EXPERIMENTAL HORTICULTURE. 
449 
energies to the scientific investigation of problems of general 
horticultural interest. For the Society’s own sake, therefore, 
I hope that this important branch of its work may be still 
further extended in the near future. 
Before, however, the Society’s experimental work can be 
fully developed the facilities for carrying it out must be greatly 
increased. One of the principal requirements at the present 
time appears to be the acquirement of a spacious garden, away 
in the country, as supplementary to, or in process of time in the 
place of, the existing garden at Chiswick. Without attempting 
to discuss details I -would say that a garden is required that will 
be beyond the influence of the London smoke and fogs, and so 
designed as to enable the various experiments to be conducted 
without difficulty. It should contain glass houses of modern 
design, and suited for purposes of experiment. The new garden 
should comprise some twenty or thirty acres of land of average 
texture, and well suited for the growth of fruits and vegetables, 
and yet be within a convenient distance of London. It is of the 
utmost importance that we should have, in the United Kingdom, 
Collections of hardy fruits and Grapes, but these should consist 
exclusively of varieties that have been proved by actual trial to 
be worthy of cultivation. Complete collections might be con¬ 
sidered of more interest, but I regard the cultivation of varieties 
known to be worthless, or even inferior, as a waste of time and 
space. It is hardly necessary to say that the best place for these 
type collections of proved varieties would be the Garden of the 
Royal Horticultural Society. They would be of greatly enhanced 
value if each of the varieties of Apples and Pears were trained 
as cordons, bushes, and pyramids, and the other fruits in the 
several various forms in which they are known to give good 
results. There should be still further duplication by the use of 
both free and dwarfing stocks, and arranged in this manner 
the collections would afford object lessons of immense value. 
They might be made still more valuable by a careful record of 
the quantity of fruit the several varieties produced in proportion 
to the space occupied in a given number of years. We know in 
a rough-and-ready way that certain varieties of Apples, Pears, 
Peaches, and Plums, &c. are more productive than others; but 
it would be of scientific and practical interest to have in a 
readily accessible form exact information as to the average 
