488 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 30, 1895. 
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE. 
No one who has any sense of humour could fail to 
be interested in reading the article appearing under 
the above heading on p 472 of The Gardening 
World. From the graphic account that “Path¬ 
finder ” there gives of the woes and troubles of a 
gardener, it would appear that he is an exceedingly 
ill-used person. From all accounts the garden (?) 
in question would appear to have been more of a 
menagerie than anything else, where a varied collec¬ 
tion of birds and animals were accustomed to dis¬ 
port themselves and to have the proverbial “high 
old time ” But however well this may have suited 
the disposition of the birds and animals in question 
it is very certain that such a laxity of order and 
absence of system and method could not have failed 
to have upset the peace of mind of any gardener 
possessing a love of neatness. 
That such a state of affairs as “Pathfinder’’ de¬ 
scribes should be allowed to exist, is, to say the least 
of it, lamentable, although, sad to say, it is not 
exactly a rare or an uncommon occurrence. Accord¬ 
ingly, “ Pathfinder’s” wail of complaint may find an 
echo from many a gardener in whose jurisdiction 
things are not exactly as they ought to be In some 
cases this is the fault of the employer, in others it is 
due to the gardener himself. Among other things 
for which the gardener is to blame is, as has been 
stated, the sowing of seed in unskilful profusion, or 
in unsuitable positions, a proceeding which, while it 
may gladden the heart and fill the pockets of the 
seedsman, most certainly does not conduce to the 
credit of the gardener According to the present 
system of bedding, which so commonly obtains in 
the gardens of this country, the houses are choked 
up for six or seven months of the year with hosts of 
bedding plants too numerous in variety to mention, 
and this to afford a display for only some four or five 
months at most. 
We should imagine that most gardeners would be 
glad enough to see the time when the weather will 
allow the contents of pots and boxes to be transferred 
to beds or borders as the case may be, and would 
consider themselves well rid of them and of the 
trouble they occasion. This, however, does 
not seem to be the case, for how often do we see 
bedding plants which have been left over allowed to 
remain encumbering the place throughout the whole 
of the summer, being watered and looked after just 
the same as the rest of the plants. It would be 
hard indeed to imagine anything more ridiculous 
than this. The plan which is putin practice in very 
many good gardens to get rid of superfluous stuff is 
well worthy of extensive imitation, viz., to distribute 
any bedding plants which may be left over at the 
end of planting-out time amongst cottagers in the 
immediate vicinity, the small flower garden of many 
a working man’s abode being thus rendered gay 
during the summer months with material that would 
otherwise have been wasted or worse than wasted. 
Still, an experienced gardener ought to be able to 
gauge his requirements better than to waste his time 
and trouble, as well as increasing his seed bill, pro¬ 
pagating and rearing a lot of plants for w'hich he 
will experience no need. 
To make such elaborate and unnecessary prepara¬ 
tions may sometimes be the result of perversity, but 
far more usually is it caused by the ignorance 
greater or less of the gardener, or in other words, 
his possession of a little knowledge only. This is a 
notoriously dangerous article to possess, and the evil 
effects resulting from it are too well known to all 
of us to need recapitulation here. It is quite 
possible also that there may be a great deal of 
“twaddle” talked about the "Education of 
Gardeners’’ in this fin de siede age, but that it is a 
subject which needs to be kept before the eyes of the 
horticultural public it is impossible to deny. 
Pioneers in every great or important work have been 
laughed at and treated with scorn and contempt in 
every portion of the world's history ! and for why ? 
simply because they have advocated something new 
and strange, which sounded as puerile folly in the 
ears of their contemporaries, who had become so 
wedded to the existing order of things that they 
wilfully stopped their ears to the pleadings of 
wisdom, and deliberately kept their eyes closed lest 
they on opening them should be impressed with the 
urgent need for a change. 
And just as history repeats itself, so do we find 
that there are those who consider the ideas 
promulgated by advocates of the necessity of fur¬ 
nishing gardeners with a better education as mere 
" twaddle,” or as chimeras and phantasies called up 
by' the disordered working of minds diseased. That 
a mitigation of existing affairs is abundantly necessary 
and urgently needed is proved by "Pathfinder” 
himself when he publishes to the world a statement 
of the way in which a garden, to the superintendence 
of which he had succeeded, had been previously 
managed, or to be scrupulously correct, mismanaged. 
Truly a gardener has need to be a man of many 
parts, ready of expedience and full of resource, when 
the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field take it 
upon themselves to rob and plague him. 
With regard to “Amateurism,” we are rather 
surprised that “ Pathfinder ” should mention it in the 
same breath as “The New Woman,” whose gro¬ 
tesque form arouses the satire and provokes the 
merriment of most, but calls forth the admiration of 
few. True, the manners and customs of the 
amateur gardener are sometimes curious in the eyes 
of a professional man, and the expedients to which 
he will sometimes resort are often fearful and w T on- 
derful, particularly the former perhaps some 
unbeliever will say. Be that as it may, the ubiquity 
of the amateur gardener is astonishing, and we may 
well add satisfactory, both for the prosperity of 
horticulturists in general and the welfare of the 
public at large. Besides all this, the ranks of strictly 
amateur gardeners contain men of no mean ability 
as cultivators, men who have shown to the world by 
practical demonstration that it is possible to be an 
amateur and yet a gardener. 
It is very questionable indeed if many a 
professional gardener properly understands the 
trials and troubles of the amateur; for what may 
appear to the former, with his firmer grip of the 
subject and his wider experiences as a cultivator, 
only a mole-hill may seem to the latter with his 
necessarily restricted experiences, a veritable moun¬ 
tain, an obstacle well nigh insuperable. We have 
no hesitation whatever in making the statement, 
however, that it is to the exertions of the painstaking 
amateur as well as to the enthusiasm with which he 
proceeds to infect hisneighbours that the popularity of 
horticulture as a profession is in a great measure 
due. This very real and valuable service which the 
amateur has rendered to those who have to make 
their living by following up the profession in one or 
the other of its branches, should therefore be 
requited by treating the lover of plants for their own 
sake with contempt, or by throwing the cold water 
or ridicule upon his well-meant efforts, but by help¬ 
ing him out of his difficulties as far as possible.— G. 
-- 
ROYAL BOTANIC 
SOCIETY. 
Special interest attached to the meeting of the 
Fellows of the Royal Botanic Society held on 
Saturday afternoon last, from the fact that notice of 
motion had been given with regard to the important 
question of opening the beautiful gardens in Regent’s 
Park to the public. Air. G. W. Bell occupied the 
chair, and after the transaction of some formal 
business, Air J S. Rubinstein called attention to the 
decision of the Council in November last, to try an 
experiment in the direction indicated by permitting 
the public to use the grounds “ on one day in the 
ensuing spring,” namely AVhit-AIonday. He asked 
whether the decision was to be carried into effect, 
and, if so, what charge was to be made. The Chair¬ 
man replied that the Council had resolved to open 
the gardens on the occasion in question, and that the 
charge of admission would be sixpence. Air 
Rubinstein then asked whether a band would be pro¬ 
vided by way of attraction, and received the answer 
that the best arrangements possible w'ould be made. 
The same gentleman moved, " That this meeting 
recommends the Council to issue a circular letter to 
all the Fellows, in order to ascertain whether they 
approve or disapprove of opening the gardens to the 
public by payment on two or more ‘ off’ days in the 
week.” He pointed out that the terms of the 
Society’s charter made it clear that the Fellows were 
entitled to take such a step, and proceeded to say 
that, as an honorary auditor of the institution for 
six years, he had viewed with great regret their 
declining income and increasing liabilities. It was 
absolutely necessary to find some new source of 
income, and he was surprised that the Council had 
not deemed it expedient to act upon the previous 
suggestion he had made in that direction. Thousands 
of strangers passed through London, and if, as he 
proposed, the grounds could be opened an payment 
of a small charge oa one or more days in the week 
he was certain a very different state of things would 
be witnessed to that which now prevailed when, 
on the invitation of Fellows, some seventy or eighty 
persons at the outside visited the gardens on the 
“ off ” days. He further urged that bands should be 
provided. The resolution was seconded by Mr. A. 
G. Alarten, Q.C., who remarked that many thousands 
of persons were interested and skilled in gardening, 
and would gladly avail themselves of the opportunity 
of being instructed in these lovely grounds. He re¬ 
minded them that the gardens were held by the 
Crown, and soon the rights of the society would 
expire. If it could then be urged that facilities were 
afforded by the Society to the public for recreation 
and instruction, they might find it easier to obtain a 
renewal of their charter and priveleges. Dr Howard 
also thought the time had arrived when something of 
the kind suggested ought to be done The Chairman 
then said that the question raised would receive full 
and careful consideration, and if it was found possible 
to carry out the recommendation it would no doubt 
be done. By some, however, it was thought such a 
scheme would not raise the Society's income by as 
much as £\o. But if the Council came to the 
conclusion that the innovation proposed would 
increase the funds it would certainly be tried On 
being put to the meeting Air. Rubinstein’s proposi¬ 
tion was negatived, upon which he assured the Chair¬ 
man that, having regard to what had fallen from his 
lips, he was satisfied, notwithstanding that his 
motion had failed 
--*•- 
FLOWERS AND THE VOICE. 
AIiss AIay Yohe has confided to an interviewer the 
interesting fact that she cannot bear to have flowers 
near her when singing, as their perfume utterly de¬ 
stroys her voice. The lady added that she could not 
account for this “ curious fact.” The effect of 
flowers on the voice has recently excited a good deal 
of attention in France, and Dr. Joal, of Alont Dore, 
has published an elaborate paper on the subject. He 
relates a number of cases which have come under 
his own observation in which thickness, huskiness, 
and even complete loss of voice are always caused 
by penetrating odours. In some persons it is only 
the perfume of particular flowers that produces this 
effect; in others, the odour of incense or musk, or 
the smells of the kitchen, tanyard, or smithy, act in 
the same way. The bad effects of flowers on the 
voice is so well known among singers thatM. Faure, 
Aladame Krause, and other eminent teachers caution 
their pupils against having them in their dressing 
rooms, and a jealous pritna donna has been known to 
secure herrelf against the possible triumph of a 
rival by treacherously presenting her with a magni¬ 
ficent bouquet just before she went on the stage. 
Testimony to the evil effects of flowers on the voice 
is borne by Aladame Christine Nilsson and other 
famous singers, and by laryngologists like Dr. Fauvel 
and Dr Gouguenheim. of Paris. The flower which 
has the worst reputation in this respect is the Violet, 
but there is no evidence that it is really more harm¬ 
ful to the voice than other sweet-smelling flowers, 
such as the Rose, the Mignonette, the Heliotrope, 
the Lily of the Valley, the Gardenia, the Lilac, and 
the Tuberose. The explanation of this curious 
idiosyncrasy is probably to be found in a special 
sensitiveness of the olfactory mucous membrane to 
the action, mechanical or chemical, of certain 
odorous particles. The mechanism is, roughly 
speaking, congestion of the mucous membrance and 
underlying erectile tissue of the nasal fossae, 
followed by reflex vasomotor disturbance of the 
vocal apparatus. Dr. Joal says that the effect mani¬ 
fests itself not only in congestion of the nose, 
nasopharynx, and larynx, but in paresis of the con¬ 
strictor muscles of the glottis and spasm of the 
bronchial tubes. The respiratory capacity as tested 
by the spirometer is notably reduced, and the voice 
not only loses brilliancy and volume, but part of its 
compass, and the singer is much more easily 
fatigued than in his natural state. The moral seems 
to be that singers who are the subjects of this 
particular infirmity must banish not only flowers but 
all strong perfumes from their environment, if they 
wish their voice to be at its best; in particular 
they must be careful not to accept bouquets from in¬ 
judicious admirers or rival artists.— British Medical 
Journal. 
