284 



KNOW LIIh; 1 



Jiiv, 1912. 



Large Medal 

 Hawkins, Bart 



Fir, HUE 320. 



presenled to Sir 

 , on the 5th of 

 Obverse. 



Christopher 

 March, 1816. 



garden rraft 

 soon came into 

 existence, of 

 uliirli one t>f 

 tile best known 

 and most suc- 

 cessful was till 

 South London 

 Floricul tiiral 

 Societv (ser 

 iMgures 322 to 

 .524). 



The pros- 

 perity and prac- 

 tical usefulness 

 of the Ko\al 

 Horticultu ral 

 Society may be 

 said to have 

 commenced 

 from the very 

 \'ear of its 



FlGURK 321. 



The reverse of the Medal presented to Sir 



Christopher Hawkins, bearing the motto Alien is 



incnsibiis acsias. 



Figure 322. 



obverse of a Medal of the 



South London Floricultural 



Society. 



foundation. " From the very beginning," says Mr. 

 GeorgeSmith, "it justified its existence, and it remains 

 to-dayone of themost splendidlegaciesof that awaken- 

 ing period." Sir Joseph Banks, an indefatigable reader 

 of papers at the evening meetings, had no longer 

 any need to write (except jocularly) — " my gardener, 

 who is also my master." One of the best remembered 

 of these essays was that dealing with the practice 

 of mulching strawberry plants with straw. .Vnother 

 was devoted to the cultivation of the .American cran- 

 berry at Sjjring Grove. Thomas Andrew Knight, 

 the learned author of the " Poinoiuj Herefonlicnsis," 

 who succeeded Lord Dartmouth as President of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, was an intimate friend 

 of Sir Joseph Hanks. His letters on gardening form 

 an important section of the Banks correspondence 

 preserved at South Kensington. On New Year's 

 Day, 1826, George Cruikshank, having done with 

 " Little Honey" and Oueen Caroline, seems to have 

 turned his attention to the vigorous Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society. Hence the caricature entitled 

 " Exhibition Extraordinarv " which figures as No. 

 U-H in G. W. Reid's li.st ('l871), and as No. 1155 in 

 that of Captain R. J. H. Douglas (1903). We are 

 iiulehtcd to Mr. Krid for some interesting identi- 



FiGURi-; 323. 



.■\ Medal of the South London Society after it had obtained 

 the title of Koyal. 



Figure 324. 



ierse of the Medal seen 

 in Figure 322. 



fications of earlv nineteenth-century adepts in the 

 garden-craft and members of the Royal Horticultural 

 Societ}'. He writes : — " A meeting of the Horti- 

 cultural Society with the company assembled, and 

 described as part of the Exhibition, commencing 

 with ' The Pink of Fashion, or Dandy Lion," and 

 ending with the ' Hortus Cantab, pro[)agated at 

 Newmarket." The articles on the table have affinities 

 to popular sensations and inventions. .\ volume of 

 the Society's Transactions is lying open on one of the 

 seats, where is an essay on a radish, illustrated with 

 a highly finished engraving. The pictures against 

 the wall are those of Sir Joseph Hanks and Lady .AlIiii 

 Monson. .\mongst the persons present are: Mr. 

 West, .\lderman Cox. ^[r. Rogers, Mr. Wilbraham. 

 Mr. Richard Salisbury. Mr. Sabine, Mr. Elliott, Mr. 

 Turner, Mr. Motheaux. Ca[)tain Maxwell, Dr. 

 Henderson, Lord N'erulam and Mr. Labouchere."" 

 The presence of .Mr. T. .\. Knight, who held the 

 [)residencv of the Ro\-al Horticultural Society dow n 

 to the year of Oueen \'ictoria"s Coronation, seems to 

 have again escaped the notice of the chronicler, who 

 thus describes the work of an artist whose powers of 

 satire were not less pungent than those of James 

 Gillrav aiul Thomas Rnwlandson. 



