134 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[Septembeb, 
quently more competition than usual; Messrs. 
Maddock and Gill from Wakefield, Mr. 
Whitham from Hebden Bridge, Mr. Blackley 
and Mr. Law being amongst the most pro¬ 
minent and successful of the new-comers. 
The show was well attended. The organ 
recital, heretofore a prominent and most 
enjoyable feature of these exhibitions, was not 
provided, and this laches of the management, 
we are informed, provoked much uncom¬ 
plimentary remark. 
BUKY CARNATION SHOW. 
An Exhibition of Carnations and Picotees was 
held at Bury on August 18th, where a great number 
of blooms—mare than at Manchester—and of fine 
quality too, were staged. In the open class for 
twelve’s Mr. It. Lord, of Todmorden, was first—both 
in Carnations and Picotees, and in each case Mr. 
John Beswick of Middleton was 2nd, amongst 7 
competitors. The premier Carnation was an excep¬ 
tionally grand specimen of Admiral Curzon s.b., 
shown by Mr. Lord, not large, but magniScent in 
quality. Yerily Curzon in that form—is still “ Cock 
of the Walk ” The premier Picotee was Thos. 
William l.r, shovn by Mr. Whitham of Hebden 
Bridge. 
The small classes specially intended for the 
encouragement of beginners and maiden 
growers were well patronised. Altogether 
the show was a great success. 
EPHRAIM SYMS DODWELL. 
N the portrait of our friend and fellow- 
labourer Mr. E. S. Dodwell, which by 
the courtesy of the Editor of the Gar¬ 
deners' Chronicle we here present to our 
readers, we give, alike with two others which 
have preceded it, the presentment of an 
eminently representative florist. Mr. Horner 
in Auriculas, Mr. Barlow in Tulips, and 
Mr. Dodwell in Carnations and Picotees, re¬ 
spectively occupy positions of supremacy, ac¬ 
corded to them by the universal voice of their 
fellows, and by none more heartily than those 
who, nearest to them in attainment, are best 
qualified to judge of their work and its merit. 
As one of the Honorary Secretaries of the 
Southern Section of the National Auricula 
Society, and also of the National Carnation 
and Picotee Society, Mr. Dodwell is as w r ell 
known in the South of England as in the 
Midland districts, where he resided for so 
many years. Like many another man whose 
good fortune it has been to contribute to 
the lists of florists’ flowers, varieties that 
will be grown for years to come, he is much 
more widely known by reputation than 
in person; so that many will look upon 
the accompanying portrait with feelings of 
gratitude as well as of interest. A man of 
great energy of character and almost invin¬ 
cible determination, Mr. Dodwell has for a 
period of five and thirty years been a promi¬ 
nent figure in the ranks of florists, and he is 
as greatly respected and admired as his name 
is widely known. 
From his boyhood Mr. Dodwell had a keen 
delight in Nature. In imparting some recol¬ 
lections of his early life Mr. Dodwell writes : — 
“ A severe attack of scarlatina in my eighth 
year quite broke up my health—never robust; 
and for three years I was the victim of the 
then orthodox and merciless medical practice. 
The unfortunate patient, however, was not 
cured, and did not die; and so, after three 
years of experiment, I was given over as in¬ 
curable, and left to a loving mother’s care. 
A beneficial change was soon apparent, and 
instead of lying helpless in my invalid’s chair 
—in which on every favourable occasion I was 
drawn out for change of air—I was able to sit 
up, and then, leaving it for a brief while, wander 
in the sheltered nooks and sunny glades to 
which I had been taken, amid grass, and 
leaves, and flowers, which were to me a source 
of never-failing delight and repose. My grand¬ 
father, in a wing of whose house I was born, 
was the possessor of a fine orchard, and, for the 
locality, a superior garden. Here, regularly 
in the season, came a village worthy well 
versed in the cultivation of fruits and flowers, 
to prune and train and propagate as the time 
demanded and the subject required. I watched 
his work with attention and an ever-increasing 
interest, and soon was permitted to call a little 
plot of garden mine. So began my love for 
the garden and delight in the beauties of 
Nature. With the partial re-establishment of 
my health I went again to school, and then, 
soon after I had reached my fifteenth year, 
was placed in London—a post in a large 
commercial house having been given me by a 
gentleman of high standing and repute in the 
City.” Thus began the weakness of con¬ 
stitution which has remained to Mr. Dodwell 
until this day, and that love for flowers which 
he will never lose until his life shall have run 
its course. 
How the young clerk pined for home and his 
plot of garden ground can be imagined. The 
