364 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  23,  1893. 
reference  to  anything  whatsoever.  Mr.  Barron  was  ready  to 
answer  questions  in  his  clear,  crisp  way,  and  to  give  his  opinion  on 
any  moot  point  when  requested  ;  but  as  to  pushing  his  views,  or 
attempting  to  influence  a  decision,  such  an  idea  has  only  to  be 
suggested  to  be  scouted  as  equally  foreign  to  his  nature  and 
inconsistent  with  his  high  sense  of  duty. 
No  doubt,  and  we  think  in  more  than  one  instance  it  has  been 
to,  that  Mr.  Barron  was  the  scapegoat  who  had  to  bear  the  assumed 
sins  of  the  examining  committees,  but  it  is  all  the  same  the  truth 
that  those  committees  have  always  been  responsible  for  pleasing 
the  various  persons  whose  products  they  have  honoured,  and 
disappointing  others  through  the  non-detection  of  the  requisite 
merits  in  products  for  placing  them  in  a  similar  position.  Yet 
whatever  the  imagined  shortcomings  on  the  part  of  the  adjudicators 
and  the  Superintendent,  it  is  no  small  testimony  to  his  integrity 
to  find  so  many,  whether  they  may  at  times  have  felt  temporarily 
aggrieved  or  not,  joining  in  the  splendid  tribute  to  the  oldest  official 
of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  both  as  a  gardener  and  as  a 
man. 
Mr.  Barron  entered  the  service  of  the  Society,  we  think,  in 
1857,  and  won  his  way  by  merit  to  the  highest  position  in  the 
gardens  which  he  managed  so  long  and  so  well.  It  may  not  be 
inappropriate  to  note  that  on  his  first  arrival  in  England  from  the 
north  of  Scotland  he  found  employment  in  the  gardens  at  Orton 
Longueville,  near  Peterborough,  and,  as  is  indicated  on  another 
page,  he  is  remembered  there  still  after  a  lapse  of  forty  years.  He 
passed  from  there  to  Arundel  Castle,  serving  for  a  time  under  Mr. 
McEwen.  From  Arundel  he  went  to  Shrubland  Park,  the  gardens 
of  which  were  made  famous  by  that  remarkable  man,  Donald 
Beaton.  During  this  period  changes  were  made  at  Chiswick, 
and  Mr.  McEwen  was  appointed  Superintendent  there.  Having 
tested  the  quality  of  the  young  Scotsman,  the  new  Superintendent 
found  him  employment  in  the  gardens,  and  he  had  to  take  his 
share  of  work  with  the  rest  of  the  then  large  staff,  for  there 
were  in  those  days  extensive  pleasure  grounds  and  shrubberies  to 
keep  in  order. 
If  we  are  not  mistaken  it  was  the  excellence  of  the  work  of  the 
young  gardener  in  comparison  with  that  of  more  than  twenty 
other  men  that  won  for  him  the  first  step  upwards.  It  was  some¬ 
what  in  this  way.  Twenty-five  men  were  sent  to  make  the  lawn 
smooth  and  trim.  Those  who  could  use  scythes  were  to  do  the 
cutting,  and  those  who  could  not  were  to  use  besoms  and  do  the 
sweeping.  The  new  comer  did  not  fall  into  line  with  the  besom 
brigade,  as  not  only  could  he  wield  the  scythe,  but  when  the  lawn 
was  finished  his  work  was  not  only  pronounced  good  but  so  far 
superior  to  that  of  all  the  others  that  he  was  at  once  granted  an 
increase  of  3s.  a  week  as  well  as  marked  for  promotion.  As 
might  be  expected,  a  young  man  who  had  taken  such  pains  to 
master  the  scythe  was  not  likely  to  have  been  negligent  in 
acquiring  deftness  in  other  gardening  operations.  The  results 
appeared  to  show  that  he  had  taken  pains  to  do  everything 
well,  and  thus  he  worked  upwards  by  sheer  force  of  ability, 
coupled  with  a  modest  and  agreeable  demeanour,  till  he  was 
installed  in  the  position  of  Superintendent.  As  such  he  formed 
and  planted  the  present  gardens  at  Chiswick,  and  conducted  them 
to  the  satisfaction  of  successive  Councils  and  Committees  for  a 
number  of  years. 
During  at  least  a  portion  of  the  time  Mr.  Barron  often  worked 
under  great  disadvantages,  and  had  to  encounter  many  impedi¬ 
ments.  There  have  been  members  of  the  Council  who  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  Gardens,  and  it  is  well  known  that  gentlemen 
have  been  entrusted  with  the  conduct  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  who  did  not  visit  Chiswick  even  once  a  year,  if  at  all. 
Under  such  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  routine 
methods  became  lax  and  loose  as  between  the  senders  of  novelties 
for  trial,  the  central  authorities,  and  the  Garden  Superintendent. 
We  happen  to  know  without  being  told  by  Mr.  Barron  that  things 
good,  bad,  and  indifferent  have  been  sent  to  Chiswick  for  trial  at 
all  sorts  of  unseasonable  times  and  in  a  delightfully  easy  and 
promiscuous  manner,  as  if  the  senders  had  the  absolute  right  to 
have  them  specially  grown  and  to  receive  special  reports — favour¬ 
able,  of  course,  for  their  gratification.  We  suspect  it  is  no  secret 
that  seeds  of  varieties  of  different  kinds  of  vegetables  unnamed 
and  unproved  have  been  sent  to  Chiswick  to  be  tested  on  the 
chance  of  one  or  more  being  so  lucky  as  to  get  honourable  mention. 
We  do  not  hesitate  saying  that  such  a  practice  is  an  abuse  of  the 
privileges  offered  by  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  in  its  thus 
being  expected  to  do  such  rudimentary  work,  either  to  save  trouble 
on  the  part  of  those  who  ought  to  do  it  themselves  or  to  gain  a 
season  for  personal  advantage. 
We  know  again  without  being  told,  because  it  has  been  obvious 
to  all  who  had  eyes  to  see  and  opportunities  for  using  them  in  this 
reference,  that  there  have  been  frequent  infringements  of  the  good 
old  rule  that  all  varieties  sent  for  trial  at  Chiswick  should  be 
named,  and  by  those  names  stand  or  fall.  The  practice  of  sending 
unproved  seedlings,  or  what  not,  under  numbers,  and  thus  imposing 
on  the  Society  the  trouble  and  expense*  of  testing  them  is  a 
devolution  of  private  duties  to  a  public  body  that  many  persons 
think  can  only  be  defended  on  the  principle  of  “  heads  I  win,  tails 
you  lose.”  All  such  loose  methods,  together  with  various  kinds  of 
“  expectations  ”  involved  therein  or  therefrom,  cannot  but  have 
made  the  duties  of  the  Superintendent  more  onerous  than  they 
need  have  been,  and  may  have  resulted,  for  aught  we  know,  and 
which  might  naturally  be  expected,  in  various  kinds  of  perplexing 
misunderstandings. 
If  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Barron  will  lead  to  the  formulation 
of  precise  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  gardens,  and  the  guidance 
of  persons  who  are  legitimately  entitled  to  their  use  in  the  interests 
of  horticulture,  then  may  he  rest  and  be  thankful.  He  has  served 
the  Society  well  over  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  and  we  apprehend 
that  he  would  be  the  first  to  admit  that  as  regards  the  terms  of 
his  retirement  the  Society  has  accorded  to  him  fair,  not  to  say 
generous,  treatment.  The  value  of  his  work  has  been  formally 
recognised  in  the  grant  to  him  of  the  first  large  silver  Yeitch 
Memorial  medal  ever  offered  to  any  individual  for  services  rendered 
in  horticulture — an  official  presentation  by  the  President  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  in  public  on  the  occasion  of  one  of 
the  Temple  shows  a  few  years  ago.  And  now  the  British  public, 
or  many  of  those  who  know  Mr.  Barron  the  best,  have  also  borne 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  a  presenta¬ 
tion  which,  so  far  as  we  remember,  is,  with  one  exception,  of  the 
greatest  value  ever  made  to  a  gardener  as  such,  the  exception 
being  Mr.  Bruce  Findlay. 
Reverting  to  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  it  will  at  least  be 
fair  'to  say  that  whatever  its  shortcomings,  it  has  set  a  noble 
example  to  the  affluent  in  the  treatment  of  trusted  and  faithful 
servants  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  the  honest  discharge  of 
duty.  The  Council  has  bestowed  on  the  Society’s  oldest  official 
such  honours  as  were  at  its  disposal,  besides  making  substantial 
provision  for  him  during  the  eventide  of  life.  It  is,  of  course, 
known  that  the  means  of  livelihood  have  been  afforded  by  the 
kind-hearted  and  well-to-do  to  many  a  retired  gardener  and 
gardener’s  widow  ;  but  it  is  said  that  “  corporations  have  no  souls.” 
This  does  not  hold  true  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society.  Its 
worthy  action,  moreover,  brings  to  the  fore  another  matter  that  is, 
perhaps,  not  so  fully  recognised  as  it  should  be. 
Men  who  occupy  public  positions,  or  even  private  positions  in 
prominent  establishments,  may  have,  as  they  ought,  salaries  that 
seem  quite  fair,  and  to  some  generous — sufficient,  in  fact,  for 
current  needs  ;  but  in  such  positions  there  are  demands  on  the 
hospitality  of  such  gardeners  which  amount  to  a  more  serious  tax 
on  their  resources  than  is  by  any  means  generally  appreciated. 
Visitors  from  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  not  a  few 
from  beyond  its  shores,  follow  each  other  at  not  wide  intervals, 
and  British  gardeners,  as  is  their  disposition,  wish  to  accord 
them  appropriate  entertainment.  On  this  account  alone,  and 
