164 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



their own trial grounds. That is no doubt true, but this defect 

 is compensated for by the wider choice of objects submitted for 

 trial, and by the absolute freedom from bias which has charac- 

 terised the Chiswick trials and won for them the respect of the 

 horticultural community. The records of these trials are 

 published in our Journal, but not always with sufficient 

 promptitude to allow the fullest use to be made of them by 

 those concerned in commercial transactions. This delay is no 

 doubt in a great measure unavoidable. One other defect in the 

 records may be pointed out, as it may readily be remedied. The 

 plants are of course grown for a special object, phloxes for their 

 flowers, strawberries for their fruit, and so on. It is therefore 

 essential that the descriptive notes should be taken of these 

 special points. But the variation in fruit and flower is almost 

 invariably accompanied by some corresponding diversity in 

 habit and foliage and other points, which should be also 

 recorded. 



These notes on " habit," to use the word in its most com- 

 prehensive sense, are of course not wholly overlooked, but they 

 require to have more attention paid to them than is at present 

 done. The scientific value of such notes duly co-ordinated and 

 classified would eventually be very great, whilst the practical 

 cultivator of to-day would find them of great use to him in 

 ascertaining the limits of groups or types, in determining the 

 extent and direction of variation, in identifying particular 

 varieties, in suggesting appropriate methods of culture, and even 

 in furnishing him with hints as to the best method of packing 

 and of " marketing " generally. 



Without dwelling longer on the present, of which we can all 

 judge for ourselves, we may now turn to the future and, as a 

 preliminary, ask ourselves with reference to Chiswick, do we 

 as horticulturists and members of a learned Society get all the 

 advantages that we ought to get out of our garden, shorn 

 though it be of its ancient proportions and more or less 

 exhausted as its naturally poor soil must be by the culture of 

 many decades ? On higher grounds than those concerning 

 merely personal interests we may ask : 44 Are we at Chiswick 

 doing our duty to horticulture ? " These questions have already 

 been partially answered, and in the affirmative with reference to 



