THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. 
August 23, 1913. 
Parkj the period of training in these 
well - known gardening establishments 
extending over about eight years. By 
this time he had proceeded far enough 
in the pursuit of knowledge as to fit 
himself for bearing the highest respon¬ 
sibilities associated with the gardening 
craft, and on his leaving Caversham Park 
he received the appointment he now holds. 
At Kelsey Park he has afforded ample proof 
of his skill in the cultivation of the several 
classes of ornamental and useful plants that 
receive attention in gardens of the first 
class, and in association with his employer 
has done much to enhance the beauty and 
interest of the ornamental asp^ts of the 
gardens. In no sense a specialist, as that 
term is usually understo^, Mr. AVebster 
endeavours, and with much success, to ob¬ 
tain the b^t possible results in the culti¬ 
vation of both useful crops and ornamental 
plants. This is plainly evident in a lei¬ 
surely walk round the gardens, and a fur¬ 
ther proof is found in the reports of the 
exhibitions held during the past twenty 
years. Mr. Webster has exhibited, and 
with much suocess, at the leading flower 
shows held in the district of which Becken¬ 
ham is the centre, and the products of the 
Kelsey Park gardens have been prominent 
at suSi important gatherings as the Royal 
International Horticultural Exhibition, 
1912, those of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, the Royal CaMonian Horticul¬ 
tural Society, the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, and at those held at 
Brighton, Crystal Palace, Southampton, 
and Sevenoali. The awards comprise gold 
and silver medals, challenge cups, and some 
hundreds of ordinary prizes. While in no 
way boastful of his successes, Mr. Webster 
appreciates the honour of having been 
awarded the gold medal as the most suc¬ 
cessful exhibitor at the Co-operative Flower 
Show at the Crystal Palace in 1896, and the 
gold medal at Beckenham in 1912, for a 
remarkably fine group of plants. One of 
the most interesting of his achievements 
has, perhaps, ibeen the winning of the first 
prize of £5 offered by Messrs. Selfridge and 
Co. for plants of cotton grown in this 
country. The firm gave away seeds of the 
cotton, and offered a number of prizes for 
the best-grown plants. There were many 
entries, but the plants from the Kelsey 
Park gardens were so finely developed as to 
occasion no difficulty to assign them their 
proper position in the competition. 
Selection and Culture of 
Daffodils. —As the season has now ar¬ 
rived when those who would achieve suc¬ 
cess in the cultivation of daffodils should 
proceed with the selection of varieties and 
the planting of bulbs, we shall give special 
attention to these beautiful flowers in our 
next issue. The contributions specially 
dealing with daffodils wull include notes on 
the new varieties, a selection of inexpen¬ 
sive varieties for exhibition, the forcing of 
daffodils, the most useful varieties for the 
supply of cut flowers from the open, daffo¬ 
dils on clay soil, and the increase and use¬ 
fulness of daff^il exhibitions. 
Kendal Fruit and Potato Con. 
grress.—On Wednesday and Thursday, 
September 24 and 25, a Fruit and Potato 
Conference will be held at Kendal, under 
the auspices of the North of England Hor¬ 
ticultural Society and the Northern Fruit 
Congress. There will be an exhibition of 
fruits and potatoes, and the congress will 
be attended by delegates from the Royal 
Horticultural Society. Mr. W. B. Little, 
Petterie Street, Carlisle, is organising an 
exhibit of j>otato diseases. On the first 
day, at 6 p.m., Mr. C. J. R. Tipper, B.Sc., 
will lecture on “ The Organisation of the 
Fruit Industry in Westmorland, with Spe¬ 
cial Reference to Damsons ”; at 8 p.m. 
Mr. R. A. H. Gray, M.A., M.Sc., of 
Armstrong College, will deal with “ Fruit 
Insect Pests.” The first meeting on Thurs¬ 
day commences at 3 p.m., when Mr. AV. F. 
Emptage will lecture on ‘ ‘ Land Tenure 
and Fruit Culture”; at 5.30, Mr. G. P. 
Berry, Chief Inspector of the Horticultural 
Branch of the Board of Agriculture, wdll 
discourse upon “ Potato Culture ” ; and at 
8 o’clock, Mr. AV. B. Mercer, B.Sc., of 
Armstrong College, will deliver the con¬ 
cluding lecture, on “ Diseases of Potatoes.” 
Centenary of Lawes and Gil¬ 
bert. —It has been decided to com¬ 
memorate the centenaries of Lawes and 
Gilbert, the founders of the Rothamsted 
Experimental Station, and committees are 
being formed for giving practical expres¬ 
sion to this decision. Sir John Lawes was 
born in 1814, and Sir Henry Gilbert in 1817, 
and it is proposed to erect at Rothamsted, 
at a cost of £12,000, a commemoration 
laboratory. It is proposed to raise half 
this sum by public subscription; and, if 
this is done, a grant of £6,000 can be ob¬ 
tained from the Development Fund. 
Beg;onia.s.. —At the afternoon meet¬ 
ing of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
Tuesday next a lecture on begonias will be 
given by Messrs. Blaokmore and Langdon. 
Royal Botanic Society. —Accord¬ 
ing to the report presented to the Fellows 
at the recent annual meeting, the attend¬ 
ance of visitors, inclusive of Fellows, to 
the Gardens last year amounted to 121,000. 
During the present season the weather had 
been exceptionally fine, and it was believed 
that a great increase would be shown at 
the end of 1913. The total of new Fellows 
elected in 1912 numbered 275, and for the 
first seven months of the present year 240. 
During the first sixty years of the Society’s 
history the average yearly increase of new 
Fellows was only 104. In the last four 
years there had been added to the list over 
1,400. Many improvements had been car¬ 
ried out in the Gardens. A large portion of 
the paths have been regravelled, and a rose 
bed made and planted with all the varieties 
of roses likely to do well in London. 
An Exhibition of Gladioli was 
held by Messrs. Kelway and Son at Messrs. 
Selfridge and Co.’s establishment in Oxford 
Street^ London, on AVednesday, and two 
following days. The array of splendidly- 
developed flower-spikes proved highly 
attractive to the many \dsitors. All the 
types for which the Langport firm has he- 
come famous were admirably represented, 
and the display produced was not less re¬ 
markable for its educational value than for 
the diversity of form and colour of the 
flowers. 
Midland Daffodil Society _Mr. 
C. Lemeslie Adams, Pendeford Hall, AA^ol- 
verhampton, writes; “As the R.H.S. have 
responded to so large an extent to the 
^rants of those who advocated a National 
Daffodil Society, and consequently the 
foundation of such a society is likely to be 
postponed sine die, may I urge the claims 
of the Midland Society to the support of 
all lovers of daffodils, and to the advan¬ 
tages that such membership confers. 
Firstly, the society (owing greatly to the 
energy of the late Mr. Robert Sydenham), 
after struggling in its early days, now holds 
the premier position amongst daffodil 
societies, and its shows have done very 
much to encourage and popularise the love 
of the daffodil, and impart a knowledge 
of what the capabilities of the flower are. 
Consequently I think a debt of gratitude 
is due from all lovers of the flower, and 
especially from those who are hybridisers, 
as the shows have been the means of en¬ 
couraging more new seedlings being shown 
than any others. Secondly, membership 
means (1) joining the leading “ club ” of the 
daffodil world, and bringing a member into 
touch with those who are the busiest 
workers amongst the daffodils. (2) the 
right to attend and exhibit at the shows, 
which are acknowledged to be the pleasl 
antest gatherings of the kind, and where 
the leaders in the cult are always to be 
found with the latest up-to-date flowere. 
AVith a larger membership and more funds 
at command, more could be done by the 
committee on the lines of the suggestions 
of those in favour of a national society. 
I would ask all lovers of the daffodil wio 
are not already members to write now to 
Mr. Herbert Smith, Secretary of the Mid¬ 
land Daffodil Society, Tenby Street, Bir. 
mingham, intimating their willingness to 
join the society. 
Queen Adelaide Hill, Winder 
mere.— The hon. secretaries (Canon 
H. D. Rawnsley, Keswick, and Mr. Gor¬ 
don Somervell, Windermere) of the com- 
mittee which has done such excellent ser¬ 
vice in connection with the preservation of 
beauty spots in the Lake Coimtry, write 
with reference to the purchase of Adelaide 
Hill: ‘‘ Your readers who realise what a 
boon it will be to those who take their 
holiday on Windermere to have the chanw 
of free landing and rambling on the shore 
will be glad to know that all but £200 out 
of the necessary £5,000 has Wn raised for 
the actual purchase of Adelaide Hill. This 
hill commemorates the only visit of a 
British Queen to our Lake Country. From 
its grassy height is obtained one of the 
finest panoramic views of AVindermere and 
the surrounding hills, from Coiiiston OW 
Man in the west round to the High Street 
range in the east. It lies within 
12 minutes from the railway station, and 
the right of way through the Kayrigg 
AVoods to Miller Ground landing is 
the purchase. The Speaker has kind.v 
consented to declare the property open o 
the public on the afternoon of Thursday. 
September 11. After the opening wie- 
mony guests may like to go forward 
Borran’s Field, at Water head, another o 
the lately-acquired trust properties, v p 
P rofessor Haverfield will give an addiv 
on the Roman Fort and recent excava¬ 
tions.” It need hardly be said m 
scriptions towards the deficit of 
be gladly received by either of the 
secretaries. ^ u 
Presentation to 
Adnitt and W. W. Naunton- 
Advantage was taken of the 
Show to present Messrs. Adnitt and * * 
ton with a testimonial in ^ 
services they have rendered to nor i , 
as hon. secretaries of the Shrewsbury 
Fete over a period of thirty-eig 
The presentation was made in tne 
tee tent at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 
20, when E. B. Fielding, Esq., 
dent, presided over a very i ^jj 
gathering of horticultimsts 
parts of the Fnited r* • 
testimonial consisted of a eh^u 
to each of these gentlemen. Ihe 
words, and amid great applause. - ^j|i 
J Veitch presented Veiteh 
Medals on behalf of the Vei 
Trustees, and diplomas ^^^7“ • bono- 
Horticultural Society, 
rary life Fellowships renli^ ^ 
and Naunton. . ^r. ^aunto P 
himself and his lifelong x owinS 
Adnitt being unavoidably a 
ill-health. Votes of thanks ^ 
the President and Sir of 
reference was made to the b*^ 
N. F. Barnes and Mr. ^estimon’** 
acted as hon. secretaries to 
fund. 
