December 31, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
275 
THE 31st EDITION IS NOW READY 
200 PAGES. 150 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
PRICE SIXPENCE, Post Free 
(By Parcel Post—it is so large). 
EVERY AM&TEUR SHOULD POSSESS A COPY. 
CONTENTS_ The Best Seeds and Pota t°s for 
—— Garden and Farm; also Descrip¬ 
tive Lists of Carnations, Chrysanthemums, 
Dahlias, Fuchsias, Gladioli, Herbaceous Plants, 
Pansies, Pelargoniums, Phloxes, Pinks, Pyreth- 
rums, Roses, and Yiolas, with full Cultural Directions 
for each. 
LONDON, S.E.—“Please aeoept my best thanks for your 
Catalogue. It is a most useful and beautiful work, giving 
more information suitable to amateurs than many more 
expensive works.”—C. B. 
NORWICH.— “Your Catalogue is the best I have ever seen. 
It has been an invaluable guide and help to me.”-H.H. 
WOLLASTON.—“ I received your Catalogue, for which 
please accept my best thanks. It Is a splendid book, and 
contains cultural directions which are a great help to 
amateurs.”—J. B. 
Apply Early, and please mention this paper. 
AN ABRIDCED EDITION OF OUR CATALOGUE CAN BE HAD 
FREE ON APPLICATION. 
DOBBIE & CO., 
SEED GROWERS and FLORISTS TO THE QUEEN, 
ROTHESAY. 
H. J. JONES’S 
APOLOGY 
AND EXPLANATION 
to his many friends and customers why their 
Chrysanthemum Cuttings have not been sent quite 
so quickly as usual. 
I am sorry this has been the case, but I know my 
customers will forgive me when they know it is 
caused by the great increase of business from the 
widespread knowledge that THE RYECROFT 
RESTED STOCK HAS NOT BEEN ATTACKED 
BY RUST, and that it is the healthiest and best in 
the world (don’t believe me, come and see for your¬ 
self) ; it was represented this season on nearly every 
prize-winning stand all over the United Kingdom. 
Orders have poured in at such a rate that my usual 
Chrysanthemum staff could not cope with them, 
hence the slight delay in delivery ; I have now added 
to my Chrysanthemum staff and can despatch orders 
within four days of receipt. Any of my customers 
who do not receive their Cuttings in four days from 
despatch of order, kindly send me a card. 
My Chrysanthemum Catalogue, including a special 
article on Stopping and Timing, nearly 6oo varieties, 
post free, id. 
A new edition of my Chrysanthemum Guide in 
preparation, post free, 7 stamps; is 2d., bound in 
cloth. 
My List of Novelties is also in preparation. This 
contains the finest varieties that have been offered 
for years, both in Seedlings and Sports from the 
best varieties in commerce. Don’t order your new 
varieties until you see this. 
RYECROFT NURSERY, LEWISHAM. 
ORGHIDS! ORCHIDS!! 
Cypripedium Spiccrianum, In bud ... 2/6 3/6 5/6 
,, Charlesworthii, in bud ... 2/- 3/- 5/- 
Cattleya Labiata, in sheatn. 3/6 5/6 7/6 
Vanda Coerulea, in spike . gd. per leaf. 
,, Kimballiana, in spike . 2/- 3/- 5/- 
„ Amesiana, in spike . 2/- 3/- 1/- 
Lilium, Nepalense,and Wallichianum 1/6 2/6 3/6 
J. W. MOORE, Ltd., importers, Rawdoo, nr. Leeds. 
WARE’S 
NEW SEEDS 
OF 
Finest Flowers 
AND ► 
Choicest Vegetables; 
•< - - 
SEE CATALOGUE 
With 130 Illustrations and full descriptions, „ 
„ Post Free on Application. 
Contains also full collections of ► 
BEGONIAS, DAHLIAS, 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS, ; 
LILIES, CANNAS, &c. 
•< _____ 
- Gardens Laid Out and Planted. 
THOS. S. WARE, Ltd., . 
Hale Farm Nurseries, • 
TOTTENHAM, LONDON. 
" Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
diatttlifn% ftr#. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , DEC. 31 st, 1898. 
¥he Lindley Library. —The long talked 
of Catalogue of The Lindley Library 
has at last made its appearance ; and we 
note that it runs to 162 octavo pages, being 
identical in size with the Journal of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. The history of the 
origin and growth of the library itself is 
even more interesting than that of the 
Catalogue, whose history may be recorded 
as one of careful and laborious compilation. 
Stimulated by the energy and activity of 
the horticulturists and others in various 
countries of continental Europe in the 
early sixties, the leading lights of horti¬ 
culture in this country began to bestir them¬ 
selves in order to get up an exhibition of a 
similar nature, which should ia every 
respect be worthy of the best efforts of the 
nation. Accordingly, in the year 1866 we 
find that a great International Horticul¬ 
tural Exhibition in London was brought 
to an issue. It was held under the 
presidency of the late Sir Charles Went¬ 
worth Dilke, Bart., who proved himself a 
master of organisation and a capable 
manager of this great undertaking. A 
Botanical Congress was held in conjunction 
with the exhibition ; and this was supported 
by a large number of botanists and horti¬ 
culturists from all parts of Europe, with 
the late M. Alphonse de Candolle as its 
president. The charges for admission to 
the exhibition resulted in a handsome profit. 
Part of a sum of £ 1,000 was handed over 
to the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Insti¬ 
tution, which is reaping the benefit of the 
same at the present day. Another portion 
was devoted to the defraying of expenses in 
connection with the publication of a full 
report of the Exhibition and Congress ; and 
with the remainder the library of the late 
Dr. Lindley was purchased. That formed 
the nucleus of the Lindley Library now 
under notice. 
At that time the Royal Horticultural 
Society had no library of its own, and not 
being in affluent circumstances for some 
years previously,it had dispersed its library, 
together with the fine collections of dried 
plants accumulated by its plant collectors 
from various parts of the world. Lindley’s 
books were not made over to the society 
directly, but the Committee of the Exhibi¬ 
tion vested the same in a body of Trustees. 
By the terms of the Trust Deed it was 
arranged that they should not be alienated 
from the society so long as its headquarters 
were in London. So to this day the 
Lindley Library has kept company with 
the society, moving from Kensington to 
Victoria Street when the gardens at Ken¬ 
sington were abandoned. The Treasurer 
and Secretary of the society are ex officio 
members of the Trust, so that the connec¬ 
tion of the two bodies has always been 
intimate and amicable. Her Majesty the 
Queen made a valuable presentation of 
books to the original nucleus; and im¬ 
portant donations of books, pictures, and 
other things have been added by various 
donors since that time, so that the library 
now numbers close upon 4,000 volumes, and 
double the number of those that at one time 
belonged to, and were sold by, the society. 
Owing to the accumulation of books and 
periodicals from various donors and by 
purchase, the Lindley Library has been 
becoming unmanageable, and practically a 
sealed book to those privileged to inspect 
the same, owing to the want of a catalogue, 
and some sort of arrangement that would 
enable visitors to avail themselves of the 
wealth of books now on its shelves. There 
was, indeed, a manuscript catalogue, to 
which additions have been made from time 
to time. If still in existence it has now 
become obsolete, and the accumulating 
books were gradually assuming unwieldy 
proportions owing to the difficulty of 
referring to them, or of knowing what the 
library contained. This state of matters 
was very unsatisfactory, and the value of 
the library greatly reduced owing to the 
difficulty of knowing its exact contents, and 
of consulting any particular book in the 
time at the disposal of visitors. 
The catalogue has been compiled by 
direct reference to every book, pamphlet, 
tract, &c., in the library. The arrange¬ 
ment is alphabetical, the books being all 
arranged under the names of the respective 
authors, or of those of the places from 
which they were issued; while periodicals 
are classified by their respective titles. 
Cross references are frequently given. As 
might have been expected the list of books 
written by Dr. Lindley himself, and here 
recorded, is extensive, occupying, as it does, 
about two and a half pages. His famous 
“ Theory and Practice of Horticulture ” is 
represented by the second edition, as well 
as by four other editions, in as many foreign 
languages. Every branch of knowledge in 
connection with the theory and practice 
of gardening has greatly extended since 
Lindley’s time, and valuable as his book 
was in its day, it has been superseded in 
