550 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 3, 1890. 
proposed hall if its management he in the 
hands of the Eoyal Horticultural Society. 
Still, there lias been no desire on any one’s 
part to throw cold water on a scheme which 
has been taken up by the promoters with so 
much spirit and good feeling. 
Ho attempt is to be made to erect the hall 
unless the full sum of £40,000 be forthcoming, 
and indeed it could not be done on such costly 
sites as the City of London offer for less; but 
of the amount required only some £8,000 has 
been promised, if indeed that amount has not 
been reduced by £1,000, by the death of Mr. 
Morgan. Of this total about £1,000 has been 
produced by lesser amounts, and we feel assured, 
from what seems to he the. feeling of the trade 
towards the proposal, that hardly another 
£2,000 will come from that source. It is, then, 
evident that unless Baron Schroder can induce 
many more of the wealthy men of the city, or 
the teritorial magnates of the country to come 
down with large amounts, there is no more 
prospect of raising the £40,000 than there 
is of perpetual summer. 
We could offer a myriad of objections against 
going to the city, but having the fullest desire 
to give the sche:ne fair play, forbear. We may, 
however, object to the strong adjective applied 
to the Drill Hall. The Eoyal Horticultural 
Society made a mistake in going to Westmin¬ 
ster at all with its meetings, as experience has 
shown, hut in any case the Drill Hall seems to 
have been its only possible place of meeting in 
London, and as such the best has been done. 
Hard words, therefore, may as well be left 
unsaid. 
-- 
The Watford Chrysanthemum Show will be held on 
November 11th and 12th. 
Mr. T. S. Ware, of Tottenham, is, we are pleased to 
hear, recovering from the serious illness which pros¬ 
trated him during the winter. 
Gardening Engagement.—Mr. George Maycock, for 
the last three years general foreman at St. Anne’s, 
Clontarf, Dublin, as gardener to E. J. Walker Esq., 
Leadwerks House, Chester. 
Ealing Horticultural Society.—The Ealing, Acton, 
-and Harwell Horticultural Society will in future bear 
the local name of Ealing only, it having been decided 
at the last annual meeting to restrict the competition 
for prizes offered by the society to those residing within 
the area of the parish. The annual Summer Ex¬ 
hibition will take place on July 9th, and a Children’s 
Flower Show will be held during the same month. 
Chrysanthemum Culture in New Zealand appears 
to be' making considerable progress, at all events about 
Auckland. We have before us, thanks to the courtesy 
of Mr. William Holmes, a neat little pamphlet contain¬ 
ing directions for the cultivation of the Chrysanthemum 
with hints on exhibiting, which has been compiled 
and issued by the Standing Committee of the Auckland 
Chrysanthemum Society, which is now affiliated with 
the National Chrysanthemum Society, and we note 
also has adopted its standard of classification and 
nomenclature. 
Ware and District Horticultural Improvement 
Society.—-This society has held two meetings during 
the past month, both of which were well attended. 
On the 9thinst., R. Waters, Esq., presiding, a practical 
paper on Potatos was read by Mr. W. Osborne, and some 
excellent samples of tubers were exhibited by Messrs. 
Adams and Fulford. The second meeting was held on 
the 22nd inst., Mr. G. Fulford in the chair. The 
subject of the paper read was “ The Greenhouse and its 
Occupants,” which was handled by Mr. W. King in a 
very interesting manner, and a good discussion followed. 
A group of Azalea mollis and Spiraeas was set up by 
Mr. J. B. Riding, and a basket of very fine Pansies was 
contributed by Mr. Gull. The society intends holding 
a Chrysanthemum and vegetable show on November 
20th and 21st in the Town Hall, Ware, and has just 
issued a schedule of the prizes to be offered for 
competition. 
South London Chrysanthemum Society.—The thirty- 
third annual exhibition of this society will he held on 
the 11th and 12th of November in the Lecture Hall, 
New Church Eoad, Camberwell. This was the first 
established of the South London Chrysanthemum 
Societies, and despite various vicissitudes of fortune is 
in a good healthy condition, and making steady progress. 
The secretary, Mr. George Carter, Elm Lodge, Albert 
Road, Peckham, will be glad to hear from any amateurs 
in the district who would like to become members. 
New Zealand International Exhibition.—We learn 
from the Otago Daily■ Times , of March 6th, that 
Messrs. Sutton & Sons have obtained First Class 
Awards for their exhibits of preserved fodder and 
substances specially cultivated for food for cattle ; for a 
collection of models of improved types of vegetables, 
and also for a similar collection of agricultural roots. 
For their collective exhibit, the Messrs. Sutton have 
obtained a Special First Class Award. Messrs. Hurst 
& Son, Houndsditch, and Messrs. Arthur Yates & Co., 
Manchester, among British exhibitors, also obtain 
First Class Awards. 
A New Metallic Garden Engine.—The life of a 
garden engine is always a consideration, except to 
those who are always hunting after something cheap. 
The new “Metallic Garden Engine” is one of Messrs. 
Merry weather & Sons’ latest productions. The pumping 
machinery is entirely of brass and gun-metal, the 
valves of the engine being somewhat on the lines of 
their celebrated fire engines. The pump is fitted in a 
strong galvanised iron cistern, fitted with wrought iron 
axle and stout wheels. There is nothing to decay and 
get out of order, and such an engine will last, with fair 
attention, for a score or more of years of hard work. 
The engine is suited for fire extinguishing, is 
rightly called the Combined Garden and Fire Engine, 
and its cost is only that of the best town-made garden 
engine. 
Presentation to Mr. Richard Dean.—On the evening 
of the 22nd ult. Mr. Richard Dean was presented with 
a testimonial in the form of a gold, keyless hunting- 
case watch of the value of £20, and a purse of 
gold in recognition of his services for fourteen 
years as honorary secretary of the Ealing, Acton and 
Hanwell Horticultural Society. The presentation took 
place at the London and County Bank, Ealing, and 
the chairman, Mr. Willey, Mr. J. Allen Brown, Mr. 
H. R. White, and Mr. G. Cannon, all bore grateful 
testimony to the laborious and self-denying work that 
Mr. Dean had performed, as practically the manager of 
the society, for nearly fifteen years. Mr. Dean, in 
acknowledging the gifts, expressed himself as deeply 
sensible of the kindness which had prompted the 
presentation, and regretted being obliged, on medical 
advice, to retire from the office he had so long held. 
Gardeners' Orphan Fund.—At the monthly meeting 
of the executive committee, held on the 25th ult., Mr. 
C. H. Sharman presiding in the unavoidable absence 
through illness of Mr. Deal, the nominations of eleven 
candidates for election at the annual meeting were 
accepted, which, together with the six unsuccessful 
candidates at the last election, make up a list of seven¬ 
teen applicants, from whom ten have to be elected by 
the subscribers. The usual form of voting paper was 
passed, and copies ordered to be sent to all who have 
paid their subscriptions for the year, and those entitled 
to receive them by reason of their life membership. A 
letter was read from Mr. Turton, announcing the close 
of the Wildsmith Memorial Fund. At a later hour a 
meeting of the Joint Committee of the Orphan Fund 
Executive and Covent Garden Standholders was held, 
Mr. Assbee presiding, when the arrangements were 
completed for holding the great floral fete on the 21st. 
Hybrid Narcissi.—Rev. G. H. Engleheart exhibited 
a collection of hybrid Narcissi at the last meeting of 
the Scientific Committee, amongst which was one 
called George Engleheart, a cross between N. poeticus 
ornatus and N. Tazetta Bazelman major. This was 
quite distinct, and received a Botanical Certificate. 
Another was between N. poeticus and a trumpet 
Daffodil, Hudibras ; this had a remarkably large and 
flat crown. A third, between P. poeticus ornatus and 
Mary Anderson, had an orange-streaked cup, both 
parents having an orange-bordered cup ; the colour 
had become intensified. Mr. Engleheart observed that 
the anthers being situated half-way between the points 
of the insertion of those of the two parents, w T as a 
characteristic feature of hybrids amongst Narcissi, and 
that no appreciable difference occurs on the hybrids 
raised when the parentage is reversed. He also re¬ 
marked that Dean Herbert thought that N. Tazetta var. 
Bazelman major was barren with its pollen, as he could 
raise no plants from it. This was probably due to a 
too chilly climate. Mr. Henslow remarked that N. 
Tazetta is very abundant amongst the rocks in Malta, 
and has two forms—one with a short stout stem and 
many flowers, and another with a long slender stem 
and fewer flowers. 
Sulphate of Iron as a Remedy against the Potato 
Disease.—Rev. G. Henslow at the same meeting quoted 
the following passage from a report by the late Professor 
G. Galia, of Malta, upon the Orange disease ; but bear¬ 
ing on the question of the destruction of vegetable 
parasites : — “ Having watered two Aralias, three 
Begonias, an Orange, and several Rose bushes, with a 
solution of sulphate of iron, in the proportion of six 
grains to one litre ; these plants, far from sustaining 
any injury, seemed to gain intensity of colour to their 
chlorophyll, and their buds shot with greater rapidity 
and luxuriance. Towards the end of the past year, 
Potatos were attacked by the Phytopletha infestans to 
such an extent as to impoverish and destroy the crop of 
the greater number of fields, especially in the eastern 
districts of the island. In a small field adjacent to 
others infected by the fungus, the ground was sprinkled 
with the solution, prior to the sowing of the Potatos ; 
some young plants sprang up, and the crop was so 
abundant as to astonish the cultivators of the neigh¬ 
bouring fields, who were seized with a longing to adopt 
the method in question. Not a single leaf of these 
plants bore the fatal fungus. This was certainly due to 
the sulphate of iron, which had destroyed the spores 
buried in the soil, and rendered the plants so vigorous 
as to impede the growth of pernicious fungu3. ” 
-►»$«*- 
DEATH OF MR. STUART H. LOW. 
We deeply regret to record the death on the 22nd ult., 
at Upper Clapton, aged 64 years, of Mr. Stuart Henry 
Low, sole proprietor of the extensive nursery business 
so many years carried on under the trading title of 
Hugh Low & Co. Mr. Low was ill but teu days. He 
went to the city on the 12th ult., returned home, and 
never again left his house alive, the cause of his death 
being inflammation of the kidneys. His remains were 
interred at Abney Park Cemetery on Saturday last, 
where his employes, to the number of 130, formed a 
cordon round the grave, to which his coffin, surrounded 
by such a wealth of flowers as has seldom been seen, 
was followed by two of his sons, his brother Sir Hugh 
Low, his relative Sir John Pope Hennesy, representa¬ 
tives of the firms of Hurst & Son, Yeitch & Sons, 
Williams & Son, Paul & Son, Ware, Protheroe & Morris, 
Noble, Yan Houtteof Ghent, and many others, and by 
a number of former employes now holding responsible 
positions in various public and private establishments. 
By his death British horticulture has lost one of its 
greatest practical exponents ; the nursery trade one of 
the most enterprising and most honourable of its 
members ; and his many employes one of the kindest 
and most considerate of masters and truest of friends. 
Mr. Stuart Low was one of the four sons of the 
founder of the firm, Mr. Hugh Low, who died in Sep. 
tember, 1863, at the ripe old age of seventy years. One 
of his brothers, died in infancy ; another, James, died 
about thirty-five years ago, and the third, Mr., now Sir 
Hugh Low, was for many years Biitish Resident at 
Perak, in the Straits Settlements, where he proved 
himself to be a model administrator, and whose residence 
at Kwala Kangsa, and life among the Malays, is delight¬ 
fully described in that charming record of eastern travels, 
Miss Bird’s The Golden Chersonese. In his youth Mr. 
Stuart Low went to sea as a midshipman, and was mate 
of the trading barque “Greyhound” when he gave up 
the seafaring profession to join his father on the death 
of his brother James. His father, in his time, had intro¬ 
duced a great number of new plants, but it was left to 
the son to develop this branch of the business, which 
he did, and to an enormous extent, his importations of 
Orchids, new and rare, over a period of many years, 
being generally very large, and much more valuable 
than are such consignments at the present day. 
Besides maintaining an enormous collection of Orchids, 
he also greatly extended the cultivation of the more 
free-flowering, hard-wooded or New Holland plants, 
and subsequently—a few years ago—supplemented the 
Clapton Nursery with quite a little town of glass, and 
a fruit tree nursery at Bush-hill Park, Enfield. But it 
is in connection with Orchids that his name will best 
be remembered and borne down to posterity, for we 
suspect that when, some years hence, the seals are 
removed from the late Professor Reichenbach’s collec¬ 
tions, it will be found that for no mean proportion of 
the specimens he described for the first time he was 
indebted to the intrepidity of the able collectors sent 
out from Clapton, and the generosity of Mr. Stuart 
Low. 
In his business, as in his private life, Mr. Low was 
one of the most unassuming of men, and of a singularly 
retiring disposition. Though a merchant prince in the 
world of horticulture, he never took part in the man- 
