May 16th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
585 
a r, a in winning the first prize for Pinks, and also the 
second for Dahlias, he was apprenticed to a nursery¬ 
man at Salisbury. Here his precocious talent grew 
and throve as rapidly, but withal as robustly, as one 
of his show Pelargoniums. His master was an invalid, 
and many things were entrusted to his supervision 
which are usually cared for by the owner himself, 
and which, perhaps, no other youth in existence 
would have successfully undertaken, as he did. In 
1835 he went to Bath with Dahlias, and brought 
home a £12 and £8 cup. 
“ He went from Salisbury to the nurseries of Messrs. 
Cormack, New Cross, Surrey, and thence to the Messrs . 
Brown, at Slough, at the nursery to the proprietorship 
of which he ultimately succeeded.” But previous to 
doing this he went into business for himself at 
Chalvey, near Slough, and then, when the Messrs. 
Brown vacated what is now the Royal Nursery, he 
removed there, and since that time the years have 
been to him as one long career as a victor—wherever 
he went victory went with him, and as he gradually 
extended his ambitions, so did honour 
always reward enterprise. “ He tried 
no branch of floriculture without 
improving it; he aspired to no 
prizes which he did not obtain. In 
1840 he won a £20 cup at Cam¬ 
bridge, and a £25 cup at Norwich ; 
and in 1841 three £20 cups in one 
week; namely, at Tamworth, War¬ 
wick, and Halstead, for Dahlias, 
which were then the favourite 
flowers for exhibition. From 1832 
to 1848 the number of prizes awarded 
to him was 498, and since that date 
no account has been kept.” 
And while winning triumphs as a 
successful exhibitor of Dahlias, his 
business grew rapidly. Those who 
knew the Royal Nursery of thirty 
years ago, and can compare the 
extent of glass seen there to-day to 
what it was then, can fully under¬ 
stand what its growth has been. 
Look at the number of subjects 
grown for exhibition—Pinks, Carna¬ 
tions, Picotees, Dahlias, Auriculas, 
Cinerarias, Pansies, Azaleas, Pe¬ 
largoniums, Roses, and others, have 
all been brought out at Slough in 
the best character. No chronicles 
of a king, ancient or modern, can 
set forth such a series of triumphs. 
He sent out new Pelargoniums 
raised by Hoyle, Foster, Matthews, 
Brehaut, and himself; Carnations, 
Picotees, and Pinks raised by the 
best seedling producers of the day; 
Dahlias by Fellowes and others too 
numerous to mention ; Auriculas, 
especially Alpines of his own raising ; 
and what specimen Azaleas he pro¬ 
duced from time to time let the 
records of the exhibitions at South 
Kensington, the Royal Botanic So¬ 
ciety, and the Crystal Palace testify. 
Those who saw the great International Horticul¬ 
tural Exhibition of 1866 will remember that the Slough 
Azaleas were one of the leading features of that great 
and never-to-be-forgotten show. What Roses too ! 
and what a sensation such splendid productions 
always created. Such conspicuous successes as fell 
to his lot fully justifies this eulogium once passed 
upon him—“ Mr. Turner does not show his cards, 
but when he cares to play them upon the green 
cloth or baize of the exhibition table, no man deals 
more fairly, knows his game more thoroughly, 
holds more trumps, or scores the honours more 
frequently.” 
All matters and institutions affecting the politics of 
horticulture found in him a warm supporter. He was 
one of the founders and active sympathisers to the end 
of the old National Floricultural Society. He was a 
generous supporter of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution from 1849, and was the first man in 
the trade to send plants for the decoration of the 
room at the old London Tavern, on the occasion 
of the annual Festivals of the Institution. He 
was for many years an active member of the 
Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
He was one of the most active members of the 
Executive Committee of the International Horti¬ 
cultural Exhibition held in London in 1866 ; of the 
twenty-two members of that body, just one-half 
have passed away. The National Rose Society; the 
National Auricula and Carnation and Picotee Societies; 
the National Tulip Society of the past; the annual 
Dahlia Show at the Crystal Palace ; the International 
Potato Exhibition ; and the National Chrysanthemum 
Society, among others too numerous to mention, 
found in him a constant and faithful friend. 
As a censor at flower shows, his services were in 
great request; and the close of his labours in this 
respect will be deeply regretted by many friends 
throughout the country. 
More than twenty years ago, a dinner was given to 
the late Mr. Charles Kean, the eminent tragedian. 
On that occasion, it was resolved to invite a member 
of every trade and profession as far as it could be 
done. The nurserymen were represented by the late 
his coffin as it was lowered into the silent grave on 
Wednesday afternoon. There we leave him, with a 
thousand regrets clustering about his tomb, and the 
tender memories of a large circle of attached friends. 
For the portrait which accompanies these lines, we are 
indebted to his friend, Mr. James Douglas. 
CHAP.LES TURNER. 
BORN HAY 3, 1813. DIED HAY 9, 1885. 
Mr. James Veitch, the florists by Mr. Charles Turner. 
It is perhaps somewhat remarkable that one so 
well informed as Mr. Turner, in floricultural matters, 
should have written so little. He published pamphlets 
on the cultivation of the Pansy and the Dahlia, but it 
is believed they are out of print. He was essentially 
a man of action, and literary work never appeared to 
come to him as entirely congenial. In 1852 or there¬ 
abouts he succeeded to the superintendence of The 
Florist and Gardening Miscellany when this post was 
resigned by the late Mr. Edward Beck, carrying on the 
work till 1862, when it passed into other hands. 
As a townsman he undertook a share of local work, 
and for some years was an active member of the 
Slough Local Board, and helped in this capacity the 
development of Slough from a village to a town of 
some importance in the county of Bucks. 
Thus we bring to a close a somewhat imperfect 
sketch of a florist who more than any other of his 
contemporaries influenced the development of his 
favourite profession. He died in the midst of the 
subjects he loved so well. Some of the flowers in 
which he took so much interest fittingly covered 
AGATHEA CCELESTIS. 
This plant affords an illustration of an old plant 
becoming neglected and then suddenly rising into 
some import nee. This is a time when Marguerites 
are fashionable, and so this flower has been named 
the Blue Marguerite, and this being a taking designa¬ 
tion a considerable demand for the plant has resulted. 
It is an old plant, having been introduced from the 
Cape of Good Hope in 1756. The name Agathea is 
derived from Agathos, excellent, and the specific name, 
eldest is, means heavenly, referring, no doubt, to the 
colour of the flower being similar to that of the sky. 
But a much more pretentious name 
has been given to it, namely, Flower 
of Heaven. There is no authority 
whatever for this designation, and 
it may be safely assumed that it is 
given to it simply to make it sell. 
It would appear that there is no 
known flower to which the term 
Flower of Heaven can be applied. 
Mr. R. Folkard, in his book on 
Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, 
states that, “ under the names of 
Rain Tremella and Star Jelly is 
known a strange gelatinous substance 
of no precise form, but of a greenish 
hue, which creeps over gravelly soils 
and is found mixed up with wet 
mosses on rocks beside waterfalls ; 
when moist it is soft and pulpy, 
but in dry weather it becomes thin, 
brittle, and black in colour. Lin- 
naius called it Tremella nostoc, but 
it is now classed with the Algae 
Glaioeladeas under the name of 
Nostoc commune, a name first used 
by the alchemist Paracelsus, but the 
meaning of which is unknown.” 
Such appears to be the best known 
account of what are termed Flowers 
of Heaven. “ During the Middle 
Ages some extraordinary supersti¬ 
tions were afloat concerning this 
plant, which was called Coelifolium, 
or Flowers of Heaven. By the al¬ 
chemists it was considered a uni¬ 
versal menstruum. The country 
people in Germany use it to make 
their hair grow. In England the 
country folk of many parts firmly 
believed it to be the remains of a 
falling star, for after a wet, stormy 
night these Flowers of Heaven will 
often be found growing where they 
were not to be seen the previous 
evening.” 
But the pretty Agathea is worth growing, for it is a 
very useful, half-hardy plant, adapted for summer 
bedding and for cutting purposes. It forms a neat, 
compact, evergreen shrub, producing pretty sky-blue 
flowers about the size of a shilling. One good thing 
about it is that it remains in flower for such a long 
time, and with careful management will bloom 
throughout the winter in a warm greenhouse. 
Thirty years or so ago a variegated form of it was 
sent out as a bedding plant, but it failed to realize the 
expectations formed of it. I wonder if it is yet in 
cultivation.— P. D. 
-Jamaica Ferns. —Jamaica, as is well known, is 
particularly rich in Ferns. Although the island is 
comparatively so small, it contains about 500 species 
of Ferns, which is one-sixth of the Ferns of the whole 
world. To express its richness in another form, it is 
mentioned in the last report of the Botanic Gardens of 
Jamaica that within an area about the size of Wales, 
Jamaica contains twelve times the number of Ferns 
found in the British Islands, and more than ten times 
the number of Ferns found in the whole of the 
United States.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
