December 10, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
225 
as to which sorts do best and are the most desirable 
to plant. Much practical information was given as 
to planting, treatment, pruning, and especially root 
pruning, an excess of which Mr. Crump condemned, 
and recommended instead that in transplanting the 
large roots should be placed near to the surface 
and encouraged to form young roots. 
Mushrooms in Winter —The great building known 
in the neighbourhood of Birmingham as the Mosely 
College is built to a great extent on arched cellars, 
affording an immense space for the cultivation of 
Mushrooms, which is now being carried on on an 
extensive scale, a large number of beds having been 
made during July and August, and others are being 
laid down as manure can be obtained. Shallow beds 
are made, and spawned as they are ready, with a 
thin covering of earth, and no other material is placed 
on the beds. As the cellars are not much influenced 
by the outside air and atmosphere, watering in 
the autumn and winter months is not required. 
Mushroom culture will go on here throughout the 
year, as even in very severe frost the beds would not 
get frozen. It is another example of the ease with 
which Mushrooms can be 
grown in cellars and out¬ 
houses ; and as indicat¬ 
ing the demand there is 
for fine Mushrooms it 
may be noted that the very 
large quantities grown 
here are all ordered to be 
sent as ready, and realise 
good prices. The college 
grounds, which are exten¬ 
sive, are now known as 
the Mosely Botanical Gar¬ 
dens, and flower shows 
are held there in the 
summer. 
Presentation of Flowers 
at Liverpool. —By per¬ 
mission of the Mayor, 
R. D. Holt,Esq., Mr. John 
Cowan, manager of the 
Liverpool Horticultural 
Company, presented Mrs. 
Gladstone and the 
Mayoress with bouquets 
of choice Orchids as they 
passed through the hall of 
the hotel on their way to 
St. George’s Hall,onSatur- 
day last, when Mr. Glad¬ 
stone was presented with 
theFreedom of the City of 
Liverpool. The bouquets 
wsre handed to these 
ladies by Mr. Cowan’s 
little daughter,Miss Char¬ 
lotte A. Cowan, aged nine, 
and consisted of flowers 
of the beautiful Cattleya 
labiata autumnalis, which 
has created so much inter¬ 
est among Orchid growers 
for the past twelve months, 
also the flowers of 
Laelia anceps, Laelia autumnalis, Odontoglossums, 
Oncidiums, etc. They were arranged in the most 
artistic style. Mrs. Gladstone kissed the young lady, 
who was beautifully attired in cream-coloured silk, 
and made some kindly enquiries about her. Mr. 
Cowan was also introduced to the Premier. 
Chrysanthemum Blooms in America.— “ One who 
was there,” writing about the Chrysanthemum show 
held last month in the Maddison Square Gardens, 
New York, remarks that the Americans object to 
flowers with short stems, hence most of the 
blooms were shown with stems 18 in. long, and 
arranged in vases with from a dozen to two dozen 
flowers in a vase, and all of one colour. Roses are 
also shown in the same way, and so arranged 
produce a grand effect. Being asked several times 
in the show, “ How do we compare with English 
shows ? ” I gave them the point as regards arrange¬ 
ment, but in quality of bloom or specimen plants 
they could not hold their own at the Aquarium or at 
Kingston ; indeed, at none of the best shows in 
England would they be in the running at all. None 
of the blooms are dressed, hence many of them show 
the eyes, and in every way they lack the style and 
finish of English blooms. 
Gardeners' Orphan Fund.— At a meeting of the 
Committee held on the 2nd inst., the Honorary 
Secretary announced special receipts during the 
previous month, amounting to some /31, and includ¬ 
ing £21 5s. from the Chiswick Gardeners' Improve¬ 
ment Society ; £6 from the Woolton Gardeners’ Im¬ 
provement Society, per Mr. G. Waterman ; Bristol 
Chrysanthemum Society £1 10s. 8d. ; Mr. R. Scott, 
Manningham, Bradford, 19s.; Mr. W. Pouport, 
Twickenham, £2 ; Mr. W, Marshall, £1 7s. 3d. See. 
It was resolved, after considering ways and'means, 
that an election for eight children shall take place 
at the annual meeting in February, and particulars 
with regard thereto will be found in our advertising 
columns. 
THE LATE MR. JOHN DOWNIE. 
The death of Mr. John Downie, of Murrayfield, 
Edinburgh, at a ripe old age leaves a blank in 
the ranks of the Scotch florists which will require 
time to fill. For years he had been a foremost 
figure in Scottish floriculture, and of all those who 
The Late Mr John Downie. 
had taken leading positions among Scotch florists 
he was perhaps the best known in the South, as 
he came frequently to London, and for years acted 
as one of-the judges at the exhibition of the National 
Dahlia Society at the Crystal Palace, making at the 
same time a round of the leading southern nurseries, 
and so keeping himself well posted up in new florists’ 
flowers. 
The father of John Downie—a gardener, like his 
distinguished son—died in 1832. At that time the 
son was about twenty years of age, and in a situation 
as a journeyman gardener at a place in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Glasgow. On the death of his father 
an offer was made to John Downie to succeed him ; 
and though shrinking to some extent from the re¬ 
sponsibility of such a charge on account of his 
youth, he, considering his mother had been left with 
a family of seven children, all younger than himself, 
and to a great extent dependent upon his exertions, 
he accepted the situation, and brought up his 
brothers and sisters until they were able to do for 
themselves. 
In 1833 John Downie commenced the culture of 
the Pansy, a flower at that time beginning to be 
much improved and popular ; also Phloxes—always 
a favourite flower with the Scotch florists—and 
Dahlias, and met with considerable success as a 
competitor at exhibitions. About 1837 he com¬ 
menced the culture of Hollyhocks. At that time it 
was thought that they could not be grown to any¬ 
thing like perfection in Scotland unless it was against 
a wall, though there was this advantage attending 
the method that better seed was obtained than from 
plants in the open. In 1839 some well-ripened seed 
was secured, and from these John Downie raised 
over a thousand seedlings, which he planted out in 
the open, and when they bloomed their beauty, and 
the marked improvement in quality, astonished every 
one who saw them, and so double were some that a 
selection was made from them, named, and eventu¬ 
ally distributed; and so John Downie earned the 
distinction of having sent out the first batch of 
named Hollyhocks raised in Scotland. Many of 
the varieties passed into the hands of Messrs. 
Dicksons & Co., and the following year another 
batch into the hands of Messrs. James Dickson & 
Sons, both known nursery firms in Edinburgh, 
by whom they were widely distributed. Each 
succeeding year brought 
John Downie improve¬ 
ments in the Hollyhock as 
well as in the Phlox and 
Pansy, and he went on 
raising until 1848, when 
he went into business as 
a nurseryman. 
Retracing my steps a 
little, I may state that in 
1834 John Downie took up 
the culture of the Ranun¬ 
culus and also the Gold- 
laced Polyanthus,meeting 
with fair success, and had 
several prizes awarded to 
him for specimens in and 
around Edinburgh. 
The growth of the firm 
of Messrs. Downie & 
Laird, who entered upon 
business as florists and 
nurserymen,iswell known. 
I had the pleasure of 
making John Downie's 
acquaintance in the fifties' 
while at the Royal Nur¬ 
sery,Slough,when he used 
to come south in search of 
novelties. Later on, Mr. 
John Laing was taken into 
partnership, and a branch 
nursery was formed at 
Forest Hill. Pansies be¬ 
came one of the leading 
flowers cultivated by the 
firm, and especially the 
fancy section. The first 
types of these the late Mr. 
John Salter brought from 
France when he left Ver¬ 
sailles, in 1848, and estab¬ 
lished himself in business 
at Hammersmith—some 
seed of striped and blotched Pansies—and from the 
seed raised a number of striking varieties. Some of 
these appear to have found their way into Scotland, 
and Mr. John Laing, then at Dysart Gardens, was the 
first to take up their culture. But the more modern 
improvement in the fancy Pansy appears to have 
come from the fine varieties raised in 1856 and 1857 
by M. Miellez, Lille, France ; and which, finding 
their way into this country, were cultivated and 
greatly improved, especially by my brother William, 
then in business at Shipley, Yorkshire. 
John Downie’s services were much in request as a 
judge of florists’ flowers. For years I used to meet 
him at Bishop Auckland, when that once famous 
exhibition was in the height of its success, and else¬ 
where, and also at the Dahlia shows at the Crystal 
Palace until increasing age compelled him to relin¬ 
quish his southern journey at that season of the year. 
He was for many years a member of the council of 
the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society, and 
filled the office of president of the Scottish Horticul¬ 
tural Association in the early days of that flourishing 
society. He was also some years ago awarded the Neill 
Prize for the distinguished services he had rendered 
to horticulture. Mr. Downie leaves a widow and 
