52 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
you of the cordial friendship and admiration of that country for your 
own. You are aware also how deeply interested my august Sovereign is 
in all that concerns horticulture, to which he is very sincerely devoted, 
asit is also one of our national tastes. Gentlemen, I can now only ask you 
to accept our warmest thanks for this evening’s welcome, and for the 
great honour you have conferred upon us by giving that welcome such 
cordial expression, and I fervently wish that our thanks could be as 
eloquent as they are sincere. 
Monsieur Mark Micweui, of Geneva, Switzerland, in proposing the 
health of the Chairman, said:—Mr. Chairman, your Excellencies, and 
Gentlemen,—Allow me a very few words. At one time there was a little 
disagreement between botany and horticulture. Some botanists look 
down a little on horticulture; some look down a little on the horticul- 
tural varieties of plants. But what would be our garden—what would 
be the worth of the flower without the work of horticulture, and the 
work of the hybridist ? We have many instances of it around us. These 
flowers that cover the table here are due to the horticultural art. It is 
due to the efforts of horticulturists that we have all these beautiful Water- 
lilies that are gracing our table, and now from a practical point of view 
the botanist can only look on the hybridist and horticulturist with very 
sreat satisfaction. From a practical point of view, hybridisation and 
horticulture are very useful to botany; but besides that from a scientific 
point of view, we have heard to-day at the meetings that the question of 
hybridisation might be treated from a scientific point of view, and we 
have had some papers which were of a scientific nature. One of the 
best ways to obtain our ends is by well-organised societies which will 
facilitate the work and help the workers on in their enterprise. I think 
not many societies are so well blessed as your Royal Horticultural 
Society, which is so ably directed by your most admirable President, 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, our Chairman to-night, to whom I am most happy 
to raise my glass, and invite you all to do likewise. 
The toast was drunk with ‘ three times three.”’ 
The CHarrman :—M. Micheli, your Excellencies, my Lords, Ladies, 
and Gentlemen,—I am extremely obliged for the very kind way in which 
you have referred to the Society and to myself. I think I may venture 
to say on behalf of the Society that we greatly admire the fluency and 
the admirable way in which our foreign guests have spoken to us in 
English to-night. I am afraid when we have the honour of visiting 
Ghent, or Geneva, or Amsterdam, or wherever it may be, that we shall 
be unreasonable enough to expect the inhabitants of those countries to 
listen to our English speech. That reminds me. I have ason just going 
into the Army, and concerning him I had the honour of asking Lord 
Wolseley’s advice. He said: ‘‘ There are two things your son ought to 
be able to do—to ride very well and to speak foreign languages.” I am 
afraid the latter art is not cultivated so much as it ought to be in this 
country. I ami sure of one thing—that we are very grateful to our 
foreign guests for the very successful efforts they have made in expressing 
what they desired to say in our somewhat stubborn and difficult tongue. 
I can only repeat what I have said before, that we have been very pleased 
indeed to see the cordiality with which our foreign guests have come 
