THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



85 



Majesty the Queen gave a donation of £1,000, the Prince Consort 

 £1,500 in cash and debentures, and many other members of the 

 Royal Family gave encouraging help. The new charter, under 

 which the Society is still governed, was granted in 1861, in which 

 year, on June 5, the formal opening of the new garden by Her 

 Gracious Majesty the Queen, the Prince Consort, and the King of 

 the Belgians took place. On December 14, 1861, the Prince Consort 

 passed away, greatly beloved and regretted. It may have been 

 that the scheme which his fostering care had elaborated and 

 developed contained in itself the germs of decay. It may be 

 doubted whether the resources of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 would have enabled it permanently to bear the charges of a 

 heavy bonded debt, of the maintenance of their South Kensington 

 grounds, and of a costly experimental garden at Chiswick. But 

 when the support and influence, the judgment and guidance, of 

 His Royal Highness, together with the interest and pleasure he 

 took in the work, were lost, difficulties soon began to accumulate. 

 It would be an unprofitable task to refer more than cursorily to 

 these matters. As it turned out, while the Royal Commissioners 

 rarely received any rent for their very valuable land, the Royal 

 Horticultural Society could make no profit out of it, either in 

 money or repute. In the years 1862 and 1871 only — the years of 

 international exhibitions — was the Society able to meet its 

 engagements. A veil must be drawn over the later years of the 

 South Kensington connection ; years marked by disputes between 

 the Royal Commissioners and the Council, attempts to convert 

 the gardens at South Kensington into a recreation ground for the 

 neighbourhood, dissensions in the Council, and growing discredit. 

 The Society dragged on at South Kensington an existence of 

 little use and less dignity or credit up to the end of the year 1887, 

 when a move was made which will ultimately, there is good 

 reason to hope, have the effect of entirely rehabilitating it in 

 public opinion. 



It should be mentioned that the Duke of Buccleuch succeeded 

 H.R.H. the Prince Consort as president, and that Dr. Royle, the 

 distinguished author of " Plantas Asiatics Rariores," was secre- 

 tary from 1852 till his death in 1858, when he was succeeded by 

 John Lindley, whose long connection with the Society, com- 

 mencing in 1822, is in itself enough to make it illustrious. 



Before making a few concluding remarks as to the present 



