474 
.JOURXAL  OF  HORTTCULTURE  AXD  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
.May  29,  1902, 
gardener  is  interested ;  it  has  formed  aii 
extensive  garden  and  orchard,  in  which 
have  been  collected  from  time  to  time 
numerous  jilants,  valuable  for  their  utility 
or  beauty ;  it  has  given  a  great  impulse  to 
cultivation  by  its  public  exhibitions  of  gar¬ 
den  produce ;  it  has  been  a  school  from 
which  have  sprung  some  of  the  most  dis¬ 
tinguished  gardeners  of  the  century ;  and 
it  has  given  away  to  its  Fellows  and  to 
public  establishments  above  a  million  and 
a  half  of  plants,  packets  of  seeds,  and 
cuttings.  In  effecting  this  about  £240,000 
has  been  expended,  of  which  £40,000  has 
been  consumed  in  the  creation  of  the  gar¬ 
den ;  more  than  £2,000  in  forming  collec¬ 
tions  of  drawings,  models  of  fruit,  &c. ; 
£13,000  in  the  mere  cost  of  procuring  new 
plants  and  seeds  ;  while  above  £20,000  has 
been  directly  applied  in  the  form  of  medals 
and  money  prizes  for  the  encouragement  of 
horticulture.’ 
Prince  Consort  and  South  Kensington. 
Council  Chamber,  in  the  Society’s  Garden,  Chiswick. 
income  and  expenditure  had  exceeded  £7,000,  though  the  regular 
income  from  subscriptions  averaged  but  £3,000.  As  long  as  hue 
weather  and  fashion  favoured  the  Chiswick  shows,  large  profits 
accrued  from  them,  and  up  to  1851-2  the  Council  had  been  able 
to  effect  some  reduction  of  debt,  large  or  small,  in  most  years. 
But  fashion  is  essentially  fickle,  and  the  weather,  which  had 
almost  persistently  smiled  on  Chiswick  from  1833  to  1846,  began 
to  show  its  seamy  side,  and  the  shows  to  entail  heavy  losses. 
It  should  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  George  Bcntham  was  secretary 
from  1830  to  1841,  and  that  Mr.  Knight  died  in  1838.  He  was 
succeeded  as  president  by  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  who  did  his 
utmost  to  promote  the  interests  of  the  Society  during  his  twenty 
v'cars’  Cenure  of  office.  The  Duke  added  much  to  the  attractions 
of  the  Chiswick  shows  by  opening  his  beautiful  grounds  adjoining 
to  the  Fellows  and  their  friends  on  show  days.  It  is  weary  w;ork 
to  follow',  however  rapidly,  the  declining  fortunes  of  the  Society 
down  to  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  in  1 808,  and  the 
ek'ction  of  the  Brince  Consort  as  his  succcssoi .  Suffice  it'  to  sa^ 
that,  notwithstanding  a,!!  possible  retrenchments,  schemes  of 
reorganisation,  the  sacrifice  of  valuable  collections  of  plants  at 
Chiswick,  of  the  Society’s  herbarium,  and  of  an  unrivahed 
botanical  library  ;  notwithstanding  the  sale 
of  21,  Regent  Street,  and  the  descent  to  the 
occupation  of  a  small  office  at  £80  a  year  ; 
notwithstanding  the  discontinuance  of  the 
Chiswick  show's  and  efforts  to  revive  public 
confidence  and  interest  in  the  Society  by 
exhibitions  in  the  grounds  of  Gore  House 
and  in  St.  James’  Hall,  decline  and  iiiisfor- 
tune  dogged  the  Society’s  steps  until,  on 
May  1,  1858,  the  final  crisis  came;  the 
number  of  Fellows  being  reduced  to  985, 
and  there  being  a  debt  of  nearly  £10,000  to 
face.  It  was  eminently  fortunate  that  even 
during  these  dark  days  Chiswick  gardens 
were  retained  and  some  part  of  the  labour 
of  lialf  a  centurv  saved. 
“  On  the  election  of  H.R.H.  the  Prince 
Consort  as  President  in  1858  it  was  hoped, 
and  for  a  time  it  seemed,  that  the  Society’s 
difficulties  were  at'  an  end.  Under  his 
auspices  a  lease  of  twenty  acres  of  land 
at  South  Kensington  for  thirty-one  years 
was  arranged  between  the  Royal  Commis¬ 
sioners  of  the  Exhibition  of  1851  and  the 
Society,  the  terms  and  conditdons  being 
embedied  in  an  original  and  two  supplementary  agreements,  dated 
1860  and  1861.  By  these  the  Royal  Commissioners  undertook  to 
spend  £50,000  on  arcades  and  earthworks,  the  Society  agreeing 
to  spend  a  like  sum  on  laying  out  the  garden  with  fountains, 
aciueductts,  and  statuary  in  the  Italian  style.  Of  the  £50,000  to 
be  provided  by  the  Society,  £10,000  was  obtained  from  donations, 
life  compositions,  &c.,  and  £40,000  was  raised  on  debentures.  Her 
Gracious  Maje.sty  the  Queen  gave  a  donation  of  £1,000,  the  Prince 
Consort  £1,500  in  cash  and  debentures,  and  many  other  members 
of  the  Royal  Family  gave  encouraging  help.  The  new  charter, 
under  which  the  Society  is  still  governed,  was  granted  in  1861,  in 
which  ymar,  on  June  5,  the  formal  opening  of  the  new  garden  by 
Her  Gracious  Majesty  the  Queen,  the  Prince  Con.sort,  and  the 
King  of  the  Belgians  took  place.  On  December  14,  1861,  the 
Prince  Consort  passed  away,  greatly  beloved  and  regretted.  It 
may  have  been  that  the  scheme  which  his  fostering  care  had 
elaborated  and  developed  contained  in  itself  the  germs  of  decay. 
Ic  may  be  doubted  whether  the  resources  of  the  Roj'al  Horticul¬ 
tural  Society  would  have  enabled  it  iiermanently  to  bear  the 
charges  of  a  heavy  bonded  debt,  of  the  maintenance  of  their 
South  Kensington  grounds,  and  of  a  costly  exiDerimental  garden 
Council’s  Report  of  1857. 
“  Before  briefly  recounting  the  more 
recent  history  of  -the  Society,  I  may  quote 
the  claims  justly  advanced  on  its  behalf  by 
the  Council  in  their  report  of  May  1,  1857  : 
‘  For  more  than  half  a  century  the  Society 
has  endeavoured  to  i^ursue  the  path  traced 
out  by  its  charter.  It  has  examined  the 
qualities,  and  reduced  to  order  the  names 
of  fruit  trees  and  succulent  plants;  it  has 
directed  the  attention  of  scientific  as  well 
as  of  practical  men  to  the  improvement  of 
the  ai-ts  of  cultivation ;  it  has  inrt’oduced  at 
much  co.st  great  numbers  of  exotic  plants  to 
decorate  our  gardens  ;  it  has  published  many 
volumes  filled  with  important  treatises 
upon  almost  every  subject  in  which  the 
Journeymen  Gardeners’  Bothy,  Chiswick. 
