July 18, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
733 
race is prone, ours inspires no evil passions, inflicts 
no pain, and causes injury to no man either in his 
character, health, or estate. Under these circum¬ 
stances, it must be a matter of congratulation to all 
of us that gardening in all its branches is daily in¬ 
creasing in popular favour. Never before has the 
use of flowers as decorations been so lavishly and 
extensively employed. They may be said to accom¬ 
pany us from the cradle to the grave. They adorn 
our houses, they grace our banquets, they add a new 
charm to female loveliness, and they do something to 
relieve the repulsive ugliness of masculine apparel. 
The interest which is felt in our pursuit is shown by 
the crowds attending our great horticultural shows, 
and we see that our principal growers are thereby 
stimulated to new efforts. Each favourite flower is 
taken in hand in turn, and improved, and the ulti¬ 
mate corners of the globe are ransacked to find new 
beauties and new varieties. In connection with all 
this enterprise, there is a 
romantic side to horti¬ 
culture which has not 
received the attention it 
deserves. Last year the 
whole world evidenced a 
common interest in the 
recital of the difficulties 
undergone and the adven¬ 
turous progress of the 
little band which pene¬ 
trated through the dark 
part of Africa in search 
of, and in relief of Emin 
Pacha ; but I venture to 
say there are scores of 
modest explorers, whose 
names are only known 
to a few, who undergo 
difficulties as great and 
encounter dangers a§ 
serious as those which 
have been happily over¬ 
come by Mr. Stanley and 
his followers, animated 
only by a love of natural 
science and the spirit of 
enterprise. The record of 
the history of many flow¬ 
ers is a record of persistent 
and courageous achieve¬ 
ments, carried out in the 
face of extraordinary diffi¬ 
culty and labour. Unfor¬ 
tunately, it is a result 
which has been made 
memorable by great sacri¬ 
fices, loss of health, and in 
some cases loss of life. 
Horticulture has its heroes 
and its victims, as well as 
war, and it behoves us 
to hold their names in 
respectful and admiring 
reverence. But it is not 
only these adventurers 
who are always seeking 
“fresh woods and pastures 
new" who are deserving 
of our sympathy and 
gratitude. I have already 
quoted Sir William Tem¬ 
ple. In another place 
he says, very truly, that, in the growth of flowers, 
success is wholly of the gardener, and I think 
it will be admitted that without the constant 
care, intelligence, and industry of those who are 
primarily responsible, the most lavish expenditure 
and the most perfect apparatus would be of little 
avail to secure a satisfactory result. How, then, 
shall we repay our debt to those who, in this respect, 
have administered to the pleasure and interest of 
our lives ? The professional gardener is a successful 
man, but at the same time we must allow he is not 
too highly paid. The prizes are few, and the 
conditions of life are such that it is hardly possible, 
even for the most thrifty and industrious, to make 
adequate provision for all the eventualities of life. 
1 have thought that, perhaps, the most pathetic 
position in which a man can be placed is that of one 
who, when he has spent a long life in honest indus- 
try, finds himself, as age approaches, with diminished 
capacities $nd evej-declining resources, face tp facg 
with a future which has no bright spot — a future 
which offers to him only the prospect of the poor- 
house as a refuge for his old age. Recent inquiries 
have convinced me that this, unfortunately, is the 
condition of much too large a proportion of our 
working-class population, and I have thought that 
the time has come when it is urgent that the State 
should intervene to remove what I regard as a blot 
and a scandal on our legislation. But in the mean¬ 
time the worn-out veterans of our industrial warfare 
have their only hope in the operations of such 
societies as that for which I plead to-night. I 
commend to your generous support the principles of 
this Institution. Its object is the relief of the aged 
and distressed. The subjects of its bounty must have 
passed the age of 6o years,- and must have spent at 
least twenty years of their life in responsible posi¬ 
tions. (Cheers.) It only remains to me to appeal 
to all who have derived profit and pleasure from the 
Mr. George J. Ingram, 
Secretary of the Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Institution. 
gardener’s skill to assist this Institution to meet the 
claims which may be made upon it, so that no 
deserving applicant shall be turned away, and that 
all shall find relief in time of need. 
Mr. Veitch, in responding to the toast, did not 
consider there was any need for him to enter into 
statistical details with reference to the work and 
position of the Institution. He might, however, be 
allowed to mention that since their previous meeting 
their oldest pensioner had died at the age of 103 
years; and that the average age of the pensioners 
now on the books was 72 years and 2 months. The 
recipients of their bounty numbered 150, but there 
were many more waiting with aching hearts and 
empty purses for the next election. Since their last 
annual dinner the Institution had lost some of its 
warmest supporters—Mr. B. S. Williams, Mr, 
Shirley Hibberd, Mr. William Richards, Mr, Deal, 
Mr, Backhouse, and others, and that night they all 
misspej the face of (hejr ojej and valued secretary. 
Edward Roger Cutler, whose untiring labours in 
connection with the Institution was the best monu¬ 
ment to his memory. Mr. Cutler's death placed the 
Committee in a position of some difficulty, but in 
electing Mr. Ingram, he hoped and believed that 
they had appointed a most worthy and capable 
successor to their old friend. 
Mr. Sherwood proposed “ The President and 
Vice-Presidents," and the toast was acknowledged by 
Mr. Herbert J. Adams. Sir John Llewelyn pro¬ 
posed “ The Royal Horticultural and Botanical 
Societies of London and the United Kingdom,” to 
which the Rev. W. Wilks responded. The health of 
“ The Chairman " was proposed by Lord Stanley of 
Alderley, and Mr. Chamberlain acknowledged the 
compliment. Subscriptions and donations to the 
amount of ^1,450 were announced. 
_ . ♦ - _ 
♦ 
MR. GEORGE J. INGRAM. 
We have much pleasure in supplementing our 
report of the Annual Festival of the Gardeners' 
Royal Benevolent Institu¬ 
tion with a portrait of 
Mr. Cutler's successor in 
the Secretaryship of the 
Institution. No apology 
is needed for presenting 
Mr. Ingram in the pic¬ 
turesque garb of old Gaul, 
but it is due to him that 
we should say lack of 
time only prevented rs 
from giving his counter¬ 
feit presentment in the 
orthodox fashion. The 
portrait suggests Scottish 
origin, and Mr. Ingram, 
it may be said, comes 
from a pure Scotch stock, 
though born in the Hamp¬ 
shire village of Hursley, 
in 1858. When he came 
to London, after leaving 
school, his first acquain¬ 
tance with business was 
made in the counting- 
house of a well-known 
firm of English and foreign 
booksellers, but, not liking 
the work, he joined the 
Church Pastoral Aid 
Society with a view to 
taking Holy Orders, but 
became Assistant-Secre¬ 
tary instead, and in the 
course of nine years’ occu¬ 
pancy of the office did a 
good deal of outside work 
besides, most of his leisure 
time being devoted to 
promoting the interests of 
the Deep Sea Mission to 
Seamen, and one of the 
London Sailors’ Homes. 
Mr. Ingram left the 
Church Pastoral Aid 
Society to take up the 
duties of Secretary to the 
Working Boys’ Homes 
an Institution which has 
its offices in the Adelphi 
and nine Homes for Work¬ 
ing Boys in different parts 
of the Metropolis. The 
post was a laborious one, even to one so active and 
so thoroughly in sympathy with his work as Mr. 
Ingram ; hence it was that he became a candidate for 
the office rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Roger 
Cutler, and, gaining the appointment, the loss sus¬ 
tained by the Working Boys’ Homes became the 
gain of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution. 
Mr. Ingram, by his courtesy and urbanity, has 
already made a host of friends among the supporters 
of the Institution, and we sincerely hope that with 
the inestimable blessing of good health he may live 
to hold the office as long as his predecessor. 
Presentation of a Public Park.— A public 
park, upwards of thirty acres in extent, was presented 
to the inhabitants of Consett and Blackhill, county 
Durham, on Saturday by the Consett Iron Company, 
in whose various works about twenty thousand men 
are employed. The land was formerly !jtt]q better 
(ban a wastf;, 
