June 80, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
689 
and such were special advantages which were 
thoroughly deserved. Gardeners, like other persons, 
were subject to the vicissitudes of life, for he knew 
of several persons who formerly occupied good 
positions, but were now reduced to the lowest ebb in 
life. To gardeners, therefore, the Institution 
appealed in the strongest possible sense. One 
hundred and fifty-seven pensioners, namely, seventy- 
one men and eighty-six women, were at the present 
time receiving permanent aid, while during the 
existence of the Institution pensions and gratuities 
had been paid amounting to ;^6o,ooo. There, as 
usual, the women had the best of it, and no man 
grudged them the advantage. (Hear, hear.) It was 
the best proof that in a charity administered by men 
the claims of women received the closest and best 
attention. The cost of the Institution per annum 
was ;^2,8 oo, while the reliable income was /2,ioo, 
leaving £'joo a year to be gathered in from outside 
sources. He had been told by one who ought to 
know—his friend, Mr. Alfred Weeks—that there had 
been a considerable falling off in the number of 
supporters of horticulture, which was all the more 
reason why those who were in a position to do so 
should extend a helping hand to their less fortunate 
fellow-workers, and he asked them to give liberally 
in aid of such a deserving Institution. 
The Treasurer of the Institution, Mr. H. J. Veitch, 
whose name was associated with the toast, warmly 
thanked Sir Julian on behalf of the executive for his 
presence that evening, and for putting before them 
in such generous and appreciative terms the claims 
of the Institution. Pointing to the difficulties which 
beset gardeners in their work, he referred to the fact 
that the present season set in with prospects of 
the brightest kind, but a cold wave had swept over 
the land, and as a natural consequence great destruc¬ 
tion had taken place and thousands of pounds had 
been lost. Mr.Veitch then spoke of the generous man¬ 
ner in which pensioners were treated, and reminded 
his hearers that seven pensioners had died this year 
who had subscribed but very small sums, yet who 
had received between them no less an amount than 
/i,go8. Their united ages was 562 years, their 
average age being eighty years and three months; 
they had subscribed altogether ^■98 14s., and had 
received an average of £'i-]2 7s. 5d. But a more 
remarkable case than any of these was that of 
Robert Hodge and his wife, who had received 
between them the sum of/552, yet who had not sub¬ 
scribed a penny to the Institution. Robert Hodge, 
a gardener totally blind, was elected in 1857. He 
died in 1871, when his widow, Margaret Hodge, who 
lives at Dundonald, succeeded him on the pension 
list, and is still a pensioner and in her 87ih year. 
The husband received /240 and the widow up to the 
present has received £'i^2. As shoiVing how greatly 
the pensions are appreciated, Mr. Veitch then read 
the following letters, which had been received this 
year : " Honoured Sir.—I beg leave to thank you 
most sincerely, and to the best of my humble abili¬ 
ties, for the great and wonderful favour you have 
given me, for without it I might in all probability 
hive ended my days in the Union. But now, thank 
God, my poor old wife and self are provided for. We 
have had fifty-three years together, and may now 
safely hope to die together. None know the feelings 
of the aged but the aged, who feel a desire to see 
the last of either that may go first. We both shed 
tears of joy and comfort over your tidings of our 
success. I am, etc.” "Dear Sir.—I thought I 
would try and tell you what a blessing and comfort 
the pension has been to us, and how often it has 
cheered us in our long suffering. It is thirteen years 
since my poor wife was smitten down with a palsy 
stroke, and lam a poor cripple myself. For ten years 
I have not done anything, but use the little strength 
left to me to help my poor wife. These last four 
years, night and day, I have not had my clothes off 
except while I changed as quick as possible. Poor 
thing, ske has done with pain and suffering now, and 
I don’t think I shall be long after her. Thanking 
you for all your kindness, I am, etc.” Such letters 
as these, so pathetic and so grateful, were enough 
to melt a stone, but the hearts of Englishmen were 
Urge, and though the times were bad, let them not 
forget that there were some less fortunate than them¬ 
selves who sadly wanted help. 
The other toasts were " The Royal Horticultural 
Society, Royal Botanic Society, and Kindred 
Societies of London and the United Kingdom,” 
proposed by Mr. N. L. Cohen, and acknowledged by 
Mr. P. Crowley; "Our Chairman,” proposed by 
Mr. W. J. Nutting; and "The Stewards and 
Officers,” proposed by Mr. George A. Dickson, 
and responded to by Mr. Geo. Monro and Mr. 
Ingram. 
The donations announced during the evening 
amounted to ;^i,245, and included in addition tO' 
the amounts given in our columns last week, 100 
guineas from the Chairman, Mr. Girdlestone, fifteen 
guineas, Mr. Geo. Monro, ;^4o, Thames Bank Iron 
Company, /30 gs., Mr. Sherwood, £2% 15s., Mr. A. 
Wakins, £25 los., etc. 
-- 
CONCERNING STRAW¬ 
BERRIES. 
This being the Strawberry season it has occurred 
to me that a few remarks on these luscious fruits 
would not be unacceptable. I could wish, too, that 
other growers would give their experience, specially 
naming the varieties that give them the most satis¬ 
faction, and any that may not have suffered to any 
appreciable extent from the late frosts. Trustworthy 
information from experienced growers in different 
parts of the country and different soils is valuable 
to others, experienced and inexperienced alike, and 
is always welcome. The Strawberry finds a place 
in well-nigh every garden, and justly so, for there is 
no more enjoyable fruit for the dinner or tea table. 
During the past quarter of a century what a host 
of new, or so-called new, sorts have been put upon 
the market, yet how few have been real acquisitions ! 
It has been claimed for all of them, more or less, 
that they were advancements on some existing kinds, 
but had this been the case we ought surely to have 
had a perfect sort ere now, and had some of the 
statements that have been made come true we 
should have had a variety that could be depended 
upon to ripen its fruits in the open early in May. 
The same remark also holds good in reference to 
flavour. Many sorts have been sent out under the 
shield of the old British Queen, but said to be minus 
the bad constitution of that variety, but they failed to 
make good the reputation claimed for them, and made 
way for others in turn that have shared the same 
fate. When I look back over a period of twenty-five 
or thirty years and recall to mind the standard sorts 
of those days, such as Trollope’s Victoria, Alice 
Maude, Black Prince, Keen’s Seedling, British 
Queen, President, Elton Pine, etc., I am inclined to 
ask whether we have really made the progress in 
Strawberry culture that some would have us believe. 
I commenced working in a garden at a large 
private place in Wiltshire thirty years ago, and well 
remember that the sorts I have named were there 
grown, and what grand crops were obtained from 
them. Indeed, I have never seen better crops since 
of Trollope’s Victoria, Sir Harry, Keen’s Seedling, 
and I doubt if I ever shall. With reference to 
earlyness, it may be worth while to ask what we 
have really gained in advance, say, on Black Prince. 
I well remember this being grown on a south border 
for our first crop, and I doubt very much if. when 
all are grown under similar conditions, any sort can 
be named that can be depended upon to beat it. 
When I left Wiltshire I went into the neighbourhood 
of Maidenhead, Berks, where most of the sorts 
named were grown, together with Sir C. Napier, Dr. 
Hogg, Mr. Radclyffe, Frogmore Pine, Empress 
Eugenie, and several others, but the older sorts were 
depended upon for the main crops in the 
open and the same held good, as to the 
1.400, that were annually forced. Moving into 
Somerset, I found the facts the same, and in all these 
instances we had a good Strawberry soil. From 
Somerset I went into Norfolk, where the soil was 
light, and there the trusty sorts were Alice Maude, 
Sir Harry, President, and Keen’s Seedling, with 
Eleanor as a late kind. Many other sorts were tried 
but only in small quantities. In that Norfolk 
garden the gardener in charge still pins his faith 
upon Alice Maude, after having tried most of the 
new sorts alongside of it. 
In my own experience during the last twenty years 
in these gardens so widely apart, I must 
say that I have found nothing to beat the well tried 
sorts and I have made a point of trying the so-called 
improvements. I admit that Laxton’s Noble has a 
fine appearance, and is useful as an early kind, 
especially if treated as an annual, or rather, as a 
biennial, that is to say only taking one crop off the 
plants; but I doubt if it is generally earlier than 
Black Prince, and certainly it is not so good in 
flavour. Somehow or other English consumers 
have developed a craze for size in fruits, and often 
in vegetables, which is to be regretted, when size is 
obtained at the expense of flavour. At the present 
time I rely upon Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury and 
Keen’s Seedling as our main crop sorts, and find that 
none others give us such good results, either in the 
open ground or for forcing. As to late sorts I am 
still looking for one that will supplant Eleanor (or 
Oxonian), Elton Pine, and Sir Charles Napier. Such 
sorts as Latest of All, and several others I could name, 
do not do in our garden. I notice that a corres¬ 
pondent in a contemporary mentions one sort 
recently sent out as having passed through the late 
frosts scathless, and I hope it will prove capable of 
doing so in the future.— Con. 
-.f.- 
OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN. 
Quite a reformation has been effected in the Botanic 
Garden, Oxford, during the past winter and spring. 
The old succulent house and another small one of 
no importance are all that remain of the old struc¬ 
tures. The rest have been completely swept away 
to make room for a fine new range of hothouses. 
This is in two divisions, separated by a gateway 
through the wall surrounding the collections of 
trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. The range i s 
on the outside of this wall and faces the winding 
river Cherwell. The whole of the new structures have 
been built by Messrs. James Boyd & Sons, Paisley, 
in their usual effective, useful and substantial style. 
Six plant houses, a propagating pit in two com¬ 
partments, the old succulent house and several 
structures of a utilitarian character, including an 
excellent potting shed or room, besides two corridors, 
are heated by two large boilers in a commodious 
stoke hole. All the houses are span-roofed, built 
with an aim at durability, while the large panes of 
glass admit a maximum of light. 
The interior and the contents may be system¬ 
atically examined by entering the corridor nearest 
the main entrance to the garden, and which 
connects half of the range together. A narrow 
border on either side of the corridor is planted with 
a great variety of climbers with dwarfer plants in 
front. We hope to see the climbers on a future 
occasion when fully established; at present they 
are thriving with great vigour, owing doubtless to 
the abundant light admitted by the span roof and 
other favourable circumstances. The first door on 
the left leads into the fern house heated by two 
flow and one return pipe. This as well as most of 
the principal houses tends a little to the south east 
in its longitudinal direction. Notwithstanding the 
bad usage to which the plants were subjected 
during the building of the houses, they do not seem 
to have suffered much. Amongst the Ferns we noted 
such interesting things as Acrostichum crinitum, 
Hypolepis repens with quadri-pinnatifid fronds 3jft. 
long, Adiantum cuneatum variegatum, and Pleopeltis 
musaefolia, whose finely netted fronds are 2jft. long 
and recall those of a Musa to some extent. Here 
also may be seen the rare and curious Lycopodia- 
ceous plant named Tmesipteris tanensis from 
Australia. 
Next comes the Aquatic or Lily house, also 
entered from the corridor. Here is assembled an 
extensive and ever increasing collection of Water 
Lilies. Although the house is wide, the roof is low 
and unshaded. The ends of the roof are sloping 
so that it practically has four sides, admitting a 
maximum of light. The tank is 28ft. long, 21ft. 
wide, built of bricks and cement in such a way as to 
be substantial and water tight. The sides of the 
tank are 16 in. thick, and within a foot of the top is 
so narrowed as to form a bin. shelf for small pot 
plants to be stood in the water without being sub¬ 
merged. Along one side of the tank is a partition 
wall fencing off a bed for planting out various sub¬ 
jects. A flow and a return 4in. pipe heat the water 
which is 4ft. deep with i5in. of concrete in the 
bottom. Four superposed pipes under the side 
benches heat the body of the house. 
Although, perforce, started so late as the beginning 
of April, the Water Lilies are already the dominant 
feature of the house, and have been flowering for 
some time past. Oxford has long been famous for 
its culture of Lilies. All are grown in tubs 18 in. 
square, and 16 in. deep. The huge leaves and white 
flowers of Nymphaea Lotus dentata are very telling ; 
