134 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 28, 1899. 
with a rude awakening they learn that something’s 
gone wrong—what's the danger ? The Peach stones 
may split, or the young ovaries after fertilisation 
may refuse to forge ahead, as in health they ought to 
do. The foliage may become diseased, and parts of 
the shoots and wood may become cankered, which, 
though by no means always originating from a 
defective border, may at the same time be largely 
due to such a course. 
The border ought to be of size in proportion to 
the trees. This is very seldom thought of, or 
plamled for. Now-a-days, cultivators are less liberal 
in the making of deep and wide borders. Just as for 
Figs for whose growth small borders are the best, 
Peaches will be found to succeed well in borders of 
a medium size, to which additional breadths may 
from time to time be added. 
Very large trees are not to be recommended for 
small growers, or for those whose family needs are 
limited, because that the fruit ripens almost all at 
once, and cannot be consumed ; or, at least, there is 
a glut for a time and scarcity afterwards. 
For early fruiting Peacheries, inside borders alone 
are needed. The same remark applies to late houses. 
In the one case we desire to have power over all the 
conditions for favourable growth, with which we are 
conversant. We know that an outside border could 
not be affected by heat from hot water pipes within 
the house; therefore, while the roots in the indoor 
border are working constantly, and are sending up 
supplies to the branches, the outdoor roots would 
be quiescent. Then from indoor borders one can 
rely on a healthier and development of the proper 
sort of roots—fibrous, feeding roots. The case for 
late Peaches is in the different reasoning which says 
that the supply of moisture to the border in the 
autumn, the season of wood ripening, should be very 
limited, which in a wet autumn with outdoor borders 
would be quite the reverse from what is desired. 
With mid-season houses, an outdoor border is com¬ 
paratively warm before growth begins and the trees 
are developed and matured, going to rest, in fact, 
before the rains of late autumn could have any effect 
on their ripening. 
Sometimes, borders get cut of sorts from having 
been too heavily matured, or watered too constantly 
with strong liquid nourishment. Topdressings of 
lime would in many cases be all-sufficient; in many 
other cases the border would have to be renewed. 
Artificial manures are not likely to be very lavishly 
used, but it is ust possible that through accumu¬ 
lated harm from some over-doses the borders are 
eventually rendered disagreeable to the roots. There 
are a hundred and one other minor probabilities 
whose united or even individual influences may be 
the basis for the disorganisation of proper, healthy, 
vigorous, perfect root action. 
Now is the time to renew borders. Rich medium 
loam, chopped up and compounded at the rate of 
three to one. of lime rubble, dry stable dung, plus 
broken bricks in quantity sufficient to add "grit ” to 
the compost, will form a soil suitable for all manner 
of Teaches. The operations of making, or rather of 
renewing the border, may briefly be stated. Choose 
dull weather and do the work well, remembering 
that scamped work must afterwards tell. With the 
roots be ye tender; the drainage make right; then 
tread the soil firmly, with the roots lying straight. 
Th i trees should not be fastened to the trellis 
until the border has settled. Outdoor trees may be 
planted indoors with full success. At any season of 
the year it will be found advantageous to dew over 
or syringe the newly planted or disturbed tree. If 
the foliage is upon it when operated on shade and 
slight heat may also be applied.— H. D. 
-a— - - ■ 
PEOPLE WE HAVE MET. 
Mr. John Gilbert Baker, F.R.S., F.L.S. 
It is with much pleasure that we place before our 
readers a portrait of Mr. John Gilbert Baker, 
F.R.S., F.L.S., late Keeper of the Herbarium, Royal 
Gardens, Kew. Most of those whose portraits have 
hitherto appeared in these pages were practical men 
in the field of horticulture, but Mr. Baker, at one time 
or other, has rendered signal service to gardening 
in all its branches, so that we can affirm that science 
and practice have joined hands on many an impor¬ 
tant occasion, and in many a field of labour. Some 
of our readers have been indebted to him directly 
for the information imparted by lectures,and a much 
larger number indirectly by means of his writings 
and books. 
Mr. Baker was born at Guisborough, on the 
Cleveland Moors, Yorkshire, on January 13th, 1834, 
and received his early education at schools belonging 
to the Society of Friends, at Ackworth and York, 
Mr. John Gilbert Baker, F.R.S., F.L.S 
but the education he gave himself as he grew to 
years of discretion, from the open book of Nature 
around him, was even more valuable in fitting him 
for his great life work. As in the case of all earnest 
students, his education could never be regarded as 
complete, or he has been a diligent and hard 
worker all his life with a mind ever open to receive 
fresh impressions, and thereby accumulate know¬ 
ledge of his own branch of science. He commenced 
collecting and drying British plants at the age of 
twelve, and continued the study with such applic¬ 
ation that he eventually became one of the foremost 
of amateur British botanists. 
For a period of twenty years, the subject of bot¬ 
any was merely a delightful and self imposed study, 
till, in 1866, he was offered and accepted the appoint¬ 
ment of First Assistant in the Herbarium at Kew. 
One can imagine what a wide scope this opened out 
to his particular genius. Previous to this, however, 
he had accomplished much important botanical work, 
and entered the field of authorship, by writing “ An 
Attempt to Classify the Plants of Britain according 
to their Geological Relations,” which was published 
in 1855. " North Yorkshire : Studies of its Botany, 
Geology, Climate and Physical Geography,” 
appeared in 1863. A most erudite article on the 
British species and varieties of Mentha, a very in¬ 
tricate genus of plants, from his pen, appeared in 
Seaman’s Journal of Botany for 1865, of which he was 
for a time one of the assistant editors. In that 
exposition he showed that Mentha sativa and M, 
arvensis, two remarkably variable species, were 
chiefly distinguished from one another by the short 
triangular teeth of the latter, all the other characters 
being liable to break down on the borderland of 
affinity. 
The earlier years of his studies at Kew would 
appear to have witnessed the accomplishment of 
much arduous work; for in 1868 he published " A 
New Flora of Northumberland and Durham, with 
Essays on -the Climate and Physical Geography of 
the Counties ” (aided by Dr. G. R. Tate) ; and " On 
the Geographical Distribution of Ferns through¬ 
out the world, with a Table showing the 
Range of each Species.” Later on he com¬ 
pleted the " Synopsis Filicum,” commenced 
by the late Sir William Hooker in 1868. A 
"Monograph of the British Roses” appeared in 
1869. A “ Monograph of Ferns of Brazil, in folio, 
with 50 plates,” and a ” Revision of the Genera and 
Species of Capsular Gamophyllous Liliaceae appeared 
in 1870. 
More recent years, however, have shown that he 
got through an immense amount of work, which 
only a labour of love could have enabled him to 
accomplish. Botany has been his hobby, and his 
recreation, as well as his profession, for many of his 
holidays were spent in rambles in the north of Eng¬ 
land as well as in Switzerland, collecting, observing 
and noting down his observations on the spot. In¬ 
dependently of purely botanical science, he has laid 
horticulture under lasting and deep obligation to his 
pen and otherwise. In 1888 his " Handbook of the 
Amaryllideae ” included many genera universally 
cultivated in gardens. The same may be said of his 
books on the Irideae and Bromeliaceae, besides the 
"Synopsis Filicum” or Ferns above mentioned. 
Monographs of various garden genera have appeared 
in [the°thorticultural journals, including admirable 
descriptions of the species of Crinum, Cyclamen, 
Brodiaea, Iris and many others. Descriptions of 
newfplants, over his signature, were frequent and 
valuable. 
In addition to his botanical duties and studies he 
made his power for usefulness felt in many other 
walks of life. He was for some time lecturer in 
botany to the London Hospital; and at one time 
curator, then secretary of the London Botanical Ex¬ 
change Club. He has taken an important part in 
several of the conferences held by the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, both at South Kensington and 
Chiswick ; and has delivered lectures at the ordinary 
meetings in the Drill Hall. Needless to say, his 
help to gardening in its wider aspects has been very 
great, for on many of these occasions he supported 
the botanical side of those conferences, thus helping 
to clear up difficulties and settle the vexed question 
of proper nomenclature. 
Seeds and plants of hundreds of widely distinct 
subjects reach Kew every year, from private sources, 
and from botanical gardens all over the world ; and 
it is remarkable what a number of them are in¬ 
correctly named. To put them straight was a 
herculean task ; but Mr. Baker was equal to the 
occasion, whether the flowering specimens were sent 
to the Herbarium, or named on the spot by personal 
and weekly visits to the gardens. None of the 
botanists at the Herbarium have been more familiar 
to those employed in the gardens than Mr. Baker, a 
fact due to his frequent visits of inspection amongst 
the living and cultivated plants. His long course 
of study and the love for his chosen subject, has 
made him familiar with a host of plants from all 
parts of the world, so that he had the character¬ 
istics of thousands of them at his fiDger ends, and 
their names upon his tongue. This is particularly 
the case with British plants, Ferns in general, and 
whole orders of plants of peculiar interest in gar¬ 
dens, because their large and showy flowers make 
them the objects of garden culture;- Such orders 
as Liliaceae, Irideae, Amaryllideae and Bromeli¬ 
aceae he made peculiarly his own, for which 
reason his works upon th-m are frequently con¬ 
sulted, and quoted, while his own personal opinions 
are always held in high estimation. 
Kewites all over the world have a lively and 
pleasant recollection of their tutor, while serving 
at their Alma Mater, Kew; for Mr. Baker has 
annually given a course of lectures on " Organo¬ 
graphy and Systematic Botany ” in the gardens 
during the summer months for over thirty years 
past. He has always been a popular lecturer with 
the students on account of his clear and lucid 
style, the concise manner with which he expressed 
differences between existing natural orders, genera 
and species, and the emphasis he brought to bear 
upon the expression of his opinions, which showed 
the clear grasp he had of the subject in hand. 
This we fully realised during the first lecture we 
heard him deliver, while attending his class. The 
tyro was not repelled but attracted to the study of 
botany from which he may have previously held 
aloof; while those who might have been floundering 
amongst the intricacies of the subject have been 
strengthened and encouraged to go forward. Culti¬ 
vated plants often furnish specimens that do not 
accord with recorded descriptions, but this difficulty 
is tenfold accentuated when the student has a field 
day and collects for himself. A species is a collec¬ 
tion of individuals which agree in certain particulars, 
but the individuals may neither agree with the 
description nor with one another. Mr. Baker’s 
teaching enabled the student to grasp the salient 
features and the limitations of a species, that is, the 
boundary or clearest line of demarkation between 
one species and another, though this might prove a 
