18 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
cross-fertilisation, which now forms the chief part of 
scientific garden work, was accomplished by Fairchild, a 
famous nurseryman at Hoxton, who died in 1730. 
This same Thomas Fairchild left a bequest for a 
sermon, to be preached annually on Whit Tuesday, at St. 
Leonard’s, Shoreditch, on “ the Wonderful Works of God 
in the Creation,” which is still delivered, often by most 
excellent preachers, but to a sadly small and unapprecia¬ 
tive congregation. Every opportunity ought to be taken 
to awaken the interest in these wonders of creation in 
the vegetable kingdom, and so much might be done in 
London Parks. They are too frequently merely places 
of recreation, and until recently but little has been 
attempted to arouse enthusiasm for the beauties of 
nature, and to make them instructive as well as attractive. 
Even in the crowded heart of London a great deal could 
be effected, and it is a satisfaction to feel that attention 
is being drawn to the subject and an effort being made in 
the right direction. In the summer of 1906 a “ Country 
in Town Exhibition” was held in Whitechapel. This 
novel idea was so successful, and met with such apprecia¬ 
tion, that 33,250 people visited the exhibition during 
the fortnight it was open, besides the hundreds that 
collected to see H.R.H. Princess Christian perform the 
opening ceremony. The available space of the White¬ 
chapel Art Gallery was filled with plants that would 
thrive in London; the Office of Works arranged a 
demonstration of potting; bees at work, aquaria, speci¬ 
mens dried by children or drawn in the schools, growing 
specimens of British plants, such as the dainty bee-orchis, 
plants and window boxes grown in the district, and such¬ 
like, made up the exhibits. Lectures were organised on 
plant life and nature in London which were largely 
