68 
JOURNAL  OF  horticulture  AND  COTTaOE  GARDENHR. 
July  ii,  1S37. 
all  who  attended  the  gardens  appeared  to  be  present.  This  is  only 
what  might  have  been  expected,  as  not  only  is  the  Doctor  a  gentle¬ 
man  of  distinguished  scientific  attainments,  but  the  happy  possessor 
of  a  charming  disposition,  and  is  one  of  the  most  popslar  men  in 
the  domain  of  horticulture. 
An  impression  was  prevalent  prior  to  the  meeting  that  an 
elaborate  paper  had  been  prepared  to  be  read  at  the  meeting  ;  but 
this  was  not  so,  and  the  address  was  not  the  less  acceptable  because 
unconventional  and,  so  to  say,  conversational,  appearing  to  be  based 
on  a  few  jottings  on  a  slip  of  paper  and  a  couple  of  letters  from 
America.  What  lecturers  would  do  without  America  and  its 
exhaustive  “  State  ”  reports  is  not  easy  to  conceive.  They  are 
wonderful  productions  truly,  though  we  believe  several  of  the  best 
gardeners  of  the  New  World  have  “gone  over”  from  the  Old, 
and  are  still  going.  Let  us  hope  it  is  a  good  thing  for  both — for 
the  gardeners  and  for  the  great  nation  of  the  West. 
In  alluding  to  the  Doctor’s  address  we  will  follow  his  example, 
and  make  no  attempt  to  give  a  formal  report,  but  indicate  the 
character  of  his  observations  in  an  unconventional  way,  and  if 
the  pen  should  be  disposed  to  drop  a  comment  here  and  there  to 
let  it  have  a  run,  regardless  of  consequences.  First  of  all,  and 
very  appropriately,  thanks  were  tendered  to  the  Council  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  for  affording  the  opportunity  for  such 
a  pleasant  gathering  of  scientists  and  practicalists.  The  sundry 
responsive  “  hear,  hears”  suggested  two  things — 1,  that  the  Doctor 
had  given  expression  to  the  feelings  of  his  audience  ;  2,  that  the 
said  audience  would  not  object  to  anniversaries  of  the  occasion. 
Wise  audience. 
We  were  then  taken  for  a  few  moments  to  the  “  past”  when 
“  the  area  of  the  gardens  was  much  greater  than  now,  and  their 
work  wider  in  its  scope  ;  when  plants  were  collected  by  Fortune 
and  others,  great  and  good  work  done  in  the  fruit  department  by 
Robert  Thompson,  and  meteorological  observations  carefully  re¬ 
corded.”  The  pen  seems  to  want  to  say  certainly  in  the  old  days  the 
weather  records  at  Chiswick  were  looked  for  by  many  gardeners, 
and  they  would  be  welcome  now  if  the  same  scrupulous  accuracy  in 
observation  and  presentation  were  forthcoming.  The  lecturer 
went  on  to  note  that  “the  times  had  changed,  and  Chiswick  did  ; 
not  stand  so  much  alone  now  as  it  did  In  the  days  of  its  ancient  j 
glory.  Kew  had  become  more  and  more  active,  more  and  more  I 
useful,  and  the  enterprise  of  nurserymen  and  seedsmen  was  a  great  ^ 
factor  in  the  furnishing  of  gardens.  The  past,  then,  could  not 
afford  us  much  guidance  now,  and  we  must  look  to  the  present  and 
the  future.” 
As  to  the  “present.”  Though  we  all  know,  and  as  the  Doctor 
admitted,  his  inclinations  are  in  the  direction  of  scientific  teaching, 
yet  no  one  has  a  greater  respect  for  and  appreciates  more  the  good 
work  of  practical  gardeners  than  he  does  ;  and  as  he  undoubtedly 
knows  good  work  when  he  sees  it,  he  “  ventured  to  say  that  the 
gardeners  present  would  agree  that  Chiswick  was  in  excellent 
condition  to-day,  and  a  credit  to  its  practical  Superintendent,  Mr. 
S.  T.  Wright,  who  was  proving  himself  a  worthy  successor  of  a 
worthy  man  ” — a  remark  that  met  with  general  acquiescence. 
We  were  next  asked  to  look  to  the  “future.”  This  was  intro¬ 
duced  by  two  questions — 1,  “Do  we  derive  all  the  advantages  we 
ought  as  a  learned  Society  out  of  the  garden  at  Chiswick?” 
2,  “  Are  we  doing  our  duty  to  horticulture  as  well  as  it  might  be 
done  in  this  matter  ?  ”  These  are  significant  questions  worthy  of 
serious  thought.  Evidently  if  the  speaker  had  been  pressed  on 
the  subject  he  would  have  answered  both  of  them  in  the  negative. 
And  quite  right,  too,  because  if  any  body  of  men,  however 
eminent,  think  they  have  gone  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  go  it  is 
certain  they  will  soon  be  left  behind.  Not  for  a  moment  is  it 
implied  that  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  are  embaed  with  any  such  feelings  of 
self-sufficiency.  If  that  were  so  they  would  not  give  facilities  for 
and  welcome  suggestions  for  widening  the  usefulness  of  the 
gardens.  _ 
Dr.  Masters  has  high  aspirations,  and  he  indicated  what  he 
would  desire  to  see.  “  He  would  like  Chiswick  to  be  a  great 
educational  and  instructional  institution — a  model  garden,  in  which 
typical  representatives  could  be  seen  of  different  kinds  of  vege¬ 
tables,  fruits,  and  flowers,  with  which  varieties  of  the  types  could 
be  compared.”  We  suspect  this  is  more  easy  to  hope  for  than 
accomplish,  even  in  the  case  of  Cabbages,  which  were  cited  as 
examples.  In  the  case  of  Peas  well  known  standard  varieties  are 
grown  this  year,  with  which  the  new  forms  have  been  compared. 
Is  not  this  of  more  practical  service  than  having  “types”  merely-— 
round-seeded  white  and  blue,  and  of  wrinkled  types  representing 
the  different  colours  of  ripened  seeds,  and  so  on  with  other 
things  ?  It  would  be  well  to  have  good  old  standard  varieties  in 
all  trials  and  invite  improvers  to  excel  them.  Then  the  Doctor 
advocated  “  demonstrations  in  methods  of  cultivation,  in  pruning, 
training,  trenching,  mulching,  and  other  routine  work  ;  also  experi¬ 
mental  trials,  not  with  plants  and  crops  only,  but  also  of  manures 
and  with  spraying,  as  in  America,  as  well  as  of  advertised  remedies” 
which  are  supposed,  to  make  an  end  of  all  insects  and  plant  and 
tree  enemies.  There  is  scope  no  doubt  for  carrying  out  at  least 
some  of  those  propositions,  and  more  diversity  might  be  displayed 
in  the  gardens  both  in  cultivation  and  manipulative  methods  for 
educational  purposes.  _ 
Passing  to  the  Instructional  section  of  his  discourse,  schools  of 
horticulture  naturally  received  attention.  We  have  said  before 
that  in  our  opinion  the  best  schools  of  horticulture  (not  botany) 
in  the  world  are  the  best  equipped  and  best  managed  private 
gardens  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  from  these  have  sprung  the 
best  gardeners  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  all  the  same  true 
that  we  have  no  experimental  stations  snch  as  exist  in  America, 
and  no  properly  equipped  garden  established  for  educational 
purposes  in  the  various  phases  of  horticulture,  or  in  its  utilitarian 
as  well  as  its  ornamental  aspects. 
We  were  told  there  are  more  than  fifty  State-aided  experimental 
stations  in  America,  and  twenty  of  them  of  horticultural  im¬ 
portance,  conducted  by  practical  and  scientific  men.  Letters  were 
read  from  two  of  the  principals  describing  the  good  work  conducted 
in  those  establishments,  all  the  details  of  which  are  published  for 
the  benefit  of  the  nation.  One  of  the  writers,  with  delightful 
modesty,  gave  an  invitation  to  “  send  sonde  wide-awake  men  over 
here  to  learn  wisdom.”  They  would  no  doubt  meet  with  a 
welcome  reception,  see  very  much,  and  hear  much  more  ;  but 
unfortunately  we  have  none  wide-awake  enough  to  draw  State 
aid  from  the  British  Government  for  lupporting  schools  of 
horticulture. 
Knowing  this  very  well,  the  Doctor  went  on  to  suggest 
that  “  if  we  cannot  have  a  fully  equipped  school  at  Chiswick, 
cannot  arrangements  be  made  for  the  students  there  to  attend  the 
lectures  at  Kew,  whilst  Kew  students  might  in  turn  come  to 
Chiswick  to  learn  fruit  and  vegetable  culture  ?  ”  If  any  such 
arrangement  could  be  effected  the  two  sections  of  students  would 
derive  valuable  instruction,  which  neither  establishment  can  in 
itself  afford.  Kew  is  a  magnificent  institution,  and  has  done 
splendid  work  for  the  empire,  enriching  the  colonies  by  the  Tea, 
Coffee,  and  other  plantations,  and  in  producing  for  home  consumers 
greater  and  better  and  cheaper  supplies  of  the  necessities  of  life  ; 
yet  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  explained  the  great  difficultv  he  had  in 
obtaining  the  first  £100  for  scientific  teaching  at  Kew,  and  he 
evidently  foresaw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  proposed 
amalgamation.  _ 
The  Doctor’s  resources  were,  however,  not  exhausted  as  to  the 
question  of  means.  “  There  was  the  County  Council.  Could  it  not 
be  induced  to  give  monetary  aid  ?  ”  Middlesex  benefits  materially 
by  its  horticulture  as  practised  in  its  market  gardens  and  orchards  ; 
but  we  have  not  heard  much  of  its  county  parliament  doing  much 
for  horticulture.  Derbyshire,  Cheshire,  Essex,  Notts,  Kent, 
Stafford,  Surrey,  Yorkshire,  and  other  counties  have  made  grants 
to  scientific  establishments  and  for  practical  work,  while  Middlesex 
has  the  most  celebrated  station  of  all  within  its  confines,  but  its 
County  Council  as  a  body  may  not  know  it.  Instead,  then,  of  send¬ 
ing  wide-awake  men  to  America  to  gain  “  wisdom,”  let  them  go, 
with  the  Doctor  at  the  head  of  them,  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
Middlesex  county  authorities,  and  obtain  a  grant  of  £1000  a  year 
for  Chiswick,  then  will  be  add  to  his  fame  as  a  teacher  of  sciences 
that  of  a  public  benefactor  in  the  horticultural  world. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  about  the  speaker’s  earnestness  of 
desire  for  sound  systematic  educational  work,  nor  of  the  strength 
of  his  convictions  that  to  be  sound  it  must  be  scientific.  He 
condensed  his  belief  in  the  following  pithy  sentence  : — “  Brain 
work  must  be  thrown  into  hand  work,  and  practical  subjects  treated 
in  a  scientific  way,  as  true  progreiss  could  only  be  made  when 
science  was  the  basis  of  practice.”  Let  all  young  gardeners  write 
down  that  sentence,  think  it  over  till  its  full  significance  is  compre¬ 
hended,  commit  it  to  memory,  act  in  accordance  with  it,  and  then 
may  they  in  time  to  come  benefit  by  this  social  and  intellectual 
gathering  at  Chiswick.  ______ 
The  different  speakers  were  listened  to  with  great  attention? 
the  whole  of  them  meeting  with  an  excellent  reception.  This  wa^ 
