May 16, 1S03. 
The Gardening World 
GENERAL NOTICES. 
We would earnestly urge secretaries of societies to notify us as far in advance as possible as to dates of meetings, shows, etc. We desire to do all in our power to have these 
dequately represented in the columns of The Gardening World. 
We respectfully request our readers, when they write to persons or firms advertising in this paper, to mention that their advertisement was seen in The Gardening World. 
hey will thereby not only oblige this paper, but the advertisers. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Spring is strong and virtuous, broad-sowing, cheerful, plenteous.”— Emerson. 
Weekly Prize j 
FOR 
Short Articles, j 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World \ 
will give a cash prize of Ten Shillings for ( 
the best paragraph, or short article, sent S 
by readers during the week. The Editor’s ( 
judgment must be considered final, and he will ( 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions ( 
sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not ^ 
EXCEED ONE COLUMN IN LENGTH, but the value, ) 
rather than the length, of the article will be < 
considered in making the award. Competitors < 
may send in items of news or comments on \ 
news; hints of practical interest to gar- . 
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ON ANT SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
of gardening proper. Letters should be 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi¬ 
tion,” and posted not later than Friday night 
to ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
The following Coloured 
Plates have appeared :— 
, March 14 — NEW CHINESE PRIMULAS. 
March 21.— A GROUP OF DAVALLIAS. 
March28 — TEA ROSE “ CHAMELEON,” 
Mid COOMBE CLIFFE GARDENS. 
April 4.— COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 
April 11.— PITCHER PLANTS. 
'| April 18 — CESTRUM SMITHII. 
April 25 — JAPANESE PIGMY TREE. 
May 2.—Half-Tone Plate of the ROCKERY 
VT WENTWORTH HOUSE. 
May 9.—Half-Tone Plate of another view 
>f the ROCKERY AT WENTWORTH 
SOUSE. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
mblishers, price 2 -|d. post free. 
With the PRESENT ISSUE we present a 
poured Plate of SAXIFRAGA GRISE- 
bachii. 
NEXT WEEK we shall present a Mono- 
hrome Plate of A GROUP OF ALOCASIAS. 
Views and Reviews. 
Royal Gardeners' Orphan Fund. 
The fifteenth annual dinner of the above 
useful charity was held in the Hotel Cecil, 
Strand, London, on the 5th inst., under the 
presidency of the Right Hon. Earl Carring¬ 
ton, G.C.M.G. About 150 sat down to table. 
The chairman was supported by Sir John T. 
D. Llewelyn, Bart., Messrs. W. A. Bilney, 
James Douglas, and H. .T. Veitch. Others 
present were Rev. S. B. Mayall, Messrs. Wm. 
Sherwood, W. Y. Baker, -— Baker, jun., E. 
Ranger Johnson, Arnold Moss, Peter Kay, H. 
B. May, G. T. Miles, Wm. Watson, J. McLeod, 
George Castleton, George Cuthbert, W. H. 
Cutbush, George Paul, G. J. Ingram, Brian 
Wynne (secretary), E. Sears, — Wilkinson, 
— Gilson, T. W. Sanders, Elderbert F. 
Hawes, J. Assbee, W. Bates, W. Howe, W. 
Roupell, J. H. Witty, Whitpaine Nutting, 
etc. 
After the cloth was removed the Chairman 
proposed “ The King,” and, in due course, 
■■ H.M. Queen Alexandra (the patron of the 
Fund), and other members of the Royal 
Family. He next proposed “ The Royal 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund,” and said he was 
l informed and was pretty well certain that 
) the Fund was sound and solvent. The funds 
< invested cover all the expenses of manage- 
) ment, and, in addition, they gave 5s. a week 
( to the orphans of deceased gardeners, nur- 
; serymen, nursery foremen, market gar- 
< oeners, and principal men in market gardens 
( and seed establishments. The Fund had 
< been supporting children till they were four- 
\ teen years of age, and he understood that 
< this was to be increased to sixteen years. 
) He always locked upon gardeners as being 
) more intimately connected with the family 
) of the estate than any other class of servant. 
< He had in mind such cases as those of Mr. 
> McKellar, formerly of Sandringham, Mr. J. 
H. Goodacre, Elvaston Castle; Mr. William 
, Allan, of Gunton Park ; Mr. Archie Allan, of 
Hillingdon Court., and also of his own gar- 
) dener, Mr. G. T. Miles, who had been with 
( him for fifty years, and who had been so 
closely connected with the family that he 
seemed to> belong to. it. He was glad to see 
Mr. Miles present, and in good health. 
He then discussed the question of allot¬ 
ments and allotment-holders, a very large 
number of whom occupied plots on his estate, 
as has been mentioned in The Gardening 
World on several former occasions. He be¬ 
lieved that they should possess the land in 
fee simple. The times had greatly changed 
since the days of his father, and he con¬ 
sidered that they had altered for the better. 
In those days the clergymen and squires en¬ 
tertained the belief that the labourers em¬ 
ployed on an estate owed all their working 
hours to their employer, and that if they had 
allotments of their own they would work 
harder for their own benefit than for that of 
their employers, and would then he too tired 
to do an honest day’s work for their masters. 
All that had been changed, however, he was 
glad to. say, for at the present day he had 
between 1,400 and 1,500 of those allotment 
holders on his estate. They may not always 
sell the produce; in fact, they do. not, but. 
lie calculated the value of the produce to. be 
about £40 per acre. Some of them kept 
pigs, fowls, etc., so. that it. was not always 
necessary to put their hands in their pockets 
for everything they consumed. 
Coming to the Royal Gardeners.’ Orphan, 
Fund, he reminded them that what- he most 
desired was that each should come forward 
with a, promise of assistance for the benefit 
of the orphans, and he hoped they would 
accompany their promise with a cheque. He 
would compare it to. a certain story when the 
Dauphin of France said to Joan of Arc that 
it should he like Adonis’s garden, which 
bloomed one day and fruited the next. He 
coupled with the toast the name of Sir John 
T. D. Llewelyn. 
The last-named, in responding to the toast, 
spoke of the death of many members and 
supporters of the Fund, including the late 
Mr. A. F. Barr,on, who. was its first secretary, 
and did so much for the institution in its 
early days. Notwithstanding the loss of 
these various helpers, he urged them con¬ 
cerning the necessity of putting their 
shoulder to. the wheel and making sure that 
the funds and annual subscriptions did not 
