March 15, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
209 
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FAREWELL TO SOUTH 
V \ A 
KENSINGTON. 
-- + - 
A t last after a chequered career, iu which fitful periods of sun¬ 
shine have alternated with longer terms of shadow, occasionally 
-deepening to gloom, the end of an epoch has come, and the last 
•meetings of the Fruit, Floral, and Scientific Committees of the 
Koyal Horticultural Society have been held at South Kensington. 
The Gardens were opened with an imposing ceremonial on June 5th, 
1861. The members of the Fruit and Floral Committees, Her 
Majesty’s Commissioners of 1851, the Council of the Society, and 
other officials to the number of about 150, with the President, the 
late Prince Consort, and a dozen other members of the Eoyal 
Family assembled in the Council Eoom and from thence marched 
in procession through the Gardens to the entrance to the Conserva¬ 
tory, where the proceedings were conducted. 
Dr. Lindley, the Secretary of the Society, read an address to the 
President, recounting the past history of the Society and its re- 
■establishment under such brilliant auspices. A paragraph in that 
address is worthy of reproduction. “ Horticulture is the parent of 
agriculture. It determines on a small scale the value of the prin¬ 
ciples on which an extended cultivation of the soil depends. It is 
Associated with our food, our wealth, and many of our social enjoy¬ 
ments. Your Council believe that this Society has already contri¬ 
buted largely to the establishment of the sound principles on which 
-cultivation is founded. In the course of the last half-century the 
■Society has unremittingly used its influence and its means to enlarge 
Tthe skill of the gardener and the taste of the community. It has 
had the good fortune to see during that long period many orna¬ 
mental plants and every race of fruits and esculents undergo great 
improvement ; and it is not too much to assert that its labours have 
raised English gardeners to the highest rank.” There is the true 
horticultural ring in those words, and for a time the affairs of the 
Society were conducted largely in their spirit, but not for long. 
Expenditure was indulged in a manner that seems extraordinary, 
iand liabilities incurred that could not be met, until the real objects 
•of the Society were crushed by the iron hoof of financial difficulties, 
which have not to this day been surmounted. 
Attempts have been made time after time to strengthen the 
Society, but almost invariably on the wrong lines. Shows have 
been tried and failed, and tried again with the same results. Shows 
large and shows small, shows at home, in London and abroad in the 
provinces have been provided, and though good in themselves have 
drained the Society almost of its life. ^ Now and then one of them 
has been a success financially, but the whole system has been a 
lottery in which the blanks, as is usual in such cases, have far ex¬ 
ceeded the prizes. Exhibitors have no doubt benefited, or some of 
them, but the Society as a corporate body has undoubtedly been 
weakened ; and unless the elements of strength are provided it 
cannot perform the functions for which it was established. 
It has been said that some of the shows have been successful. 
Without going further back, one of the most important opened on 
July 21st, 1875. It was an expression of horticultural rejoicing 
on the overthrow of what may be termed the skating rink dynasty, 
for it was actually proposed to form a rink in the gardens, and 
preparations were made to that end. But horticulturists rose in 
rebellion, and Lord Bury’s Council was overturned ; Lord Aberdare, 
and an excellent chief he proved, being elected President of the 
Society. The show in question was, so to say, a spontaneous act of 
the chief nurserymen and others, and was wholly of a complimentary 
No. 403.—VoL. XVI., Third Series. 
character, no schedule being provided nor prizes offered. It was a 
splendid triumph, and though not the originator of the “ arrange¬ 
ment for effect” groups of plants for which prizes are now systema¬ 
tically offered, it gave an enormous impetus to that method of 
exhibiting, for the show itself was an agg.’egation of grand mis¬ 
cellaneous arrangements of plants displayed with consummate taste. 
This was followed by a great competitive exhibition in June, 1876, 
and this in turn by perhaps the most unique show of flowers that 
has ever been arranged—the show of Covent Garden produce on 
May 2nd, 1877, which was attended by Her Majesty and a great 
throng of visitors. On May 28th of the following year the Prince 
and Princess of Wales attended the chief exhibition, which was, as 
might be expected, a brilliant gathering ; but even this sunshiny 
era in the Society’s career did not prove of lasting benefit, and the 
resources of the Society were exhausted by the Preston fiasco, and 
again at Liverpool; so that it may be said that shows on the 
whole, however extensive and meritorious, and notwithstanding an 
occasional financial success, have been exhausters of the Society’s 
resources, leaving it weaker after the efforts that had been designed 
for its support. 
During the period indicated the fortnightly and monthly Com 
mittee meetings were held in the Council room, which was quite 
large enough for the products—new, rare, or specially meritorious—■ 
that were brought for examination. This plan continued till the 
series of great general Exhibitions—the Fisheries, Health, and 
Colonial—that appropriated nearly the whole of the gardens, in 
fact they were demolished, except the upper portion, including the 
terraces and conservatory, in which fine structure the meetings and 
periodical shows have been since held. For such exhibitions as have 
been from time to time arranged in it the building was admirably 
adapted, but for the ordinary fortnightly meetings it was much too 
large ; however, it was agreeable by the surrounding Palms and 
plants, comfortable in being suitably heated, and there are few 
members of the Committees and others who do not leave the scene 
of their labours and deliberations with some regret. There was no 
alternative but to sever the connection that has so long existed, 
the terms imposed by Her Majesty’s Commissioners as the land¬ 
lords of the property for the retention of the site being quite 
untenable, not to say exacting, considering the vast sums that have 
been expended on the property by the Society. Eeflections on the 
action of the Commissioners can, however, do no good, and the past 
must be left to “ Time’s effacing fingers,” and attention concen¬ 
trated on the future with the object of rendering it, as far as is 
possible under the circumstances, prosperous for a Society that 
ought to be made to flourish in this wealth-possessing and garden- 
loving land. 
Though we have stated our preferences, and the reasons for 
them, for relinquishing for a time a policy savouring of speculation, 
and adopting instead the principle of husbanding resources, and at 
the same time gathering strength from and to Chiswick, a different 
course has been determined. This, and the reasons for it, are clearly 
and consisely stated in the following letter from a true horti¬ 
culturist, Mr. A. H. Smee. 
“ If the Eoyal Horticultural Society is to continue to exist it is 
in my opinion absolutely necessary that it should have a London 
office easy of access in some central position. 
“ It is also necessary that the Society should endeavour to induce 
horticulturists to join, in order that funds may be procured for the 
maintenance of the Chiswick Garden. 
“ I believe it will be advisable to have a few meetings in the 
summer in these Gardens, in order to give persons who reside near 
Chiswick some inducement to join the Society. 
“ I think it will prove good policy to have some place nearer the 
City than either South Kensington or Chiswick to hold fortnightly 
shows. Although the Drill Hall near Victoria Street may not be 
everything that could be wished, nevertheless it is close to the 
Army and Navy Stores, which large numbers of people frequent. 
“ I shall be much disappointed if sufficient gate money is not 
taken to at least pay the rent of the Hall, provided the trade 
support the Society by exhibiting the plants of their establishments. 
No. 2059.— VoL. LXXVIII., Old Series. 
