102 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 14, 1699- 
wind-up, for, he said, the term pyrus could only be 
rendered as “ Pear," while mains was Latin for 
' bid " (as well as " Apple ") ; therefore,although the 
Crab was undoubtedly a bad Pear, it did not follow 
that it was not, for some purposes, a good Apple. 
In response to some questions and a vote of thanks, 
Mr. Green s3id the adjective “ wild " Westmorland 
was well suited, for duriDg Eis holiday of nearly 
three weeks, he had nc thing but raio, except wind, 
hail, sleet, snow, and frost. The Dahlias were 
destroyed on the night of September 23rd. 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL 
BENEFIT AND PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
The thirteenth anniversary dinner was held at the 
Holborn Restaurant on Thursday, October 5th, and 
we are pleased to relate that under the genial presi¬ 
dency of Mr. William Yeates Baker it was a grand 
success. Mr. Collins, the energetic and faithful secre¬ 
tary, had secured several helpers amongst the com¬ 
mittee, and the result was—tables nicely decorated 
with Sowers from Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, and 
others ; plants from Mr. H. B. May ; Grapes from 
McKerchar, Mr. Alfred John Baker (Thames Bank 
Iron Co ), S. Mortimer (the Dahlia specialist from 
Fareham who prides himself upon having attended 
every one of these festivals), J. F. Hudson, M.A. 
(the talented son of the society’s treasurer), J. 
Brewer and Ward (Pollett, Ltd.), Dawkins and 
Middlebrooke (from Veitch's), Nathan Cole (the 
esteemed surviving founder of the society), and Sam 
Segar. 
After the clearing of cutlery and dirty plates, the 
loyal toast was enthusiastically honoured ; and this 
was followed by the chairman proposing " Con¬ 
tinued Success to the United Horticultural Benefit 
and Provident Society ’’; after giving a few statistics 
Mr. Baker, in a most commendably brief, but happy 
and telling speech, pointed out the prominent 
features of the society. He reminded us that when 
it started in 1865 there were so few members that he 
believed the small bundle of sticks now used as its 
sign and symbol represented a stick for each member, 
whilst now it had 809 benefit members, an increase 
of eighty-eight during this year. 
He considered the society formed a good insurance 
society as well as savings bank. The Benevolent 
convinced that if gardeners read their paper more 
carefully they would not need to setd so many 
letters asking for the address of the Horticultural 
Benefit and Charitable Institutions. Mr. Hudson 
clinched the chairman’s appeal for more honorary 
members by stating that 96 per cent, of the year’s 
receipts had come from benefit members, whilst only 
4 per cent, bad been donated. 
Mr. Thomas Winter proposed “The Honorary 
and Life Members," and specially appealed for 
donations to the Convalescent Fund. In responding 
to this toast, Mr. George Bunyard expressed his 
conviction that the society was doing a vast amount 
of good. He considered that the list of honorary 
members shou'd be doubled, and repeated his last 
year's suggestion that nurserymen should mention 
the society in their catalogues. Without disparage¬ 
ment to any other society this was certainly one of 
the best, and everybody connected with the garden¬ 
ing profession should join in some way. He would 
put bis younger son down amongst the honorary 
members to keep his brother and father com¬ 
pany. 
The toast of “ The Craft ” was in the able hands 
Bambusa Fortunei and Chamaerops excelsa. (See p. 105.) 
the famous vineyards of Messrs, W. Thomson & 
Sons (Clovenfords), and other fruits from Messrs. 
James Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
The dinner was excellently served by the 
restaurant authorities, and no small portion of the 
evening’s success was due to the manager of this 
department. 
Amongst the gentlemen present at the top table, 
supporting the chairman, we noticed Messrs. George 
Bunyard, V.M H. ; James H. Veitch, the Brothers 
Sherzood, H B. May, William Iceton, W. J. 
Nutting, Peter Kay, G. H. Richards, S. T. Wright, 
R. Dean, V.M.H ; J. Wilkinson, and C. E. Osman. 
Messrs. George J Ingram and B. Wynne represented 
the Gardeners' Royal Charities, and the United 
Horticultuia 1 Benefit and Provident Society sent its 
three trustees, viz , Messrs. George Wheeler, Joseph 
Wheeler and Riley Scott; its treasurer, Mr. James 
Hudson, V.M H ; its auditors, Messrs. George 
Dixon and W. Gunner; and the following members 
of the committee:—Messrs. G. Keif, T. Winter, W. 
P Thomson, W. Woods, H. Peerless, and W. 
Taylor. The Horticultural Press was in evidecce, 
though one gentleman presumably present in this 
cap rcity took not a single note of the proceedings. 
Other gentlemen present included Messrs. 
Fund was greatly in need ot support, and as time 
went on this would be more and more the case. 
The Convalescent Fund, formed by Mr. Sherwood, 
should be subscribed to by every member at the rate 
of a shilling per year The £14,350 invested capital 
was something to be proud of, and should be an 
incentive to the members to press other gardeners 
into the fold, so that at least the society may reach 
its thousand strong by the time of the next anniver¬ 
sary. Mr. Baker finished up by inviting more 
honorary members and annual subscribers, thanking 
his many friends for attending the festival and 
listening to him when speaking under the influence 
of a bad cold. 
Mr. James Hudson responded to this toast. Com¬ 
mencing humorously, he said that he recognised in 
the chairman a very good friend to gardeners in 
spite of the fact that he had made many of their 
places warm for them (hot water boilers). The 
invested capital appropriately came under the 
treasurer’s remarks, also the low subscriptions, and 
the need for more members. The annual dinner he 
said was to make the society more known, as the 
Horticultural Press did their best in this direction. 
On behalf of the society he thanked the Press for 
their great help during several years, and he was 
of an orator, Mr. Richard Dean, who spoke of the 
characteristics of the multitudes of gardeners of all 
degrees, in his own characteristic style. He also 
made reference to the impartial, disinterested and 
admirable manner in which the present representa¬ 
tives of the Horticultural Press carried out their 
duties. 
Mr. S. T. Wright ably responded to Mr. Dean's 
eulogiums. He appealed to youDg gardeners to 
work and study hard, mentioning that members of 
" The Craft " who had been selected to have the 
great honour of putting Y.M.H. after their names 
were all hard workers as lads. He often heard 
people talking about gardening being overdone, but 
he well knew that there was plenty of room at the 
top, and there was also a great want of good fruit 
growers. In his position as superintendent of the 
R.H.S. gardens he was always in request to recom¬ 
mend men in this connection, and unfortunately he 
had been compelled to decline about thirty applica¬ 
tions through inability to find the men. Mr. Wright 
was proud to think that there was no class of men 
more willing to help each other than gardeners 
were, and no employees more faithful and loyal, 
whilst their Integrity and honesty was worthy of all 
praise. 
