448 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
had obtained the whole of their supplies of these preparations 
from England. This fact, if not of itself a sufficient justification 
for the formation of experimental stations, is an ample proof of 
the necessity of greater activity in research and experiment, 
both by societies and by individuals in this country. 
It might seem reasonable to suggest that we should look to 
the horticultural societies that are distributed in such large 
numbers all over the United Kingdom for information on 
matters that can only be satisfactorily determined by actual 
experiment. But reasonable as the suggestion would be, I must 
point out, and I do so reluctantly, that were we to look to them 
for help we should do so in vain. Those responsible for the 
government of horticultural societies take, with but few excep¬ 
tions, a very narrow view of the means by which they may 
attain the object for which they avowedly exist; and as the 
result of these contracted ideas there is annually an enormous 
waste of force and money. The Royal Horticultural Society 
stands alone in its encouragement of investigation ; and if its 
efforts have at times fallen considerably short of its opportunities 
it has in its vindication of research and experiment rendered 
services of immense value in the advancement of the higher 
branches of horticulture. There can hardly be any doubt that 
the experimental work of the Society has in the past been some¬ 
what hindered by the necessity which was assumed to exist for 
giving the Fellows some outward sign of activity by concentra¬ 
ting both effort and money on the exhibition side of the Society’s 
work. It is gratifying to have evidence that wiser views now 
obtain in our governing body, for the lessons to be derived from 
the history of horticultural societies during the past half-century 
teach us that the carrying out of exhibitions on ordinary lines 
is not of itself sufficient to justify the existence of a society of 
the front rank. I could in proof of this point to once flourishing 
societies which failed to give their Fellows and members any¬ 
thing beyond admission to exhibitions, and which have, I 
believe, as a consequence, become things of the past, or are in 
such a moribund state as to be incapable of rendering service to 
either the science or the art of gardening. But for my present 
purpose it is sufficient to emphasize the fact that the Royal 
Horticultural Society has itself certainly been most flourishing 
during those periods in which it has devoted a full share of its 
