88 ' Horticultural Society and Garden. 



recurrence to our mind that Mr. Knight, now employing a writing gardener, 

 had formerly boasted (it may be called) of growing pine-apples in a far 

 superior way to those generally grown by professional gardeners, by a man 

 who "neither knew a letter nor a figure." Aware of the influence of Mr. 

 Knight's opinion on every subject connected with gardening, and convinced 

 that nothing can have a greater tendency to retard the progress of that art, 

 or any other, than ignorance in operators, we directed some observations 

 against the passage, in the Preface to the first edition of our Encyclopa;dia 

 of Gardenwg,ax\(\.\\me since maintained and supported an opposite theory. 

 Our ofFence has proceeded from having felt rather too much delighted to 

 have the evidence of Mr. Knight's present practice to prove that he was for- 

 merly wrong, and that we were and are right. So much with reference to 

 Mr. Knight. 



As to what is called the Council of the Horticultural Society, the majority 

 of our readers, and, at any rate, all of them who participate in our ideas of the 

 direction of the Horticultural Society, know very well that their opinion as to 

 any thing we do or say, is to us a matter of the most perfect indifference. A 

 sincere wish that the Society might do that good which its inunense funds 

 should enable it to do, once led us to hope that we might introduce a re- 

 formation in its management ; but we soon found that we could not do this 

 without rendering ourselves obnoxious to a by-law, which would imme- 

 diately lead to our ejection from the Society. The first step which we 

 should take in such a case would be, to obtain a list of the names of the 

 members who attended at all the councils and committees that had been 

 held since the commencement of the garden at Chiswick, or even for any 

 one year since. We attempted this for only three meetings of Council in 

 1826, in consequence of some petty annoyances which we then experienced ; 

 and, after first requesting to be informed of the names of the members of 

 the Council who attended on certain fixed days, and being refused, and 

 next applying " for the liberty of inspecting the order-book, minute-book, 

 &c., in conformity with chap. 21. § 7. of the By-Laws of the Society," we 

 were informed, first, that our letter would be laid before the Council, and, 

 in three weeks afterwards, we received the Council's answer, viz. "that the 

 acts of the Council being the acts of the whole, it is quite unnecessary to 

 furnish you with the names of individuals present at any particular meeting; 

 and that there does not appear any reasonable ground for acceding to your 

 request to inspect the proceedings, as the whole of the minutes of the 

 Council, in reply to all your applications, have been alreadj' communicated 

 to you." The evasion of this answer is easily seen ; but even if we had 

 attained the object required, or were now in possession of a list of the mem- 

 bers of Council who have attended at the different meetings held in any one 

 year, the next step which we should take would subject us to exclusion 

 from the Society (so admirably are its laws constituted for the protection 

 of abuses), in consequence of a certain law (chap. 6. § \ &. 3.) by which 

 any person who writes or prints " any thing to the damage, detriment, or 

 dishonour of the Society," shall be ejected, and " rendered incapable of 

 belonging to it in future." As it would be inconvenient to us not to belong 

 to the Society, on account of its library, however much we might desire its 

 reformation we do not consider ourselves called upon to sacrifice our own 

 interest for such a result, and therefore we leave what is called the Council 

 and the Society to the effects of time. 



We appeal to all our readers, whether the different papers which have 

 appeared in this Magazine respecting the Horticultural Society, do not show 

 that our object has been to rescue it, if possible, from a contracted illiberal 

 system of management, and to render it more truly grand and useful.* We 



* We are ready at any time to state a number of petty annoyances, which 

 we have received from the Council and Secretary, respecting the library. 



