374 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  25,  1900. 
past,  enough  remain  to  give  cheeriness  to  the  garden  and  flowers  for 
the  house.  1  must  confess  to  a  liking  for  the  small-flowered  forms, 
such  as  Coombe-Fishacre,  cordifolius,  and  its  varieties,  diflusus,  and 
others  of  a  similar  style.  F.  W.  Bnrbidge,  puniceus  pulcherrimus, 
John  Wood,  versicolor,  turbinellus,  and  the  novse-anglise  varieties  are 
all  of  special  value  still.  The  first  is  getting  over,  but  the  others  give 
good  flowers  even  now.  Of  course  those  of  the  type  of  Aster  amellus 
are  indispensable. 
It  has  been  a  grand  season  for  the  hardy  Hydrangeas,  which  are 
quite  hardy  with  us  by  the  sea.  With  their  great  beads  of  flower 
they  are  truly  grand,  though  with  us  they  do  not  reach  the  height 
they  attain  in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  where,  with  the  Fuchsias,  they 
are  most  delightful  in  their  own  way.  Hardy  Fuchsias  do  well  here 
also,  and  one  sees  the  old  Kiccartoni,  coccinea,  and  a  few  others.  A 
bright  one  here,  which  came  to  me  from  St.  Albans,  is  of  the  type  of 
the  French  hardy  hybrid  Fuchsia  Telegraphe.  A  bonny  little  rock 
garden  F ucheia  is  Bouquet,  of  which  F.  myrtifolia  is  one  of  the  parents. 
Visitors  seem  much  surprised  at  the  neatness  of  F.  pumila,  which 
still  shows  its  bright  flowers  on  one  of  the  rockeries. 
There  are  many  survivals  of  the  earlier  flowers.  The  Monthly 
Roses  give,  as  is  their  wont,  flowers  still,  a  few  others  joining  them  in 
carrying  aloft  the  banner  of  the  Rose.  Madame  Isaac  Pereire  has 
gone  up  to  the  top  of  its  pillar  to  exhibit  a  handsome  bloom,  which 
seems  to  look  contemptuously  upon  the  smaller  flowers  of  Longworth 
Rambler. 
There  yet  bloom  the  gay  Zauschneria  californica,  the  more  showy 
Phygelius  capensis,  some  Violas,  some  Sunflowers,  though  their  gold 
is  not  so  blight  as  in  earlier  days.  We  could  pluck  many  other 
lingering  flowers  for  this  autumn  posy  of  ours.  We  could  mingle  with 
them  leaves  of  many  hues,  hardly  less  beautiful  than  those  petals 
which  are  yet  so  gay.  Truly  the  passing  of  the  flowers  is  beautilul  in 
its  decay ;  full  of  a  pleasure  deeply  touched  with  melancholy ;  yet 
filled  with  chastened  happiness,  because  we  have  our  memories  of  a 
more  golden  time,  memories  ineffaceable  even  by  the  shortened  days. 
— S.  Aenott. 
Certificated  Plants.' 
The  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Committees  and  Their  Work. 
The  appearance,  in  the  form  of  a  bulky  pamphlet,  of  the  list  of 
plants  certificated  by  the  society  from  1859  to  1899 — a  period  of  forty 
years — affords  an  excellent  opportunity  for  something  like  a  survey  of 
the  progress  made  durirjg  that  period.  To  some  of  us  the  appearance 
ot  the  lists  revives  memories  of  long  ago,  and  recalls  men  and 
circumstances  practically  unknown  to  very  many  of  the  present 
generation.  The  development  of  horticulture  in  its  widest  significance 
during  the  past  fifty  years  has  been  little  less  than  stupendous. 
Men  have  arisen,  made  their  mark,  completed  their  life  work,  and 
passed  away  ;  some  succeeded  in  inscribing  their  names  in  the  annals 
of  horticulture,  others  doing  worthy  work  less  obtrusively  are  quite 
forgotten,  or  remembered  only  by  the  decreasing  few  remaining,  who 
were  contemporaries  of  them.  What  a  roll  of  honoured  names  of  the 
depaited  it  is  possible  to  compile!  There  have  been  times  of  flori- 
cultural  surprises,  when  an  addition  of  unexpected  value  was  made  to 
our  cultivated  plants.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  period  between 
1859  and  1899  records  succeeding  years  of  steady  work  by  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  — not  without  some  mistakes  having  been 
committed,  but  yet  with  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  credit  itself  with 
an  enormous  balance  of  excellent,  practical,  and  even  enduring  work. 
A  preface  having  an  historical  value  has  been  contributed  by  the 
secretary,  the  Rev.  W.  Wilks.  From  that  we  learn  that  “the  Fruit 
and  Vegetable  Committee  is  the  senior  body.”  Previous  to  its 
formation,  the  British  Pomological  Society  performed  the  function  of 
taking  cognizance  of  new  fruits.  This  society  was  formed  in  July, 
1854,  as  a  response  to  a  suggestion  thrown  out  by  the  veteran  Mr. 
Thomas  Riveis  in  the  pages  of  “The  Florist.”  Its  first  president  was 
Sir  Joseph  Paxton  ;  its  treasurer  Mr.  John  Spencer,  then  of  Bowood, 
Caine,  Wilts;  iis  secretaries  were  Mr.  Spencer  and  the  late  Dr.  Robert 
Jlogg-  There  lies  befoie  me  as  I  write  a  list  of  its  first  council  and 
members ;  and  of  the  latter,  fifty-five  in  number,  I  think  not  one 
remains  amongst  us.  It  would  appear  that  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  formed  a  Vegetable  Committee  in  1858,  the  purpose  of  its 
existence  being  to  collect  and  test  at  Chiswick,  from  seeds,  every  kind 
of  vegetable  then  cultivated.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  at  the  end 
of  1859  this  Vegetable  Committee  absorbed  the  British  Pomological 
Society,  and  became  known  henceforward  as  the  Fruit  and  Vegetable 
Committee  of  the  R.H.S. 
In  the  preface  we  also  learn  that  a  Floral  Committee  was  formed  in 
June,  1859,  and  this  in  its  turn  absorbed  the  National  Floricultural 
Society.  This  society  was  formed  in  March,  1851,  and  held  its  first 
meeting  in  June  of  that  year  in  the  old  rooms  of  the  R.H.S.  at 
T,x  ’  Pl’iuted  for  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  by  Spottiswoode  &  Co., 
rsew  Street  Square,  London,  1900. 
21,  Regent  Street.  Its  formation  was  the  outcome  of  a  want  keenly  felt 
of  a  superior  tribunal  to  which  all  seedling  florist’s  flowers  and  hybrids 
should  be  submitted  previously  to  being  sent  out  by  the  trade.  The 
necessity  for  the  formation  of  such  a  tribunal  was  shown  from  the  fact 
that  introductions  of  doubtful  value  had  been  certified  as  of  first-class 
qualities  by  censors  who  had  only  a  limited  knowledge  of  the  varieties 
already  in  cultivation.  Mr.  Edmund  Foster  of  Clewer  Manor,  Windsor, 
a  lover  of  the  show  Pelargonium,  and  at  that  time  busily  engaged  in 
improving  it,  and  especially  in  the  directions  of  form  and  colour,  was 
its  president.  Mr.  John  Edwards,  an  amateur  cultivator  residing  at 
Holloway,  and  a  leader  among  London  florists,  was  the  secretary;, 
its  treasurer  Mr.  Arthur  Henderson  of  the  Pine  Apple  Nursery.  Of 
its  thirty-nine  committee — a  band  of  florists  representative  of  the 
whole  kingdom — there  is  reason  to  believe  only  one  remains — viz.^ 
Mr.  Wm.  Paul  of  Waltham  Cross.  This  society  had  a  chequered 
career  up  to  the  early  part  of  1859,  when  it  was  dissolved  for  the  reason 
that  the  council  ot  the  Royal  Botanic  Society,  London,  had  announced 
its  intention  to  hold  extra  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  awarding 
prizes  to  seedling  plants,  both  species  and  varieties,  therefore  its 
dissolution  was  decreed,  and  the  treasurer  at  that  time,  Mr.  Richard 
Stains  of  the  Marylebone  Road,  took  charge  of  the  documents  and  other 
property  of  the  society.  Mr.  John  Edwards  retired  from  the  position 
of  secretary  at  the  end  of  1857,  and  I  was  elected  in  his  place.  The 
proceedings  from  its  commencement  to  its  close  were  published  in  two 
volumes,  and  they  furnish  an  interesting  and  instructive  record  of 
painstaking  work.  The  closing  meetings  of  the  society  were,  like  the- 
earlier  ones,  held  at  21,  Regent  Street.  At  one  time  they  were  held  at 
St.  Martin’s  Hall,  Li  ng  Acre,  and  also  in  St,  Martin’s  Court,  Trafalgar 
Square,  when  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  occupied  rooms  there. 
For  some  time  after  the  National  Floricultural  Society  was  formed 
George  Glenny  and  his  associates  waged  a  fierce  warfare  against  it, 
probably  because  Glenny  felt  that  his  particular  function  in  those 
days,  as  a  recognised  authority  on  florist’s  flowers,  was  in  danger  of 
being  superseded.  For  some  reason,  it  would  appear,  the  Royal 
Botanic  Society  did  not  carry  out  its  intention  of  forming  a  body  to 
award  prizes  to  seedling  plants,  though  for  years  new  florists’  flowers 
were  always  exhibited  in  considerable  numbers  at  the  exhibitions  held 
in  the  Regent’s  Park,  and  a  small  committee  of  such  experts  as 
Richard  Stains,  Anthony  Parsons,  F.  R.  Kinghorn,  William  Holmes, 
Charles  Lidgard,  with  one  or  two  others,  made  awards  of  money  prizes 
and  certificates  of  merit  to  such  as  were  deemed  worthy.  Perhaps  it 
is  well  that  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  rather  than  the  Royal 
Botanic  Society  took  the  initiative  in  forming  the  committees.  ' 
Volume  I  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society 
from  June  1st,  1859,  gives  a  report  of  the  preliminary  proceedings  of 
the  Floral  Committee,  at  which  the  regulations  for  the  guidance  both 
of  members  of  the  committee  and  of  exhibitors  were  laid  down  ;  the 
Rev.  Joshua  Dix,  a  City  clergyman  with  strong  floricultural  tastes, 
being  in  the  chair.  The  first  chairman  of  the  Floral  Committee  was 
Mr.  John  Jackson  Blandy  of  Reading,  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the 
R.H.S.,  and  a  cultivator  and  exhibitor  of  specimen  plants  ;  the 
secretary  was  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  curate  r  of  the  Apothecary’s 
Garden  at  Chelsea.  Of  the  thirty-four  members  of  the  first  Floral 
Committee  only  five  are  living  at  this  time — viz.,  Mr.  Samuel 
Ainsworth  (Messrs.  James  Carter  &  Co.),  the  Rev.  H.  H.  D’Ombrain, 
then  at  Deal ;  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters,  then  lecturer  on  botany  at  St. 
George’s  Hospital;  Mr.  William  Paul,  and  Mr.  H,  J.  Veitch.  It  was 
a  remarkable  body,  every  member  representative  of  floriculture  had 
made  his  mark  ;  the  qualification  for  office  was  long  experience  or 
special  botanical  knowledge,  no  one  was  regarded  as  competent  to 
occupy  a  seat  on  the  committee  who  was  not  a  specialist  or  who 
had  not  achieved  success  in  some  direction  cr  the  other. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  for  the  first  ten  years  of  their  existence 
the  two  committees  were  permanent  bodies,  and  each  member  may  be 
said  to  have  enjoyed  security  of  tenure ;  as  vacancies  occurred  the 
committees  nominated  persons  to  fill  them,  and  the  council  invariably 
accepted  them.  Then  came  the  time  when  the  council  decreed  the 
committees  should  be  dissolved  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and  be 
reconstituted  by  the  council.  In  taking  this  step  the  council  may  be 
said  to  have  robbed  the  committees  of  the  right  of  nomination.  The 
council  now  fill  the  vacancies,  and  sometimes  in  such  a  manner  that 
old  members  occasionally  see  a  new  one  among  them,  and  put  the 
question,  “  Who  is  he  ?”  and  “  What  are  his  qualifications  ?  ” 
The  Rev.  Joshua  Dix  succeeded  Mr.  Blandy,  who  died  in  1866,  as 
chairman.  On  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Joshua  Dix  Mr.  William 
Marshall,  the  present  chairman  of  the  Floral  Committee,  succeeded  to 
that  office  ;  on  his  retirement  he  was  followed  by  Dr.  Denny ;  then 
Mr.  W.  B.  Kellock  ;  Mr.  0.  F.  Wilson  succeeded  the  last  named  ;  and 
on  his  retirement  Mr.  W.  Marshall  was  reappointed. 
As  I  became  a  member  of  the  Floral  Committee  in  January,  1868,  and 
with  intervals  of  retirement  have  remained  a  member  to  this  day,  I  am 
able  to  write  with  personal  knowledge  of  much  which  I  have  set  down  as 
preliminary  to  some  sketch  of  the  work  of  that  body  during  the  term 
of  its  existence,  and  in  much  of  which  I  have  taken  part. — R.  Dean. 
