RISE OF NEW LEARNED SOCIETIES 261 



The Earl of Dartmouth was the first President. Banks 

 was one of the Vice-Presidents. Wedgwood acted as 

 Treasurer. In 1809 the Society obtained a Charter of 

 Incorporation. From the very beginning it justified its 

 existence ; and it exists to-day, one of the most splendid 

 legacies of that awakening period. 



At a time when Banks was loosening his hold upon 

 some of the threads that had been so long in his hands, 

 the Horticultural Society came as a fresh spur to activity. 

 His love of experiment had new scope, in association 

 with others, for the trial of ingenious improvements in 

 gardening. His house at Spring Grove, Isleworth, had 

 new attractions in the yearly increase and novelty of its 

 garden. Perhaps he did not have it all his own way ; 

 for he says, somewhere, " my gardener, who of course is 

 my master." 



Sir Joseph was heart and soul with the new Society. 

 He read several papers at the evening meetings, all of 

 the most practical character. A very good one was " On 

 Inuring Tender Plants to our Climate," when he was 

 enabled to prove, from his own experience, that exotics, 

 however weakly and unpromising at first, mostly increased 

 in vigour every year if their growth was carefully studied. 

 " Old as I am " (he said) " I certainly intend this year to 

 commence experiments on the myrtle and the laurel." 

 Another good paper concerned the " Revival of an Obsolete 

 Mode of Managing Strawberries." This was none other 

 than the practice of mulching the plants with straw, a 

 hitherto forgotten mode which he had found in an old 

 herbal. A third paper worth mentioning told of his great 

 success in cultivating the American cranberry at Spring 

 Grove. 



Thomas Andrew Knight was an indefatigable member 

 of the Society. He succeeded Lord Dartmouth as Presi- 

 dent, and held the chair for a long period of years. He 

 was long a close friend of Banks. His letters on gardening 



