cliv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SHOW OF COLONIAL-GROWN FRUIT AND OF PRESERVED 

 AND BOTTLED FRUIT. 



Held at the Society's Hall, Vincent Square, S.W., 

 December 12 and 13, 1904. 



The twenty-fifth and last show held by the Society in the year 1904 

 will ever be remembered as the first show of Colonial-grown fruit. Its 

 occurrence in the year (1) of the Society's Centenary, (2) of the jubilee of 

 the Colonial Office, and (3) of the granting of a charter to the West 

 India Committee by His Majesty the King, was most opportune. A great 

 deal more attention has of late years been directed to our Colonies and 

 their possibilities, but considerable ignorance still exists as to their horti- 

 cultural products. Although the idea of the Old Home Society holding 

 exhibitions of Colonial produce has only been rendered possible for the 

 first time this year, by the completion of the Society's New Centennial 

 Hall in Vincent Square, Westminster, yet as far back as 1886 the Council 

 urged (without effect) the Commissioners of the Indian and Colonial 

 Exhibition to hold such a show in that year. It is, moreover, gratifying 

 to think that much of the beautiful fruit shown in December 1904 was 

 doubtless descended from the cuttings and grafts sent out three-quarters 

 of a century ago by the Society from Chiswick to the then infant but now 

 well-developed Colonies. 



The date of this year's show was fixed principally for the advantage 

 of the Canadian and West Indian exhibitors, but the Council decided 

 to hold a second show of Colonial grown fruits on Thursday and Friday, 

 March 30 and 31, 1905, with a view to exhibiting such fruits as could not 

 be looked for in perfection on December 13 and 14, 1904. This will be 

 of especial service to South African growers, and the dates fixed for 1906 

 are March 22, 23, June 6, 7, December 4, 5, so as to suit all Colonies. 



As might have been expected for a first experiment, the exhibits were 

 not very numerous, but the result more than justified the experiment, and 

 those who visited the exhibition saw perhaps for the first time in per- 

 fection such fruits as the Mangosteen, the Papaw, and the Mammee 

 Apple.* 



The show was open for a private view on the evening of Monday, 

 December 12, when the guests invited included many well-known horti- 

 culturists, prominent Colonials now in England, the high officials of the 

 Colonial, Indian, and Crown Agents' Offices, the Agents-General of the 

 Colonies, the principal representatives of the West India Committee, the 

 directors of the Steam Ship Companies, the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. 

 Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., the Lord Mayor of London, the Mayor of 

 Westminster, and other prominent citizens. 



Sir Trevor Lawrence, President of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 addressed a few informal words of welcome to the Colonial exhibitors, 



* For a description of the Fruits of the West Indies see pp. G25-643. 



