JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
July  10,  1902. 
28 
Another  object  of  merit  worthy  of  notice,  but  which  may  be 
beyond  the  aims  of  most  of  my  friends  to  reproduce,  was  a 
large  floral  cushion  with  concave  sides  and  the  corners 
attenuated  to  a  point.  From  the  sides  to  the  centre  the  surface 
swelled  evenly,  the  design  being  worked  with  rich  rosy-cerise 
Pelargoniums.  Around  the  edge  on  all  sides  were  the  flowers  of 
Saxifraga  sarmentosa,  and  at  that  corner  which  caught  most  of  the 
view  a  greater  profusion  of  the  Saxifraga  was  carried  forward, 
and  shoots  of  the  Alder,  with  its  dark  green  leaves,  lay  beneath 
the  white  sprays  of  this  flower.  A  bouquet  arrangement  con¬ 
sisting  of  blush  Malmaisons  for  the  underwork  and  much  deeper 
coloured  border  Carnation  flowers  above,  was  poised  about  the 
centre  of  the  cushion,  being  equally  balanced  on  all  sides. 
A  few  of  the  Alder  leaves,  with  their  corrugated  surface  and 
serrated  edges,  were  used  among  the  Carnations.  At  the  upper 
left-hand  corner  from  the  one  I  have  said  was  most  prominent 
a  large  rose-coloured  ribbon  bow  was  fixed. — Wandering  Willie. 
- <♦♦♦» - 
Practical  Entomology  at  Mersey-, 
Tuesday,  July  2,  was  prize-giving  day  at  the  Aldersey  Grammar 
School,  Bunbury,  and  the  various  reports  went  to  show  that  the 
reputation  of  the  school  for  general  efficiency  has  been  well  main¬ 
tained  during  the  year.  In  certain  respects  the  school  stands 
out  among  the  educational  institutions  of  the  country,  while  its 
remarkable  attendance  record,  and  the  fact  that  the  boys  are  so 
successfully  encouraged  to  study  practical  entomology  and  other 
subjects  pertaining  to  agriculture  and  Nature,  have  won  for  the 
school  a  unique  and  enviable  position  in  the  country7.  It  is, 
moreover,  a  school  with  a  history,  for  it  was  founded  by  Thomas 
Aldersey,  a  citizen  and  haberdasher  of  London.  An  interest  has 
ever  been  taken  in  the  institution  by  the  Worshipful  Company 
of  Haberdashers,  the  governing  body,  and  that  interest  was  never 
more  generously  manifested  than  it  was  last  week.  Mr.  O.  S. 
Tudor,  who  presided,  said  that  the  school  had  lost  a  valued  friend 
in  the  death  of  Miss  Ormerod,  who  for  twenty  years  took  a 
practical  and  lively  interest  in  the  school.  She  considered  the 
school  ahead  of  all  others  in  the  science  of  entomology,  in  which 
she  herself  was  an  expert.  Mr.  Arthur  Peell,  a  member  of  the 
Court  of  the  Haberdashers’  Company,  had  promised  to  give  the 
prizes  formerly  given  by  Miss  Ormerod. 
A  Beneficial  Crusade. 
The  headmaster  (Mr.  W.  Bailey)  read  an  interesting  paper 
relative  to  the  prizes  for  practical  entomology.  He  alluded  at 
the  outset  to  the  passing  away  of  Miss  Ormerod,  who  took  an 
interest  in  the  school  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  whose  name 
he  said,  would  long  be  a  household  word  in  Bunbury.  He  also 
made  grateful  reference  to  the  fact  that,  Mr.  Field,  a  member  of 
the  Court  of  Assistants  of  the  Haberdashers’  Company,  had 
voluntarily  undertaken  to  provide  the  prizes  hitherto  given  by 
the  late  Miss  Ormerod.  (Applause.)  He  said  :  “  The  attention 
of  the  boys  throughout  the  school  continues,  by  the  desire  of  the 
Haberdashers’  Company,  to  those  insects  which  are  injurious  to 
cattle,  food  crops,  fruits  and  forest  trees,  and  to  the  best  methods 
of  prevention  and  remedy  of  their  attacks.  The  boys  continue 
their  efforts  to  exterminate  the  ox  warble  maggots,  which  pests 
give  so  much  needless  pain  to  our  fine  herds  of  cattle,  and  are 
the  cause  of  such  a  serious  loss  to  our  farmers — estimated  by 
practical  men  at  sums  from  two  million  to  seven  million  pounds 
sterling  per  annum.  During  the  present  half-year  the  boys 
have  squeezed  out  1,066  of  these  pests.  These  have  been  brought 
to  the  school  on  Monday  mornings,  and  counted  in  the  presence 
of  Mr.  Bailey  or  one  of  the  assistant  masters.  The  parish  of 
Bunbury  is  comparatively  free  from  this  pest,  but  on  visiting  the 
outlying  districts,  on  their  bicycles,  the  boys  have  no  difficulty 
in  finding  too  many  of  these  tormentors  of  the  poor  cattle.  As 
to  other  injurious  insects,  the  boys  have  brought  to  the  school  in 
the  present  half-year  16,284.  Next  month  a  nature  study  exhibi¬ 
tion  will  be  held  in  the  Roy,al  Botanic  Garden,  Regent’s  Park, 
London,  at  which  not  only  the  United  Kingdom,  but  also  the 
Colonies  and  the  United  States  will  be  represented.  At  the 
request  of  the  treasurer  and  secretary  (Mr.  C.  S.  Roundell  and 
Mr.  J.  C.  Medcl),  an  exhibit  will  be  sent  up  from  our  school, 
consisting  of  maps  of  school  district,  plans  of  school  and  play¬ 
ground,  insect  cases,  breeding  cages,  diagrams,  collections  of 
insects,  grasses,  weeds  and  wild  flowers,  <fcc.” 
Nature  Study. 
Mr.  G.  F.  Dutton  (assistant  master)  read  a  paper  showing  that 
the  subject  of  nature  study  now  takes  a.  prominent  part  in  the 
school  curriculum.  Besides  collecting  insects,  the  boys  were 
continually  bringing  to  school  some  new  wild  flower  or  leaf  or 
plant  which  they  had  discovered,  and  of  which  they  were  anxious 
to  know  the  name.  Forty-eight  boys  had  competed  for  Past 
Master  Slater’s  prizes.  They  had  collected  wild  flowers  and 
weeds,  and  dried  and  mounted  them  in  book  form,  giving  the 
common  name  to  each  specimen.  Mr.  Dutton  also  read  an 
equally  interesting  report,  on  the  collection  of  grasses  by  the 
boys,  and  a  further  statement  on  the  map  drawing. 
The  President  of  the  National  Rose  Society. 
In  the  issue  of  July  2,  the  London  “Daily  Chronicle”  con¬ 
tained  the  following  notes  which  are  full  of  interest  to  members 
of  the  National  Rose  Society,  and  to  all  the  friends  of  the  Very 
Reverend  Dean  who  is  so  much  respected  as  president,  that 
we  quote  them  in  full : — “  Dean  Hole  opens  to-day  at  noon  in  the 
Temple  Gardens  the  great  Court  of  the  year  to  her  Majesty 
Queen  Rose,  the  organisation  being  undertaken  by  the  National 
Rose  Society.  The  post  of  president  is  his  by  right  of  having 
been  the  first  to  throw  down  the  gauntlet  in  honour  of  the 
Queen  of  Flowers.  The  Dahlia  and  the  Carnation,  and  even  “  the 
\fcjlgar  hairy  Gooseberry  ”  each  displayed  themselves  at  exhibi¬ 
tions.  He  suggested  in  1857  in  the  pages  of  the  “  Florist”  that 
a  grand  national  Rose  show  should  tie  held.  So  exuberant  was 
the  Dean,  then  squarson — squire  and  parson,  too — of  Caunton, 
near  Newark — at  the  result  of  his  appeal,  that  bloodshed  was  the 
result — he  “  whustled  in  the  act  of  shaving!”  Rose  lovers  sub¬ 
scribed  £200,  St.  James’s  Hall  was  engaged  for  July  1,  1858. 
Half  the  nurseries  cf  England  sent  their  treasures;  the  Rev. 
S.  Reynolds  Hole  bringing  his  at  daybreak  a  journey  of  120  miles. 
So  successful  was  the  day  that  each  following  year  has  brought 
its  Rose  show,  and  the  original  2,000  visitors  have  grown  to  tens 
of  thousands. 
“  Born  in  1810,  this  cheery  knight  of  Queen  Rose  was  educated 
at  Brazenose,  Oxford  ;  and  a  brazen  nose,  therefore,  affectionately 
decorates  the  door  of  his  deanery  study.  In  due  time  he  became 
curate  of  Caunton.  Lord  Salisbury  in  1887  appointed  him  to 
the  Deanery  of  Rochester,  where,  in  contrast  to  his  predecessor, 
Dean  Liddell,  the  collaborator  in  compiling  a  Greek  dictionary,  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  other  sorts  of  roots.  From  the  ivonderful 
album  which  he  cherishes  with  proper  care  may  be  seen  the 
portraits  and  autographs  of  all  his  distinguished  contemporaries 
whom  he  counted  as  friends — artists,  literary  folk,  politicians, 
actors,  ecclesiastics,  from  Dickens  to  Kipling,  a  member  of  the 
Rose  Society,  and  from  John  Leech  to  Sir  Frank  Burnand.  Here 
you  learn  that  Dean  Hole  and  Thackeray  stood  back  to  back,  and 
in  the  matter  of  height  were  declared  “  a  dead  heat.”  Within  the 
deanery,  too,  may  be  seen  some  of  Leech’s  choicest  drawings, 
which  illustrated  their  joint  ‘Little  Tour  in  Ireland.’” 
The  Lon:on  Rose  Shows. 
What  was  the  purpose  of  the  recent  Conference  on  Roses  held 
at  Holland  House  ?  Presumably  one  of  the  desires  of  the 
promoters  was  to  take  note  of  the  progress  achieved  in  crossing 
and  hybridising  species  and  varieties.  But  even  had  the  season 
not  been  dead  against  success,  no  effort  seemed  to  have  been 
made  to  exhibit  species  as  a  group  by  themselves,  nor  to  arrange 
the  newer  productions  in  nearness  to_each  other.  When  sections 
and  characters  are  being  so  quickly  broken  down  by  the  constant 
and  laudable  work  of  the  hybridisers,  we  do  require  once  and 
awhile  to  get  back  to  the  starting  line,  back  to  the  species,  for 
it  is  only  by  a  study  and  knowledge  of  them  that  recruits  to 
rosarian  ranks  can  hope  to  understand  the  composition  and 
development  of  the  beautiful  Roses  they  so  patiently  cultivate 
and  passionately  admire.  Not  a  plant  came  from  the  Royal 
Gardens,  Ivew,  and  but  for  the  groups  from  Paul  and  Son,  and 
Charles  Turner,  the  exhibition,  in  line  with  the  Conference, 
would  have  been  reduced  to  the  blanky  lines  of  show-boxes  con¬ 
taining  poor  blooms,  and  better  work  than  this  is  expected  from 
the  Royal  Horticultural  Society. 
Two  numbers  back,  in  noticing  the  publication  of  an  essay  on 
“  Clouds  and  Weather  Signs,”  it  was  remarked  that  gardeners 
must  be  vigilant  observers  of  “the  floor  of  heaven,”  that  they 
may  work  their  way  to  success.  How  necessary  it  is  to  be  ever 
watchful,  and  sometimes  daring  too,  as  a  rosarian,  was  revealed 
on  the  Monday  afternoon  before  the  Temple  Rose  Show.  The  sky 
on  that  day  became  black  and  ominous  everywhere,  and  while 
exhibitors  would  gladly  have  left  their  blooms  until  the  close  of 
the  clay,  some  of  them  felt  that  it  was  courting  disaster  to  chance 
the  storm  which  appeared  imminent.  “Make  sure,”  became  the 
words,  and  it  happened  that  in  two  cases  the  last  bloom  was  cut 
just  as  the  first  large  raindrops  came  swiftly  down. 
The  show  itself  was  good  to  see,  and  a  friend  remarked  that 
he  could  excuse  the  ecstacy  of  any  Rose  lover,  and  could  also 
understand  something  of  the  charm  that  the  cultivation  and 
exhibiting  of  Roses  has  upon  devotees,  after  his  having  gloated 
over  those  long  lines  of  beautiful  flowers  in  the  leading  open 
classes.  But  what  can  we  say  of  the  titled  lady  who  replied  with 
scorn,  ‘“I  hate  Roses!”  to  a  gentleman  who  asked  why  she  had 
not  visited  the  Rose  Show?  I  can  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the 
