vi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



view of the possibility of still better goods or inventions than those 

 which first won an award coming under the Society's notice. 



7. The Library. — Ever since the Lindley Library came under 

 the direct management and control of the Society in 1910 the Council 

 have consistently pursued the policy of securing, as far as possible, 

 any really good and desirable books on horticulture which might 

 happen to come into the market, and in the past year about £800 has 

 in this way been expended on books and nearly £70 on binding. 

 Among the rarer and more valuable books thus acquired may be men- 

 tioned Gallesio's " Pomona Italiana," Reichenbach's " Icones Florae 

 Germanicae," Jacquin's " Florae Austriacae " and " Plantarum rariorum 

 Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis," Andrew's " Roses," " The Grete 

 Herball," Hooker's " Pomona Londinensis," Wildenow's " Hortus 

 Berolinensis," Prevost's " Collection des Fleurs et des Fruits," Laguna's 

 " Flora Forestal Espanola," Curtis's " Camellias," and an exceedingly 

 beautiful collection of old Chinese paintings of flowers. 



8. Douglas* Journal. — In the early part of the year an applica- 

 tion was received from the Department of Agriculture of the United 

 States Government, requesting the loan of the Journals kept by Robert 

 Douglas of his travels on behalf of the Society through North America 

 in 1824 and the following years, together with permission to publish 

 them if the Department thought fit. Whilst greatly desiring to comply 

 with the request of the U.S.A. Government, which has done so much 

 for horticulture all the world over, the Council hesitated to risk the 

 consignment of the manuscript to such a distance, especially as it 

 has always ranked with those rare and valuable books which are 

 never allowed to be taken out of the Library. It was therefore 

 thought better that the Society should itself publish this valuable 

 and interesting Journal. The Secretary was accordingly requested 

 to undertake the task of editing it and preparing it for the press. The 

 work is unavoidably a long one as the writing is often very indistinct, 

 and has faded in places, and it has also been found necessary to refer 

 the identification and nomenclature of villages, rivers, &c, to the 

 U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, but it is hoped that it may be 

 ready for the press during the coming year. 



9. The Great May Show— There is hardly a Fellow of the Society 

 who has not experienced the inconvenience of the overcrowding at 

 the Temple. The Society has received much kindness from the 

 Master and Benchers in being allowed for so long a time to make use 

 of their gardens, but for several years past the feeling of attachment 

 to the Temple Garden and dislike of the crowding have been struggling 

 together for the mastery ; and now that the International Exhibition 

 has proved that people will go to Chelsea as readily as to the Temple, 

 the Council have unavoidably come to the conclusion that it is their 

 bounden duty in the interest of the vast majority of the Fellows 



