June  10,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
507 
and  back  again  to  Chingford.”  A  stroke  of  luck  surely,  and 
Liverpool  Street  at  eleven  o’clock  was  fixed  as  the  place  and  time 
of  meeting. 
I  But  what  a  morning  !  The  thunder,  as  it  seemed,  shaking  the 
world,  the  rain  falling  in  torrents.  What  is  to  be  done  under  such 
circumstances  ?  The  answer  is  plain.  When  an  appointment  is 
made  keep  it,  no  matter  what  the  weather  may  be.  So  evidently 
thought  the  Britons,  and  the  meeting  took  place  to  the  moment. 
To  go  or  not  to  go  further  then  became  the  question.  “  We  had 
better  go,”  said  one.  “  Hear,  hear,”  said  the  other  ;  “  better  start 
in  the  rain  and  finish  in  the  sun,  than  start  in  the  sun  and  finish  in 
the  rain.”  And  so  the  matter  was  settled.  A  race  to  the  booking 
stand,  and  be  happy  in  either  ;  but  I  can’t  be  happy  in  a  second,” 
said  he.  But  why  ?  “  Because,”  he  went  on,  “it  makes  me  look 
and  feel  too  conceited  for  a  third  yet  not  able  to  raise  the  wind  for 
a  first,  and  I  don’t  like  it.”  This  genuine  man,  without  guile,  has 
long  since  gone,  without  the  experience  of  travelling  third  from 
Epping  Forest  with  nineteen  or  twenty  others  in  a  compartment 
made  for  ten,  or  he  would  gladly  have  given  a  few  more  pence  for 
a  litle  more  room  wherever  he  might  find  it. 
But  we  are  at  Chingford,  and  the  rain  has  practically  ceased. 
“Now,  Mr.  A.  B.,  you  are  a  judge  of  horses,  choose  a  good  one” 
— for  there  was  plenty  of  choice.  He  suggested  a  pair.  “  A  pair  ; 
no,  there  are  no  pairs  here,  and  besides  there  is  not  much  more 
Fig.  97.— STYRAX  OBASS1A. 
office,  and  the  best  man  won.  “  Four  second  returns  Chingford.” 
No,  it  was  not  particularly  extravagant — twenty-two  miles  for 
ls.‘4d.  a  head,  or  body  ;  but  it  calls  to  mind  an  episode. 
iJ^It  is  not  the  old  chestnut  of  the  Bishop  travelling  “third” 
because  there  was  not  a  fourth  class,  though  that  may  be  true, 
as  something  else  is  most  certainly.  Some  years  ago,  more  than 
one  likes  to  count,  a  band  of  horticulturists,  rich  and  poor,  went 
on  a  fruit-exploring  expedition  into  Kent.  At  Yictoria  Station 
some  of  the  latter,  not  liking  to  “  look  ”  their  worst,  boldly  asked 
for  “  second  returns.”  The  rich  ones  followed  suit — a  delicate  act, 
such  as  is  only  seen  from  thorough  gentlemen.  They  would  have 
no  distinction  in  classes  then,  and  abandoned  the  usual  “  firsts.” 
Ooly  one  of  the  party  grumbled  at  the  “  second  ”  class,  and  a  good 
man  too — the  late  celebrated  market  gardener  of  Chiswick,  Mr. 
Frank  Dancer.  “  First  I  can  understand  and  third  I  can  under- 
than  a  quarter  of  a  ton  of  us,  and  a  good  animal  won’t  mind  that.” 
The  best  was  chosen,  and  trotted  along  with  ease,  especially  a 
little  down  hill.  A  somewhat  similar  party  of  four  once  took 
tickets  from  Wallington  to  the  next  station,  Waddon,  near  Croydon. 
While  waiting  for  the  train  the  time  was  passed  in  weighing.  Not 
being  midgets  the  results  were  watched  by  others,  and  especially 
by  a  dainty  little  porter.  “What  class,  sir?”  as  the  train  was 
coming  up.  “Oh!  third,  of  course.”  “All  of  you?”  “Yes, 
certainly.”  The  scorn  of  the  man  was  a  treat  to  see,  as  he 
shouted,  “  Of  all  the  cheek  !  Here  is  a  party  weighing  twelve 
:  stone  over  a  quarter  of  a  ton,  all  going  for  sixpence  (l^d.  each), 
and  then  folk  howl  about  railway  rates.”  He  scored  that  time, 
and  was  happy  amid  the  hilarity. 
When  the  great  Forest  of  Epping  was  secured  by  the  Corpora- 
!  tion  of  London  as  a  breathing  ground  fcr  ths  people  some  twenty 
