REGENT’S PARK 
99 
response looked for from this Society, and hence a certain 
decrease instead of increase in popularity—a phase which 
can but be transitory. The botanical portions of the 
grounds illustrative of the natural orders were arranged 
by James de Carle Sowerby, son of the author of the 
well-known “ English Botany,” assisted by Dr. Frederick 
Farre and others, and the ornamental part of the garden, 
with the lake, by Marnoch. The designs were severely 
criticised by Loudon in the first instance, who pro¬ 
phesied failure to the garden, but was well satisfied 
when the modified plans were announced. Some of 
the earliest flower shows in the modern sense were 
held there. And this Society was the pioneer in ex¬ 
hibitions of spring flowers. The first was held in 1862, 
and was quite a novel departure, although summer and 
autumn floral shows had been instituted for more than 
thirty years. These exhibitions and f£tes became very 
fashionable, and people flocked to them, and numbers 
joined the Society. It is always difficult to combine 
two objects, and this is the problem the Botanical Society 
now has to face. It is almost impossible to keep up 
the Botanical side and at the same time make a bid for 
popular public support by turning the grounds partly 
into a Tea Garden. Now that gardening is more the 
fashion than it has ever been, it is sad to see this ancient 
Society taking a back place instead of leading. It is 
actual horticulture that now engrosses people, the practical 
cultivation of new and rare plants, the raising and hybri¬ 
dising of florists’ varieties. The time for merely well- 
kept lawns and artificial water and a few masses of bright 
flowers, which was all the public asked for in the Sixties, 
has gone by. A thirst for new flowers, for strange com¬ 
binations of colours, for revivals of long-forgotten plants 
