KARL FREIHERR VON HÜGEL,
HORTOLOGIST, GEOGRAPHER, AND STATESMAN.
AMONG those in our country, who are gardeners and lovers of gardens, the thought arose of perpetuating the memory of Charles Baron von Hügel, the renowned promoter of horticulture in Austria. This inspiration has now been happily realized.
Near the scene of Hügel's successful exertions, in beautiful grounds accessible to the public[1], stands the bust which we unveil to-day, a work from the master-hand of Johann Benks.
It is but fitting on this occasion to sketch the life-history of this never to be forgotten man.
Great as was his fame as a promoter of horticulture, that was not the only sphere in which his laborious life bore fruit. He laboured in many departments no less honourably, and, in some of these, with no less a measure of success. Indeed, I do not exaggerate when I say that it would be difficult to find anyone, sufficiently many-sided and possessed of enough detailed knowledge, to be capable of pronouncing an adequate judgment upon Hügel's various achievements. To do full justice to his life’s work, instead of one speaker there should appear in this place a hortologist, a botanist, an ethnographer, and an anthropologist. Even so the picture of his activity would not
- ↑ Known as the "Cottagepark," Hietzing.
