NA TURE 



M5 



THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1887. 



THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE Horticultural Society of London was founded in 

 1804, among the first members being Sir Joseph 

 Banks. Its objects were "to collect every information 

 respecting the culture and treatment of all plants and 

 trees, as well culinary as ornamental," and "to foster and 

 encourage every branch of horticulture, and all the 

 arts connected with it." The P2arl of Dartmouth 

 was the first President. The Society was incorporated 

 by Royal Charter in 1809. In 1820 the Society pur- 

 chased 21 Regent Street, which was its London home 

 for forty years. In 1822 it obtained a lease of the present 

 Gardens at Chiswick, which have been cultivated and 

 embellished under the Society's auspices for upwards of 

 sixty-five years. 



At the conclusion of the war in 1815 the Society 

 began to import plants from abroad, and this country 

 owes to its early exertions many of the beautiful 

 camellias, azaleas, peonies, roses, and chrysanthemums 

 which are natives of the East, and afriong other plants 

 the Wistaria {Glycine) sinensis, a lovely creeper now 

 quite at home in England. Indeed, one cannot take a day's 

 ride anywhere through the country without meeting some 

 of the beautiful introductions of the Society. Among the 

 collectors sent out by the Society was Douglas, to whose 

 energy the country owes Pinus Lambertiana, P. insignis, 

 P. ponderosa, P. nobilis, P. Douglasii, &c. 



Dr. Lindley, one of the most eminent botanists this 

 country has ever produced, was appointed Assistant Secre- 

 tary in 1822, and continued connected with the Society 

 until his death in 1865. No account of the early days 

 of the Society would be complete without a record of the 

 fruits of Fortune's journeys, under its auspices, in China. 

 Not only did he send innumerable valuable plants home, 

 but his travels in the Chinese tea-country were the direct 

 cause of the introduction of tea-cultivation into India. 



In 1839 the Duke of Devonshire was elected President, 

 on the death of Mr. Andrew Knight, who had been 

 President for twenty-seven years, and to whom the 

 Society owed much. In January 1858 the Duke of 

 Devonshire died, and H.R.H. the Prince Consort gra- 

 ciously consented to succeed him. The establishment 

 of the Society at South Kensington, under H.R.H.'s 

 guidance and direction, is so comparatively recent an 

 event that it is not necessary to refer to it at length. 

 At first the prospect was promising, and had not the 

 Prince Consort's life been cut short, the result might 

 have been very different from what it has proved. 

 But the money expended on the buildings and the gardens 

 at South Kensington, from the funds of the Society, was 

 little short of ^100,000 — a sum which, with the experience 

 we now have, no one would dream of devoting to such 

 purposes. This enormous expenditure hung like a mill- 

 stone round the neck of the Society, which soon found 

 itself unable to pay the interest on the money borrowed 

 to meet it. The result was that, under a clause of the 

 Society's agreement with the Commissioners of the 1851 

 Exhibition, the latter body resumed possession of the 

 Gardens six years ago, and the money spent upon them 

 by the Society was swept away at a blow. 

 Vol. XXXVII.— No. 946. 



Nevertheless the horticultural work of the Society has 

 been carried on with undiminished energy. This surely 

 is the proper and legitimate work of such a Society. 

 Every departure it takes from its true functions alienates 

 the sympathy and support of those to whom it properly 

 looks, and to promote whose objects it exists. Since the 

 Society has been established at South Kensington, its 

 activity in horticultural work has been as marked as even 

 in its most prosperous times. Many thousands of new 

 plants, fruits, and vegetables have been submitted to the 

 examination and the verdict of the Society's Fruit and 

 Floral Committees, which consist of practical men, of the 

 greatest knowledge and experience in their several 

 departments. The value attaching to " First-Class Certi- 

 ficates " is shown by the care nurserymen take to record 

 them in their catalogues. At Chiswick a long series of 

 elaborate trials and experiments have been carried on 

 with fruit, vegetables, and plants, whereby useful and 

 profitable varieties have been selected and their qualities 

 established, and inferior varieties ear-marked. 



Although the Society has been unable to hold great 

 shows owing to the loss entailed by them, it has held 

 fortnightly shows in summer and monthly shows in winter, 

 at which a vast number of new plants and new introduc- 

 tions have been seen for the first time. Such shows, 

 though small, are often far more interesting to horticul- 

 turists than the big shows which were the fashion 

 formerly. 



It may well be asked why, if the Society can give so 

 good an account of itself, it should be in any difficulty "i 

 The answer is that its troubles are due to its connection 

 with South Kensington. It cannot be said that the Com- 

 missioners of the 1851 Exhibition have behaved with any 

 conspicuous liberality to the Society. Perhaps they could 

 not do so, as they have said that it was necessary for 

 them to make an income out of the Royal Horticultural 

 Gardens. But the connection with South Kensington has 

 made it necessary for the Society to meet the views of 

 local subscribers, who were not horticulturists ; and, 

 moreover, it has led to the Society being saddled with a 

 charter, which prevents its expansion and adaptation to 

 altered times and circumstances. 



The views of the Council are set forth in general terms 

 in the statement and appeal which we print elsewhere 

 The interest in horticulture in the United Kingdom-- 

 grows and spreads without check. Surely the horti- 

 culturists of the wealthiest country in the world will 

 gladly provide the very moderate sum required for the 

 maintenance of a Society which has done much for them, 

 is still doing much, and has before it untold possibilities 

 of usefulness. 



BALBIN'S QUATERNIONS. 

 Elementos de Calculo de los Cuaterniones, &^c. Por 

 Valentin Balbin, Doctor en Ciencias, &c. (Buenos 

 Ayres: imprenta de M. Biedma, 18S7.) 



ALL praise is due to the Argentine Republic for its 

 institution of a University in which the Faculty of 

 Sciences is endowed with a chair of the higher mathe- 

 matics. 



The book before us is the outcome of one of the 

 courses of lectures which the holder of that chair, Dr. 



