112 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 20, 1888. 
tors’ abilities, are tested to the utmost, no human 
being can tell how far fruit culture may not 
yet prove helpful to the agricultural com¬ 
munity. We regretted to hear a good deal 
of grumbling on the part of the Conference 
Committee, and especially from those selected 
as censors of the show, that they were com¬ 
pelled to pay for their own luncheon, and at 
an exorbitant charge to boot. The council, 
having regard to the good work done in con¬ 
nection with the conference, should have 
displayed greater liberality. 
Starting in Apple Growing.— In the admir¬ 
able paper on the subject of Apple Growing 
for Profit, read by Mr. G. Bunyard, at the 
Chiswick Conference on Wednesday, stress 
was very properly laid upon the difficulty 
which novices or beginners experience in 
learning which are the most suitable kinds for 
their purpose. Certainly, if Mr. Bunyard pro¬ 
pounded a problem, he did his best in the same 
paper to solve it, for he gave lists of varieties 
suitable for the beginner, though, perhaps, for 
the small one they were rather too elaborate. 
However, the reader was not so much thinking 
of the very small grower, perhaps, as of the 
more extensive planters, whose needs the paper 
pretty well catered for. 
Mr. Bunyard lays emphasis on the fact 
that one selection used will not suit all soils 
and situations, even though of the best known 
market favourites. That is an admirable propo¬ 
sition, because it shows what Apple growers 
universally now realise that sorts even of the best 
vary in cropping and in quality in diverse soils, 
and the first thing the novice has to do is to 
ascertain from local enquiry what kinds thrive 
best in the district. In that way a good line 
is obtained for his purpose. Of course, it will 
not do to stop there, because, if trusting 
entirely to locally grown sorts, no superior 
kinds will be introduced. Still, in trusting to 
older kinds for the start, newer sorts should 
be worked in gradually, and in a few years it 
may be found safe to discard the old sorts for 
the superior new ones. Some soils especially 
may be ill suited for standard trees or orchards, 
but with due cultivation and drainage might do 
admirably for dwarf trees on the Paradise 
stock. Even in such apparently simple work 
as Apple culture, there is no royal road to 
success. 
The Late Mr. Lindsay.— We chronicled last 
week with deep Aegret the death of an old 
friend in the person of Mr. A. Lindsay, for 
some thirty-three years gardener at Ditton 
Park, near Slough. A very unobtrusive, 
amiable man, full of the kindliest disposition, 
and deeply attached to the vocation of his life, 
he was a genuine example of what may not 
unfitly be termed the old school of gardeners. 
Of course, there is as good fish in the sea as 
ever may have come out of it, but, still, there 
can be no doubt that in technical gardening 
knowledge some of these old gardeners will be 
hard to beat by the younger men, who follow in 
their places. Whatsoever precedency Scotch¬ 
men once held in our English gardens, and 
they held such positions very largely some 
years since, it must be conceded that it was 
due to their then undoubted superior know¬ 
ledge and intelligence. Scotland made the 
educating of her children a matter of first 
importance long before England had made any 
effort to lift her progeny from out of the 
dead level of ignorance which marked the 
masses fifty years ago. 
Mr. Lindsay was born some seventy-three 
years since, and so far back as that he received an 
education such as helped to make his future 
career in gardening an assured success; we in 
England have but just begun to help our 
children’s prospects in life, by giving them a 
good education. But our existing race of 
young gardeners will find hard work before 
them if they hope to emulate or beat the old 
race of Scotch gardeners in practical knowledge 
and in intellectual attainments. They cannot 
too soon set themselves to the accomplishment 
of this task. Mr. Lindsay, perhaps, had at 
Ditton no very wide sphere for the display of 
his attainments ; but at least he carried on the 
culture of wall trees, now almost one of the 
extinct garden practices, in a remarkably 
successful way, and showed till the last that 
good culture can, after all, master many of 
the difficulties which beset fruit culture in 
England. 
-->X<-- 
Chrysanthemum Shows.—We are requested to state 
that the Annual Chrysanthemum Show in the Inner 
Temple Gardens was opened to the public on Thursday, 
and that the display in Finsbury Park will be opened 
this day (Saturday). 
Gardening Engagement.—We learn that Mr. John 
Lindsay, gardener to the Earl of Gainsborough, Exton 
Park, Northampton, succeeds his late father as gardener 
to the Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch, at Ditton Park, 
Slough. 
Eccles, Patricroft, Pendleton, and District Chry¬ 
santhemum Show will be held in the Town Hall, 
Eccles, on Friday and Saturday, the 30th of November 
and 1st of December, and not on the 16th and 
17th of November, as originally announced. This is 
the second show of the kind held in Eccles, and pro¬ 
mises to be as great a success as the first. The schedule 
offers nearly double the amount of prize-money given 
last year. 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—We understand 
that it is the intention of the executive of this society 
to devote more space than heretofore, at the great 
November show, to the display of horticultural sundries. 
Those who may desire to take advantage of such arrange¬ 
ment should apply to Mr. Holmes for space as soon as 
possible. 
Gishurstine.—Once more we are indebted to Price’s 
Patent Candle Co. for an acceptable supply of this most 
valuable composition for the boots. Continued use of 
the dressing does but confirm our first experience of it, 
and once again we venture to commend it to the notice 
of all who appreciate the comfort of dry boots. It not 
only makes them waterproof, but preserves the leather 
as well, is easily applied, and admits of a good polish 
being obtained a few hours after its application. 
Bacup Floral and Horticultural Society.—The 
first exhibition of Chrysanthemums, &c., organised by 
this society is announced to take place on November 
24th. 
New Plants Certificated in Ghent.—At a meeting 
of the Belgian Syndicate Chamber of Horticulturists, 
on the 8th inst., Certificates of Merit were awarded to 
M. Desmet for Odontoglossum maculatum Duvivier- 
ianum ; to M. L. Spae, for Anthurium Scherzerianum 
Madame Raymond de Kerchove ; to M. Jules Hye, for 
Cattleya aurea, and Oncidium omithorrynchum album ; 
and to M. Edm. Vervaet, for Odontoglossum species 
and Cypripedium Harrisianum. 
National Auricula and National Carnation and 
Picotee Societies.—The annual general meeting of 
these societies will be held in the room of the Royal 
Horticultural Club, Hotel Windsor, Victoria Street, 
on Tuesday next, at 4 p.m. precisely. The business 
of the meeting will be the election of officers and 
committee ; receiving the secretary’s and treasurer’s 
report; the election of judges for the ensuing year, 
and any other necessary business as may pertain to the 
annual general meeting. 
Weather Notes in Scotland.—The Rev. H. Tacy 
Peck, of Blaby, Lincolnshire, writing from Inverness, 
on Monday, says :—The first snow of winter, a hot 
blazing sun, a cold biting wind, and the country for 
miles around covered with a mantle of glistening snow! 
This is the experience that greets one this October 
morning in the north of Scotland. We are speeding 
along at the rate of fifty miles an hour, with her 
Majesty’s mails for the north. Far down to the right 
of us lies the German Ocean, the waves churned into 
foam and dashing spray by the furious gale that is raging. 
A few fishing smacks here and t there are labouring in the 
trough of the sea, or running madly before the wind. 
A pitiful sight it is to see field after field of cereals 
lying prostrated by the fury of the wind, heaped up 
with the snow, and to all appearance irreparably 
ruined. Heavy must be the hearts of the farmers— 
such a scene of havoc and destruction among the crops 
cannot have been witnessed for generations. Further 
north of Aberdeen, on the Great North of Scotland 
Railway, there seems little improvement ; snow-drifts 
are in the hollows to the depth of one or two feet, the 
snow comes down in blinding clouds, and through it all 
one can see the green leaves and autumn flowers half 
buried in the wintry covering. To-day, in Inverness, 
after the storm, it is warm and more seasonable; 
dainty Tea Roses are blooming in the Cemetery the 
most beautiful God’s Acre in the world—as though to 
ask, where are the snows of yesterday ? But the hills 
around have put on their mantle of white as though in 
sad and silent answer. 
-- 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL 
BENEFIT AND PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
The second anniversary dinner of this admirable 
gardeners’ society took place on the evening of the 
11th inst. at the Cannon Street Hotel, Dr. Hogg 
presiding, and Mr. Harry Veitch occupying the vice- 
chair. The chairman was supported by Mr. William 
Paul, Mr. N. N. Sherwood, Mr. G. Deal, Mr. John 
Laing, Mr. J. R. Meston, Mr. W. J. Nutting, Mr. H. 
Herbst, Mr. Baker, Mr. Lynch White, Mr. E. R. 
Cutler, and others. Punctually at 5.30 p.m. the 
company sat down to an excellent dinner, after which 
the usual loyal toasts were duly honoured. 
Dr. Hogg then proposed the toast of the evening, 
“Continued Success to the United Horticultural Benefit 
and Provident Society,” remarking that twenty-two 
years ago a society existed called the United Horti¬ 
cultural Society, which was composed of men of action 
and energy. They conceived the idea of holding an 
exhibition in the City of London, and the first was 
accordingly held in Finsbury Square, another was held 
somewhere else, but the climax was that held in the 
Guildhall, which proved a great success. A number of 
gentlemen guaranteed £100 as the prize fund, and the 
results were so satisfactory that a considerable sum was 
left to the credit of the promoters. Although that 
society had disappeared it left behind it a bantling, 
and the profits arising from the Guildhall Show formed 
the nucleus of the present fund. The society was now 
flourishing, but it was not so well known as it should be, 
and he was glad to see the committee had decided to 
come out into broad daylight. For many years they 
carried on their work with great caution, at one time 
nearly giving up in despair, but the tide turned, and 
they were now going on in a most satisfactory way. 
The details of the several rules were very intricate, but 
he had endeavoured to master them, and he would give 
a few particulars of the way in which the society was 
worked. He continued: The obj ects of the society are to 
render assistance to gardeners in time of sickness, 
calamity, and old age. It is not a charity, it is not even 
a benevolent society subsisting on the benevolence of 
others, but it is essentially a thrift and self-help 
society. It is, in fact, a benefit society and savings’ 
bank combined, the payments not being more than 
those of the ordinary benefit societies, whose members 
have no claim on surplus funds. There is, I believe, 
no other society which offers the same advantages. 
The overplus in this society is equitably divided 
amongst the members yearly, and invested for them in 
stock ; each member has a separate account, and the 
accumulated fund, with all interest accruing, is payable 
on the death of a member to his nominee, or can be 
drawn by himself at the age of seventy years. Sums 
amounting to between £50 and upwards are now 
credited to some members, and the yearly interest on - 
the same closely approaches the annual payments to 
the society. This is a point of the greatest importance, 
for it means that in the course of time nearly, or quite, 
all the sums paid as contributions will be added to 
the members’ deposit account, the interest meeting all 
liabilities that entitle such members to all the benefits 
of the society. The organisation consists of three 
funds—the benefit or sick fund, the management fund, 
and the benevolent fund. The benefit or sick fund 
is to provide a weekly payment to members when they 
are incapacitated from work through illness. When a 
member is wholly unable, by sickness, to follow his 
employment, he is entitled to full sick pay ; but it is not 
necessary that he refrain from all work when able to do 
a little, to entitle him to a proportion of sick pay. The 
management fund is to meet what may be called 
current expenses, such as rent, stationery,'printing, &c. 
I would like to call special attention to this fund. The 
committee, of course, as in other societies, give their 
services gratuitously ; but the secretary, on whom the 
heavy work devolves, has hitherto only received a 
nominal sum, and the most he is entitled to receive is 
£20 annually, with 6tf. per annum for every member 
over 300. The benevolent fund is established to enable 
the committee to grant extra allowances beyond sick pay 
