JUNE. 
133 
of the iron domes that characterise modem 
buildings, we think of the Crystal Palace, 
of Chatsworth, and of the humble gardener 
who became a great architect. If we visit 
the beautiful establishment at Kew, we see 
everywhere around us proofs of the inde¬ 
fatigable activity of Sir William Hooker.. 
Lastly, if we ask the origin of the garden of 
the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensing¬ 
ton, we are told that it is only a development 
of that at Chiswick, where Lindley stood pre¬ 
eminent by his knowledge and his energy; 
and of that Society where botanists of my 
age found in their youth such valuable en¬ 
couragement in their studies. 
The names of Sir William Hooker and of 
Hr. Lindley, thanks to their special works, 
will ever remain distinguished in science. 
These two botanists have, moreover, been 
directors of horticultural journals, and of 
great horticultural establishments, and since 
their influence has been so fully acknow¬ 
ledged by practical men, I shall have little 
trouble in showing that science is as useful to 
horticulturists as horticulture is to botanists, 
and this will form the second part of my dis¬ 
course. 
Secondly.—The Advantage oe Botany 
to Horticulture.— The principles of vege¬ 
table physiology are what horticulturists and 
agriculturists usually study in books on bo¬ 
tany. They do not always find direct answers 
to their questions; but they can draw from 
them certain rules, certain ways of experi¬ 
mentalising and reasoning, which save them 
from falling into many errors. Should some 
ridiculous idea be promulgated by some igno¬ 
ramus or charlatan, it is by an appeal to the 
general rules of physiology that a practical 
man may at once reject them, or at least hold 
them in distrust. On the contrary, innova¬ 
tions, if in harmony with the general prin¬ 
ciples of the science, may be, and I will even 
say, ought to be readily accepted. 
Do not let us put too much faith in the 
lucky results of experiments made absolutely 
by chance. It is with some of these experi¬ 
ments as with dreams and presentiments—if 
they come true once in a thousand times they 
are talked about, otherwise they are passed 
over and forgotten. Besides, it must be said, 
men nearly always are guided by theories; 
but the theories of the ignorant are often 
absurd and without foundation, whilst those 
of educated men are based on probabilities, 
or on an accumulation of facts. 
Conjointly with physiology, botanical geo¬ 
graphy shows the distribution of plants all 
over the globe, their struggle with the ele¬ 
ments, their migrations, and already raises a 
portion of the veil which covers the obscurity 
of their origin. All this ought to offer a real 
interest to horticulturists. We are beginning 
to have the power of expressing in figures 
the effect of each climate upon vegetation; 
consequently the possibility of a given species 
enduring the mean or extreme climatal con¬ 
ditions of that country to which it is desired 
to introduce it. Already we can show, in the 
clearest manner, the analogy between the 
vegetation and climate of certain regions 
widely separated the one from the other, and 
point out in which cases new attempts at cul¬ 
tivation should be tried or where they should 
be discouraged. A celebrated geologist was 
able to say beforehand, There is gold in such 
a part of Hew Holland ; and gold was found 
there. We can only say, the Olive tree and 
the Cork Oak will succeed in Australia; the 
eastern and temperate region of the United 
States is favourable to the growth of Chinese 
plants, more particularly to that of Tea ; and 
we can assert that that part of America in¬ 
cluded between San Francisco and the Oregon 
territory will, one day, supply wines as varied 
and as excellent as those European ones pro¬ 
duced between Portugal and the Rhine. 
It is a singular fact that the two principal 
beverages of the civilised world, wine and 
tea, which produce similar stimulating effects, 
but which to a certain extent are the sub¬ 
stitutes one for the other in different countries, 
present also in the mode of cultivating them 
the most marked resemblances and differences. 
The Tine and the Tea-plant succeed on stony, 
barren hill sides, of which they sometimes 
increase the value a hundredfold. According 
to the exposure, the soil, the cultivation and 
manner of preparing the produce, wine and 
tea are obtained of unquestionable excellence ; 
whilst the neighbouring crops, but a short 
distance off, may be more or less ordinary in 
quality. The-two shrubs require a temperate 
climate, but the Vine needs heat and no rain 
during summer, whilst the Tea-plant requires 
rain and but little summer heat; the result 
of which is, that these two species are almost 
geographically incompatible. Vine-growing 
countries will never produce tea, and vice 
versa. 
But, you will say, these examples belong 
rather to agriculture, and concern neither 
botany nor gardens. I maintain the contrary. 
It is science, in the present day, which points 
out what plants to cultivate, and into what 
countries to introduce them. Horticulture 
makes the trial with infinite pains. If suc¬ 
cessful, the young plants are submitted to the 
less careful treatment of agriculture. Before 
the happy introduction of Cinchonas into 
British and Dutch India could be effected, 
botanists were required to collect, distinguish, 
and carefully describe the various species of 
American Cinchonas; horticulturists were 
then called on to make cuttings, gather the 
seeds, raise the young plants, transport and 
establish them in another part of the world ; 
and so at last they were passed over to the 
care of the agriculturist. The Coffee plant 
did not spread gradually from Arabia to India, 
from India to Java ; nor was it the American 
colonists who bought it from its original 
I 
