578 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  24,  1897. 
The  frequenters  of  the  great  Whitsuntide  show  at  Manchester  will  not 
readily  forget  his  portly  form  and  beaming  countenance  in  that  great 
assembly,  and  much  of  the  progress  of  Orchid  growing  in  that  neigh¬ 
bourhood  is  due  to  him.  Every  year  he  used  to  bring  down  collections 
of  the  newest  and  best  kinds,  and  growers  had  thus  the  opportunity  of 
seeing  their  value  close  at  home. 
Bruce  Findlay. 
As  I  have  frequently  mentioned  this  exhibition,  I  think  it  would  be 
ungracious  not  to  say  something  of  Mr.  Bruce  Findlay,  to  whom,  as  I 
have  said,  its  success  was  mainly  due.  He  was  a  first-rate  organiser,  cool 
and  calm  in  'ill  that  he  did.  The  eccentricities  of  exhibitors,  their 
fussiness,  and  often  their  unreasonable  complaints,  never  disturbed  his 
equanimity.  I  have  seen  people  come  up  to  him  swelling  with  indigna¬ 
tion,  but  a  few  words  from  him  would  set  the  matter  right,  and  they 
went  away  convinced  that  no  fault  lay  with  the  manager  of  the 
gardening  was  moat  picturesque,  and  Mr.  Ingram  made  the  most  of  its 
capabilities,  and  when  anyone  contemplated  carrying  out  spring  bedding 
they  always  wanted  to  know  what  Ingram  bad  done  at  Belvoir.  It  is 
almost  impossible  to  speak  too  highly  of  the  man  himself  ;  he  was 
in  truth  one  of  Nature’s  gentlemen,  and  worthy  to  be  placed  alongside 
the  most  distinguished  names  in  horticulture. 
Other  Good  Men. 
There  are  two  or  three  names  of  other  good  men  who  as  hybridisers 
have  advanced  the  cause  of  horticulture.  While  Mr.  Pearson  of  Chilwell 
was  adding  to  our  lists  of  Zonal  Pelargoniums  there  was  a  quiet  man  in 
London  who  was  doing  the  same,  the  late  Dr.  Denny.  So  also  was  Mr. 
Ingram,  for  a  long  time  her  Majesty’s  gardener  at  Frogmore ;  he  raised 
some  varieties  which  are  still  in  use,  and  to  him  we  owe  also  some  fine 
varieties  of  Strawberries.  Nor,  again,  must  we  forget  Mr.  Gilbert  of 
Burleigh,  a  raiser  of  several  vegetables  which  are  still  in  cultivation, 
Fig.  128.— CYCLAMEN  PERSICUM— 1837.  CYCLAMEN  PERSICUM  SUTTON’S  GIANT— 1897  (page  575). 
exhibition.  The  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  was  evidenced  by  the 
deep  sorrow  felt  at  his  death,  and  also  by  the  testimonials  given  to  him. 
Rev.  Joshua  Dix. 
Visitors  to  the  Council  room  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  may 
have  noticed  amongst  the  few  portraits  that  of  a  quiet,  placid  looking 
clergyman,  of  whom  a  great  many  of  the  present  generation  have  never 
heard,  and  yet  his  influence  on  horticulture  was  no  slight  one.  In  the 
early  days  of  the  ill-fated  South  Kensington,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Dix  took 
an  active  part  in  promoting  its  welfare,  and  his  quiet  and  unobtrusive 
manner  ever  gained  him  the  attention  of  those  he  wished  to  influence, 
yet,  as  I  have  said,  few  remember  even  his  name. 
William  Ingram. 
In  the  days  when  spring  beddiDg  was  much  more  in  vogue  than  it  is 
at  present  no  one  tended  more  to  its  development  than  William  Ingram 
of  Belvoir.  That  princely  home  of  the  Dukes  of  Rutland  afforded 
ample  scope  for  the  display  of  his  genius,  and  amongst  especial  treats 
which  many  a  horticulturist  enjoyed  was  a  visit  to  this  grand  residence. 
Its  magnificent  trees  and  grassy  slopes  and  commanding  position  made 
it  a  special  spot  for  a  pilgrimage.  The  place  selected  for  the  spring 
Reflections. 
I  have  thus  endeavoured,  I  know  but  very  imperfectly,  to  set  down 
some  facts  tending  to  show  that  horticulture  has  shared  in  the  wonderful 
progress  which  the  sixty  years  of  Her  Majesty’s  reiga  have  borne  witness 
to.  I  have  shown  where  the  advance  has  been,  the  causes  which  have 
led  to  it,  and  the  men  by  whom  it  has  been  carried  out.  Unhappily, 
the  terrible  depression  from  which  agriculture  has  suffered  has  had  its 
bearing  upon  the  kindred  profession  of  horticulture  ;  but  just  as  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  has  shown  that  neither  the  competition  of 
foreign  nations  nor  the  blindness  of  our  own  people  has  hindered  the 
development  of  the  resources  of  the  empire,  so  the  same  circumstances 
have  not  hindered  the  advancement  of  horticulture.  What  this  progress 
might  have  been  but  for  the  disturbing  elements  to  which  I  have  alluded 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  ;  and  as  I  look  back  upon  my  long  appren¬ 
ticeship  to  this  science  I  must  record  the  pleasure  and  happiness  it  has 
given  me,  and  how  many  true  and  kind  friends  it  has  made  Tor  me ;  and 
as  I  think  upon  the  younger  men  who  are  now  engaged  in  it  I  can  only 
hope  that,  bringing  to  it  a  loving  feeling,  they  may  be  able  also  at  the 
end  of  sixty  years  to  record  the  same  feelings  of  thankfulness  that  I  am 
now  able  to  do. — D.,  Deal. 
