INTRODUCTION 



"In 1853, while still a partner in the nursery business at 

 Exeter, which had then become famous as the first English 

 home of multitudes of new plants, introduced directly by the 

 agency of Messrs. Veitchs' collectors the brothers Lobb, Mr. 

 James Veitch removed to London, and took possession of the 

 once famous establishment of Messrs. Knight & Perry at 

 Chelsea. Here he was more directly brought into contact 

 with all the leading horticulturists ; and his estimable personal 

 qualities, his sound sense, and his energetic manner, soon 

 lifted him into a very influential position in the gardening 

 world which he maintained for many years, until, as we may 

 suppose, the foreshadowings of his fatal malady induced him 

 gradually to withdraw from active participation in what may 

 be called public life. All this time, however, the establishment 

 at Chelsea, which still bore the name of the Royal Exotic 

 Nursery, was being remodelled and improved, and a gigantic 

 business, one of the most prominent in England, perhaps in 

 Europe, was being worked up, sufficient of itself to form a 

 striking monument of successful commercial skill and enterprise. 



" Were we to attempt to show how far our gardens are 

 indebted to the herculean and unflagging labours of Mr. 

 Veitch, we should have to write a history of most of the new 

 plants introduced during the last thirty years ; for it was to 

 his active superintendence of their importation, and to his 

 discriminative choice of collectors, that we may largely 

 attribute the success which was realized in this department. 

 The later explorations of Pearce, Hutton and others, by which 

 also many fine novelties have been acquired, were even more 

 directly under his control ; while in order to form some notion 

 of all the services rendered to horticulture by Mr. Veitch in 

 this direction, we must add to the foregoing the results of the 

 two journeys of his eldest son, Mr. John Gould Veitch, to 



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