Soptcmljar 11, 1373. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



193 



than to a very old country. It is, of course, open to"us aU to 

 have an opinion on the subject whether that change is or is not 

 an unmixed gain. For my own part I think that it involves 

 some disadvantages of a very obvious kind both in a social and 

 in a sanitary point of view ; but whether we like it or not, that 

 change is inevitable ; and we have only to accept it, and to make 

 the best of it we can [hear, hear]. If, for the majority of us, 

 life within a town has become inevitable, what we have to do is 

 to try to meet by artificial means the requirements of a more 

 artificial existence [applause] . If we are shut out from the wild 

 scenes of nature, or at least if we are compelled to go to longer 

 and longer distances in order to find them, we may in some 

 degree compensate ourselves by assembling, in a place like this, 

 natural creations more choice, more beautiful, and more varied 

 than nature unaided will ever show you within the limits of 

 any country [applause]. We can make our selection out of all 

 countries and all climates, and we can show to the natives of 

 India and to the natives of tropical America, in what they 

 would probably consider — I do not call it so — a damp and smoky 

 suburb of a Lancashire town, a larger number of their own most 

 exquisite products than any of them would probably have seen 

 in their own countries in the whole course of their lives [hear, 

 hear] ; and to do this as far as we are able to do it is not, as 1 

 look at the matter, a mere four de force ; it is not a mere dis- 

 play of man's power over nature ; it is a real, although it may 

 be a comparatively humble contribution to the cause of general 

 refinement and civilisation [applause]. A man need not be a 

 fanatical worshipper of art in any one of its forms to believe, as I 

 do believe, that no one could have a thorough appreciation of 

 natural or artistic beauty, without being better for the existence 

 of that feeling in his mind [applause]. And I take it that of all 

 forms in which that feeling exhibits itself, there is none which 

 comes so home to an average EngUshman as that of a garden 

 [hear, hear]. We are by habit, by tradition, and by tempera- 

 ture, an out-door people [hear, hear]. "We like museums and 

 picture galleries very well; but if we are to tell the truth we 

 like our gardens, our forests, our commons, our parks, and our 

 moors a great deal better [applause]. Even in crowded lodgings 

 and in dirty streets you will see the evidence of that feeling. 

 "Where nothing bettor can be got at, you will see a few flower 

 pots outside a window [hear, hear] ; and the same instinct which 

 pats these unfortunate liowers in that situation produces also an 

 exhibition such as that which we have seen io-day [hear, hear]. 

 I think, and I hope, that the time is not far ofi when every 

 large town, and almost every small town also, will have its public 

 garden, and will consider that having a public garden is simply 

 a recognised institution and almost a necessity [hear, hear]. 

 Foreigners — Frenchmen and Germans — are before us in that 

 respect. Now I have often noticed that it is a way we have to 

 be a little behindhand in matters of social improvement, and 

 then we come up all of a sudden, and with a rush make up for 

 lost time in a very few years [applause and laughter]. Well, 

 I wo'n't dwell here, because I am talking about what you know 

 better than I do [" go on "] upon the mere utilitarian cousidera- 

 tion of its being a desirable object to obtain an abundant and 

 cheap supply both of vegetables and fruit. I am told by those 

 TTho are more able to speak authoritatively than I can, that 

 both might be much more abundant and cheaper than they are 

 if horticulture were more generally studied than it is [hear, 

 hear^. And obviously the art which aims to extract the very 

 most out of a limited quantity of land by the application of 

 scientific skill and of human and mechanical labour, is an art 

 peculiarly suited to our conditions ; labour, scientific knowledge, 

 and mechanical skill being abundant, aud land, as we know, 

 being rather limited [hear, hear]. Of course I shall not speak 

 of the increase in the supply of fruit as an important object, if 

 you look at it merely as a contribution to the comfort and luxury 

 of those who have many comforts and luxuries at their com- 

 mand; but there is another side to that question also. Goto 

 any hospital and ask any doctor, and he will tell you how much 

 relief of suffering might be obtained, and how much real good 

 might be done, if, for icstauce, a cheap and abundant supply of 

 Grapes were at his command [hear, hear]. So much for tho 

 general subject. You will expect me, probably, to say a word 

 or two as to tho position of the Society, in whose interest and by 

 whose agency the exhibition of this day has been got up. Tho 

 Manchester Botanical and Horticultural Society has reached a 

 very respectable time of life. It was born in 1828. For many 

 years it had a prosperous existence, I am told. In 1857 it begau 

 to find itself in that position in which many enterprising and 

 energetic individuals have had the misfortune to be placed. 

 The lands ran rather short, and some attempts at holding ex- 

 liibitions on a large scale were not so successful as they deserved 

 to be ; and I believe between the date of 1857 and 1862 there were 

 serious doubts whether it would be possible to continue the 

 Society permanently. Then came a crisis ; various efforts were 

 made ; I need not trouble you with the details, especially as I 

 knew nothing about them a week ago, and shall probably remem- 

 ber nothing about them a week hence [laughter] ; but the turn, 

 aa I am inatructed, came ia the year 1867. At that time it was 



determined to adopt a bolder policy, and to hold a general ex- 

 hibition, intended for the whole country, aud not merely for a 

 limited locahty. That bold experiment having been tried, it 

 completely verified the old popular saying that there is nothing 

 so expensive as being jJoor, aud that nothing succeeds Uke 

 success [applause]. I am instructed that in these exhibitions 

 the Society invested a great deal of capital, when perhaps it had 

 not too much to spare. The result was triumphant. Their 

 money came back to them with ample interest. The first large 

 exhibition which was held produced a profit of something like 

 ioOO ; and in the last six j'ears the result of following that 

 policy has been that the debt, which at its maximum stood at 

 i'9000, has been reduced to i'6500 [applause]. Well, contempo- 

 raneously with that, very great improvements have been made 

 in the gardens, and especially in the increase and improvement 

 of those houses which are intended for delicate tropical plants. 

 Last year, as my brief has it, the receipts of the Society were 

 itlOOO, and the expenditure was about i£3500, leaving ,i'500 to the 

 good. The present exhibition is tho first which has been held 

 in the autumn, and I think it differs in various respects from its 

 predecessors. I am told that the entries amount to 2100, a 

 number which has never been reached before. I am assured by 

 those who ought to know, that from a horticultural point of view 

 this will be quite the most important exliibition which has ever 

 been held in the northern parts of England [applause]. I sup- 

 pose I ought to add, what I mentioned this forenoon, that about 

 it'oOOO has been given in prizes in the course of the last six years. 

 That, I need not say, is very great encouragement aud a great 

 stimulus to horticultural art in all its branches, and not only has 

 it been a great encouragement to horticulture generally, but that 

 large and liberal expenditure has resulted in great benefit to the 

 Society itself [applause]. Now, I have only one word to add in 

 conclusion. Everybody has got his crotchet, and I suppose I 

 have mine. I have no great faith in any thing or any body, in- 

 dividual or institution, really getting ou as he or it ought to do 

 while he or it is burdened with a millstoue of debt. I told 

 you that the burden of debt upon this institution had been 

 diminished, but it is still considerable. I have not spoken to 

 any member of the Society upon the subject; and, therefore, 

 in what I say I alone am responsible for what may be a mis- 

 placed suggestion. I don't at all know what the Council or the 

 members of this Society would say if it were proposed to them 

 that an appeal should be made to those who are interested in 

 this matter to put them upon a thoroughly sound financial foot- 

 ing. I can only say, expressing my own opinion, that I think — 

 considering their public character — considering that no member 

 of the Society desires the slightest financial advantage from any- 

 tliiugthatis done in that way — and considering the useful nature 

 of the work that they do, they might fairly and honourably 

 accept any help that is offered to them in that way for the 

 interest of the public and for the cause in which they are 

 working. Now, I should not have thought it was a difficult 

 thing to find twenty or thirty people in Manchester to each of 

 whom the parting with XlOO note would be an operation so 

 familiar and so customary that they would hardly know they 

 had done it [laughter]. I even venture to think that we have a 

 few such in this room, and the practical conclusion to which I 

 am leading is this — that if we are really interested, as I for one 

 am, in the future aud in the work of this Society, I think it is 

 quite worth our while to consider whether we may not do some- 

 1 thing more effectual and more substantial in that liue than 

 ! merely making speeches about it or cheering the speeches 

 which are made. I wo'n't presume to pursue that subject 

 i further. I propose to you "Prosperity to the Manchester 

 Botanical and Horticultural Society" [applause]. 



Dr. J. Watts (Chairman of the Council) returned thanks. 



The Ch.iik5I.vn said, before proceeding to other business, he 

 wished to intimate that the hint which he had ventured to 

 throw out had so far borne fruit that six gentlemen had offered 

 100 guineas each if the debt of i;6.500 was paid off, and, in 

 humble imitation of them, he offered himself as the seventh 

 [applause]. He then proposed the toast of " The Exhibitors." 



Alter tho health of the Judges aud other toasts, the meeting 

 terminated. 



CRYSTAL PALACE FRUIT AND GLADIOLUS 

 SHOW. 



This was held ou the 6th and 8th iust., and although not so 

 extensive as the autumn shows of years gone by, it was, never- 

 theless, an excellent and effective display, and welcome as sup- 

 plying the long-felt want of a metropolitan autumu fruit show. 

 Had the date been farther on in tho season, no doubt the entries 

 would have been much more numerous ; and another drawback 

 was that the Show commenced on the last day of the Man- 

 chester Exhibition, so that it was impossilde for exhibitors at 

 the latter to place their productions in competition at the Crystal 

 Palace. The settiug-up of the fruit and flowers was very good, 

 and the arrangements made by Mr. Wilson, the courteous Super- 

 intendent of Shows, were admirably carried out. 



