July 14, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
725 
THE SCOTTISH PANSY 
SOCIETY. 
On the 22nd ult , in the Oddfellows' Hall, Forest 
Road, Edinburgh, the Scottish Pansy Society 
celebrated its jubilee in a manner befitting such an 
auspicious occasion, and at the close of the judging 
a group of the officials of the Society, and the judges 
on this memorable day were photographed by 
Messrs. Nummo & Son, of South Bridge, Edinburgh. 
The photograph taken we now have the pleasure 
of reproducing in our columns, feeling sure that it 
will be of interest to Pansy growers wherever they 
are to be found. 
The Society was established in June, 1844, by a 
few keen Scottish Pansy growers, among whom were 
Mr. A. Tait, Leith Walk Nursery; Mr. Arthur, i, 
Waterloo Place ; Mr. Grieve, Liberton; Mr. John 
Downie, South Bank; Mr. Finlayson, Kincardine ; 
Mr. R. B. Laird, of Dundee; then with the firm of 
Dicksons & Co. and other noted growers of the time 
from Glasgow, Falkirk, Dundee, and other places. 
Mr. R. B. Laird is, we believe, the only one now left 
would have remained unknown to the fanciers out¬ 
side the district in which they were raised. Though 
the Society's shows have always been held in Edin¬ 
burgh, the exhibitors have come from districts 
hundreds of miles apart and from all parts of the 
compass, and there has at no time been any slacken¬ 
ing in the enthusiasm to speak of, and whatever has 
been the fashion of the day the Society has always 
been equal to the occasion, in leading forward move¬ 
ments in the right direction. What a boon it has 
been to our Pansy-loving Scotch friends it is not for 
a Southerner to estimate ; only an old supporter of 
the Society could do the subject justice, and we 
cannot attempt it. 
The President of the Society, Mr. D. P. Laird, is 
the eldest son of Mr. R. B. Laird, one of the 
founders of the Society, an ex-president of the 
Scottish Horticultural Association and its first 
treasurer; a member of the council of the Royal 
Caledonian Horticultural Society, one of the most 
popular of the younger Scottish nurserymen, a 
willing worker in all movements for the advancement 
of horticulture, and a most genial man at all times. 
He commenced life in Handasyde’s Nursery, The 
Glen, Musselburgh, and about 1853 went to the old 
firm of Downie & Laird, at Pinkhill, and at the dis¬ 
solution went with the late Mr. Downie to Beechhill 
in the same parish. Mr. T. Borrowman, gardener 
to Sir John Cowan, of Beeslack, Midlothian, is one 
of the keenest of professional growers and a cham¬ 
pion among champion exhibitors of his favourite 
flower. Mr. Andrew Irvine, of Tignabruaich, is a 
veteran trade grower and raiser of Pansies, for 
which he has a high reputation, and still holds his 
own in any company as an exhibitor. Mr. Michael 
Cutberson, Public Park Nursery, Rothesay, is a 
well-known nurseryman and cultivator of hardy 
herbaceous plants and florists' flowers; and Mr. 
William Mitchell is also well known in the nursery 
trade as manager of the Pinkhill Nursery of Messrs. 
R. B. Laird & Sons. Mr. William Oliver is also in 
the nursery business, being manager to Mr. John 
Forbes, Buccleuch Nurseries, Hawick, and a keen 
florist to boot. 
Mr. C. Kay, of Gargannock, is a veteran amateur 
Pansy grower and an occasional contributor to our 
G. MUBRAY. 'W. MITCHELL. 
W. OLIVER. M. CUTHBERTSON. 
W M. WALSH- 
T. GROSSABT. 
J. MACKENZIE. 
W. DICK. 
1>. ALLAN. 
G. GOODALL. 
T. BOBROWMAN. 
P. LAIRD J. STEWART. 
W. MACKINNON. 
A IRVINE, 
G. ROSS. 
Officials and Judges of the Scottish Pansy Society, 1894. 
! 
I 
to US of the early promoters, and it was quite in 
accordance with the fitness of things that his eldest 
son, Mr. David P. Laird, should this year be elected 
to the post of honour as President of the Society. 
The first exhibition held by the Society took place 
in the Calton Convening Rooms, Waterloo Place, 
and was an unqualified success, vigorous measures 
being taken to let the public know that such a show 
was taking place, not the least eflective "bait" 
employed on the occasion being a man with an 
enormous drawing of a Pansy on his back, who 
marched up and down Princess Street all day. 
From 1844 to the present year the Society has been 
uniformly successful in its operations ; it has had 
the steady support of the leading Pansy growers of 
the country ; most of the leading amateurs and trade 
growers of the time have occupied the presidential 
chair or held other responsible offices, and unques¬ 
tionably it has been the means of keeping the 
enthusiasm of the growers at concert pitch, and of 
enormously improving the show and fancy Pansy as 
well as the bedding Violas. 
It is not too much to say that most of the leading 
sorts of the last fifty years have made their debut at 
the Society's shows, and but for the public notice 
thus obtained certain it is that many a good variety 
The vice-president, Mr. Alexander Reid, is the 
much-respected gardener to A. Baird, Esq , at Urie 
House, Stonehaven. The courteous and able 
secretary and treasurer, Mr. William Mackinnon, is 
a brother to the worthy gardeners at Scone Palace 
and Melville Castle, and manager of the nursery and 
seed business founded by the late Mr. John Downie, 
who was a warm supporter of the Society from its 
birth to his death a few years ago. A valuable execu¬ 
tive officer is Mr. Mackinnon. 
Mr. William M. Walsh, an ex-president of the 
society, is the senior member of the firm of Dicksons 
& Co., of Waterloo Place and Pilrig Park, which 
has given generous support to the society during its 
entire existence. Mr. Walsh is also an ex-president 
of the Scottish Horticultural Association, and has 
established for himself a high reputation in the 
north as a pomologist, in addition to a high 
character as a nurseryman. Mr. James Grieve, 
manager of Messrs. Dickson & Go's., Pilrig Park 
Nursery, where he has been for many years, and 
rendered valiant service to floriculture as a raiser of 
Pansies and Violas, more especially the bedding 
section of the latter, with which his name is in- 
separately associated. Mr. George Goodall is one 
of the oldest of Scottish Pansy growers and judges. 
columns. The other distinguished amateur growers 
are Mr. George Jilurray, Schoolhouse, Carnwath ; 
Mr. John Stewart, Campsie ; Mr. D. Allen, Stobhill; 
Mr. George Ross, Laurencekirk ; Mr. William Dick, 
Kirknewton ; Mr. Thomas Grossart, Carluke ; and 
Mr. John Mackenzie, and all have high reputa¬ 
tions as growers and raisers. 
MECONOPSIS WALLICHIt. 
The blue Poppy of the Himalayas is always an 
interesting object and many are the amateurs who 
would grow it provided they could manage to keep 
it through the winter of its first year of existence. 
That is the most troublesome part of its cultivation, 
for it flowers and after ripening seed, dies during 
the second season. The leaves themselves are 
thickly covered with long, orange coloured hairs 
which give the foliage an interesting appearance, 
but at the same time preserve the moisture so much 
about the plant that it is liable to succumb during 
winter. The stems vary from 3ft. to 4ft. in height 
according to the vigour of the plant and to condi¬ 
tions of soil, climate and culture. The flowers, as a 
rule, are pale blue with golden anthers, but some¬ 
times purple varieties turn up amongst seedlings 
raised from imported seed. 
