LONDON. .505 



nerable acquaintance Mr Dickson* showed me some Brown 

 Beurre* and Crasanne pears imported from France, much 

 larger and finer than any we had seen at Paris or Rouen, 

 and yet they had come from the neighbourhood of the last- 

 mentioned city ; — so true it is, that the best articles will 

 always reach the market where the best prices are given. 

 Some of the picked crasannes were to-day sold at no less 

 than 14s. a dozen ; while at Paris they would not have 

 brought two francs a dozen. 



This happening to be the day of the periodical meeting of 

 the Council of the Horticultural Society of London, Mr 

 Dickson obligingly proposed that I should accompany him 

 to it. The meeting was held in the apartments of the Lin- 

 nean Society in Gerrard Street, Soho-f-, at 1 o^clock. The 

 business was conducted by Mr Joseph Sabine, the honorary 

 secretary, in the most regular style, and in a manner well 

 calculated to create and to foster an interest in horticultural 

 pursuits. Specimens of uncommon varieties of several fine 

 fruits were exhibited and tasted, and a free conversation on 

 their respective merits was encouraged. Some members 

 brought fruits and specimens of plants in their pockets, 

 in order to acquire from the more experienced practical 

 members a knowledge of their names and history. Tubers 

 of a kind of potato which had been recommended, and off- 

 sets of a new strawberry which had formerly been approved 



* Mr James Dickson, the distinguished cryptogamist, then in his 80th 

 year, and now no more. He died, at his house at Croydon, in August 1822 ; 

 and, feeling the ruling passion strong in death, was, by his own desire, 

 buried in a romantic church -yard among the Surrey Hills, where, in his ear- 

 lier days, he had been accustomed to gather rare mosses. — N. 



•j- The Horticultural Society of London has since purchased a house in 

 Waterloo Place, where they have fitted up convenient and even splendid 

 apartments.— N. 



