiness, of Gravesend, 
aged 73; Susan Mills, of Walthamstow, aged 78; Robert Pryor, of 
Brixton, aged 75 ; Joan Boyd Rintoul, of Manchester, aged 67; Eliza 
Skinner, of Cudham, Kent, aged 73; Sophia Ware, of Midhurst, aged 69. 
Thus increasing the number of pensioners from 104 in January, 1885, to 
118 in January, 1886—viz., fifty-two men at £20 per annum, and sixty-six 
women at £16 per annum. 
The following is the financial report for the year, which shows sub¬ 
stantial and encouraging progress :— 
I SAY not one word against gentlemen selling garden produce. It is 
good for them to do so, for their gardeners, labourers, trade, consumers, 
and especially for *‘ middlemen;” nor would I have them rated more 
highly than market gardeners are, any more than I would have these 
latter overweighted by local burdens. Given an equality in this respect, 
where would be the injustice P A grievance that is alleged to exist would 
be removed, as much “ garden stuff ” would be grown as ever, if not 
more, and the great mass of consumers in town would not have to pay 
one farthing extra in obtaining their usual supplies than they pay under 
existing circumstances. 
It is not necessary to refer to other points in the very interesting 
communication that I have been invited to examine, as I am mainly in 
accord with them, and I shall not be very much surprised if “ Utilitarian ” 
is not a little more in accord with my views in some other respects than 
appears on the surface, for I cannot help feeling that the full significance 
of his article is only to be grasped by reading between the lines ; in fact, 
to speak exactly what I think, I must regard it as a skilful example of 
“ drawing,” as I see he tempts me on a larger question, but that bait is 
declined. I have been encouraged to proceed thus far because of the 
treat I am anticipating in the form of a (possibly crushing) reply. 
I am not able to give full assent to the opinions of “ J. T. S.,” which 
seem to imply that our dear old country will be bowled out of existence 
by foreign competition. I am fully convinced that nothing of the kind 
is in store for us. The advantages are on our side still if they can be 
turned to the best account. The “viigin lands” of the far noith-west 
appear to cause some needless alarm. Land in America cannot be had 
quite for nothing. The rents of many farms that are rented in the west 
are as high as the reduced rentals of many a fertile—or might be fertile 
—farm in Britain. Hundreds of farms that are “ owned” in America are 
worked with borrowed money, for which 7 or 8 per cent, interest is paid, 
labour is more costly there than here, while implements and manures are 
no cheaper. And what about “ returns ?” Flocks and herds do not com¬ 
mand higher prices there than at home, while the average yield of Wheat 
in America is about 17 bushels per acre and in England nearer 27 bushel 1 . 
With a margin like that in hand, and our competitors 5000 miles from 
market, I say it would be scandalous and humiliating for England to 
succumb. 
•Less luxury, as in America, and better tillage at home ; fewer hunting 
farmers and more enterprising energetic cultivators, with as much land 
as they can manage and no more ; security for capital, freedom of crop¬ 
ping to the fullest extent possible, under necessary safeguards—given 
such conditions as these—and they are certain to come by degrees—the 
land of Great Britain will yield vastly more food than it produces now, 
and, though prices may be low, good livings can be had by those who will 
Jabour, and good rents will remain for the owners of land. 
It is not the high prices that market gardeners get per dozen, or per 
bushel, or per cwt, for their wares, but the high culture they adopt, and 
the consequent great bulk of produce they obtain, that enable them to 
pay so much more rent than farmers pay. If they managed their land no 
better than thousands of acres are ‘‘ farmed ” at this moment, market 
garden rents would fall and tenants fail, for it seems that when rents, 
already moderate, commence falling, cultivators cease striving, as if in 
anticipation of the next abatement. It is time the truth was spoken on 
this subject, which is of vital interest to gardeners and everybody con¬ 
nected with or dependant on the land; and who is not ? I feel I must 
apologise for occupying so much space. I quite iutended resting for a 
week or two, but could not with propriety pay no regard to the admirable 
contributions to which I have referred.— A Thinker. 
THE GARDENERS’ ROYAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. 
The annual general meeting of the subscribers to this Institution took 
place Friday, January 15th, at “ Simpson’s,” 101, Strand, when the 
report of the Committee and the accounts for the year were submitted. 
Happily the funds at command permitted the addition of twenty-five 
persons to the list of pensioners, the names being as follows :—John 
Andrews, of Astley Abbotts, Bridgenorth, aged 60; William Elsworthy, 
of Wandsworth, aged 70 ; Frances Elizabeth King, of Salisbury, aged 62; 
Mary Ann Parker, of Southport, aged 70 ; Jacob Rose, of Stoke, Guildford, 
aged 62 ; James Snow, of Wandsworth, aged 66 ; Edward Spary, of 
Brighton, aged 82 ; William Archer, of Stratford, Essex, aged 81; Maria 
Austin, of Stourport, aged 68 ; Joseph Beilis, of Whitchurch, Salop, 
aged 68 ; Thomas Best, of Clapton, aged 70; William Cowles, of East 
:Sheen, aged 68 ; Richard Daphne, of Ealing, aged 76 ; George Dawson, 
<of Worcester, aged 73; John Dev, of Teignmouth, aged 67; Sarah 
Drummond, of East Sheen, aged 65 ; William Harman, of Denham, 
Uxbridge, aged 60 ; Elizabeth Howe, of Lowestoft, aged 67 ; Peter Lowe, 
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDINQ DECEMBER 31ST, 1885. 
DR. 
To balance from 1884. 
„ Annual subscriptions. 1204 13 
„ Donations at and in consequence of annual dinner .. 
„ Advertisements. 
I, Amount of collecting cards. 
„ Dividends on stock . 
„ Interest on deposits . 
„ Legacy from Mrs. Dodson 
„ „ J. S. Law, Esq. 
„ Augmentation fund account . 
£ 
8. 
d. 
1204 
13 
0 
771 
3 
6 
56 
0 
6 
143 
7 
0 
549 
15 
0 
2 
10 
3 
450 
0 
o' 
100 
0 
0 
£ s. d. 
1975 18 6 
199 7 0 
£ s. d. 
388 8 10 
552 
£2727 
550 
4987 
8264 13 9 
Stock, £21,100, £3 per cent. Consols. 
CR. 
By Pensions. 
„ Secretary’s salary . 
„ Printing . 
,, Furniture for office . 
„ Hire of Committee-room . 
,, Stationery. 
„ Books of cheques. 
„ Advertising . 
„ Expense of annual dinner. 
„ Postages, travelling expenses, and sundry petty expenses 
„ Solicitor’s bill . 
„ Purchase of £5150, £3 per cent. Consols .. 
„ Amount placed on deposit. 
„ Balances—viz., With Treasurer at Banker’s 
With the Secretary 
£8651 2 7 
£ s. d. £ s. d 
1655 1 4 
160 0 0 
117 4 3 
40 19 6 
5 17 0 
17 16 4 
3 9 2 
6 16 
78 5 3 
84 6 9 
2 2 0 
£2171 3 1 
4992 13 9 
1100 0 0 
- 6092 13 9 
371 19 9 
15 6 0 
-- 387 5 9 
£8651 2 7 
Audited 11th January, 1888, JOHN LEE, 
JOSEPH F. MESTON, 
JESSE WILLARD. 
Referring to the above report the Secretary, Mr. E. R. Cutler, 
remarks : —“ It is a curious fact, but it is a fact, that nearly all the other 
charities in London are curtailing their charity, and to make both ends 
meet are obliged to sell out their reserve. We are not only increasing 
our number of pensioners, besides increasing by 25 per cent, the amount 
of the pensions £4 per annum each, but we have increased our reserve 
to £21,000.” The Institution now has permanent offices at 50, Parliament 
Street, S.W., to which all communications should be addressed. 
THE PHYLLOXERA AND FOREIGN WINE AND BRANDY 
SUPPLIES, 
We hear of thousands of acres being devastated by phylloxera on the 
Continent, but we do not hear of any diminution in our wine or brandy 
supplies. Some very conscientious men have owned that supplies are 
short of certain kinds, but the general trader or wine merchant will 
readily undertake to supply any amount of wine or brandy supposed to 
be the productions of localities that fare almost producing nothing 
in comparison to what they get the credit of. In this age of shams wines 
and brandies are freely tampered with, and the public are often made to 
swallow liquids that have not the slightest claims to the names and 
characters bestowed upon them. 
From a report lately furnished to the Academy of Science by the head 
of the Paris Municipal Laboratory, it appears that genuine brandy is 
becoming exceedingly rare, even in France. “ Chambers’ Journal,”- 
commenting on this fact, states that “ for the ten years preceding the 
year 1850 the quantity of alcohol distilled annually in that country 
averaged twenty-five million gallon3, and the major part of this was 
obtained in the form of brandy from wine. Now, although the total 
amount of spirit distilled is more than doubled, the juice of the Grape 
does not contribute half a million gallons to the sum. The rest comes 
from grain, cider, perry, Beetroot, molasses, and Potatoes. This inferior 
kind of spirit is not properly rectified, and is charged with poisonous 
agents of the most deadly character. The compiler of this report, M. 
Girard, attributes the increase of insanity in certain localities wholly to 
these imitations of French brandy. Our readers may perhaps be ignorant 
of the fact that thousands of gallons of raw grain spirit are sent to 
France from this country to be doctored and returned as genuine French 
brandy.” 
Phylloxera seems to have broken out at the Cape, no doubt through 
the introduction of some wines from the Continent, and unless the autho¬ 
rities there are prompt in their efforts to cope with the dread pest we may 
expect to hear of much damage being done.—T. S. J. 
In reference to this subject the following is an extract from the statistics 
published by the French Ministry of Agriculture :— 
“The figures with regard to the vintage of last year are melancholy 
