November 4. 1905. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
er>3 
OCCASIONAL 
-e I NTERVI EWS.e- 
MR. HENRY HEMSLEY, 
Hon. Secretary of the Crawley and District Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Association. 
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It was a bit of a crawl to Crawley, owing 
perhaps to a trifle of fog which smudged the 
landscape and disagreeably penetrated into 
the railway carriage. If I had been travelling 
on a certain adjacent line, which has earned 
one or more uncomplimentary sobriquets, I 
should not have been surprised, but on the 
Brighton line, where celerity is usually ob¬ 
served, I was aggrieved rather than annoyed. 
Who has not heard the “gardening” story 
of that other line, where, on a stop of an 
unconscionable length of time being made 
midway between two stations, a man carrying 
home sundry packets of flower seeds thought 
he would alight and scatter a few of the seeds 
on the embankment for the future beautifying 
of the same. He sowed his seeds, and, as the 
sequel has it, was delayed there long enough 
to pluck some of the resultant blooms. The 
story may be apocryphal, but as the railway 
employees are touchy on these matters, I 
would not advise the reader to ask any of 
them for a substantiation of it. It is on 
record that a doubting and miserably matter- 
of-fact person once did so, with consequences 
that entitled him to institute proceedings for 
assault and battery. 
Well, after getting as far as Crawley, I 
left the station to subside again into its nor¬ 
mal somnolence, and took my way through 
the quaint environs of the little town and down 
the long, dusty road, retreating from time to 
time into hedge-gaps and gateways in order 
to save bruises and avoid irritating frantic- 
looking, goggle-eyed demons in motor-cars, 
who largely monopolise the thoroughfares 
hereabouts. Thus, by timely dodging, I at 
length arrived at the tiny village or hamlet 
of County Oak, the object of my visit being 
to see Mr. Hemsley, and gather some par¬ 
ticulars about himself and the Crawley and 
District Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement As¬ 
sociation, of which he is honorary secretary. 
Mr. Hemsley lacks none of the Yorkshire- 
'man’s characteristic hospitality, for he hails 
from the big northern shire, as his speech 
occasionally denotes, while his bluff, unaf¬ 
fected hearty manner is further indicative of 
the county of his birth. The first thing, 
therefore, after making each other’s acquaint¬ 
ance, was refreshment for the more or less 
Haded body, and over the cups which Cowper 
extols we engaged in what proved to me to be 
a very pleasant hour’s chat. It is only rh>ht 
to state that owing to a misunderstanding as 
to the time of my arrival Mr. Hemsley had 
not, as he would otherwise have done, met me 
at the station with his pony and trap. There 
was no conveyance at the station that I could 
! iire, and so the adventurous tramp was in- 
nut able. 
One could not talk long with Mr. Hemsley 
vithout finding he is every inch a gardener, 
i gardener with heart and soul in his calling, 
mrsuing it in no perfunctory spirit, but lov- 
ng horticulture for horticulture’s sake, keep- 
ng himself informed of the latest and best in 
he gardening world, and learning with 
rdour from day to day. His knowledge of 
raetical gardening, of certain branches 
lore especially, is extensive ; and this is not 
urpnsing, seeing his devotion to it, and that 
has been his life’s occupation. 
l \ou might give me a brief account of 
the positions you have held,” I said. 
“Well, my first situation,” responded Mr 
Hemsley, “was with Mr. T. S. Stainthorpe, 
nurseryman and seedsman, Ormesby, Middles¬ 
brough. Here I was in the general depart¬ 
ment for three years. After that I was pri¬ 
vately employed for three and a half years 
mostly looking after pleasure grounds. Then 
for five years I was with Messrs. J. Peed and 
Sons, of Streatham and Norwood, in the her¬ 
baceous and florist flower department, for the 
latter portion of this period filling the posi¬ 
tion of foreman. Next I was foreman for up¬ 
wards of three years at Mr. H. Deverill’s, 
Banbury, and while here took gold medals for 
herbaceous flowers at the Shrewsbury and 
Wolverhampton shows, as well as numerous 
silver-gilt and silver medals, and first prizes 
at other leading provincial exhibitions. I 
was afterwards for a short time in the alpine 
department of Messrs. R. Veitch and Sons, 
Exeter, and, finally, for the past four years 
Mr. Henry Hemsley. 
have been sole traveller for Messrs. J. Cheal 
and Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Ci-awley.” 
With such a list of excellent appointments 
tc his credit it can well be understood that 
Mr. Hemsley’s garden craft is of a high 
standard. He has earned a wide reputation 
for his beautiful alpine rock work, at which, 
indeed, he is not surpassed. One conies across 
examples of this artistic and realistic handi¬ 
work of his at many of the principal flower 
shows, and I retain a vivid recollection of the 
rock work exhibit at the stand of Messrs. 
Cheal and Sons at the great Temple Show 
this year, which was a very fine specimen of 
his skill in this line. 
‘‘ By the way,” remarked Mr. Hemsley, 
’’ just three years ago I took a short holiday 
in Switzerland, travelling mostly over the 
Oberland Mountains, my object being to study 
the natural surroundings and conditions of 
Alpines in their habitats. What I saw proved 
of great value to me.” 
“ You d<> a good deal of lecturing, don’t 
you ? ” I observed. 
1 Yes > I am fond of it. I speak mostly on 
Alpines, rock work, and herbaceous plants, 
and on these and some other subjects have ad¬ 
dressed the horticultural societies of, among 
ether places, Brighton, Eastbourne, Exeter, 
Chislehurst, Weybridge, Redhill and Reigate 
Thornton Heath, Caterham, and Crawley.” 
But, as I correctly suspected, Mr. Hemsley 
was wearying of these references to himself 
and anxious to turn the conversation into a 
i e . ss purely personal channel; so, entering into 
Ins mood, my next enquiry had reference to 
the society of which he is the secretary. 
.“ rm . g la<1 you’ve changed the subject,” he 
said, with evident relief. “ We can usually 
find plenty to say about ourselves, but it 
doesn’t look well in print; and yet your next 
question compels me to bring myself promin¬ 
ently forward again.” 
“ How so ? ” I asked. 
“ Why, because I was the first to take any 
steps to get the society established.” 
“ Well, that’s nothing to your discredit, Mr. 
Hemsley. Most men with your multifarious 
duties would have left to somebody of more 
leisure the task of such an undertaking.” 
“ Perhaps so. Anyhow, I felt there ought 
to be in such a district an association for the 
mutual help and encouragement of gardeners 
and others interested in horticulture, and so 
I sought the co-operation of several well- 
known gardeners hereabouts. A public meet¬ 
ing was called, and everybody present agreed 
that the idea was good. A committee was 
then chosen, and the work of forming and 
building up the institution commenced.” 
An eloquent pause here ensued, emphasised 
by an eloquent gesture, which, taken to¬ 
gether, intimated with more than the force 
of words that the “ forming and building up ” 
piocess of such an association is no occupa¬ 
tion for the sinecurist. Mr. Hemsley’s 
manner of expressing the situation would be 
appreciated, I imagine, by every initial com¬ 
mittee and every first secretary of almost 
every society of the kind, as, doubtless, of 
societies of other kinds. 
“ And when was this? ” I queried. 
“ We got to work in February of 1904. so 
you see we are in our infancy.” 
‘ And how does the youngster look?” 
“ Buxom,” said Mr. Hemsley, with a laamh. 
As a matter of fact,” he added, earnestly, 
“Hie success we have met with has exceeded 
cur utmost expectations. We now have up- 
" aids of 110 ordinary members, and new 
members join at every meeting. There are 
over forty patrons and vice-presidents, and 
many of these are not merely figureheads, but 
take an active interest in the welfare of the 
society. Remember our district extends over 
a vide area, and is by no means thickly popu¬ 
lated. Some of our members have to' travel 
considerable distances to attend our meet- 
ings. And when I tell you that our average 
attendance is seventy, and that we have had 
as many as one hundred at a meeting. I think 
you will agree that shows real enthusiasm 
and undeniable interest in the proceedings. 
Indeed,” went on Mr. Hemsley,* warming to 
his subject, “ I am positive the society has 
been the means of much good; this, I am 
sine is recognised. Professionals, amateurs, 
and cottagers are brought together, and In 
the delivery of lectures, tiie reading. < f 
essays, and the promotion of discussions valu¬ 
able instruction is imparted and a keen in¬ 
terest in higher culture excited.” 
A very gratifying feature of this associa¬ 
tion is that the professional members are not 
only willing but desirous of sharing with their 
amateur confreres their wider and deeper 
knowledge of horticulture acquired by years 
