MarchJ9,1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
487 
IN THE STOVE. 
The present time should be one of great activity 
in this department. Failure in rooting even delicate 
subjects, or those that are understood to be hard to 
propagate, should at this season hardly be known. 
Having heard of many disappointments regarding 
the propagation of stove Aralias, I will choose this 
plant as my especial subject, being, in my own 
opinion, one of the worst to do anything with. Most 
gardeners are in the habit of cutting Aralias back 
for the purpose of keeping the plant well furnished. 
Many will have done this a month or more ago. To 
those, however, who have not done so, and that 
possess plants with a good head, let me recommend 
the following plan. 
Take a thoroughly sharp knife and in the stem of 
a plant of about i ft. or 15 in. in height cut four or 
five incisions in an upward direction, exactly as when 
layering Carnations. The cut should be half-way 
through the main stem, and about £ in. in length. 
When this has been done insert the requisite num¬ 
ber of thin wedges in the slits, afterwards staking 
the plant securely to prevent accident. Providing 
this plant is frequenting syringed, the edges of the 
tongue will soon be seen to turn up or otherwise form 
a callus, this taking about a fortnight. The next thing 
to do is to procure a quantity of moss, which must 
be wetted and mixed with a good sprinkling of silver 
sand. This should now be wrapped very gently yet 
firmly round the part worked on, treating all the 
incisions in the same way. When roots are emitted 
throught the moss cut the sections off and pot them 
up into as small pots as possible, shading them 
carefully for some time after. 
The above method of propagation I have proved 
to be a good one, and one that for any who wish to 
work up a stock is much to be preferred to propaga¬ 
tion by grafting. Plants obtained by this latter 
method make very slow headway, and are never safe 
from accident, very great care having to be taken to 
keep the scion in its proper place. I may say, in 
conclusion, that Aralia Veitchii gracillima should 
always find a place amongst a collection of plants for 
table decoration. The top of an old plant taken off 
in the way I have described makes such a perfect 
specimen as can be obtained by no other process — 
J. G. Pettinger, Strawberry Dale Nursery, Harrogate. 
-*$.- 
DEATH OF MR. THOMAS BAINES. 
With deep regret we have to record the death, on 
the 2nd inst., at his residence, Fern Cottage, Palmer’s 
Green, Southgate, of Mr. Thomas Baines, in his 72nd 
year. He had been in failing health for some 
months past, and succumbed at last to an attack of 
influenza and bronchial pneumonia. By the death 
of Mr. Baines, horticulture has lost one of her most 
able and most respected exponents, a man of rare 
ability as a gardener and garden architect, and one 
of the most successful specimen plant cultivators of 
his day. A quarter of a century or more ago, when 
specimen plant culture was at its zenith in this 
country, it took a very good man indeed to lower 
the colours of Thomas Baines with flowering and 
fine-foliaged stove and greenhouse plants, and for 
some years he was well nigh invincible; in fact, 
there were few who could, or did, beat him with 
plants entirely of their own growth. His keenest 
opponent was the late Mr. "Billy” Cole, of 
Withington, near Manchester, and who that remem¬ 
bers the constant tussles between the two men—that 
in particular which took place at the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Pro.incial Show at Bath, when 
Cole, with the sixty guinea Cocos Weddeliana, 
bought at the Manley Hall sale, and a Dipladenia, 
the like of which we have never seen the equal 
since—will ever forget the magnificent examples of 
cultural skill which they used to stage. Dub them 
"elephants” if you will, but we have nothing like 
them now, and more’s the pity, for it cannot be 
denied that it was the " specimens ” that were the 
glory of the exhibitions of the past, or that it was 
the cultural triumphs of Baines and others that gave 
such an enormous impetus to plant culture among 
all classes in this country, and most materially 
helped to make British horticulture what it is to¬ 
day. All honour to their names ! 
Thomas Baines came of a race of clever gardeners, 
an old Catholic family settled on the Claughton Hall 
Estate in North Lancashire for over 400 years. His 
great-grandfather was for many years steward on 
the estate, and died at the age of ninety-six. His 
grandfather served his time in the garden, and was 
afterwards gardener there for fifty years. His 
father also was brought up to the profession there, 
and in early life Thomas Baines was also employed 
in the garden and on the farm. His first place as 
gardener was with Mr. Behrens, at Catteral House, 
Garstang, subsequently removing with his employer 
to Ardwick, near Manchester, where Mr. Behrens’ 
love of plants gave his gardener the first opportunity 
he had of showing the stuff be was made of. On 
Mr. Behrens going abroad, Mr. Baines became 
gardener to another distinguished patron of horti¬ 
culture, the late Mr. H. L. Michalls, of Bowden, 
and subsequently of Southgate. It was while with 
Mr. Michalls that Mr. Baines' name became a house¬ 
hold word among the gardening community. When 
he left Mr. Michalls’ he settled down at Palmer’s 
Green, and soon made a lucrative practice. His 
services were, for many years, in great request all 
over the country as a judge, and for some years he 
was a voluminous contributor to the horticultural 
Press, principally the Gardeners' Chronicle, and it is 
no mere figure of speech to say that his articles on 
plant culture have been of the greatest possible 
value to the present generation of gardeners. 
Happily, too, his good work in this respect will live 
a f ter him for a long time to come in his volume on 
"Greenhouse and Stove Plants,” published by John 
Murray in 1885. If sometimes a little angular in 
his manner, and occasionally somewhat dogmatic in 
speech, our old friend was a man of good parts, and 
always worth listening to, for he had a rich store of 
knowledge to draw upon, and never seemed to be 
happier than when in the company of a kindred 
spirit. 
-- 
COTTAGE GARDENS. 
The holders of cottages in the country have for so 
long been in possession of that inestimable boon to 
the cottager, " a good garden,” that it is very ques¬ 
tionable indeed if they appreciate this blessing at its 
true value, for the simple reason that in very few 
cases indeed have they been called upon to manage 
without it, and it is notorious that the majority of 
mankind seldom esteem a blessing, or, in fact, con¬ 
sider it to be such until it is taken from them. Still 
we would not for a moment say that the country 
cottager does not appreciate his small plot of ground. 
He knows full well that he turns to it for timely 
assistance wherewith to supplement his very slender 
pittance of wage to support his wife and family. 
His brother in the town, who has to put his hand in 
his pocket for every particle of vegetable he and his 
household consume, knows by sad experience what a 
hole in his financial arrangements even a sparing 
and careful purchase of vegetables makes, and is apt 
to envy the happy possessor of a small garden of his 
own. 
Still in the country there are very many abuses 
with regard to the furnishing of allotments and 
cottage gardens that are in urgent need of speedy 
reform. Curiously enough, there is a manifest 
reluctance on the part of some large landowners to 
break up their ground in the manner required for 
the providing at a fair rental of suitable portions of 
ground to members of the working class ; and yet, on 
the other hand, there is a decided leaning towards 
the system of allowing one or two farmers to rent 
far more land than they can properly cultivate at a 
lower rental than would be obtained were a portion 
of it to be broken up in the manner suggested. 
Why this should be the case is a mystery. As a 
system its evil effects are obvious, as a few moments' 
dispassionate consideration will convince anyone. 
From the insufficient and inadequate cultivation 
practised upon many a farm of the class before- 
mentioned, the ground itself must deteriorate, and 
that to a very considerable extent, during a lapse of 
years, and this of itself is a sufficiently serious 
matter. Oi the other hand, however, the cultiva¬ 
tion that the cottager or the holder of small allot¬ 
ments bestows upon his parcel of ground is of a much 
higher order, and is calculated to improve the con¬ 
dition of the land rather than to impoverish it, more 
particularly so when prizes are offered at local 
garden shows for vegetables grown thereon. In 
cases of this kind it is really surprising to see 
the immense amount of interest, the time and the 
trouble that the cottager will bestow upon his plot 
of vegetable ground. 
Perhaps the grievance that stands the most 
urgently in need of redress is the one of " position.” 
We have known cases where allotments have been 
provided, but where they have been placed in such 
an un-get-at-able situation that their value to the 
working man has been considerably lessened. It is 
manifest that the site for any proposed allotments 
should be as near to the bulk of the cottages them¬ 
selves as possible. A comparatively small piece of 
ground close at home is worth double the quantity a 
distance away. The agricultural labourer, as a rule, 
is not particularly blessed with regard to a super¬ 
abundance of spare time, more particularly during 
spring and autumn. During the former season it is 
evident that every minute of daylight must be im¬ 
proved upon to keep pace with the rush of work that 
inevitably comes with the season of spring. There¬ 
fore, if the precious moments of daylight, which 
might turned to advantage if the allotment was close 
at hand, have to be employed in getting to the 
sphere of operations, the value of such a piece of 
ground to the holder must necessarily be curtailed 
to a very great extent. 
Apart from the value of a portion of allotment 
ground to the cottager, whereon he may grow vege¬ 
tables and fruits for the support of his family or for 
sale as the case may be, from the " investment ” point 
of view, it is also very apparent that from an educa¬ 
tional standpoint it has much to recommend it. More¬ 
over, it has the effect of inducing the working man to 
make the most of any spare time he may enjoy— 
time that would otherwise be wasted in the tap-room 
of the nearest or the favourite public-house where 
both money and brain V are far too frequently wasted, 
or in dangerous and profitless gossip at the street 
corners. Village life is notoriously dull and 
monotonous, and the inhabitants of such places 
would be consequently at a loss sometimes to dis¬ 
pose of what little spare time they may get, if it were 
not for the garden and the employment it gives to 
both mind and body. A busy man is usually a con¬ 
tented man, more especially when he is busy with 
his own affairs, and there can be no doubt that the 
hours spent by the working man in his garden are 
among the happiest and most profitably spent 
periods of his life apart from any pecuniary benefits 
that may, and certainly do, proceed therefrom. Al¬ 
together we may well congratulate ourselves that so 
much interest is being taken in the allotments ques¬ 
tion, and although some difficulties may be met with 
in dealing with it in the vicinity of large towns where 
land is, of course, very valuable, there should be 
little or none in the agricultural or rural districts. 
-4.- 
DEATH OF MR. R.B.LAIRD, 
OF DUNDEE. 
With deep regret, which will be shared by a wide 
circle of friends, we have to record the death, at 
Dundee, on the 4th inst., of Mr. R. B. Laird, senior 
partner of the firms ol R. B. Laird & Sons, Nursery¬ 
men and Seedsmen, Edinburgh, and W. P. Laird & 
Sinclair, of Dundee. An affection of the heart, 
which unexpectedly showed itself, was the cause of 
death. Born at Balgone, North Berwick, in 1823, 
Mr. Laird went at an early age to Dundee, and 
under his elder brother, the late Mr. W. P. Laird, 
learnt the business of nurseryman and seedsman. 
F'rom Dundee he went to Edinburgh in 1843, and 
was about five years in the establishment of Messrs. 
Dickson & Co. In 1848, along with the late Mr. 
John Downie, he founded the business in Frederick 
Street, West Coates, and Pinkhill, which was carried 
on by them for many years. Subsequently, Mr. 
John Laing was admitted into the firm, and for 
some years, under the style of Downie, Laird & 
Laing, a lucrative business was carried on at 
Edinburgh and Forest Hill, London. At the 
dissolution of this partnership, the firm was carried 
on under another designation by Mr. R. B. Laird 
and his sons, and latterly he has been for the most 
part resident in Dundee in charge of the extensive 
nursery and seed business of W. P. Laird & Sinclair. 
A man of strong individuality, with excellent 
business capabilities, and of a genial and amiable 
disposition, Mr. Laird was widely known in the 
horticultural world, and was one of the remaining 
links between the past and present generation of 
horticulturists. By many gardeners, both old and 
young, he will not soon be forgotten. He was 
always ready to lend a helping hand to those in 
need of assistance, and he spent much time in doing 
what he could to further the interests of young 
gardeners, and to get them a start in life. He was 
for many years a director of the Scottish Trade 
Protection Society. 
