160 JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
THE SECRETARY. 
The Eev. W. Wilks, M.A., Yicar of Shirley, Surrey, and Secretary 
of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, was born at Ashford, in Kent, on 
October 19, 1843. In a recent communication to The Garden, Mr. 
Wilks says : — " My earliest recollections are connected with horti- 
culture. I remember when I was only four years old my grand- 
father's devotion to plants, and particularly the pride which he 
took in the black and ^yhite grapes which he grew^ on a south wall 
in his garden at Charing, in Kent. The Rev. Joshua Dix, who was 
afterwards one of the leading spirits of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, was at that time Curate-in-charge of the parish of Charing, 
and all my early remembrances are mixed up with him and Mrs. 
Dix (as ardent a gardener as her husband), who were most intimate 
friends of my family. My father was also himself a keen gardener, 
his particular fancy being to try all the new Pears which France- 
was at that time pouring into this country. About 1850, Joshua 
Dix moved up to London, and became officially connected with the 
Royal Horticultural Society (his portrait now hangs in the Council 
room) ; but his holidays were always spent in the Kent he loved sa 
well ; and to our home garden at Ashford he used to bring, or send 
down, ah the new plants and seeds sent out by the Society. Thus- 
from my earliest years I have been immersed in gardens, and in 
active touch with the inner life of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
" My school life served also to intensify my love of Nature, as I 
was educated under that great scientist and true Christian gentle- 
man. Professor Charles Pritchard, until I proceeded to Pembroke 
College, Cambridge, in the year 1861. Having taken my degree 
in 1864, and after a couple of years spent amongst the flowers and 
the open hill country of Somersetshire, I accepted the curacy of 
Croydon, and was again fortunate in finding in my Vicar, Canon 
Hodgson, another enthusiastic and practical gardener, 
" Up to the time of Joshua Dix's death I was by his kindness a. 
frequent attendant at the Royal Horticultural Society's meetings^ 
and in 1867 was elected a Fellow, and frorn that day to this I have 
never missed any one of the meetings, save from illness or absence 
from home. In 1871), Archbishop Tait moved me from Croydon to 
