THE PRESIDENT. 
157- 
and of the following clubs : the Carlton, the Burlington Fme Arts,, 
the East India United Service, the Constitutional, and the Junior- 
Constitutional. 
From his earliest years Sir Trevor inherited from his mother- 
a devotion to plants, gardens, and gardening, whilst from his 
father he probably derived that careful scientific observation 
and method which are so necessary to a successful cultivator and' 
hybridist. He had many horticultural opportunities in India,, 
where he created gardens in the mountains and grew a number of 
acclimatised seeds ; whilst in the low hot valleys of the immediate^ 
district where he was so long stationed he met with numerous 
Orchids, e.g. Saccolabiums, ^Erides, Thunias on the Quercus 
incana, S^c, which he thus had the advantage of studying in their 
own native habitats. But it must not be supposed that Orchids 
in any way monopolise his attention. His love of plants is 
absolutely world-wide and catholic, embracing not only the mag- 
nificent and the rare, but including all that is useful or beautiful 
in the realm of the vegetable kingdom. He was elected President 
of the Eo3^al Horticultural Society in 1885, and has devoted himself 
ever since with a personal zeal (too seldom met with in presidents) to 
the furtherance of the best interests of the Society ; and Fellows of 
the rising generation have little if any idea of to what a great 
extent the revival and present prosperity of the Society is due to- 
the hard work, energy, wisdom, and tact of their President. 
IS THE CHARACTER OF A VARIETY AFFECTED BY 
PROXIMITY TO ANOTHER VARIETY ? 
We should be glad of some observations on this point. A Fellow 
writes, for example : — " Having four Apple trees in a row I have observed 
that the fruit of No. 3 somewhat resembles that of No. 2 on the side 
towards 2, being as a rule of a brighter colour and of a harder and firmer 
texture than it is on the other side of the tree. I am not aware whether 
it is recognised that the proximity of other Apple trees generally affects 
the character of the fruit." We do not think that this has been at all 
generally recognised, but it has been suggested that " pollination "—the 
fertilisation of the flower of one variety with the pollen of another— does 
sometimes afiect the character of the fruit as well as (as it obviously 
does) of the seed. And if this be really so it would account for the case 
in point, the blossoms of tree No. 8 being fertilised with pollen from 
No. 2 on No. 2 side, but not on the other. We should like to hear of any 
careful and exact observations of this. 
