October  28,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
409 
- -  Norfolk  County  Council. — Mr.  G.  Miller,  market  gardener, 
Wisbech,  has  been  appointed  to  succeed  ^the  late  Mr.  Woodcock  as 
lecturer  on  horticulture  for  the  Norfolk  County  Council.  We  are  informed 
that  Mr.  Miller  has  been  a  successful  temperance  lecturer  in  the  county 
for  several  years. 
-  Eudbeckia  Golden  Glow. — Allow  me  to  correct  an  error  I 
made  about  this  through  not  being  well  up  in  nursery  fancy  names.  I 
have  since  seen  that  “  Golden  Glow  ”  refers  to  Eudbeckia  laciniata  flore- 
pleno,  not  to  the  plant  I  described,  which  has  been  called  in  nurseries 
“  Autumn  Glory,’’  as  I  see  by  Barr’s  catalogue.—  C.  Wolley-Dod. 
-  The  Master  of  the  Eolls. — The  elevation  of  Lord  Justice 
Lindley  to  the  ^Mastership  of  the  Rolls  has  been  hailed  with  general 
satisfaction  among  the  legal  profession.  It  will  interest  horticulturists 
to  know  that  Sir  Nathaniel  Lindley  is  one  of  the  proprietors  of  “The 
Gardeners’  Chronicle,”  of  which  well-known  periodical  his  father  was 
the  first  editor.  The  fame  of  Dr.  John  Lindley  as  a  botanist  and 
scientific  lecturer  on  horticulture  is  still  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  the 
old  generation,  and  from  the  distinction  achieved  by  his  son  it  is  evident 
that  the  fine  logical  faculties  exhibited  by  the  father  have  lost  nothing 
m  transmission  to  the  esteemed  successor  of  the  popular  Lord  Esher. 
- -  Extension  of  Business.— We  are  informed  that  the  well 
known  business  of  Mr.  Andrew  Potter,  London  Works,  Eeading,  will 
henceforth  be  carried  on  under  the  name  of  “Potter,  Hawthorn  &  Co.”  It 
has  been  found  necessary,  owing  to  the  rapid  increase  in  the  business, 
to  take  in  Mr.  Hawthorn,  who  has  been  many  years  with  Mr.  Potter. 
It  will  be  carried  on  under  the  personal  supervision  of  them  both,  and 
they  hope  now  to  be  able  to  give  much  quicker  delivery  than  hitherto, 
especially  when  the  additions  to  their  already  fine  works  have  been 
completed.  We  may  mention  that  their  horticultural  and  poultry  house 
branch  has  considerably  exceeded  their  expectations,  and  they  hope  shortly 
to  have  the  largest  works  of  this  kind  in  the  South  of  England. 
-  Death  op  Mr.  W;  A.  Stiles.— It  is  with  much  regret  that 
we  have  to  record  the  death  of  Mr.' W.  A.  Stiles,  who  has  been  the 
editor  of  the  “  Garden  and  Eorest”  since  the  inception  of  that  publica¬ 
tion  some  ten  years  ago.  He  passed  away  in  Jersey  City  on  the  6  th  inst. 
His  personality  was  to  be  seen  in  the  pages  of  the  paper  he  edited 
week  by  week,  and  his  own  contributions  on  subjects  in  which  he  was 
interested  were  full  of  force,  sound  sense,  and  logic.  In  concluding  an 
announcement  of  his  death,  our  contemporary  says;— “His  death  is  a 
serious  loss  to  the  readers  of  ‘  Garden  and  Eorest,’  and  to  everyone  in 
the  United  States  interested  in  landscape  gardening,  horticulture,  and 
the  care  and  protection  of  our  national  and  state  forests.  To  this  city 
(New  York)  at  this  particular  time  of  his  death  is  a  great  misfortune, 
for  it  leaves  it  without  its  most  intelligent  and  powerful  champion  in  the 
constantly  recurring  fight  between  the  people  and  the  would-be  spoilers 
of  their  parks.  Of  his  life-long  devotion  to  those  nearest  to  him  by 
blood,  untiring  in  its  constancy  and  tenderness,  we  must  not  speak  here  ; 
nor  can  we  trust  ourselves  to  speak  of  the  faithful  friend  and  associate 
tried  by  the  test  of  long  years  of  intimate  relations,  the  wise  counsellor 
and  the  joyous  companion.  Men  who  knew  William  A.  Stiles  loved 
him,  and  to  them  his  memory  will  be  immortal.” 
CHANGE  OR  DECAY. 
Our  “Traveller”  trips  lightly  from  page  to  page  and  man  to  man, 
giving  each  a  gentle  touch  as  he  passes  along.  He  seems  to  say  in  his 
tempting  way,  “  Now  can’t  you  and  won't  you  defend  your  own  craft, 
and  give  me  another  text  for  dilation  on  the  modern  doctrine  of  mutual 
admiration  ?  ”  His  last  journey  must,  I  think,  have  been  a  pleasant,  if 
not  a  profitable  one  ;  for  he  seems  to  be  in  wonderfully  good  humour 
with  everybody,  and  especially  with  himself.  True,  he  speaks  of  the 
“  swell  gardeners  who  hob-nob  together  at  shows,”  but  this  not  because 
of  anything  approaching  a  vindictive  spirit,  but  simply  born  of  a  desire 
to  compliment  the  masses.  Still,  it  is  rather  a  curious  way  to  set  about  the 
task  of  proving  that  gardening  is  decaying  ;  but  then  travellers,  we  all 
know,  have  ways  of  their  own. 
No  trade  or  profession  can  be  decaying  when  each  year  shows  a 
wonderful  increase  in  the  number  of  those  engaged  in  the  work,  and  in 
the  value  of  the  produce  it  yields.  One  might  as  well  argue  that  England 
is  going  to  the  dogs  because  its  old  aristocracy  is  yearly  becoming 
poorer.  It  only  shows  that  wealth  is  passing  from  the  hands  of  one 
class  to  those  of  another.  It  is  just  the  same  with  gardening.  The  fine 
old  establishments  are  in  many  cases  being  broken  up,  but  so  many 
moderate  sized  and  small  ones  are  springing  into  existence,  that  the 
volume  of  good  gardening  is  largely  increasing. 
We  may  not  find  good  all-round  gardening  in  so  many  places  as 
formerly,  but  that  is  because  their  owners  do  not  require  many  things 
that  were  formerly  much  prized,  but  in  many  cases  prefer  specialities  to 
be  made  of  certain  things  ;  and  present-day  gardeners — like  the  sensible 
men  that  they  are — grow  such  things  far  better  than  they  were  grown  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  Grapes,  Peaches,  Apples,  Pears,  grand  plants 
in  small  pots,  are  now  grown  thoroughly  well  in  a  greater  percentage  of 
gardens  than  formerly. 
When  “  Traveller  ”  comes  to  what  he  terms  “  the  decorations  question  ” 
he  asks  quite  a  volley  of  questions,  some  of  which  have  no  bearing  what¬ 
ever  upon  the  point  at  issue.  My  former  position  will  be  made  quite 
clear,  in  fact  unassailable,  if  I  now  state  explicitly  that,  when  I  took 
charge  of  a  garden,  such  as  one  that  has  been  referred  to,  exactly  the 
same  number  of  hands  were  employed  as  in  after  years  when  there  were 
no  reductions  whatever  in  the  requirements  in  any  direction,  but  a  vast 
increase  in  the  amount  of  decorative  work  required. 
What  a  brilliant  idea  it  was  on  the  part  of  a  “  Traveller  ”  to  cull  two 
lines  from  different  parts  of  my  former  article,  and  then  leave  me  to 
reconcile  the  apparently  irreconcilable.  I  can  do  it  quite  easily,  my 
travelling  critic.  Gardening  is  not  decaying,  but  only  changing  in  form. 
There  may  be  evidence  of  deterioration  in  some  places  and  in  some  phases 
of  the  grand  old  art,  but  the  improvements  and  expansions  in  other 
directions  overbalance  the  decadence  a  hundredfold. —  Chrysanthemum 
Lover.  _ 
As  the  discussion  on  the  alleged  decadence  in  gardening  has  been 
very  interesting,  good  humouredly  personal,  and  in  some  ways  useful ; 
and  as  it  has  greatly  enlivened  your  pages,  and  also  been  the  means  of 
bringing  out  some  very  practical  cultural  notes  from  correspondents  who 
may  be  said  to  be  new  to  us,  I  do  not  think  you  will  begrudge  the  space 
taken  up.  The  discussion  has  travelled  over  a  good  deal  of  ground,  from 
“the  decadence  of  gardening”  and  its  suggested  causes,  “excessive 
floral  decoration  in  flower  garden  and  mansion,”  “  commercial  gardening,” 
to  “  wall-fruit  tree  neglect,  and  consequent  mismanagement,  or  no 
management,”  to  “mutual  admiration  cliques,”  to  “Mum  worship  and 
worshippers,”  to  “  youthful  styles  of  writing,  ’  and  a  few  other  items, 
but  all  and  chiefly  settling  down  to  the  charge  of  “  A  Traveller,”  that 
there  is  a  general  decay  of  gardening. 
To  that,  as  one  nearing  fast  the  threescore  years  and  ten,  with  fifty 
years  of  practical  gardening  to  quote  from,  with  its  fifty  years  of  close 
observation  and  study  of  gardening  in  all  its  phases,  with  its  fair  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  the  literature  of  gardening,  and  some  personal  knowledge  of  the 
men  who  have  made  their  mark  in  the  profession,  and  one  who  has  taken 
a  deep  interest  in  the  doings  of  young  gardeners,  and  watched  them  very 
closely  all  that  time,  I  say  emphatically,  “  No  ;  gardening  in  its  widest 
aspect  is  not  decaying!”  That  gardening  is  altering  in  its  procedure 
and  manifestations,  I  at  once  say,  Yes,  it  is  ;  but  then  it  is  but  in  that 
following  out  the  great  law  of  Nature — change,  and  is  another  confirmation 
of  the  inflexible  law  of  evolution  ;  one  stage  of  the  profession’s  life 
succeeding  the  other,  and  each  stage  differing  from  the  last. 
On  change  duration  is  founded  ;  and  though  we^who  are  getting  older 
and  slower  and  more  conservative,  if  not  prejudiced,  in  our  ideas,  do  not 
take  kindly  to  these  new  and  advancing  thoughts  and  ways,  and  lament 
with  Sir  Bedivere  in  “  The  Passing  of  Arthur,”  that — 
“  The  days  darken  round  me,  and  the  years. 
Among  new  men,  strange  faces,  other  minds,” 
yet  the  wisdom,  looking  on  both  sides,  which  comes  with  years 
reaches  us  that  these  things  are  inevitable,  and  that  it  is  our  duty  to  make 
up  our  minds  to  them,  and  give  cheerful  and  kindly  welcome  to  those  who 
are  to  take  our  places  before  long.  Certain  it  is  that  if  the  new  genera¬ 
tion  of  gardeners  has  many  in  it  like  “  H.  D.”  (behind  which  initials  we 
most  of  us  know  is  one  of  the  best  and  cleverest  practical  gardeners  of 
the  present  day),  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  gardening  will  never  decay. 
One  word  more,  and  I  close  this  note.  A  correspondent  who  noticed 
my  previous  article  seemed  to  think  that  I  regretted  the  introduction  of 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  into  the  ranks  of  market  gardeners.  I  assure 
him  I  do  not.  The  inference  I  hoped  would  be  drawn  was,  that  the 
noblemen  and  gentlemen,  with  no  rent  to  pay,  and  lightly  assessed  land, 
putting  themselves  into  competition  with  the  heavily  rented  and  assessed 
professional  market  gardener,  would  very  severely  injure  the  humbler 
producer  ;  that,  though  they  might  have  been  selling  produce  for  some 
time,  it  was  somewhat  new  that  they  should  publicly  proclaim  themselves 
as  fruiterers,  dairymen,  and  market  gardeners  generally.  ^  I  rejoice,  and 
greatly  rejoice,  at  any  extension  of  the  gardening  profession  in  whatso¬ 
ever  way  ;  more  especially  so  in  the  extension  of  fruit  growing  which 
has  gone  on,  and  is  going  on,  with  leaps  and  bounds,  thereby  advancing 
our  profession,  and  providing  more  food  for  the  people.  What  we  require 
in  all  our  work  in  the  present  day  is  a  greater  respect^  for  the  opinions  of 
each  other,  more  thoughtful  patience,  and  an  increasing  readiness  to  lay 
hold  of  every  idea  and  practice  which  will  bring  out  anything  and 
everything  to  promote  the  betterment  of  gardening  and  gardeners. 
An  Old  Provincial. 
I  While  admitting  the  ability  that  has  been  displayed,  both  in  friendly 
attack  and  defence,  by  the  several  correspondents  who  have  taken 
part  in  the  literary  tournament  on  the  subject  in  question,  we  are 
inclined  to  think,  if  a  vote  could  be  taken  on  the  point,  that  ^e 
palm  would  b©  given  to  the  oldest  of  them  all — “An  Old  Provincial.  His 
firm  clear  penmanship,  with  taste  and  accuracy  .in  expression,  are 
acquirements  to  be  envied  by  many  younger  men,  while  his  matured 
thought  and  expansive  mind  add  weight  to  his  observations.  \Vith  this 
example  of  “  nearly  threescore  years  and  ten,’  a  gardener  in  harness,  who 
can  dig  as  well  as  he  can  write,  what  ought  not  our  modern  braves  to  do  ? 
We  shall  shortly  have  a  few  words  to  say  on  the  subject  that  has  been  so 
fully  discussed,  and  in  view  of  Chrysanthemum  time,  perhaps  hoist  the 
flag  of  truce.  1 
