WHAT CAN WE DO AT CHISWICK ? 



163 



enterprise ; they encourage the gardener, stimulate the amateur, 

 and please the public. Moreover, if successful, they help to fill 

 the coffers of the Society and are regarded with corresponding 

 favour by our treasurer. But as a means of collecting, and 

 of diffusing knowledge among practical horticulturists, they 

 fall far short of the conferences just mentioned. Moreover, 

 they do little to improve upon those routine or rule of thumb 

 procedures which were as well if not better carried out by our 

 predecessors. 



In considering the means, therefore, by which the utility of 

 Chiswick may be enhanced it may be pleaded that at least one 

 such conference be held annually in these gardens, and that as 

 many definite opportunities as possible should be afforded to the 

 Fellows of meeting within this truly time-honoured enclosure. 

 In these busy days when every man's time is fully occupied, it is 

 of no use to say " the gardens are open daily." Unless there is a 

 special reason for doing so, few of us can find, or make, the time 

 to make the journey to Acton Green. As it is, the Committees 

 do pay occasional visits to the garden for the purpose of 

 inspecting the plants cultivated for trial, and of adjudicating upon 

 their merits. Some of us at least would be glad of the oppor- 

 tunity of visiting the garden at the same time. If, without 

 interfering w T ith the judicial labours of the Committee, some one 

 could be told off on these occasions to explain the objects of 

 the trials and to give any incidental information concerning them 

 the benefit would be great and the interest in the garden 

 enhanced. 



Whilst not disregarding the lessons of the past, although 

 altered circumstances have to some extent rendered them in- 

 applicable, we may turn to the present, and devote some con- 

 sideration to the future. 



Of the present it is not necessary to say much. The mantle 

 of our respected friend Barron has fallen on the shoulders of his 

 successor Wright — and it fits! We can all see for ourselves 

 what is being done, and how it is done. Furthermore we are 

 all agreed that the trials of garden-plants, decorative or 

 utilitarian, should be carried on with the same impartiality as 

 heretofore. It may be — it is objected that some of the trials 

 are necessarily on a much more limited scale than are those 

 under the control of the great seedsmen and nurserymen in 



