.January 23, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
79 
as that which gives this variety its piquancy, but it will be seen 
that the florets are veiy broad and massive', the outer ones 
drooping, while the middle ones are inclined to- be whorled and 
the inner ones incurved. Some blooms of it ■were exhibited at 
the Drill Hall meeting of the R.H.S. on November 24th by 
Mr. Godfrey, who received an Award of Merit for it tliei 
highest, recognition given by the committee for a purely 
florists’ flower. 
Mr. D. MacGregor. 
On former occasions we have given accounts of gardeners 
who have been successful in life after being in the profession 
for thirty or forty years, perhaps more, but on this occasion 
we give a, short sketch of a young gardener whose career to 
come looks very promising. 
We refer to Mr. Donald MacGregor, who left the Royal 
Gardens, Ivew, on the 9th inst., after serving his allotted time 
of two years. He is therefore still quite a young man. He is a 
native of Perthshire, in the neighbourhood of Aberfeldy, one 
of the most beautiful districts of the Highlands, and very 
frequently referred to as Breadalbane. He wa-s educated at 
Weem public school, where his schoolmaster had a very high 
opinion of him while a boy. After leaving school lie further 
tried to improve himself in his leisure time by attending classes 
at the evening school. The school-master’s opinion was that 
“ he would devote his energies to bettering himself in the pro¬ 
fession he had chosen.” 
Hi= first start in the profession was at Killiechassie House, 
Aberfeldy, Perthshire, the seat of Mrs. H. C. Douglas, being 
bound for a space of four years. After me completion of his 
apprenticeship he served another year as journeyman, accord¬ 
ing to a frequent custom in Scotland, should there happen to 
be a vacancy on the staff after the apprentice has completed 
his term. His master in the gardens, Mr. R. Laing, gave him 
every opportunity of gaining knowledge in the profession by 
putting him through all the departments. He speaks of Mr. 
MacGregor as an excellent workman, and in every other way a 
worthy son of the vocation. 
After leaving Killiechassie House, in November, 1897, he 
was transferred to Langlee House, Galashiels, Selkirkshire, the 
seat of A. D. Forbes Gordon, Esq. Here" he stayed for twelve 
months, and gave the gardener, Mr. T. C. F-arquhar, every 
satisfaction. Already it would appear that he had taken every 
advantage of improving his-time, for, according to Mr. Far- 
quhar, he was well versed in all branches of gardening. 
He left Langlee House in 1898, and took up a position in 
the gardens at Dalkeith Palace, the seat of the Duke of 
Buceleuoh, under the late Malcolm Dunn. During the first 
twelve months he was first journeyman of twelve hands outside. 
During the next two years he acted as first journeyman in the 
, plant houses. Being now in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh 
he applied himself even more diligently to the scientific side of 
the profession during the evenings. For some time he studied 
under the teaching of the Rev. H. Farquhar, M.A., B.D., of 
Dalkeith, whose class was carried on under the Edinburgh 
County Council scheme. He also attended other classes in the 
(. modern Athens, taking a considerable' number of certificates. 
When he left Dalkeith Palace, Mr. J. Whytoek, the gardener, 
spoke very highly of his diligence as a workman and a student. 
Mr. MacGregor sat at the R.H.S. -examination in April, 1900, 
and took a First-class Certificate in 'horticulture. He also- 
studied at the Heriot Watt College, Edinburgh, where he took 
a, First-class in horticulture in April of the same year; also- a 
First-class in elementary botany; First-class in entomology 
during the first year’s course; and a First-class and Class 
Medal in agricultural chemistry. 
In Mav, 1901, at the same college, he sat for advanced 
botany, theoretical and practical, taking a First-class Certifi¬ 
cate. He also repeated his; success in the second year’s course 
of entomology, taking the First-class Certificate and Class 
Medal in agriculture and a Second-class for inorganic 
j chemistry. 
Since coming to London he continued his -studies, and took 
a First-class for elementary botany at the Science and Art 
examinations, South Kensington. In the following year ho 
t-ook a First-class Certificate for advanced botany at the same 
examination. 
A student who' was so -anxio-us to avail himself -of instruction 
at the different places where ha has been would be certain to 
avail himself of the privilege of going through the courses 
of lectures given by various professors and botanists in the 
Roya-l Gardens, Kew. For some time after going 
to Kew he was in charge of the flower garden 
department, and was -then transferred to the tem¬ 
perate house, where he acted as sub-foreman of that de¬ 
partment during the past ten months. About the completion 
o-f his term he was appointed superintendent of the parks and 
open spaces of Shanghai, China,. This position gives him the 
control of -the public parks and gardens, glass-ho-uses, ceme¬ 
teries, and recreation grounds. This Chinese town, as most 
of -our readers will remember, has a large European population, 
Mr. Donat,d MacGregor. 
so that from our point o-f view the station is a very important 
one, and -again filled by a Kewit-e. 
While Mr. MacGregor was at [ Dalkeith he employed his 
leisure time in various other ways; and was a frequent con¬ 
tributor to the pages of T'he Gardening World, writing upon 
market gardening and other forms of gardening as practised 
in the neighbourhood o-f Edinburgh. During his holidays 
through the Highlands he visited a number of places, and gave 
an account of same in our pages, including very vivid accounts 
of TaymO'Uth Castle gardens and grounds and the gardens of 
Grant-ully Castle, Aberfeldy, the seats o-f the Earl o-f Breadal¬ 
bane and Lady Stewart respectively. He sails for China 
before the end -of this month, and we wish him every success 
in his new responsibilities. 
Romance oe a Buttonhole.— In a greenhouse belonging to 
the Thames Conservancy in their Kew depot is a flourishing 
Orchid which is looked upon by botanists a>s a rare curiosity. 
The flower was worn in the buttonhole of an official at a Masonic 
entertainment over seven years ago, and was about to be cast 
away in a withering condition when a gardener asked for it. 
The flower was taken, in hand with a view to resuscitation, and 
the ingenious gardener bound up the stem with copper wire, 
fixing it on to virgin cork, and -covering up the cut stem with 
sphagnum moss. To the surprise of everyone the dying stem 
revived, and is at the present time in a flourishing state. It 
is one of the very rare instances of a cut Orchid forming for 
itself a new root. 
