1894.] TRANSACTIONS. 13 



should be held responsible for that particular laches — the omission 

 to do somethino; that is thouojht ou^ht to have been done. The 

 Committee on Finance, to whom 3^ou have confided the custody 

 and supervision of 3'our Estate, have no cognizance of any such 

 ofler as stated. Had any definitive proposition to that efiect 

 been made to them, they would either have taken what steps 

 were necessary or have submitted the matter to the Society for 

 its decision. Your Secretary has neither memory, nor record, 

 of such a proposed gift. It was never his wont to repel 

 " munificence," for which, in the interest of Horticulture, he 

 would rather incline to gratitude. Perhaps it may appear 

 advisable, before we pull down this Hall in order to accom- 

 modate a gift that is somewhat veiled by the mists of uncer- 

 tainty, to pay off the debt incurred for its construction. And 

 even thereafter may obtrude the doubt, alike puzzling and per- 

 sistent, whether occasion for pyramid and mummy did not, 

 ages since, pass into "innocuous desuetude"! Of yore the 

 lover of ilowers pursued his fancy under difiiculties hard for us 

 to realize. He was remote from all fellowship, unless per- 

 chance the inmate of a monastery ; and even then unbroken 

 silence was, in some cases, an inexorable law of existence. His 

 life was that of a hermit. If he studied after sunset, it was by 

 the feeble flicker of a rush-light. He enjoyed few facilities for 

 investigation, and had nowhere to resort for aid. Perforce he 

 must dry his specimens for subsequent research or reference, if 

 he would not repeat his wearisome task of hunting through bog 

 or forest, of patient analysis and lonely discovery, whereof, 

 if aught happened to him, there was no printing-press to 

 preserve the narration. 



In^this Hall is, or should be evxr, a home for Horticulture in 

 its most comprehensive meaning, embracing Floral and Pomolo- 

 gical Science and Practice in their truest acceptation. A practice 

 and science which, excluding the charlatan, has no tolerance for 

 the pedant. Too long has Dry-as-Dust ministered as High 

 Priest at the altars of Flora, only yielding place, under direst 

 compulsion, if at all, to the imperative behests of an insa- 

 tiate mammon. The Florist in fact and verity, confesses no 



