February 8, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
361 
DEATH OP MR WILDSMITH. 
With deep regret we have to record the death, on the 
29th ult., of William Wildsmith, for many years 
gardener at Heekfield Place, Winchfield, Hants. Poor 
Wildsmith ! By his decease British horticulture has 
lost one of its ablest practical exponents, and a wide 
circle ot acquaintances the sincere friendship of one 
of the warmest hearted and most good natured of 
men. It seems but as yesterday since we were listening 
to him in the Drill Hall in St. James’ Street discoursing 
in his own sensible practical way upon his experiences 
in the cultivation of the Pear, and now, alas ! he is no 
more, having been stricken down with gastric fever 
and congestion of the lungs, which terminated fatally 
at ten o’clock on Wednesday week after thirteen days’ 
i lness. During the past twenty years few men have 
come to the front and held a more honourable position 
among his fellows than William Wildsmith, for without 
exception, over a long period of years, he proved him¬ 
self one of the best all-round practitioners who ever 
took charge of a garden, and made Heekfield the Mecca 
of gardeners in the South of England. 
William Wildsmith was a Yorkshireman by birth, 
having been born at Luddenden, near Sowerby Bridge, 
and not far from the borders of Lancashire. He had 
the misfortune to lose his mother in early life, in fact 
he never knew her, and 
was brought up by an aunt 
residing near Bradford, 
which he used to consider 
his “native village.” He 
commenced his gardening 
career in a small place 
near Luddenden, and was 
subsequently at Powis 
Castle, Welshpool, with Mr. 
Brown ; at Chirk Castle, 
Denbigh, with another Mr. 
Brown ; at Wynnstay, 
Ruabon, under Mr. Bell; at 
Wolverstone Park, Ipswich, 
under Mr. Sheppard ; and 
about 1860 at Shrubland 
Park, Suffolk, with Mr. 
Taylor. Here he stayed for 
some time, for Shrubland 
was then at the zenith 
of its fame, and its flower 
gardening was of world-wide 
repute. From Shrubland, 
about 1865, he went to 
Heekfield as foreman to 
Mr. Dwerrihouse, and sub¬ 
sequently to Mr. T. Shortt, 
whom he succeeded as 
gardener in the end of 1867. 
It was at Shrubland where 
he got thoroughly smitten 
with his art, and once in 
power at Heekfield quickly 
made his influence felt in 
all departments. His repu¬ 
tation as a flower gardener 
was soon established ; 
kideed so famous did Heekfield become during his 
management, that setting aside such horticulturally 
historical places as Chatsworth, Trentham, Syon, 
Shrubland, and a few others, we doubt if any place has 
been more visited by gardeners of all degrees during 
the last twenty years than Heekfield. Though not 
physically by any means a giant, both in body and mind 
he was one of the most active of men, and yet, endowed 
though he was with extraordinary enthusiasm for his 
art, and unbounded love for the charming garden of 
which he may really be said to have been the creator—it 
is wonderful how much he accomplished. But though 
the flower garden at Heekfield was undoubtedly the 
piece de resistance, in every department was seen the 
work of a master hand, and there are few subjects with 
which he did not win prizes on the exhibition stage at 
one time or another. He was an extensive exhibitor 
in his time, and though never a pot-hunter, had an 
irresistible passion for being first, and when he did 
compete he generally took a lot of beating. 
For several years one of his favourite show places was 
the Crystal Palace, and it was when returning from one 
of the autumn exhibitions at Sydenham in 1881 that 
he met with the terrible trap accident while driving from 
Winchfield, and which left him a complete wreck of 
his former self. Never since had he enjoyed really 
good health, yet, though often pressed by friends to 
“put on the brake,” his indomitable energy would 
assert itself, and he knew no rest until finally laid by. 
The death, thirteen months ago, of his employer, 
Lord Eversley, whose confidence and respect he had 
always enjoyed to the fullest extent, was a severe 
blow to him, and the reductions in the establishment 
which subsequently took place, if anything, hit him 
harder still. 
Of late years his services as a judge were in 
great request all over the country ; he was also a 
frequent contributor to periodical horticultural litera¬ 
ture, was an ardent politician, and an earnest advocate 
of temperance principles. He was for some years a 
member of the Fruit and Vegetable Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, a subscriber to the 
Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution for twenty 
years, and on the establishment of the Gardeners’ 
Orphan Fund, he put the same energy into that as 
everything else, became a local secretary, and was 
indefatigable in his efforts to raise funds in its aid. 
Perhaps one of his best qualities as a man was his 
regard for the welfare of the young men who served 
under him, and, indeed, not them alone, for any man 
out of a place with good testimonials was sure to find 
in him a trusty friend, and there are scores of men 
enjoying comfortable and responsible situations now 
who owe their positions entirely to his influence. A 
man who was worthy of assistance he could not resist 
f j*,. 
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• ■ 
• / ' ■ 
The Late Mr. W. Wildsmith. 
helping, and many an one who reads these lines will 
regret, as we do, the loss of a friend so good and so 
true. 
The funeral of this most estimable gardener took 
place at Heekfield, on Tuesday afternoon last, when 
the bedy was borne to its last resting place in the 
village burial ground. The weather, so foggy in 
town, was delightful at Heekfield, the sun shining 
out warm and pleasant. About 2 p.m. there began to 
muster at the well-known cottage on the common a 
remarkable funeral gathering of gardeners, who had 
come from far and near to pay the last evidence of 
respect to their dead and kind-hearted friend. These 
included Messrs. Turton, Maiden Erleigh (executor) 
A. Dean, Bedfont ; W. Coleman, Eastnor ; W. Crump 
Madresfield ; Bell, Strathfieldsaye ; Davidson, High 
field ; Molyneux, Swanmore ; Lees, The Wilderness 
Tegg, Bearwood ; Martin, of Messrs. Sutton & Sons 
Basket, Reading ; Profit, Minley Manor ; Tubb 
Minley ; McLaurin, Farnborough ; Bowerman, Hack 
wood Park ; Weaver, Oakley ; Kneller, Malshanger 
Tiinder, Dogmersfield ; Rose, Lockinge ; Ooombes 
Englefield ; Jones, Elvetham ; Allen, Swallowfield 
Heath, Tamworth ; R. Fenn, Milhampstead ; Maxim 
Heekfield ; Phipps, formerly of Bowood ; Pounds, 
Reading, and many others. No less than thirty 
wreaths, many of a very beautiful kind, were sent or 
brought. Of these there were very fine ones from 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading ; the Reading 
Gardeners’ Association ; the Hon. Miss Lefevre, Mr. 
Turton, Mr. W. Lees, Senr. and Junr. ; The Bir¬ 
mingham Gardeners’ Society ; Mr. Clayton, Grimstou ; 
Mr. Crump, Mr. Trinder, Mr. Rose, Mr. Allen, 
Mr. Coombs, Mr. Ftnn, Mr. Tubb, Mr. Profit, 
Mr. Molyneux, Mr. Weaver, Mr. J. Crook, Chard ; 
Mr. McLaurin, Mr. W. S. Palmer, Reading : Mr. G. 
Stanton, Henley ; and from the immediate relatives, 
house servants, &c. Mrs. Wildsmith received not less 
than 100 letters of sympathy consequent upon her 
esteemed husband’s death. The funeral cortege con¬ 
sisted of a Washington-car hearse and two mourning 
coaches, which latter were filled with relatives, includ¬ 
ing the widow, her father, Mr. Tate, the Heekfield 
bailiff. The coffin, made of plain polished elm, was 
covered with wreaths, whilst mourners carried others. 
Six of the garden and farm men acted as bearers. 
Gardeners and other friends meeting at the church, 
probably 150, followed on foot behind. The body was 
first taken to the church, and later back to the new 
burial ground, where it was finally interred. This 
burial ground and its approaches was planted by Mr. 
Wildsmith but a year or two since. 
After the ceremony was over an informal gathering 
of gardeners took place, when it was suggested that a 
fitting and proper memorial to their dead friend would 
be a Wildsmith Memorial 
Fund, promoted for placing 
a special orphan on the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, 
and it was agreed that the 
Reading Gardeners’ Asso¬ 
ciation should be invited to 
take the matter up and 
carry it out, Mr. Turton, 
Maiden Erleigh, promising 
to act as secretary. A sum 
of about £130 will be needed 
for the purpose. We learn 
that no fresh gardener will 
be engaged at Heekfield at 
present, other arrangements 
being probably made. 
-- 
APPLES. 
The Apple is pre-eminently 
our national fruit, and 
should be considered a 
staple article of diet by all 
classes. At the same time, 
those which are the pro¬ 
ducts of the highest cultural 
skill that can be bestowed 
upon them may fairly 
be termed luxuries. The 
humblest cottager in country 
districts will have a sense 
of dissatisfaction with his 
surroundings if he has no 
Apple trees in his garden, 
and we think he has a right 
to feel so for a garden 
without them cannot be con¬ 
sidered properly furnished ; and all the time we continue 
to import the enormous quantities we annually do, it 
cannot well be said that we have enough of Apple 
trees. There ought, at least, to be only an occasional 
necessity for this, for if the cultivation of the trees were 
properly understood and carried out by all, the reproach 
justly deserved by us lor not growing our own would 
be wiped out. Owing, in part, to its accommodating 
disposition, it too often meets with neglect and bad 
treatment from those who should be its best friends. 
Cottagers and amateurs are often so situated from un¬ 
certainty of tenure that they are not their own masters 
with respect to Apple and other fruit trees, and find 
themselves for the time in possession of old, gnarled, 
and decaying trees, which they have not the right to 
remove or destroy. The object of the present paper 
will be to point out to those thus situated how they 
may improve matters with respect to neglected trees 
which may for a time come under their keeping. 
Manuring. 
That an Apple tree requires manuring, or anything 
fresh for its roots to feed upon, is one of the last things 
many will think of ; yet trees may often be seen which 
are dying a slow, but, for all that, a certain death from 
absolute starvation. Remove 6 ins. or 8 ins. o( the 
soil as far as the branches spread early in the autumn, 
and give a liberal dressing of fat dung, not half-decayed 
dry stuff, but the richest that can be procured, and 
