1 8 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



cross-fertilisation, which now forms the chief part of 

 scientific garden work, was accomplished by Fairchild, a 

 famous nurseryman at Hoxton, who died in 1730. 



This same Thomas Fairchild left a bequest for a 

 sermon, to be preached annually on Whit Tuesday, at St. 

 Leonard's, Shoreditch, on " the Wonderful Works of God 

 in the Creation," which is still delivered, often by most 

 excellent preachers, but to a sadly small and unapprecia- 

 tive congregation. Every opportunity ought to be taken 

 to awaken the interest in these wonders of creation in 

 the vegetable kingdom, and so much might be done in 

 London Parks. They are too frequently merely places 

 of recreation, and until recently but little has been 

 attempted to arouse enthusiasm for the beauties of 

 nature, and to make them instructive as well as attractive. 

 Even in the crowded heart of London a great deal could 

 be effected, and it is a satisfaction to feel that attention 

 is being drawn to the subject and an effort being made in 

 the right direction. In the summer of 1906 a " Country 

 in Town Exhibition " was held in Whitechapel. This 

 novel idea was so successful, and met with such apprecia- 

 tion, that 33,250 people visited the exhibition during 

 the fortnight it was open, besides the hundreds that 

 collected to see H.R.H. Princess Christian perform the 

 opening ceremony. The available space of the White- 

 chapel Art Gallery was filled with plants that would 

 thrive in London ; the Office of Works arranged a 

 demonstration of potting ; bees at work, aquaria, speci- 

 mens dried by children or drawn in the schools, growing 

 specimens of British plants, such as the dainty bee-orchis, 

 plants and window boxes grown in the district, and such- 

 like, made up the exhibits. Lectures were organised on 

 plant life and nature in London which were largely 



