THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



83 



forties and fifties ? Where the magnificent Cape heaths, which 

 rivalled them in beauty and perfection of cultivation ? Where 

 the striking tall Cacti ? 



It is impossible to trace, however imperfectly, the history 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society without touching upon the 

 financial vicissitudes, not to say misfortunes, which it has expe- 

 rienced. At an early date not a few Fellows were in default 

 with their subscriptions, and between 1824 and 1855, Mr. Andrew 

 Murray states nearly £13,000 of arrears had to be written off 

 as irrecoverable. For several years between 1840 and 1855 

 both income and expenditure had exceeded £7,000, though the 

 regular income from subscriptions averaged but £3,000. As 

 long as fine weather and fashion favoured the Chiswick shows, 

 large profits accrued from them, and up to 1851-2 the Council 

 had been able to effect some reduction of debt, large or small, in 

 most years. But fashion is essentially fickle, and the weather 

 which had almost persistently smiled on Chiswick from 1833 to 

 1846 began to show its seamy side, and the shows to entail 

 heavy losses. It should be mentioned that Mr. George Bentham 

 was secretary from 1830 to 1841, and that Mr. Knight died in 

 1838. He was succeeded as president by the Duke of Devonshire, 

 who did his utmost to promote the interests of the Society during 

 his twenty years' tenure of office. The Duke added much to the 

 attractions of the Chiswick shows by opening his beautiful grounds 

 adjoining to the Fellows and their friends on show days. It is 

 weary work to follow, however rapidly, the declining fortunes of 

 the Society down to the death of the Duke of Devonshire in 1858, 

 and the election of the Prince Consort as his successor. Suffice 

 it to say that, notwithstanding all possible retrenchments, schemes 

 of reorganisation, the sacrifice of valuable collections of plants at 

 Chiswick, of the Society's herbarium, and of an unrivalled botanical 

 library ; notwithstanding the sale of 21 Begent Street and the 

 descent to the occupation of a small office at £80 a year ; not- 

 withstanding the discontinuance of the Chiswick shows and efforts 

 to revive public confidence and interest in the Society by exhibi- 

 tions in the grounds of Gore House and in St. James's Hall, 

 decline and misfortune dogged the Society's steps until, on May 1, 

 1858, the final crisis came ; the number of Fellows being reduced 

 to 985, and there being a debt of nearly £10,000 to face. It was 

 eminently fortunate that even during these dark days Chiswick 



