16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



anxious to do all it could to promote the undertaking, and it 

 hopes to do something to lead the public in wisely making use of 

 the feeling which exists at present in favour of the cultivation 

 of hardy fruits. I trust the Conference will bear good fruit both 

 practically and figuratively. 



Mr. Shirley Hibberd moved a hearty vote of thanks to the 

 Council for inaugurating the exhibition. It had been attended 

 with considerable difficulty, but up to the present everything 

 seemed to have passed off smoothly, and he congratulated them 

 on the success attained. While they had been organising this 

 exhibition other persons had been busy in the same kind of 

 work, and those persons appeared to him sometimes to be freer 

 in their mode of operation. This Society appeared to be more 

 fettered — it might be to their advantage — but he had no con- 

 fidence in any of the associations which had been started lately, 

 and he thought the Royal Horticultural Society rendered them 

 unnecessary. Political, economical, and commercial questions 

 were involved in the question of fruit culture, but this Society 

 was content for the present to determine the merits of varieties. 

 This Society should be the last to convert itself into a political 

 agency. They did not want that ; but he thought their Fruit 

 Committee should have their powers extended to deal with such 

 things as market tolls, the conveyance by railway, and other 

 difficulties which stood in the way of the seller. 

 ' Mr. Cheal seconded the motion, and expressed his gratifica- 

 tion that the Council had stepped forward at this moment to 

 place before the country in a practical form what ought to be 

 done, and the best way of doing it. 



The Chairman, on behalf of the Council, returned thanks 

 for the vote, and added that the Council were most anxious to 

 give all assistance to growers in all branches of horticulture. 

 As to whether the questions referred to were within the province 

 of the Society, it was a matter about which opinions might 

 differ. He was one of those persons who believed that the more 

 the cobbler kept to his last, the better he was likely to do his 

 work. The questions were important to the subject of fruit 

 growing, but they wanted to give every assistance to persons who 

 devoted themselves to the cultivation of hardy fruit — that was 

 clearly within their province. One great advantage of the Con- 

 ference was that it showed that the collections were more 

 accurately named than was the case in either 1883 or 1885, 

 which proved that the people understood their business a good 

 deal better now than then. 



