THE LUNCHEON. 39 
After the Exhibition a luncheon was given by the Council, to which 
all whose names appear on pp. 6-8 were invited, together with all the 
members of the Scientific, Fruit and Vegetable, Floral, Orchid, and 
Narcissus Committees; Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., President of the 
Society, being in the chair. 
Luncheon ended, the President rose and proposed the toast of Her 
Gracious Majesty the Queen, Empress of India, patron of the Society. 
The toast was received with acclamation and drunk by all upstanding. 
The President again rose and said: Ladies and Gentlemen,—I am sure 
that we, none of us, wish that the proceedings of the Conference should 
be delayed by speech-making, but there is one thing that I cannot deny 
myself the pleasure of doing, and it is this: on behalf of the Royal 
Horticultural Society to tender to all our friends who have gathered 
around us to-day, and especially to the gentlemen who have travelled 
from abroad on purpose to join in our Conference, a most hearty greeting 
and a most hearty welcome. I am sure that we are very grateful to 
those foreign friends whom we see around us, distinguished in horticul- 
ture and in botany, for their presence here to-day. We know that they 
have come at great expense and at no little inconvenience to join in our 
deliberations because, like ourselves, they are devoted to the science and 
the art of gardening. And we, we haye been obliging enough to provide 
them with an almost tropical temperature, so that I do not think that 
when they go back to their own countries, even though they be countries 
ordinarily warmer than our own, they will any of them have cause to 
complain of any lack in the warmth of our reception. In this country, 
rightly or wrongly, we manage things somewhat differently to the way 
in which they are managed abroad. When we go abroad to gatherings 
of this sort we receive the most cordial and friendly—I might say the 
most magnificent hospitality at the bands of our horticultural friends ; 
and this hospitality is extended to us not only by them but by the 
municipalities and by the Governments of the countries where the gather- 
ings are held. I hadthe honour of being a Member of the House of 
Commons for several years, and I venture to wonder what would happen 
if I were to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to give the Royal 
Horticultural Society a grant to enable it to entertain its distinguished 
visitors in a due and worthy manner. I know very well what the result 
would be. But I am sure that, notwithstanding the unavoidable dis- 
advantages of our position, no more cordial weleome could be extended 
to our foreign friends in any country than that which every Fellow of 
the Royal Horticultural Society now desires to convey to them through 
me. I hope therefore that our distinguished visitors will accept our 
apologies for all defects in our arrangements, and will make allowance for 
any shortcomings they may discern, resting assured that our one hope is 
that they may carry home with them such a sense of the sincerity of our 
British welcome as may induce them to give us the pleasure and the 
honour of seeing them again amongst us on many similar occasions. 
Asa proof of the cordial feeling entertained by our foreign friends for 
the horticulturists of this country I may mention that a letter has this 
moment been received announcing that it has pleased His Majesty the 
King of the Belgians to bestow the high honour of the Insignia of an 
