272 



Through the collectors sent out by the Society during 

 the forty years from 1821 to 1861, great numbers of beautiful 

 and useful trees, shrubs, and plants have been introduced 

 into, and acclimatised in, the British Isles. The success 

 attending these expeditions may be realised when the late 

 Mr. Andrew Murray was able to say, with undeniable truth, 

 in his tBcok oftde SloyalJiortieultural Soeiety, "The results** 

 (of the work of the Society's collectors) w have affected the 

 " appearance of all England. Nowhere can a day's ride now 

 " be taken where the landscape is not beautified by some of 

 " the introductions of the Royal Horticultural Society." 



Added to this, professional gardeners have been greatly 

 assisted and encouraged by the help and support of our 

 Society in the elaborate and valuable work of hybridisation 

 and selection, by which new and improved varieties of plants, 

 fruits, and vegetables have been raised in vast numbers. 



The Fortnightly Shows of the Society have achieved 

 a widespread celebrity. At them all the more interesting 

 new plants, as well as the more important results of skilled 

 horticultural effort, are first seen and first submitted to the 

 judgment of the most competent experts in the kingdom. 



The adherence of the Society to the work of promoting 

 horticulture in all its branches can hardly fail to secure 

 the approbation of the garden^loving race over whom Your 

 Majesty reigns. This is shown by the rapid increase in 

 the number of its Fellow?, which has risen from about 1,300 

 in 1887 to 8,150 now. Every day witnesses advances in 

 many directions, but no art or science has progressed more 

 rapidly during the last fifty years than that of horticulture. 

 The demand for flowers and fruits has grown to such an 

 extent that it has developed a great and valuable industry, 

 and the countenance which Your Majesties have graciously 



