clxx PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
brief characteristics as it was thought would be most generally useful. By 
means of this catalogue a knowledge of tho superior kinds of fruit was much 
more rapidly spread throughout the country than it could have been by any 
other available means. The distribution of scions of new fruits was conse- 
quently carried on with assiduity, much consideration being bestowed in 
endeavouring to select such kinds as were most likely to succeed in the localities 
for which they were destined. 
While this important work was year after year being carried out, Mr. 
Thompson was engaged in making experiments both in the Fruit and Kitchen 
Garden departments, carefully reporting the results; in taking descriptions of 
new varieties of fruits as they came into bearing; and in preparing another 
edition of the Fruit Catalogue, which was published in 1842, and a Supplement 
in 1853. These descriptions and records have been of the greatest practical 
utility. Upwards of 2,000 pages of the Society’s various publications have 
been written by Mr. Thompson, but the Fruit Catalogue claims prominence, as 
having been the standard of fruit nomenclature in this country; while his 
“ Gardeners’ Assistant,” a work not connected with the Society, may be charac¬ 
terised as the best and most scientific of compendious treatises on modern 
gardening. 
For a nearly similar period Mr. Thompson has devoted much attention to 
meteorology. The “ Meteorological Journal” of the Society, which was com¬ 
menced in 1826, and which has been carried on by him since 1830, gives the 
readings of the barometer (corrected for temperature, &c. morning, noon, and 
night), of the thermometer, maximum and minimum, in sun and shade, and of 
the hygrometer ; comparatively with averages of forty years deduced from 
219,000 observations of the various instruments. Such broad averages afford 
what must be considered as true means with which extremes may be compared 
as regards heat, pressure, and moisture. The observations of sixteen years 
have been translated from the Transactions of the Horticultural Society into 
those of the Boyal Ihilosophical Society of Berlin ; and up to the present 
time a weekly return has been published in the “Gardeners’ Chronicle.” 
Among other papers from Mr. Thompson’s hand, connected with this branch of 
science, is a Table of Temperatures for the use of Gardeners, published in the 
Journal of the Horticultural Society, which furnishes an idea of the climate of 
some 900 places, situated in different latitudes. 
With a modesty peculiarly his own, and with a degree of plodding persever¬ 
ance which cannot be too highly recommended as an example to the rising 
generation of horticulturists, Mr. Thompson has worked on at these, his 
favourite pursuits, with zeal and assiduity, setting before himself the object of 
rendering service to science rather than that of personal gain ; and now, after 
a long and useful career, when his physical powers begin to fail him, it has 
been thought that an expression of public sympathy, in acknowledgment of his 
life-long labours, would serve to gladden and solace the remaining years of his 
life. 
Subscriptions will be received by the Society’s bankers (London and County 
Bank, Kensington), by the Secretaries, Dr. Hogg, 99 St. George’s Hoad, Pimlico, 
S.W., and Thomas Moore, Esq., Botanic Garden, Chelsea, S.W.; or Mr. James 
Bichards, Assistant-Secretary of the Koyal Horticultural Society, South Ken¬ 
sington, W. 
List of Subscribers. 
£ s. d. 
Gardeners' Chronicle , Proprietors 10 10 0 
Adie, A. J., Rockville,Linlithgow 2 0 0 
Anderson, J., Meadowbaik,Edin¬ 
burgh .0 10 6 
Bain, James, Downton Hall Gar¬ 
dens, Ludlow . . . .0106 
Barlow, S., Chadderton . .220 
Barnes, W., Camberwell . .110 
Barr & Sugden, Covent Garden ,0106 
Barron, A. F., R.H.S., Chiswick 1 1 0 
Barron, Wm., Borrovvash, Derby 110 
Bateman, J., F.R.S., Congleton. 2 2 0 
£ s. d. 
Baxter, W. H., Botanic Garden, 
Oxford.0 10 6 
Beadon, Rev. F., M.A., North 
Stoneham, Southampton .10 0 
Begbie, M., Cork . . 0 10 6 
Berkeley, Rev. M. J., Wans ford . 110 
Bertwhistle, H.0 10 
BLset, John, Croxteth Gardens, 
Liverpool.110 
Black,Miss M. ,HydeParkG ardens 0 10 0 
Bogue, Mr.. Gorhambury . .10 0 
Booth, W. B., Hammersmith .110 
