30 



The prosperity of this Society hitherto, is, I be- 

 lieve, "altogether unexampled ; and its future pros- 

 pects are bright and exhilarating in the extreme. 

 Warned by the deplorable embarrassments of some 

 and guided by the happy example of other Horticul- 

 tural establishments, the strong and sagacious minds 

 which have conducted the affairs of ours so felicit- 

 ously, to the present moment, will not be likely to 

 err greatly in their management of them hereafter. 

 Should heaven intercept some of them from seeing 

 all their wise and tasteful plans perfectly accomplish- 

 ed, they may at least enjoy the present confident 

 assurance, that posterity will appreciate and be 

 grateful for their labors. The amazing power of 

 combinations is well known ; but has seldom been 

 more agreeably illustrated, than in the formation of 

 associations where the results of individual exertions, 

 experiments and opinions are collected and compar- 

 ed, corrected and concentrated, and the knowledge, 

 thus acquired and prepared, diftlised in an attractive 

 form among the mass of mankind by periodical 

 publications. It has been, and I think may again 

 be, confidently asserted, that " more real, useful im- 

 provements have been made in gardening since the 

 formation of the London Horticultural Society, than 

 have been made in China within the last thousand 

 years." 



Even in the short space since the foundation of 

 this Society, its influence has become strongly mark- 

 ed, not only around the residences of its members. 



