THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 



ENGLAND. 



THE Royal Horticultural Society 

 of England being very old and 

 most favorably located, is very 

 strong. There are now about five 

 thousand members. These pay in 

 membership fees and in special funds 

 about $30,000, or $6 apiece yearly ; 

 something like $15,000 more is realized 

 as receipts at their shows, making an 

 annual income of $45,000. 



Amateur science is a great fad in 

 England. Many wealthy men take up 

 science for science's sake and make 

 much out of it. Numerous men of 

 comparatively small incomes also make 

 a specialty of some line. Preachers, 

 bankers, merchants and even prominent 

 brewers have their specialties, in which 

 they have gained more or less eminence. 

 Many of these men have been interested 

 in botany, entomology or some other 

 line associated with horticulture, and 

 they naturally sought the congenial 

 atmosphere of the horticultural society 

 and of the various gardener's clubs, 

 which abound in England. While 

 these scientific men form a very inter- 

 esting group of the membership, the 

 society is made up largely of growers of 

 flowers, fruits and vegetables. 



There are not so many professional 

 scientists in England as one would ex- 

 pect to find, especially in the sciences 

 related to industries. Private enter- 

 prise having assumed to develop, direct 

 and control things scientific, parliament 

 and the lesser legislative distributors of 

 the moneys accruing from public taxa- 

 tion have not undertaken to build up 

 great government schools, experiment 

 stations and scientific laboratories. We, 

 coming after them and seeing the great 

 need of scientific development, have 



begun to push these institutions with 

 public moneys. While our people are 

 still in the stage of hastily getting 

 riches, and individuals are not ready to 

 take up all the burdens of higher edu- 

 cation and of research, our states' taking 

 hold of these affairs has tended to curb 

 private enterprise. I wish we might do 

 more to encourage amateur scientific 

 research of a high class. Numbers of 

 these English amateurs have done won- 

 ders in making new flowers. What 

 could some of our bright young business 

 men or professional men do to make 

 their spare moments pleasant and of 

 use, better than to work up something 

 useful? The country homes of these 

 wealthy amateur scientists are places of 

 joy to the visitor. 



We have much to learn from English 

 life. They live more. They are not in 

 such haste to leave the country for the 

 city. I trust that the entrance of girls 

 into our superb agricultural high school 

 is a most important step looking towards 

 better living in our farm homes. 



Besides holding meetings and shows, 

 the Royal Horticultural Society issues 

 many reports and does much to promote 

 the work of horticultural scientists. It 

 has trial grounds where new things are 

 tested, and if found of superior merit 

 given certificates. Certificates and 

 prizes are awarded at the shows also. 

 Horticultural schools and horticultural 

 professorships are much in the back 

 ground; that field being occupied by the 

 amateur workers. What little govern- 

 ment aid there is doled out is in the 

 main given in small parcels to various 

 general educational schools. We are 

 bound to lead them in horticultural 



393 



