REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 55 
The tables were most beautifully decorated with superb flowers most 
tagtefully arranged, and the quantity and beauty of the fruit were quite 
beyond description. 
Dinner being ended, the Chairman, Sir John Llewelyn, Bart., rose to 
propose the first toast of the evening, “ His Majesty the King.” He 
said :—His Majesty is a great patron of horticulture and a man whom 
_ all Englishmen, and I fancy not a few foreigners, delight to honour, I 
give you “ His Majesty the King.” 
The toast having been drunk with the greatest enthusiasm, 
The Chairman again rose to propose the toast of “ Her gracious Majesty 
the Queen, T.R.H. the Prince and Princess of Wales, and other members 
of the Royal Family.” He said Englishmen always drank that toast 
with pride, for there was not a single member of the Royal Family who 
did not count it not only his duty but his pleasure as well, to do all in his 
power to help forward the happiness and prosperity of the whole empire, 
Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., then proposed “ The Royal Horticultural 
Society.”’ He said :—Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—I feel it a very 
great honour that has been conferred upon me to propose the toast of the 
Royal Horticultural Society. Many years ago I was very closely con- 
nected with the Society, and I can assure you that to-night it is one of 
the greatest pleasures of my life to rise and speak on behalf of such a 
grand old Society and to congratulate the Fellows on the very great 
success that has been attained. It is many years since—I think it was in 
February 1888—that a-meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society was 
held at the South Kensington buildings. At that meeting an election of 
officers took place, and our distinguished President, our indefatigable and 
worthy Secretary, and I myself were elected to be officers of the Society 
in possibly the very darkest period of its whole history—a period so dark 
and unpromising that I can assure you it required no little personal 
courage for any of us to accept the posts to which we were then elected. 
At that time we had no new Fellows coming in, only old Fellows leaving 
us at the rate of some hundreds every year. I well remember when I 
took over the office of Treasurer, the Society was in debt to the tune of 
not much less than £1,500. Our annual expenditure was something like 
£3,500, and that upon an income which was barely £2,000 a year! At 
that time, too, the Society really had no home whatever. It was being 
turned out of the home it had long had at South Kensington, and we did 
not know where in the wide world we were to go. I need not enlarge 
very much upon those trying years. I will only say this, that the 
history of the Society at that time of utmost depression and anxiety is an 
exact illustration of the truth of the old saying, that it is always darkest 
towards morning. New friends seemed literally to spring out of the 
ground, and came forward to help the old Society. We at once started in 
new offices—somewhere. For, in fact, at that time we had to give as our 
address—and our only address—‘‘ somewhere near the Army and Navy 
Stores.”’ Very quickly afterwards we were fortunate enough to get a hall, 
“The Drill Hall’’; and with our offices in Victoria Street, we gradually 
worked up the Society and began to improve the balance at the bank. 
I mention all this because from that fresh start in early 1888 we made up 
our minds most resolutely to devote all the energies of the reorganised 
