May 1,1800. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
863 
with proper support Manchester, through his personal effort, should be 
the first to follow suit. In Whitsun week 18G7 began, accordingly, 
those splendid flower festivals we now look forward to as an integral 
■part of the year’s enjoyment. Mr. Findlay has been instrumental in 
promoting public enjoyment in a rational manner to a degree it would 
had permitted, to be one of the foremost horticulturists of the day, and 
one of the best cultivators in Great Britain. Frequent testimony to 
his skill has appeared in these j a:tes from visitors to the establishments 
under his charge, but more paiticularly during the past twenty 
years, to the princely and beautif ul-situate I Drumlanrig. It has 
be difficult to over-estimate. That he does his work in the calm and 
■business-like way that best commends a man to his friends is proved by 
the way in which they constantly and uniformly rally round him. 
MR. DAVID THOMSON. 
In his brief, pithy speech when returning thanks for the presentation 
of the medal, Mr. D. Thomson said he could only claim to have been 
* a successful servantbut he might a'so have claimed, if his modesty 
evidently been the rule with Mr. Thomson to strive for the best possible 
results with everything he has undertaken, and his efforts have been 
rewarded by a very large measure of success. 
We can only give a brief review of Mr. Thomson’s career as a gardener 
and author, but it will suffice to show his activity and constant appli¬ 
cation to work. He was born in 1824 in the Island of Mull, to which 
place Sir Walter Scott had sent Mr. Thomson’s father as land steward 
in 1816. lie was apprenticed at Carstairs House, and soon gave 
