SEPTEMBER. 395 



best exhibitors were driven away by a narrow policy, its 

 shows lost their attractions, and the Royal Botanic Society of 

 Regent's Park, to which they became supporters, still holds 

 its exhibitions in all the success of former years. Though 

 reform has come late, we hope the efforts now making will 

 reestablish the society on a sure foundation ; the good it has 

 done alone deserves that it should have the support of every 

 friend of horticultural progress in Great Britain. That it may 

 succeed, is, we doubt not, the sincere wish of every lover of 

 gardening in this country. 



It was nearly a quarter of a century after the establishment 

 of the London Horticultural Society before our own coun- 

 trymen followed the example of their transatlantic friends. 

 During this period very little was accomplished in horticul- 

 tural progress. Our fruits, our flowers, our trees, and even 

 our vegetables, were of the oldest kinds, and but little effort 

 was made to procure others in their place. It was not till 

 Mr. Knight, then President of the London Society, opened 

 a correspondence with John Lowell, and sent him many new 

 fruits, that fresh interest was awakened among our amateur 

 cultivators. His liberal donations of scions, and the republi- 

 cation of his valuable horticultural papers at once gave re- 

 newed action to all who felt the least interest in superior 

 fruits ; and to the London Horticultural Society, through Mr. 

 Knight, are we indebted for that new impulse, which has 

 ripened into such splendid results. 



New York was the first to organize a society, with the 

 same objects in view as that of London ; but after a feeble 

 effort to awaken an interest in horticultural progress, it grad- 

 ually died away, until it ceased to exist. Pennsylvania and 

 Massachusetts followed the example of New York, but with 

 better success, as all our readers are aware. Other States 

 became interested in the subject, and societies were not only 

 organized in some of the principal cities of the Union, but 

 in many counties, and several towns, in the Middle, Western, 

 and Eastern States. To the influence which they have 

 wielded are we in a great degree now indebted for the high 

 position our country has attained in horticultural science. 



