600 OPENING OF THE GARDENS 



party pausing on the lauding during the time. Tlie same Baud 

 then played the Coburg March until the Royal party passed into 

 the Second Garden, when the Band on the West Terrace took 

 up the March, and the procession moved on up the centre avenue 

 to the middle of the Conservatory. Here the procession halted 

 in a space kept clear by police ; the Royal party ascended the 

 steps, and Dr. Likdley, the Secretary of the Society, read the 

 following address :-- 



May it please your Royal Highness. 



SlE, 



We, the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society. 

 venture to congratulate your Royal Highness upon the important 

 stage at which we have now arrive 1 in the progress of an 

 undertaking originating with your Royal Highness, and in which 

 you have continued to take so active an interest, an undertaking 

 for the establishment at the West End of this Metropolis of a 

 noble garden, by the aid of which, and of the Society's Gardens 

 nt Chiswick, not only the art of Horticulture may be effectually 

 promoted, but an additional means of enjoyment and recreation 

 may be afforded to the dense population of London. 



We deeply lament that recent domestic affliction should have 

 deprived us of the honour, for which we had been encouraged to 

 hope, of the presence of our gracious Queen at this inaugural 

 ceremony. But whilst we deeply feel the want of that presence 

 which would have added the greatest lustre to the day's pro- 

 ceedings, we are sensible of the many marks of Royal favour 

 which we have already received, and trust that these Gardens 

 may, when completed, prove not altogether unattractive to Her 

 Majesty. 



Horticulture, Sir, is the parent of agriculture. It determines 

 ou a small scale. the value of the principles on which an extended 

 cultivation of the soil depends. It is associated with our food, our 

 wealth, and many of our social enjoyments. Your Council believe 

 that this Society has already contributed largely to the esta- 

 blishment of the sound principles on which cultivation is founded. 

 In the course of the last half century the Society has unremit- 

 tingly used its influence and its means to enlarge the skill of 

 the gardener and the taste of the community. It has had the 

 good fortune to see, during that long period, many ornamental 

 plants and every race of fruits and esculents undergo great im- 



