GO 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



high quality, and will be found amongst the varieties recom- 

 mended. The name is well known, and equally well known to 

 the experts is the variety that should bear that name. As. for 

 the rest there is nothing more to be said, for were the thing 

 utterly unknown in Musselburgh, and its history wholly uncon- 

 nected therewith, the name would be confirmed because it is 

 established and has acquired distinct significance. The utmost 

 the Committees attempted in respect of names was to rectify 

 labels that were wrong, and to select varieties by name that were 

 in proper character, as the result of careful selection and good 

 cultivation. 



In the particulars that follow the greatest care has been taken 

 to embody the work of the Committees in the briefest possible 

 statement of facts. It is not to be understood that the Committees 

 have named all the good things in the several classes. They 

 have not, indeed, attempted any such impossibility. But they 

 have, in many instances, made record of the best ; and in all they 

 have specified the most distinct, the most useful, the most cor- 

 rectly named, the most generally attainable, and the most various 

 in style, purpose, and season, of the things that were actually 

 before them. 



In conclusion, it may be proper to remark that although 

 within the past twenty-five years great changes have passed over 

 the vegetable garden, to the advantage of all concerned, and more 

 especially the general public, there are certain typical forms of 

 leading esculents that do not change, or that change but slowly, 

 and, consequently, much of the information embodied in the 

 present report has more than temporary interest and value. 

 Changes will indeed take place, and improvements may always 

 be hoped for, but the conclusions established by this Conference 

 will be of value for many years, both as directly indicating the 

 higher ranges of relative merit, and serving as standards of com- 

 parison for improvements in the future. 



Before recording the results of their work it may perhaps be 

 as well to mention the names of those gentlemen who so kindly 

 acted on the General and Executive Committees and on the 

 Committees of Selection, as their names will of themselves be 

 a testimony to the reliable nature of the work done and the 

 decisions arrived at. 



