A KNOWLEDGE OE THE ORIGIN AND EARLY 



HISTORY OE THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



AS DEKIXED FROM CONTEMPORARY MEDALS, 



CARICATURES AND OTHER RARIORA. 



By A. M. r>KOADLEY. 

 Author of " Dr. Joliitsoii ami Mrs. Tlinilc." 



The foundation of the Horticultural Society of 

 London in the year before Trafalgar, and its incor- 

 poration by a Charter of Incorporation, granted by 

 King George III in 1809, the year in which he 

 celebrated his Jubilee, 

 were the result of the 

 steady progress made in 

 garden-craft during the 

 greater part of the 

 eighteenth century. The 

 successful Horticultural 

 Exhibition of 1912, the 

 greatest effort of the kind 

 ever conceived and carried 

 out either in England or 

 on the Continent, ina\- 

 be regarded as commem- 

 orating the centenary of 

 the powerful and progres- 

 sive association which, 

 ever since its lirst incep- 

 tion, has accomplished so 

 much fortheadvancement 

 of horticulture both in its 

 scientific and practical 

 aspects. It was towards 

 the middle of the century 

 in which Sir Joseph 

 Banks [1743 - 1820]. 

 Daniel Charles Solander 

 [1736 - 1782], Gilbert 

 White [1720-1793] and 

 Lancelot Brown [1715- 

 1783] (see Figure 308) 

 flourished, that the calling 

 of the nurservman and the 



" Capability" Brown, the reviver of the natural style 

 of landscape-gardening, who laid out the grounds 

 of Kew and Blenheim, in addition to designing a 

 great number of country houses. In 1770 Brown 

 served the office of High 

 Sheriff of Huntingdon. 

 While superintending the 

 works at Kew he is said 

 to have spoken some plain 

 truths to the King, which 

 Sir Joseph Banks was 

 possibh' too much of a 

 courtier to utter, although 

 he also had a serious 

 difference with His 

 Majesty about the intro- 

 duction into England of 

 the merino sheep. The 

 1 ) u s i n e s s founded by 

 ■' Capabilit}- " Brow n is 

 still in existence, and it 

 is certainly a notable 

 coincidence that Mr. 

 Edward W'hite, to whose 

 untiring efforts and spirit 

 of enterprise much of 

 the success of the recent 

 great exhibition at 

 Chelsea may be fairly 

 attributed, is connected 

 with it. 



In the pages of Mr. 

 Edward Smith's interest- 

 ingand carefully-compiled 

 " Life of Sir Joseph 



Figure 308. 



Lancelot ("Capability"! Brown, the father of English 

 landscape-gardening. 171 5- 178 J. 



florist attained the 

 importance which is reflected in the ornate trade- 

 cards and seed-lists issued by Henry Scott, of Wey- 

 bridge, John and George Telford, of York (both of 

 which are now reproduced in Figures 310 and 311) 

 and manv others. Outward and visible signs of the 

 good work done by Lancelot Brown (better known 

 by his more familiar sobriquet of " Capability "), the 

 pioneer of English landscape-gardening (whose por- 

 trait is now given), are still abundant. Brown, like 

 Banks, received much encouragement from the 

 sovereign to whom posterity has given the name of 

 " Farmer George," whose love of gardening was as 

 great as his fondness for cattle-rearing. It was 



Banks," published last year by Mr. John Lane, we find 

 a good deal of information concerning the foundation 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society and the early 

 enthusiasm for garden-craft of which its establish- 

 ment was the outcome and practical result. The 

 gardens of the genial President of the Royal Society, 

 both at Spring Grove and Revesby Abbey, were 

 equallv wonderful. The total disappearance of the 

 former, through " suburban encroachment," is to be 

 sincerely regretted. The grounds of Revesby still 

 retain much of the luxuriant beauty which the efforts 

 of Sir Joseph Banks and his wife and sister imparted 

 to them. We are indebted to Mr. Smith for a picture 

 of Spring Grove as it appeared about the time the 



