]\farch  20,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HCfRTIGULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
255 
I  suppose  that,  after  all,  it  is  immaterial  who  was  the  raiser 
of  this  variety,  about  which  comments  have  appeared  recently 
in  the  Journal,  from  Messrs.  Wells  and  Weeks.  Until  now, 
Mr,  H.  Weeks  has  not  publicly  claimed  it  as  one  of  his  seedlings. 
I  am  not  going  to  dispute  the  statement  which  he  makes  on 
page  210,  but  in  defence  to  my  previous  letter,  I  may  say  that 
I  know  of  a  gardener  who,  in  as  explicit  terms  as  those  of  Mr. 
Weeks,  does  claim  to  have  raised  the  variety  from  seed  imported 
from  Japan  in  1894,  and  he  still  sticks  to  this  statement.  I  do 
not  think  that  Mr.  Weeks  is  justified  in  hinting  that  I  have 
asserted  that  the  variety  in  question  is  a  sport,  of  Mutual  Friend. 
I  have  always  disputed  this  statement.  One  thing  is  remark¬ 
able,  and  that  is  the  number  of  times  Miss  Lily  Mountford 
has  been  sold  before  being  finally  offered  to  the  public.  Can 
Mr.  Gleeson,  who  is  responsible  for  introducing  this  variety, 
throw  any  light  on  the  parentage? — W.  J.  Godfrey,  Exmouth. 
Wrong  Nomenclature. 
Wrong  nomenclature  (p.  243)  is  very  wrong,  and  the  worst 
of  it  is  we  are  never  quite  certain  nowadays  when  it  is  wrong! 
Richardia  africana  presents  a  very  glaring  example  of  how  a 
beautiful  plant  may  be  defrauded  for  centuries  of  its  rightful 
designation,  and,  worst  insult  of  all  when  people  know  it  they 
continue  naming  it  improperly.  I  daresay  not  a  few  have 
inquired  why  a  plant  unknown  so  far  north  in  Africa  should  yet 
be  described  as  a  native  of  .Ethiopia ;  and  we  have  to  seek 
the  reason  in  times  when  the  geography  of  the  Dark  Continent 
was  so  little  known  as  to  be  almost  an  indescribable  quantity. 
Parkinson,  explaining  the  reason  as  long  ago  as  1629,  says  plants 
coming  from  south  the  Line  were  called  .iEthiopian ;  and  it  is 
therefore  not  singular  that  most  of  the  first  Cape  plants  carried 
that  description.  But  these  are  as  nothing  to  the  plants  that 
are  “  improperly  ”  called  Lilies.  I  find  I  have  a  list  of  about 
seventy  so-called  Lilies,  a  goodly  proportion  of  which  are  now 
known  by  other  names.  Personally  I  have  no  dislike  to  the 
name.  As  one  for  evei’yday  use  what  better  could  we  have,  for 
instance,  than  Lily  of  the  Valley,  Eucharis  Lily  or  Arum  Lily, 
and  in  the  case  of  some  plants  that  have  dropped  the  name,  as,  for 
example,  Agapanthus,  African  Lily  is  much  more  to  my  taste. 
The  wmrd  is  a  delightful  Old  English  one  employed  with  a  very 
wide  meaning,  and  I  for  one  would  not  like  to  see  its  use 
restricted  to  the  genus,  Lilium,  any  more  than  Rose  to  the  true 
Roses. — B. 
A  Fortunate  Gardener. 
We  notice  among  the  munificent  bequests  of  the  late  Mr. 
James  Dick,  of  Armathwaite,  Pollokshields,  Glasgow,  that  his 
gardener,  Mr.  David  Nicoll,  has  been  left  the  handsome  sum 
of  £1,000.  Mr.  Dick  was  one  of  our  wealthy  princes  in  the 
great  north-western  metropolis,  and  has  bequeathed,  besides  the 
£5,500  for  household  servants,  the  very  handsome  sum  of 
£100,000  to  his  employes  connected  with  the  firm  of  R.  and  J. 
Dick.  Other  large  bequests  have  been  made  to  institutions 
throughout  the  country.  Everyone  will  applaud  the  dis¬ 
interested  motives  of  a  gentleman  so  inclined  to  place  his 
dependents  in  comfortable  circumstances,  as  well  as  for  the 
judicious  course  he  took  in  distributing  his  wealth.  That  Mr. 
Dick  was  possessed  of  qualities  that  are  rarely  to  be  discovered 
among  our  men  of  wealth  is  very  evident,  and  that  he  also  had 
a  wider  capacity  for  symjyathising  with  his  fellow  creatures  who 
honestly  served  him,  goes  without  saying.  Such  an  expression 
of  acknowledging  the  services  of  his  workers  at  once  claims  for 
his  memory  the  very  highest  eulo^ums,  and  doubtless  were 
more  of  his  spirit  among  us,  the  strained  relations  unfortunately 
so  common  existing  between  employer  and  servant  would  be  less 
in  evidence.  We  liave  no  desire  to  be  in  the  least  degree  con¬ 
sidered  as  sympathising  with  the  Socialists’  religion,  for  that  is 
what  we  are  inherently  opposed  to.  Nevertheless,  we  must 
say  this  much,  that  whether  the  individual  has  devoted  his  best 
days  to  the  services  of  his  country  or  otherwise,  he  ought  in 
some  measure  be  compensated  in  a  manner  at  least  to  ward  the 
wolf  from  the  door,  when,  alas!  he  may  no  longer  be  able  to 
do  aught  for  himself.  Long  and  faithful  service  undoubtedly 
deserves  acknowledgment,  and  the  employer  who  wisely  does  so 
is  not  only  doing  his  duty,  but  is  also  the  recipient  of  the  blessings 
of  God  and  man. — D.  C. 
Zinc  Labels. 
I  have  long  found  these  best  in  every  respect,  whether  for 
pots  or  the  border,  I  get  a  thin  sheet  of  that  metal,  paint 
it  over  with  white  paint,  with  a  strong  pair  of  old  scissors  cut 
them  out  the  requisite  shape  and  size,  and  write  the  name  of 
the  plant  boldly,  with  a  black-lead  pencil.  A  single  coat  of 
paint,  when  necessary,  makes  them  as  good  as  new. — Q. 
The  Praise  of  Horticulture.* 
Right  gladly,  Mr.  Editor,  do  I  join  your  veteran  corre¬ 
spondent  in  a  brief  and  cheery  letter  on  the  occasion  of  your 
Spring  Number.  After  the  wearisome  three  weeks  of  continuous 
frost,  we  gladly  hail  the  resumption  of  garden  work,  as  each  of 
earth’s  offsprings  coyly  peeps  through  her  teeming  bosom.  Now 
comes  our  opportunity.  We  must  bestir  ourselves,  taking  an 
occa.sioiial  peep  into  our  Journal — if  inexperienced,  for  timely 
enlightenment ;  if  well-informed,  or  expert.s,  for  friendly  inter¬ 
change  of  opinions — a  pantry,  richly  stored,  in  every  corner,  with 
food  necessary  for  the  horticulturist.  For  let  not  the  supercilious 
imagine  that  we  veterans  consist  of  a  sort  of  “  Mutual  Admira^ 
tion  Society  ”  much  given  to  the  doctrinaire  style  1  A  glance 
at  our  Journal  at  once  dispels  the  illusion.  On  the  contrary, 
while  technical  subjects  are  academically  treated,  and  find  ample 
space  for  fullest  discussion,  the  plainest  treatment  of  fruits 
and  flowers,  their  friends  and  foes,  is  observed. 
But  this  brings  me,  like  John  Gilpin,  to  the  middle  of  rny 
letter.  Now,  how  can  I,  Mr.  Editor,  finish  better  than  in 
praise  of  horticulture?  Never,  I  hold,  can  the  subject  be  intro¬ 
duced  too  early  in  the  curriculum  of  the  young.  Nature,  then 
and  always,  is  the  best  governess  ;  indeed,  we  find  it  to  be  dis¬ 
tinctive  in  most  country-bred  children.  I  am  often  aghast  at 
the  questions  my  six  and  eight-year-old  grandchildren  pose  me 
with!  Why,  but  why,  this  or  that  in  wood  or  hedgerow?  Ah! 
the  pity  of  it!  in  the  old-looking,  brick-environed  child  of  our 
populous  towns,  with  just  the  same  natural  instincts,  the  same 
capacity,  if  early  developed,  for  rural  delights.  “A  Primrose 
by  the  river’s  brim,  a  yellow  Primrose  was  to  him,  but  it  was 
nothing  more.” 
Seldom  do  we  find  a  taste  for  horticulture  acquired  in  after 
life;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  even  with  the  highest  intellects, 
an  almost  omniscient  Shakespeare,  a  Tennyson,  and  even  a 
Wordsworth,  the  Interpreter  of  Nature,  we  see  errors  of  descrip¬ 
tion — “  poetical  licences,”  presumably  1  May  I  prophesy  (always 
safe  for  a  veteran)  we  should  hear  less  and  less  of  country 
clearances  and  grievances,  of  moral  delinquencies, _  such  as  our 
good  Bishops’  Betting  Bill  hopes  to  cure,  as  an  innocent  and 
healthy  taste  for  horticulture  becomes  more  and  more  popu¬ 
larise  ? — ^Herefordshire  Incumbent. 
Mr.  S.  H.  Edwards. 
While  the  pages  of  the  Spring  Number  of  the  Journal  are,  as 
usual,  full  of  interest,  I  greet  with  especial  pleasure  the  portrait 
of  and  the  reaniniscences  of  Mr.  S.  H.  Edwards,  the  “  proof 
reader”  of  the  Journal.  As  an  old  contributor,  I  may  express 
my  peculiar  pleasure  at  seeing  the  presentment  of  one  who  is 
largely  our  creditor  for  the  careful  work  done  in  revising  the 
proofs  of  one’s  articles,  in  w'hich  out-of-the-way  plant  names  often 
occur.  During  the  years  I  have  written  to  the  Journal  I  have 
only  seen  some  two  or  three  of  the  proofs  of  my  articles,  and  I 
have  often  remarked  to  my  friends  upon  the  care  with  which 
the  “  reading  ”  is  done.  Errors  have  been  remarkably  rare,  and 
doubtless  a  good  deal  of  this  was  due  to  the  care  with  which 
Mr.  Edwards  “  read  ”  the  productions.  May  he  be  long  spared 
to  continue  his  work! — S.  Arnott. 
[None  can  know  better  than  the  Editors  the  great  assistance 
they  have  received  in  times  past  from  the  “  old  hands  ”  of  the 
composing  staff  of  the  Journal,  and  especially  from  “  the  doyen 
of  the  chapel.” — Ed.] 
Allow  me  to  express  my  pleasure  at  the  opportunity  of  being 
introduced  to  Mr.  S.  H.  Edwards  for  the  first-  time  (re  last  issue 
of  the  Journal)  both  as  a  stranger  and  a  respected  old  member  of 
the  staff.  His  life  history,  also,  afforded  me  much  interest  in 
the  perusal. — W.  Gardiner. 
The  Bothy. 
The  subjects  which  will  interest  bothyites  are  not  always 
easily  determinable.  Most  probably  the  doings  in  the  fcocball 
world  at  the  present  time  inter^t  a  considerable  number,  while 
cricket  absorbs  a  lot  of  attention  in  summer.  Ihis  is  on  y 
natural  to  the  active  Englishman  who  is  fond  of  sport,  and  this 
desire  may  be  satisfied  to  a  reasonable  extent  without  causing 
any  great  neglect  of  important  matters  which  call  for  cultiv^ 
tion  as  necessary  for  the  equipment  of  a  young  gardener  in  his 
battle  of  life  horticulturally.  As  regards  sports  and  pastimes, 
*  This  interesting  letter  was  received  from  onr  old  friend  too  late  for  last  week 
Spring  Number. — Kn.  » 
