THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY S GARDEN, CHISWICK. 
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THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY S GARDEN, CHISWICK. 
Without making any allowance for the dif- 
ference of taste, there have been many persons 
ready to condemn the laying out of the Chis- 
wick Gardens ; and it would be ridiculous to 
say they were perfection ; but it would also 
be unjust to deny that there are many parts 
exceedingly pretty, and until we can see all 
landscape gardeners hit upon the same pattern 
by accident, or, at any rate, adopt throughout 
the work the same principles, we shall not 
quarrel with any plan in which there is a 
mixed style, and especially when it is for the 
use of a mixed public. The Horticultural 
Garden contains very many beautiful speci- 
mens of hardy plants ; and, with all the faults 
which a hypercritic may be disposed to find 
with it, as a whole, we cannot help according 
to the early management a foresight which 
many of the present day never even study, 
much less exhibit. The Horticultural Society 
of London was founded, as its title implies, for 
the purpose of promoting the advancement of 
horticultural science. Very much real service 
may be traced to its proceedings ; among the 
foremost of which may be mentioned that par- 
ticular feature, the trial of every experiment, 
however ludicrous, that has been so brought 
forward as to excite public attention, the 
object being to enable the council to publish 
an official report of its fallacy from actual ex- 
perience, if it be a fallacy, instead of denounc- 
ing it without a trial, which would rather 
Strengthen than overturn the sinister object 
of schemers ; and of reporting its success, if it 
turn out well, upon an authority that cannot 
be questioned — the fair trial in their own 
garden. Connected with this feature may he 
mentioned the; trial of all new ami alleged ncir 
fruits, and reporting the result ; and for the 
manner in which this has been carried out, we 
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need only refer to their Catalogue of Fruits, a 
master-piece of statistical information on the 
subject of the orchard — not perfection certainly, 
nor do we pledge ourselves to subscribe to all 
the opinions and decisions, nevertheless a mas- 
ter-piece : there is nothing in existence con- 
tains so much of such good information upon 
the great variety of fruiis that are forced upon 
our notice by different cultivators at home and 
abroad. For every fruit we have an opinion, 
and, for the most part, a very sound one, of 
its quality, its appearance, habit, and general 
characteristics ; and, above all, the many names 
under which it has been sold to the public. 
And this information has been obtained by 
experiment ; for instance, a new fruit is adver- 
tized ; the man at the head of the fruit depart- 
ment sees it, and pronounces it nothing more 
nor less than something already known and 
grown under another name. The plant is, 
nevertheless, procured, planted, and the pro- 
gress tested in every way with the plantsalready 
in the collection. The merely knowing it is so 
would not prevent the trial, because condem- 
nation without trial might be wrong, for the 
reasons we have mentioned. Another great 
feature in the management and plan of the 
Horticultural Society is that of collecting from 
abroad, subjects that we have not yet got at 
home. From the collectors employed by the 
Horticultural Society many valuable plants 
have been from time to time raised, and dis- 
tributed freely, and, so far as we can learn, 
without sufficient preference to create any dis- 
satisfaction among the Fellows. We never 
applied in vain for anything we wanted; and 
we must say that in the garden we never wit- 
nessed any ill-behaviour or impatience; while, 
m> far as the fruit-garden goes, we have no 
hesitation in saying, that few, if there be any 
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