166 EErOET OF THE COUNCIL, 



the supposod necessity of giving prizes for fruit which does not 

 possess very unusual merit. 



In the year 1850 a very strong opinion was expressed that the 

 Garden of the Society ought to contain, during the London 

 season, and especially in 1851, when so many strangers would 

 have an opportunity of witnessing our national tastes, one of 

 those displays of American plants which have lately become so 

 popular. The Council, therefore, felt it to be due to the Fel- 

 lows and their friends, that the possibility of forming such an 

 exliibition without any serious inroad upon the funds of the 

 Society should be put to the test of experiment. That this was 

 about to take place was mentioned in tlie last Report. The 

 arrangements then made witli Mr. Hosea Waterer were after- 

 wards completed ; and a very large number of the finest speci- 

 mens of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and other American plants, 

 were exhibited under a canvas awning in a part of the Garden 

 provided for the purpose. But, although the arrangements con- 

 nected with this operation were formed with the utmost attention 

 to economy, a reference to the balance sheet will show that the 

 experiment was too costly to be repeated. How far it may have 

 added to the interest of the general exhibition in June there are 

 no means of ascertaining ; taken by itself it produced a loss of 

 256^. 18*. 8d. 



During the autumn the site of the American exhibition has 

 been converted into a permanent American garden, for the 

 means of planting which tlie Garden Committee desire to express 

 in the strongest manner their obligations to Messrs. Veitch & Co., 

 of Exeter, who presented the Society with a large number of 

 valuable specimens. They have also to make their acknowledg- 

 ments to Mr. H. Waterer for several useful contributions, and 

 to Messrs. Lucombe and Pince, of Exeter, whose liberality, in an 

 exchange of plants made with the Garden, demands especial 

 notice. In the purchase of plants, peat earth, and other mate- 

 rials, and in labour, the svmi of 155/. 9s. 7d. has been expended, 

 and an American ground is now permanently established in the 

 tSociety's Garden, thus obviating the necessity of any further 

 outlay upon temporary exhibitions of this description. 



While the attention of the Committee was thus directed to 

 relieving the Garden from risks of future loss on account of 

 American plants, they have continued to carry- on the otiier 

 works in the Arboretum and elsCAvhere, to which allusion was 

 made in the last Report. The number of superfluous trees 

 has been still more diminished, masses of useless bushes have 



