424 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 20, 1905 
Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
Seventeenth Annual Festival. 
The above event took place at the Hotel Cecil, Strand, London, 
on the 11th inst., under the presidency of the Right Hon. the 
Earl of Mansfield. About 140 guests were present. The chair¬ 
man was supported by Dr. Masters, Messrs. Harry J. Veitch, 
Leonard G. Sutton, Herbert Hicks, William and Edward Sher¬ 
wood, and W. A. Bilney. Others present were Messrs. W. Y. 
Baker, E. Ranger Johnston, James Douglas, David P. Laird, 
H. B. May, John McKerehar, Jesse Willard, George J- Ingram, 
B. Wynne, George Monro, Peter Kay, H. J. Jones, J. Sweet, E. 
Gilbert, W. Wooderson, H. J. Witty, T. Bevan, Geo. Reynolds, 
the Rev. J. C. Eyre Ividson, and various others. 
After dinner the various loyal toasts were proposed by the 
chairman and heartily received. Later he rose to propose the 
“ Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund ” and said that at present the 
fund was supporting 105 orphan children. Of twenty-four can¬ 
didates for election, twenty were enjoying a considerable amount 
of help before election, and thirteen of these came from north 
of the Tweed, and he thought it was for this reason, perhaps, he 
was asked to preside that evening. From that part of the island 
there were those Scotchmen who came south for a short time, 
while a very large proportion came south to stay. A great many 
were reared in that country who became gardeners- and turned 
their face to the south. Gardeners, like other people, were 
liable to ailment and mishap ; then why should not gardeners 
leave orphan children as well as other people ? Gardening was 
a large and wide profession, and amongst gardeners there were 
large ones, small ones, and stupid gardeners. For these various 
reasons the fund had existed, does exist, and he believed would 
exist for many years to come. 
At this stage he encouraged those present to exercise every 
endeavour to help the fund. He reminded gardeners that there 
was nothing like helping oneself in order to get others to help 
you. It was a matter of common foresight and providence. 
The fund had received excellent help in the past, and he had no 
doubt it would continue to be supported. They had evidence 
of the excellent work done by gardeners in the floral decorations 
present, which were a galaxy of beauty. Before sitting down 
he begged to commend the fund to their support, and thanked 
them for allowing him to be present that evening. 
With this toast the name of Mr. Leonard G. Sutton was 
coupled, and the latter replied, thanking the Earl of Mansfield 
for the way he had proposed the “ Royal Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund. 4 As a trustee of the fund he felt the greatest responsi¬ 
bility for the 105 orphans they were supporting, but he con¬ 
sidered they ought to be able to support many more. The com¬ 
mittee had made great preparations for that meeting. The early 
workers were responsible for starting the fund, and those now 
in charge of it for carrying it o-n- successfully. When the 
gardener goes forth to his work in the morning, leaving a wife 
and children behind, hei may not always return in health, so 
that the fund comes to the rescue of the bereaved family. He 
asked all those present when they left that meeting to remind all 
their friends of the great needs and the excellences of the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. 
Mr. Herbert Hicks next proposed “ Gardeners and Garden¬ 
ing,” which he said was a wide subject. We would all remem¬ 
ber that as soon as we were able to run about- we had our little 
gardens in which we grew produce which we usually reckoned 
better than that grown by the professional gardener a few yards 
away. Turning to the latter he reminded the audience of his 
responsibilities, and the fires he had to attend to at night, and 
other duties which made him liable to- various ills. If it were not 
for the g-ardener and his untiring skill, the florists’ shops would 
not be supplied with their wealth of flowers. Many owners of 
gardens had their work in town and their gardens at home to 
relieve the cares of duty. 
Mr. W. A. Bilney replied to this toast, and said that he knew 
Tlr. Hicks was an expert sportsman, an amateur gardener, and 
a clever motorist. Gardening, he said', was the most ancient of 
pursuits, and the best. Various kinds of sports were monoton¬ 
ous, but in gardening there was always something new. Some 
were inclined to say that gardening had reached its finality, but 
he himself considered it was only beginning. Referring to the 
R.H.S. gardens at Wisley, he said it was no uncommon thing to 
have one hundred visitors a day. A garden was a place of rest. 
He was glad that we were getting rid of carpet-gardening, which 
he compared to children’s puzzles. He then referred to Mr. 
E. H. Wilson’s travels in China, and the five thousand speci¬ 
mens of trees, shrubs, and other plants which he had collected, 
and which he hoped would soon be available at a reasonable 
price. He thought Meconopsis integrifolia and Primula Veitchi 
an earnest of others to come. In reference to gardeners, he 
considered them an honest, sober, and dutiful class of men, and, 
as in the case of a wife, they only got one good one in a life¬ 
time. 
Mr. Edward Sherwood proposed “ The Visitors.” Without the 
visitors he considered the meeting would be incomplete. They 
welcomed those who had been present at past festivals and 
likewise those present for the first time. He was thankful to 
those gardeners who had contributed so much to their pleasure. 
This toast was replied to -by the Rev. J. C. Eyre Kidson, who 
hoped that all in going away from the meeting would put their 
hands in their pockets to help the institution. 
At this point the secretary, Mr. B. Wynne, announced the 
result of the chairman’s list of donations on behalf of the fund, 
collected or promised that evening. Lord Mansfield had given 
£50 ; Mr. N. N. Sherwood, £100 ; Mr. Leonard G. Sutton, £50; 
Messrs, de Rothschild, 25 guineas; Messrs. J. Veitch and Sons, 
25 guineas ; Mr. David P. Laird, £16; Mr. H. J. Jones, £15 ; 
Messrs. Hurst and Son, 10 guineas ; the Chislehurst Gardeners, 
£13 ; Messrs. Barr and Sons, £10 ; Thames Bank Iron Company, 
7 guineas ; Scottish Horticultural Association, £9 8s. 6d. ; 
David W. Thomson, 5 guineas; Harry J. Veitch, 5 guineas; 
IT. B. May, 5 guineas ; Messrs. R. B. Laird and Sons, £5 ; Mr. 
W. IT. Massey, £5 ; Messrs. Mackenzie and Mon-cur, £5 ; their 
Covent Garden friends, £136 8s. 6d. ; and various other sums. 
The result he considered excellent, as the total amounted to 
£825. In conclusion he stated that as a result of benefit to one 
child, sixteen of Messrs. Rockford’s men had joined the- fund. 
Mr. H. B. May next proposed “ The Chairman,” who later on 
replied, stating that it was a difficult- thing for a chairman to 
reply for himself. He thanked those present for the warm 
reception they had given him, and humorously mixed some 
Latin with his speech, telling, how the friends surrounding him 
had been plying him with the botanical names of plants during 
the evening. He would look back to that dinner with as much 
pleasure perhaps as any other at which he had presided. 
Mr. David P. Laird proposed the toast of “ The Press,” and 
said that he would content himself by saying something about 
the horticultural press. In speaking of the Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund, he said that it was a national institution, and he should 
like to call it the British Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. Coming 
as he did from the north of the Tweed, he had enjoyed the meet¬ 
ing that evening, where they had a good honest discussion, and 
now lie as a “wee laird ” proposed this toast. _ He coupled the 
to-ast with the name of Dr. Masters, who, he said, was the grand 
old man of horticulture. Dr. Masters, in reply, said that when 
things went smoothly in the press we heard nothing of it, but it 
was otherwise when a mistake was made, and he made no more 
claim to infallibility than any of those present. In drinking 
this toast he considered they were blowing their own trumpets, 
because the editor’s duty was merely to properly arrange the 
flowers and produce—that is, the produce of the brains of gar¬ 
deners, who made it possible for editors to have a duty to pel- 
form. The duty imposed upon us of reporting a. charity like 
this was a great pleasure and its own recompense. 
The chairman proposed the secretary, Mr. B. Wynne, stating 
how well and efficiently he had carried out Ins duties, and to this 
Mr. Wynne replied. , 
The speeches were pleasantly interspersed with songs and 
recitations, the latter,being usually of a humorous charactei, 
and thus with song -and sentiment a very pleasant evening was 
spent, and the company dispersed after the singing of Ai 
Lang Syne.” — 
Flowers for the Slums.— Lord Monksw-e-ll, as chairman of 
the Kyrle Society, has been making an appeal for plant*, 
bulbs, or seeds to help to cheer the poor tired workers n » 
ore at City, who have to live all the year round in the hot, du J 
streets and crowded tenement* of London ” One of .the off¬ 
shoots of this excellent society has for its object the encou » 
ment of window gardening, and the effort to brighten t 
and unlovely aspect of the poorer quarters will appeal to all 
who have well-furnished gardens of their own. Last yea , 
Princess of Wales, who has been a constant supp^ter of the 
society, had 400 splendid Geranium plants which had adoinea 
the gardens at York Cottage, sent for distribution, and for these 
there was a most eager demand from the agencies working in the 
poor quarters of Millwall, Camberwell, the Borough, and else 
where. Mrs. Leopold Scarlett-, the honorary secretary forthe 
window gardening section (address. 2. Manchester , iee • • ■ 
asks for plants, seeds, or flowers for distribution m the 
gested ” areas of London. Thus is offered the oppoi u 
those with well-stocked gardens of their own to share son 
the -beauty and fragrance which they possess with those s 
less fortunately situated than themselves. 
