268 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTTGULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  17,  1896, 
home-grown  fruit  thit  was  ihe  chief  feature  in  the  Lord  Major’s 
Show  in  London  in  1893.  This  imposing  car  was  designed  and 
furnished  by  Mr.  Geoi’ge  Bunyaid,  who  reproduced  it  on  the  pre¬ 
sent  occasion  with  admirable  fidelity.  This  towering  structure  of 
splendid  fruit,  packed  as  for  market, Jwas  flanked  by  other  tables 
representing  the  products  of  the  nursery  in  the  form  of  bearing 
fruit  trees,  with  a  wealth  of  flowers  of  various  kinds,  the  whole 
contribution  making  a  beautiful  and  interesting  exhibition. 
Around  the  sides  of  the  hall  were  arranged  exhibits  for  prizes, 
mainly  vegetables,  and  it  is  impossible  to  speak  too  highly  of  the 
competition  in  this  section.  Rarely  have  so  many  large  collections 
been  seen  side  by  side,  and  the  allocation  of  the  several  prizes  (as 
many  as  eight  being  provided  in  one  class)  was  no  easy  task  for  the 
adjudicators.  Every  kind  of  vegetable  in  season  was  admirably 
represented  over  and  over  again,  both  in  the  hall  and  out  of  it,  for 
FIG.  52  —APPLE  EARLYTwHITE  TEANSPAREXT. 
they  overflowed  in^o  p^is^ages  or  where  room  could  be  found  for 
them. 
In  a  second  hall  the  fruit  was  arranged,  every  table  being  filled 
W’ith  produce  that  was  altogether  creditable  to  the  several  growers, 
whether  they  won  prizes  or  not — Grapes,  Apples,  Pears,  Peaches, 
Nectarines,  Plums — in  fact,  all  kinds  in  season,  making  a  most 
satisfactory  display.  Flowers  imparted  colour  to  the  scene,  and  the 
entire  building  was  furnished  as  it  had  never  been  furnished 
before,  as  was  fitting  it  should  be  on  [the  occasion  of  an  event  so 
distinctly  historical. 
Not  less  interesting  than  the  show  is  it  to  note  the  progress  of 
the  firm,  especially  during  the  period  when  its  present  experienced, 
energetic,  and  enterprising  head  has  had  entire  control.  Starting 
in  pre-railway  days,  the  business  was'^of  necessity  local,  atd  its 
growth  slow.  Mr.  George  Bunyard  commenced  as  a  worker  in  it 
in  1855,  and  in  1863  became  a  partner — a  strong  man  in  a  small 
concern,  but  not  content  for  it  to  remain  so,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years  he  acquired  land  at  Allingtou.  Though  this  was  only 
twenty  acres  as  a  beginning,  he  made  the  most  of  it  by  growing  the 
best  trees  that  skill  could  produce,  and  letting  the  world  know  he 
had  them.  In  1881  he  became  sole  controller  of  the  business, 
which  under  bis  prudent,  yet  spirited  and  excellent,  management 
grew  like  a  sound  tree  woll  planted  in  good  soil,  every  year 
extending  till  the  twenty  acres  became  fifty,  and  the  fifty  a 
hi  ndred,  worked  by  often  many  more  than  a  hundred  men  and 
never  less,  with  able  and  valued  departmental  beads,  who  labour 
with  zsal  under  a  chief  they  esteem  for  his  fair,  just,  and  con¬ 
siderate  treatment,  which  it  is  bis  pleasure  to  accord  them. 
The  luncheon  was  a  pleasant  function  of  the  Centenary  Celebra¬ 
tion,  the  chief  presiding  over  a  gathering  of  sixty  or  seventy 
persons,  and  it  was  a  pleasure  to  see  him  supported  by  one  of  his 
oldest  friends — the  ardent  veteran,  yet  hale  and  active  amateurr 
Rev.  H.  H.  D’Ombrain.  The  Royal  toast  was  drunk  by  loyal 
men,  the  judges’  services  acknowledged,  best  wishes  for  the  health 
and  prosperity  of  the  Chairman  and  all  his  belongings,  with  his 
genial  response  bringing  the  proceedings  to  a  close.  Many  of  the 
visitors  then  hastened  to  the  nurseries  to  be  delighted  with  what 
they  would  see  there,  including  a  grand  stock  of  the  valuable  Early 
White  Transparent  Apple  (fig.  52),  and  all  would  return  home 
gratifitd  by  having  been  able  to  attend  the  Bunyard  Centenary 
Celebration. 
DEATH  OF  A  ROYAL  GARDENER— MR.  HENRY 
KNIGHT. 
We  regret  to  have  to  announce  the  death  of  Mr.  Henry  Knight,, 
which  occurred  on  the  9th  inst  at  the  Domaine  Roya'e,  Stuiven- 
berg,  Laeken,  near  Brussels.  Mr.  Knight  was  Director  of  the 
parks  and  gardens  of  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  a  position  which 
he  filled  with  great  judgment  and  ability  for  several  years.  His 
charge  was  a  splendid  one  and  responsible.  The  gardens  at 
Laeken,  from  a  decorative  point  of  view,  and  especially  in  regard 
to  the  character  and  extent  of  the  glass  structures  and  their 
contents,  rank  amongst  the  finest  in  Europe,  and  it  is  satisfactory 
to  know  that  the  Anglo-Scottish  gardener,  for  the  deceased  was  of 
both  English  and  Scotch  parentage,  proved  himself  equal  to  all 
that  wa*  required  of  him  ;  he  was  a  trusted  and  appreciated 
servant  of  his  Royal  master,  who,  as  is  well  known,  is  an  enthu¬ 
siastic  lover  of  plants,  and  whose  knowledge  of  them  is  equal  to 
his  zeal  in  their  cultivation. 
In  Mr,  Knight  His  Majesty  had  not  only  an  accomplished 
gardener,  but  a  prudent  and  intelligent  overseer  of  his  extensive 
demesne — a  man  of  wide  knowledge  and  able  to  converse  in  French 
and  Flemish  with  the  same  freedom  in  which  the  King  discusses 
subjects  of  gardening  in  the  English  tongue.  L’ke  most  really 
able  men,  Mr.  Knight  was  modest  in  demeanour.  In  converse  he 
was  pleasant  and  affable;  in  deportment  natural,  giving  a  quiet, 
yet  genuine  welcome  to  those  visitors  from  bis  native  land  who 
had  the  privilege  of  accompanying  him  in  a  walk  of  considerably 
more  than  a  mile  under  glass. 
Great  improvements  and  extensions  were  effected  during  Mr, 
Knight’s  term  of  duty  at  Laeken.  The  gigantic  winter  garden  was 
remodelled  in  the  arrangement  of  the  noble  Palms  and  varied  plants, 
within  it.  A  large  domed  church-conservatory  was  erected  a  mile 
distant  from  the  winter  garden,  and  a  glazed  corridor  erected, 
heated,  planted,  and  furnished  with  a  wealth  of  climbers  connecting 
the  two  noble  structures  and  the  palace.  The  term  “church-con¬ 
servatory  ”is  exactly  descriptive  of  the  spacious  erection  to  which  it 
is  applied,  and  of  which  we  give  an  illustration  on  page  270  ; 
it  is  not  only  beautifully  furnished  with  Palms  and  innumerable 
choice  plants,  but  is  fitted  with  every  requisite  for  Divine 
worship — altar,  organ,  and  all  that  pertains  to  religious  cere¬ 
monial,  with  annexes  for  the  robing  of  priests  and  choir.  The 
building  is  regularly  used  as  a  church,  and  services  are  conducted 
amid  surroundings'that  cannot  be  seen  elsewhere. 
At  right  angles  with  the  extensive  corridor  are  numerous 
capacious  plant  houses  entered  from  it.  These  are  devoted  in 
turn  to  Orchids,  fine-foliaged,  also  stove  and  greenhouse  flowering 
plants  of  many  genera,  each  kind  grown  in  immense  numbers  and 
in  the  best  manner  that  cultural  skill  can  effect.  There  are  no  fruit 
houses  or  any  vegetables  grown  at  Laeken,  these  necessaries  being 
cultivated  several  miles  away. 
Mr.  Koight  also  formed  and  planted  the  rosery,  which  is  of  no 
ordinary  dimennons,  for  if  we  remember  rightly  more  than  50,000 
plants  are  massed  within  it,  growing  luxuriantly  and  producing  a 
wondrous  display  in  their  season  of  flowering.  Great  alteration* 
have  also  been  successfully  carried  oat  in  the  extensive  pleasure 
grounds  and  park,  mounds  and  dells  having  been  formed  and 
furnished  with  appropriate  plants  and  trees.  In  artistic  work  of  this 
nature  Mr.  Koight  was  an  expert,  as  besides  being  an  accomplished 
draughtsman  he  was  a  man  of  much  taste — in  fact,  a  first-class  land¬ 
scape  gardener,  whose  good  work  will  be  valued  in  future  years. 
With  the  early  career  of  the  deceased  gardener  we  are  not 
intimately  acquainted.  He  was  one  of  the  late  Mr.  William. 
