REGENT'S PARK 99 



response looked for from this Society, and hence a certain 

 decrease instead of increase in popularity — a phase which 

 can but be transitory. The botanical portions of the 

 grounds illustrative of the natural orders were arranged 

 by James de Carle Sowerby, son of the author of the 

 well-known " English Botany," assisted by Dr. Frederick 

 Farre and others, and the ornamental part of the garden, 

 with the lake, by Marnoch. The designs were severely 

 criticised by Loudon in the first instance, who pro- 

 phesied failure to the garden, but was well satisfied 

 when the modified plans were announced. Some of 

 the earliest flower shows in the modern sense were 

 held there. And this Society was the pioneer in ex- 

 hibitions of spring flowers. The first was held in 1862, 

 and was quite a novel departure, although summer and 

 autumn floral shows had been instituted for more than 

 thirty years. These exhibitions and fetes became very 

 fashionable, and people flocked to them, and numbers 

 joined the Society. It is always diflicult to combine 

 two objects, and this is the problem the Botanical Society 

 now has to face. It is almost impossible to keep up 

 the Botanical side and at the same time make a bid for 

 popular public support by turning the grounds partly 

 into a Tea Garden. Now that gardening is more the 

 fashion than it has ever been, it is sad to see this ancient 

 Society taking a back place instead of leading. It is 

 actual horticulture that now engrosses people, the practical 

 cultivation of new and rare plants, the raising and hybri- 

 dising of florists' varieties. The time for merely well- 

 kept lawns and artificial water and a few masses of bright 

 flowers, which was all the public asked for in the Sixties, 

 has gone by. A thirst for new flowers, for strange com- 

 binations of colours, for revivals of long-forgotten plants 



