January 6,1887. ] 
3 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Lilium auratum when they can be bought (really good bulbs) at 
sales for about £1 a 100, and at some times even less? And my 
memory goes back to 1861, when the late Mr. Rucker carried off in 
triumph the first that had bloomed in England for fifteen guineas ! 
Neither in plants nor floribts’ flowers has there been anything very 
remarkable. In Orchids many beautiful plants have been intro¬ 
duced, but nothing so startling as was the case a few years ago. 
The same may be said of florists’ flowers. There have been new 
Dahlias, new Carnations and Picotees, new Gladioli, but there has 
been no marked improvement or any new departure. Chrysanthe¬ 
mums have become an utter mass of confusion. One French grower 
announces 100 new ones, and the intensely disinterested desire to 
satisfy our love for novelty is even more manifested with regard to 
that flower than with the Rose. It will no doubt itself prove the 
remedy, for the utter hopelessness of trying to grow these will lead 
amateurs to grow none and let the nurserymen try them and select 
the best. 
In what may be called horticultural literature there has not been 
such marked changes as in some former years. The weekly journals, 
catering to every grade of horticulturists, and supplying valuable 
information, have completely shut up the monthly publications. The 
“ Botanical Magazine ” still holds on its course, and is now a cen¬ 
tenarian ; but then it appertains to horticulture only in a 
secondary sense. It is a severely scientific journal, although often 
horticulturists revert to its pages. 
The roll-call has not elicited so many fallings out as in 
former years. Some, indeed, have left us ; one, to whom it is 
impossible to refer without recalling times long past, when he was 
more actively engaged in horticulture than of late years—I mean the 
doyen of horticultural literature, the late Mr. G. W. Johnson, the 
originator of that which was once the Cottage Gardener and is now 
“ the Journal.'’ So much has been so well said about him that there 
is no necessity for me to say more. Then our valued friend, 
“ C. P. P.,” has been called away, but he, too, had a long time pre¬ 
vious ceased to take an active part in that which at one time he so 
thoroughly entered into. Then an excellent gardener in Mr. Stevens 
of Trentham is no longer with us. Others also less known will be 
missed in many horticultural circles, but the year has not brought 
such serious losses as the two preceding ones. 
And now we are commencing a year which in some senses will 
be the most remarkable one of this century—the Jubilee Year of our 
well-beloved Queen. It is true that it has already witnessed a Royal 
Jubilee, but how different this to that of her poor old grandfather, 
worn out in mind and body, and incapable of fulfilling the duties of 
a Sovereign ; while she, fulfilling them as no other Sovereign of 
England has ever done, and enthroned not only on the firm throne of 
a united Empire, but also in the hearts of her subjects, is looked up 
to all through her Empire as the pattern of all that is good ! What 
will be its effect on our delightful hobby we know not. There are 
clouds over us as there are over our statesmen and legislators ; but 
let us hope that these clouds may be dispersed, and that w r e may 
have a prosperous year ; and while thus looking back, as I have done, 
I would make use of my opportunity as the oldest contributor to the 
Journal of wishing it and all its readers 
A Very Happy and Bright New Year. 
—D., Deal. 
DEATH OF MR. THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S. 
We have to record this week the death of one who has held a prominent 
place in the horticulture, and especially the botanical horticulture, of 
this country for many years past. Mr. Thomas Moore breathed his last 
on the morning of the 1st inst. at the Botanic Garden, Chelsea, where he 
had occupied the place of Curator for the long period of thirty-nine 
years, respected by all who knew him and admired for his work’s sake by 
those who had not the privilege of his personal acquaintance. For some 
time past Mr. Moore has been obliged to withdraw himself from the active 
part he was wont to take in horticultural work. Notably his previous 
regular appearances at the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society 
had been discontinued in consequence of painful attacks of rheumatism 
from which he suffered. It was to these long-continued attacks, combined 
with dysentery, from which he has suffered for the last two years, that he 
eventually succumbed. His recent withdrawal from public life will cause 
his absence to be less remarked than it otherwise would have been if he 
had died in the full flush of his active life, for there was a period of 
nearly forty years during which he was identified as a steady supporter of 
every good horticultural work, and which greatly profited by his cool, 
persistent, buBiness-like help and advice. Mr. Moore was a worthy in a 
series of worthies who adorned the old Physic Garden of Chelsea. The 
successor of Fortune, Anderson, Forsyth, and Philip Miller, he maintained 
to the last the fame of the garden, and that of his distinguished pre¬ 
decessors. 
Mr. T. Moore was born on May 29th, 1821, at Stoke-mext-Guildford, 
Surrey, and commenced hisgardemng career early in life, one of-his first 
engagements being in Mr. Dickinson’s nursery at Guildford, where he was 
occupied for three or four years. He next went to Mr. Fraser’s nursery, 
Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, in 1839, and then to Park Hill, Streatham. as 
under gardener. Two years later he was engaged as clerk to Mr. Mar- 
nock at the Royal Botanic Society’s Garden, and in 1845 Mr. Marnock, 
having been appointed editor of “ The United Gardeners’ and Land 
Stewards’ Journal,” secured Mr. Moore as sub-editor. In 1848 he suc¬ 
ceeded Mr. Fortune as Curator of the Chelsea Botanic Garden, which 
office he has held ever since—namely, for a period of nearly forty years. 
Mr. Moore has been connected with the Royal Botanic Society for a 
considerable time, having acted as judge at most of their shows, and he 
was elected an Associate some years since. He was appointed a member 
of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Fruit Committee in 1858, and in the 
following year the Floral C .mmittee was founded upon the National 
Florieultural Society, and Mr. Moore was selected as Secretary, la 1806 
he, with Dr. R. Hogg and the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, was appointed Director 
of the Chiswick Garden. In that year also he was Exhibition Secretary 
of the Great International Horticultural Exhibition and Botanical Con¬ 
gress held in London. Besides acting as judge at many important shows 
Mr. Moore was Secretary to the Committee formed for instituting the 
Yeitch Memorial, and subsequently became one of the trustees of the fund. 
He was also Trustee to the Bindley Library, Chairman of the National 
Auricula and Carnation Societies, and Secretary to the National Dahlia 
Shows successfully held at the Crystal Palace during the past few years. 
Numerous works issued from hi» pen, some of the principal being the 
fallowing :—“ Cultivation of the Cucumber and Melon,” 1844 ; “ Hand¬ 
book of British Ferns,” 1848 ; “ Ferns and Allied Plants,” 1851 ; “ Ferns 
of Great Britain and Ireland” [Nature Printed), 1856, and in two vols., 
1859; “Illustrations of Orchidace ius Plants,” 1857; “ Field B itanist’s 
Companion,” 1802; “ Elements of Botany,” 1865; joint editor of “Gar¬ 
deners’ Magazine of Botany,” 1850—2 ; editor of “ The Floral Magazine,” 
1861 ; and editor of the “ Treasury of B dany,” 1866. A new edition of 
“ Thompson’s Gardeners’ Assistant ” appeared in 1878, which was edited 
by Mr. Moore, and an article contributed by him to the “ Encyclopaedia 
Britannica” in 1880 was in the following year reprintei in an enlarged 
form as an “Epitome of Gardening.” In 1862 he was associated with 
Dr. Robert Hogg in the editorship of the “ Floiist and Pomologist,” of 
which he subsequently became the proprietor, and that periodical termi¬ 
nated its career in 1885. He became joint editor of the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle in 1806, and shortly after his retirement from that office in 1881 
he was presented with a testimonial consisting of a silver salver and purse 
of 300 guineas. Mr. B. S, Williams commenced the issue of his “ Orchid 
Album ” in 1882, and has been assisted by Mr. T. Moore and Mr. R. 
Warner in the editorship of the work, the botanical descriptions being 
contributed by the former of the two named. Mr. Moore also assisted in the 
preparation of the sixth edition of Williams’ “ Orchid Grower’s Manual,” 
published in 1885—this being the most recent complete work in which he 
was concerned. 
ONIONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 
In all ages the Onion has been a favourite, and deservedly so,, 
for it is one of the most wholesome and nutritious vegetables we 
possess. Its merits are evidently well known and appreciated by 
all classes, as there are few gardens in this country where it is not 
grown. In the nobleman’s garden we find large breaks of the very 
best soil in the garden devoted to its culture ; while the cottar, 
with equal care and attention, reserves the most favoured part of 
his little plot for it. Much has been written of late regarding the 
Onion, the advisability of farmers applying themselves to Onion¬ 
growing receiving a share of attent : on ; also the shape of the bulbs, 
which most judges consider the standard of excellence at the pre¬ 
sent time—namely, flat, or Pancakes, as some call them. On this 
latter head I think the remarks of your correspondent, “ Thinker,” 
page 513, Journal of Horticulture , 9th December, are very signifi¬ 
cant. I fully endorse his view of the case, considering it but a 
waste of space to grow these flat bulbs when we have other varie¬ 
ties equal in every respect, and bringing in about a third more 
weight for the same space occupied. I have given particular atten¬ 
tion to the cultivation of the Onion for years, and after careful 
selection of bulbs and crossing the most reliable sorts in cultivation, 
I have been fortunate in securing a very superior shaped bulb of 
exceptional merit, and which is now almost entirely grown in the 
gardens here. It is a strong robust grower, the bulbs swelling to 
a great size. I have had six which weighed over a stone of 14 lbs 
It is firm in substance, and an excellent keeper. It has been exh 
bited by me at most of the principal shows of recent years, an 
has invariably carried off first honours. With this variety I would 
have no difficulty in tabling hundreds of bulbs in the month of 
September equal to any that are imported into this country. When 
such can be done in a district of Scotland, which, though compara¬ 
tively mild, is notonous for its wet and sunless summers, what 
might we expect from the most favoured parts of England ? I 
think when the cultivation of this and many other vegetables is 
better understood and receives the attention it deserves., we shall 
find less of our capital leaving this country to the pockets of the 
foreigner. I think we have ourselves to blame for much of the 
