HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



I 



only by tlic publication of Transactions, Journals, and a 

 greatly improved edition of tlie Catalogue of Fruits, and by 

 preserving the Garden at Chiswick in efficiency, but also by a 

 most liberal distributidii of medals and pecuniary rewards for 

 meritorious productions, under wliicli head alone 19,224^. had 

 been exj)ended since 1830; by an enormous distribution of seeds, 

 plants, &c., amounting to almost a million and a half, and by an 

 impulse given to Horticulture, to which there is no parallel. 



In May, 1838, the Society sustained a severe loss in the 

 death of Mr. Knight, who for a period of twenty-seven years 

 had filled the office of President, with equal honour to himself 

 and advantage to the Society. He was re-elected as usual at 

 the annual meeting on the 1st of May, but before another month 

 had passed ho was no more. It is difficult to estimate the 

 amount of good done to Horticulture by Mr. Knight. The 

 impetus and support he gave to tliis Society was not the least. 

 In all its scientific work, from its origin until his decease, he was 

 the chief mover. His residence at some distance from London 

 obliged him to leave much of the financial and business details 

 to the management of others ; but whatever concerned Horti- 

 culture or any of its branches received his fullest attention. He 

 published numerous valuable treatises and papers in the Society's 

 Transactions and elsewhere. He was a zealous supporter of the 

 scientific expeditions to foreign countries ; the last of these 

 undertaken before his death was the dispatch of Mr. Theodor 

 Hartweg to America, where he consumed seven years in examin- 

 ing the Flora of Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, and afterwards to 

 Cahfornia, where two years more were passed. Although several 

 circumstances greatly diminished the value of the resvdts of 



