FLOWER CULTURE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 22 July 1937, Page 7

FLOWER CULTURE

MEETING OF SOCIETY. INSTRUCTIVE ADDRESS. At the monthly meeting of the Palmerston North Horticultural Society, held in St. Andrew’s school room on Monday evening, members attended in large numbers to hear a splendid lecture. Now that the Chrysanthemum Club have joined the society this brought the attendance and membership up considerably. The speaker was Mr W. H. Stevens, of Bulls, who gave a very interesting talk on “Plant ollectors and Some of Their Discoveries.” Mr Stevens traced briefly the history of plant collecting in various parts of the world, including China, Tibet, Burma, Japan and Chile. The introduction of foreign plants into Great Britain by means of professional collectors had begun in 1772, when KenGardens sent a collector to the Cape of Good Hope. In 1804 the Royal Horticultural Society was formed and this gave a decided impetus to plant collecting. From then on until to-day a succession of collectors had been scouring the world for new plants. Mr Stevens gave a brief picture of some of the difficulties and hazards experienced by the collectors. He mentioned some of the most notable collectors, beginning with David Douglas, who went to western North America and California in the early part of the 19th Century, and ending with Captain Kingdom Ward, who was to-day collecting in Tibet, and Mr E. K. Ball, who was collecting in the Caucasus. The Douglas Pine in America had been named after David Douglas and the Mayer lemon had been discovered in China by Mr Frank Mayer. The speaker related how the collector went about bis duties. 11l the collection of plants all were carefully studied to ascertain the locality in which they were found, whether in a shady place or exposed all day to the sun, at what altitude they were located, and the kind of soil they grew in.

All this was noted and a full description tied to every 6hrub before it started on its long journey home. Lord Rothschild had one of the finest collections of shrubs in the world, due mainly to the finance behind the expedition. Those with the most shares in the expedition naturally secured most plants and this was how Lord Rothschild had built up his marvellous collection of the world’s most rare and beautiful shrubs.

“The story of some of the discovery and introduction of many of our garden plants is full of romance and makes very interesting reading,” said Mr Stevens. “Besides this, a knowledge of the conditions under which those plants are found in their native state is of inestimable value in a successful culture in our garden.” A hearty vote of thanks was accorded the speaker. Later in the evening Mr Melhuish gave a practical demonstration on the planting of chrysanthemum cuttings. Several questions were answered by the speaker. On the motion of Mr J. Cooper a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the speaker. The monthly competition was won by Mrs Louisson witli hellebores, Miff 1 . 13. Morgan being second with polyanthus primroses.