December  14.  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
517 
DEATH  OF  MR.  ALFRED  OUTRAM. 
We  deeply  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  widely  respected  men  in  the  horticultural  world,  Mr. 
Alfred  Outram,  F.R.H.S.,  who  expired  suddenly  at  his  residence  in 
Moore  Park  Road,  Fulham  on  Friday  last  the  8th  inst.,  aged  52  years. 
Mr.  Outram  was  born  in  Lower  Tooting,  and  had  been  connected 
with  commercial  horticulture  from  his  early  boyhood.  He  commenced 
work  in  the  once  famed  nurseries  of  Messrs.  Rollison  &  Sons,  which 
have  long  been  extinct.  From  there  he  passed  to  the  great  and 
apparently  ever  growing  firm  of  Messrs.  James  Yeitch  &  Sons,  of 
Chelsea,  and  some  half-dozen  other  places.  He  next  entered  the 
service  of  the  excellent  firm  of  Messrs.  B.  S.  Williams  &  Son,  of 
Holloway,  in  which  he  remained  in  different  capacities  over 
twenty-two  years,  a  large  portion  of  the  time  as  traveller.  In  this 
line  he  was  admittedly  an  expert,  and  was  known  almost  everywhere, 
at  home  and  abroad,  where  plants  were  cherished, 
Mr.  Outram  visited  not  only  every  county  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
but  almost  every  good  garden  over  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land;  and  he  travelled  on  several  occasions  through  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  He  was  also  well  known  and  highly  respected 
in  the  chief  nurseries  of  Europe.  For  some  time  he  was  connected 
with  the  gigantic  establishment  of  Messrs.  Sutton  &  Sons,  of 
Reading,  and  represented  the  firm  at  exhibitions  almost  all  over  the 
country;  but  of  late  years  he  held  many  commissions,  and  his 
remarkable  aptitude  for  business  was  universally  acknowledged. 
No  man  probably  had  a  better  knowledge  of  plants  and  their 
value,  or  a  quicker  eye  for  opportunities  than  Mr.  Outram.  An 
example  of  his  methods,  known  to  the  writer  of  these  lines,  will 
illustrate  this.  “  Will  you  drive  with  me  to  So-and-so  ?  ”  was  his 
query,  going  on  to  say,  “we  shall  have  a  game  ;  the  swell  has  some 
big  Palms  and  things  he  wants  to  get  rid  of,  and  I  know  who  wauts 
them ;  but  I  must  have  an  order  somehow  as  well.”  On  his  arrival 
the  traveller  was  quickly  told  that  nothing  he  had  to  sell  was  wanted, 
and  it  was  useless  wasting  time.  The  irritability  of  tone  was  met 
with  the  quiet  response,  “  Beg  pardon,  sir  ;  I  didn’t  ask  you  to  buy , 
did  I  ?  Fact  is,  I  thought  you  wanted  to  sell  your  big  plants,  and  I 
have  a  customer.”  “  Oh  !  come  in  then.”  He  bought  the  plants, 
then  remembered  he  knew  of  a  bargain  in  little  ones  that  would  soon 
grow  into  money,  and  he  could  buy  them  in  a  year  or  two’s  time. 
The  bait  took,  and  what  the  astute  traveller  called  a  “  real  good  lino  ” 
was  entered — “  A  bit  of  profit  on  both  deals,  don’t  you  know  ;  ”  and 
he  returned  a  happy  man. 
Mr.  Outram  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  trusted  judges  of 
plants  and  groups  in  England,  and  his  services  were  in  demand  at 
practically  all  the  most  important  shows.  He  was  a  happy  genial 
man  in  a  quiet  way,  all  his  own,  and  will  be  missed  in  many  centres. 
His  loss  wdl  be  mourned  by  hosts  of  friends,  who  will  extend  deep 
sympathy  with  his  widow  and  family  in  their  great  bereavement. 
The  funeral  is  probably  taking  place  in  the  Fulham  Cemetery  as 
these  lines  are  being  prepared  for  press  (on  Wednesday),  and  as  his’ 
portly  form  is  brought  to  mind,  many  will  be  the  sympathetic 
ejaculations — “  poor  Outram  !  ” 
DISTINCTIVE  GARDENING. 
Gardening  appears  to  possess  almost  unlimited  capabilities  of 
pleasing  expression,  for  there  are  few  large  gardens  which  do  not 
show  some  particular  feature  giving  an  individual  character  to  the 
place.  If  this  is  less  evident  in  gardens  on  the  smaller  scale,  these, 
too,  are  able  to  afford  examples  of  what  skill,  energy,  and  taste  can 
attain  in  developing  existing  features  or  creating  new  ones,  in  spite  of 
a  limited  sphere  of  operations.  One  would  fain  seize  the  opportunity 
here  offered  to  bestow  a  word  of  comfort  on  those  young  captains  of 
the  craft  who  find  themselves  relegated  to  an  inferior  command — one 
of  the  small  gardens.  Under  the  searchlight  of  a  critical  eye  some  of 
the  best  work  that  is  being  done  in  the  gardening  world  is  occasion¬ 
ally  revealed  by  men  so  situated  who,  unconsciously  may  be,  have 
adopted  that  noble  motto  inscribed  on  the  Delphian  Temple,  “  Nothing 
is  impossible  to  industry.”  Granted  that  such  is  the  exception 
rather  than  the  rule,  so  much  wider  is  the  margin  left  for  those  to 
conquer  who  believe  they  can. 
In  small  gardens  there  is  more  generally  seen,  perhaps,  a  sameness 
not  noticeable  in  more  extensive  ones,  arising  probably  from  the 
desire  to  have  a  little  of  everything,  with  the  correlative  impossibility 
of  having  sufficient  of  any  one  thing  to  strike  a  distinctive  note  in 
the  too-much-mixed  surroundings.  There  is  no  garden  so  small, 
however,  as  not  to  contain  within  its  area  the  elements  of  a  distinctive 
character,  even  to  the  possibility  of  becoming  unique,  and  before 
trenching  on  wider  fields  a  few  suggestions  may  be  offered,  with  the 
view  not  only  to  their  pleasures  being  enhanced,  but  their  sphere  of 
usefulness  extended.  Moreover,  from  a  gardener’s  outlook  herein  is 
possibly  room  for  one  to  expand,  who  feeling  himself  cramped  by  the 
narrow  limits  of  very  moderate  demands  upon  his  abilities,  and 
confined  to  a  contracted  orbit  of  duty,  longs  to  keep  in  touch  with  the 
great  gardening  world,  from  which  an  unkindly  fate  has  excluded  him. 
In  a  locality  where  small  gardens  abound  two  examples  may  serve 
to  illustrate  what  is  meant ;  and  small  as  they  are  the  fame  of  one 
derived  from  a  unique  collection  of  one  section  among  the  hardy 
plants  has  spread  far  and  near  ;  the  borders  to  which  these  particular 
plants  are  devoted  being  the  piece  de  resistance  of  what  is  only  one  of 
the  common  order  of  its  kind — a  small  garden.  The  other,  which 
also  suggests  itself,  as  a  case  in  point,  is  one  in  which  the  man  in 
charge  and  his  methods  employed  are  wholly  at  variance  with  what  is 
generally  supposed  indispensable  to  gain  distinction.  For  years  our 
friend  has  laboured  quietly  and  unassumingly  in  one  particular  phase 
of  culture  until  he  finds  himself  and  his  little  garden  famous,  but  it  is 
not  expedient  to  give  more  than  a  shadowy  outline  of  one  and  his 
work,  who  without  seeking  notoriety  finds  it  thrust  upon  him,  some¬ 
what  to  the  discomfiture  of  his  modest,  humble,  pound-a-week  life. 
These  men  spent  their  term  as  probationers  in  the  wider  field  of 
a  botanic  garden  and  ducal  establishments  respectively,  and  it  was  a 
great  drop,  undoubtedly,  in  their  compulsory  descent  to  the  low  level 
of  a  small  garden  ;  but  they  fell  on  their  feet  and  none  possesses  a 
surer  footing  or  is  more  esteemed  in  the  gardening  world. 
Do  any  of  our  young  men  seek  fame  and  feel  their  lot  is  not  cast 
in  those  pleasant  places  where  it  resorts  ?  Or  does  a  nobler  ambition 
prompt  the  desire  to  contribute  their  quota  to  the  advancement  of 
gardening,  with  little  or  no  opportunity  presenting  itself  on  their 
foreshortened  horizon  ?  Then,  as  gardeners,  should  they  remember 
that  “  mighty  Oaks  from  little  acorns  spring ;  ”  and,  moreover,  they 
can  and  do  flourish  as  well  in  small  places  as  in  lordly  parks ;  so  by 
patient  labour  and  persistent  endeavour  may  early  dreams  become  the 
solid  realities  of  matured  life.  That  employers  like  their  gardens 
talked  about  is  understood  by  those  who  have  been  behind  the  scenes, 
and  if  ever  pride  becomes  a  virtue,  surely  it  does  so  in  this  case.  Some 
may  refute  the  soft  impeachment,  “  but  though  their  tongue  the  charge 
denies  their  conscience  owns  it  true.”  Apropos  of  this  a  gentleman 
said  to  the  writer,  “  If  you  care  to  look  round  my  little  place  come  in 
at  any  time.”  The  visit  was  paid,  and  in  the  course  of  conversation 
inquiry  was  made  as  to  whether  he  had  seen  the  Iris  collection  for 
which  a  neighbouring  garden  is  famous.  He  had,  and  accorded  a 
qualified  measure  of  praise  by  saying  “  My  garden  is  for  use,  not  for 
show,  and  we  don’t  go  in  for  anything  special  ;”  but — and  mark  the 
sequel — his  gardener  remarked  shortly  afterwards,  “  The  governor  has 
been  growling  over  the - Irises  ;  says  they  are  the'talk  of  the  country 
and  he  doesn’t  see  why  we  can’t  have  them  as  good.”  If  competition 
is  the  life  of  trade,  then  a  keen,  competitive,  critical  interest  shown  by 
owners  in  their  gardens,  as  well  as  in  the  gardener  and  all  his  work, 
may  be  regarded  as  the  vital  elixir  of  good  gardening. 
A  bad  quarter  of  an  hour  for  the  gardener  is  not  uncommon  after 
his  employers  have  paid  a  visit  where  some  or  other  distinctive  feature 
of  merit  has  been  noted,  and  many  an  unpleasant  truth  is  brought 
home  to  the  man  in  charge  unless  he,  too,  can  show  something  as  a 
set  off  on  the  credit  side.  All  this  is  well  understood,  though  not 
much  talked  about ;  it  is  very  common  and  very  unpleasant.  That 
it  should  not  be  so  is  another  matter.  What  a  lot  of  diplomacy  is 
employed  over  these  matters!  “Just  dropped  in  to  have  a  look 
round.”  He  was  expected,  for  her  ladyship  had  visited  our  garden 
the  day  before  and  was  enraptured  with  the  Chrysanthemums.  It 
was  easily  divined  that  our  neighbour  had  been  expressly  sent,  for 
how  often  had  not  we,  ourselves,  “Just  dropped  in,”  propelled  by  a 
hint  which  it  was  wise  to  interpret  as  an  order  to  view  something 
bigger,  brighter,  or  better  than  could  be  found  at  home.  A  fellow 
feeling  makes  us  wondrous — ’cute. 
In  the  endeavour  to  make  his  mark  a  wise  man  will  not  forget 
that  “  those  who  pay  the  piper  should  call  the  tune.”  He  will  seek 
not  only  to  find  out  the  wishes  and  tastes  of  his  employers,  but 
determine  upon  a  spirited  endorsement  of  their  views.  Master  first, 
man  after.  Most  men  recognise  this,  but  some  only  in  a  half-hearted 
way,  by  placing  their  own  pet  plans  to  the  front  and  using  all  manner 
of  insidious  arts  and  devices  to  keep  them  there.  That  a  gardener’s 
way  is  the  best  way,  goes  without  saying  among  men  of  the  craft, 
and  that  he  will  not  be  happy  till  he  gets  it  is  equally  certain,  but 
where  an  aggressive  policy  courts  failure  a  little  diplomacy  may  insure 
success.  This,  advisedly,  for  the  gardener’s  way  generally  results  in 
mutual  satisfaction  and  all  round  benefit ;  but  without  tact  in  starting 
the  best  men  are  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  The  man  whose  sole 
end  and  aim  in  life  is  his  calling  caD  pretty  well  guage  at  a  glance 
the  capabilities  of  improvement  or  development,  which,  with  the 
common  requirements  of  those  he  has  contracted  to  serve,  seem 
all-sufficient  for  a  successful  run  in  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new. 
A  few  remarks  about  distinctive  gardening  on  the  larger  scale  are, 
perhaps,  worthy  of  further  space. — A.  N.  Oldhead. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
