516 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 13,1895. 
siderable amount of frost, because the latter 
has no penetration owing to the shortness 
of its duration at this period of the year. 
When the sky is overclouded at night no 
frost is expected, because the heat radiated 
from the earth’s surface is checked by the 
clouds and radiated back to the earth. The 
principle is the same on a smaller scale 
when a light covering of tiffany or other 
material is hung over a tree or bash. Non¬ 
conductors of heat are always rendered the 
most effective when kept in a relatively dry 
condition, and should always be kept so as far 
as possible and practicable. The philosophy 
of the subject is that frost and cold are 
nothing more than the absence of heat; so 
that the protection of fruit trees is merely 
the preservation of heat naturally accumu¬ 
lated at the earth's surface by the sun during 
the day. From this point of view the fall¬ 
ing of frost on vegetation is a myth, whereas 
the rising and escape of heat into space is a 
reality. 
-.j—- 
Mr. John McDonald, late of Devonhurst Gardens, 
Chiswick, has been appointed gardener to Mrs. 
Cuthbert, Brooke House, Fleet, Hants. 
The Newcastle-on-Tyne Spring Show will be held in 
Olympia on Wednesday and Thursday, 24th and 
25th inst. Last year the show was a very fine one 
and a huge success. This year the committee have 
added classes for groups of plants and Roses. The 
prizes in the cut flower classes have also been 
increased. 
Death of a Noted Rose Grower.— We regret to record 
the death recently of Mr. Charles Gater, the elder of 
the two brothers Gater, so well known in the trade 
as successful rose growers, the elder at Cheshunt 
and the younger brother at the Royal Nursery, 
Slough. Charles Gater was with Messrs. Paul & Son 
for over thirty-four years, and for many of those years 
had only one equal, his brother, as a cultivator of 
specimen Roses in pots. 
National Co-operative Flower Show, 1895. —The 
show for this year has been fixed for Friday and 
Saturday, August 23rd and 24th. It will again be 
held at the Crystal Palace, and schedules will 
shortly be issued. An interesting feature of this 
year’s show will be a series of designs for workmen’s 
gardens. Special prizes of £5, £2, and £2 are 
offered for illustrations contrasting the “Worker's 
Garden of Taste ” with the “ Worker’s Garden Run 
to Waste.’’ 
Increased Pay for Kew Gardeners. —A deputation of 
the journeymen gardeners employed in the Royal 
Gardens, Kew, waited upon Mr. Herbert Gladstone, 
at H.M. Office of Works, on Friday last, April 5th, 
to petition for a rise in pay. We are pleased to say 
that as a result of the representations then made 
the young gardeners’ wage will be raised from 
eighteen to twenty-one shillings per week. This is a 
vast improvement on the time when a pittance of 
twelve shillings per week was all that the young 
men received, as was the case some thirty years 
ago. 
Telegraph Hill, the new open space which has 
been tastefully laid out by the Parks Committee 
of the London County Council was dedicated to the 
public on Saturday last, and in the course of the 
proceedings the Chairman of the Council, Mr. 
Arthur Arnold said :—Had it been merely an open 
space dedicated to the public it would have been a 
matter for satisfaction, but throughout the history 
of the world people had always desired possession of 
hills in the borders of great cities, at one time for 
military domination and at all times for public 
enjoyment. Mankind felt ennobled upon an 
eminence, for there the morning and evening sun 
shed its first and last radiance, and there man felt 
himself to be in some sort the overseer of the greatest 
and best works of his fellow men. But that was no 
common hill. It was not likely that anyone present 
on that occasion was old enough to remember from 
actual observation the uses to which that hill had 
been put in the earliest years of this century, but 
none could doubt that in its past bonfires had shown 
the news of joyful tribulation. Here had come the 
news of Nelson and Trafalgar, and later still there 
had come the great news of Wellington and 
Waterloo. Yes, this was hallowed ground on which 
had trod invisible feet, messengers of news and glad 
and great tidings on their fateful way to the heart of 
the Empire. On this spot, which it had been 
sacrilege to have allowed to pass to private uses, it 
was his privilege to plant the standard of public 
possession and public freedom—and now, on behalf 
of the Council of the County of London, he declared 
these gardens to be open for ever for the health and 
recreation of the people. 
Gardening in the West.—The spring session of the 
Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Improvement Asso¬ 
ciation has closed with a meeting at which the 
members reviewed the papers read before them since 
Christmas. One topic which gave rise to a free 
expression of opinion was the standard of judging 
at shows, some contending that at the recent exhibi¬ 
tion of the Society the judges should have withheld 
the first prizes where the quality of the flowers was 
somewhat inferior. A considerable portion of the 
evening was taken up with a comparison between 
the relative merits of the new Jadoo fibre and the 
orthodox compost for potting purposes. Those who 
had tried Jadoo spoke very highly of it, and main¬ 
tained that it not only acted as a convenient medium, 
but was also a reservoir for plant food. The session 
generally has been most successful, and the spring 
show was amarkel improvement on its predecessors, 
and, coming as it did at the end of a dreary winter, 
was very welcome to all lovers of flowers. The 
members are now looking forward to their summer 
outing, which will take place in July. The excursion 
will probably be via Poltimore and Bradfield to 
Tiverton, affording an opportunity for inspecting the 
gardens at the seats of Lord Poltimore and Sir 
William Walrond. 
- 
THE SAVIN FOR EFFECT 
AND COVERT. 
After the many disasters of the winter, and the 
dreadful black or disfigured shrubs one sees every¬ 
where, it is pleasant to look at a colony of Savin that 
we planted several years ago, and which, not excep¬ 
ting the Yew, Holly, Ivy, young Scotch Fir, or any 
other native evergreens, is the freshest thing we have 
to look at. Is not this beautiful shrub neglected very 
much as a covert plant, and also for the sake of its 
plumy verdure in pleasure grounds ? A secondary 
defect of the tender evergreens,which we see planted 
everywhere, is that they shut out so many other 
things, which, as in this case, are very much better 
than themselves. In nearly every country seat, or in 
many country seats, we see laurels clipped to get 
them down. They are put in all sorts of positions, 
and people find them too high or in the way, and for 
other reasons also cut them down. Hence here begins 
a wearisome labour, with the main result of ugliness ; 
because we cannot make hard, sharp lines with the 
shears without producing disfigurement in woods and 
pleasure gardens. Here is the Savin bush, which, 
while as pretty in its branching and the toss of its 
shoots as any evergreen in the northern world, is also 
one that keeps itself within moderate bounds, sothat 
we know exactly the kind of effect we get if we want 
a perfectly hardy evergreen on a knoll, which will 
not obscure the view or give us any growth above a 
certain height, say, 5ft., 6ft., or 7ft., in the case of the 
oldest bushes. 
People often plant but one or two examples of such 
a thing, and only see it in a very limited way; they 
cannot j udge of its effect; and very likely a few bushes 
of this put in any shrubbery with its vigorous 
growing occupants would soon perish. We can only 
get the full expression of the Savin by putting it as it 
occurs in its native country, i.e., in colonies, on banks, 
on rocky places, or at least in open, exposed places, 
where it may enjoy the sun and take its own, as xve 
think, pretty shape. People recommend it for the 
rockery, for lighting up borders, and all sorts of 
trifling uses ; where js they never really enjoy it until 
they see large groups or colonies of it fully exposed. 
There is no need to set out such things in any stiff 
way, and they might run into other dwarf things— 
wild Roses and the like. The Savin, which is a native 
of the mountains of Europe, like other trees, varies 
a good deal; and the kind we refer to now is the 
prostrate Savin of nurseries, than which we know 
nothing more worthy of being increased by nursery¬ 
men, and offered in large qualities for massing and 
covert.— Field. 
ROYAL GARDENERS’ ORPHAN FUND. 
Annual Dinner. 
A goodly company of nearly 100 horticulturists 
assembled at the Hotel Metropole on Friday evening 
of last week, under the presidency of Mr. Harry J. 
Veitch, to celebrate the annual festival in connection 
with this admirable charity. As usual on such 
occasions the tables were charmingly decorated with 
cut flowers kindly sent by friends of the institution, 
and during the after-dinner proceedings Mr. Herbert 
Schartau and his musical friends successfully carried 
through an admirable programme of music. The 
Chairman was supported by Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., Mr. N. N. Sherwood, Mr. Hicks, Mr. 
James H. Veitch, Mr. J. G. Veitch, Mr. 
Hutchence, Mr. Owen Thomas, Mr. Charles Penny, 
Mr. A. W. G. Weeks, Mr. W. j. Nutting, Mr. W. Y. 
Baker, Mr. Arnold Moss, Mr. T. J. Anderson, Mr. J. 
Balderson, Mr. H. M. Pollett, Mr. T. Manning, Mr. 
Corry, Mr. W. Bates, Mr. W. Gunner, Mr. G. W. 
Cummins, Dr. Gorton, Mr. H. J. Jones, Mr. J. 
Wynne, Mr. R. Barr, Mr. W. G. Head, Mr. J. 
Wimsett, Mr. H. Herbst, Mr. J. A. Laing, Mr. J. H. 
Laing, Mr. Lynch White, Mr. G. J. Ingram, Mr. W. 
Iceton, Mr. F. Q Lane, Mr. H. Turner, Mr. S. M. 
Segar, Mr. W. H. Baker, Mr. H. B. May, Mr. H. 
Hartley, Mr. J. Walker, Mr. W. Poupart, Mr. J. 
Sweet, Mr. P. Kay, Mr. W. Gregory, Mr. G Gordon, 
Mr. G. May, Mr. E. Rochford, Mr. Mott, Mr. J. 
Alderson, Mr. P. Garcia, Mr. Wetherby, Mr. T. C. 
Ward, Mr. G. Reynolds, Mr. J. Hudson, Mr. J. 
Assbee, Mr. Jesse Willard, Mr. G. Wythes, Mr. 
Stirling, Mr. E. Gilbert, the Hon. Secretary Mr. 
A F. Barron, and others. 
After honouring the usual loyal toasts, the com¬ 
pany was invited by the chairman to drink " Success 
to the Royal Gardeners' Orphan F'und,” with which 
he associated the name of Mr. N. N. Sherwood. In 
the course of an earnest appeal for pecuniary aid 
Mr. Veitch said he would have preferred that the 
word Jubilee should have been introduced into the 
title, namely, that the charity should be known as 
the Royal Jubilee Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. It was 
started, he reminded those present, in the Jubilee 
year, for the purpose of aiding the children of gar¬ 
deners and others associated with the gardening 
profession. In addition to making the allowance of 
5s. per child until he or she was fourteen years of 
age, there were rules which enabled the committee 
to devote a certain sum to launching the children 
out into the world. The fund having been initiated 
under the happy inspiration of Mr. C. Penny, the 
scheme was so well taken up that within a year the 
committee were able to make allowances to eleven 
children, and, if the average number was taken 
since, it would be found that it worked out at belw-een 
nine and ten children per annum. He considered 
that that was a wonderful performance for a com¬ 
paratively young charity, while it showed how 
loyally the gardening public had supported it. At 
the present moment there were sixty-four children 
receiving allowances, while three others, whose ages 
had exceeded fourteen, had been provided with an 
outfit as a start in the world. The amount that wa s 
paid away yearly in the shape of allowances was 
£832, and since the fund was established no less than 
£3,237 had been paid in allowances. There was in¬ 
vested on behalf of the fund the sum of .£7,570, 
while at the bankers there was in cash £825, and 
the average income for the past eight years had been 
£1,500. Such a record as that could not be sur¬ 
passed by any institution of a similar age. The 
chairman concluded his eloquent appeal by remark¬ 
ing that the purest and best way of securing happi¬ 
ness was by making others happy. 
Mr. Sherwood, in response, having eulogised the 
generous conduct of the chairman in the past, 
suggested that the subscribers should follow the 
example set by the hospitals, and subscribe sufficient 
money to provide a yearly sum in memory of some 
loved one, so that some poor child should benefit. 
He thought that form of presentation, which would 
cost only £13 yearly, would become very popular, 
and he had much pleasure in making the first pre¬ 
sentation, insuring a yearly allowanceof 5s. per week 
to some little child. 
Mr. Assbee followed with the toast of “ Gardeners 
and Gardening,’’ which he presented in appreciative 
terms, and Mr. Owen Thomas acknowledged tbe 
compliment. In the course of his remarks, Mr. 
Thomas drew a comparison between floriculture as 
it was practised thirty years ago and now, while he 
