It is never easy to record history. It is all the more difficult to do so when it involves encapsulating a world of breathtaking developments, of discoveries, of tales of mighty men and brave souls. It becomes almost impossible to do justice to the heroes of yesteryear when their story of greatness spans a period of almost two hundred years. There was greatness born out of vision, about "the capabilities of the soil to enrich a nation to an almost indefinite extent" which Rev. Dr. William Carey could have had it. There born Agri Horticulture Society of India in the year 1820 in the heart of the city Calcutta, presently known as Kolkata. The heritage of the society is not a tall story but the toil of Rev. Carey followed by number of devoted scientists and agri horticultural lovers over almost two hundred years.

The society acted de facto as the department of agriculture of India till 1900 when there was as such no specific agricultural department in the government machinery. It was Rev. Carey who brought extinct species of plants and nurtured them in the garden of the society. He also brought in Maize, Cotton, Tea, Sugar cane and Cinchona from different countries and instilled plantation habit in different part of the country.

The Society was not designed only to please the agricultural scientists or horticulturists, but to inform even the lay men of the momentous developments that the Society bears testimony to. It has been trying over the century to capture the spirit of the times, the passionate love for plant life. The adventures, the joys of discovery, the sorrows of failure and then the zealous conquest of new frontiers. It is this skein of excitement stemming from the pioneering spirit that seems to have woven itself through the long years.

It continues to prompt the Society today to reinvigorate itself on the eve of a new era with new ideas and new technologies that are poised to take Indian agriculture to realms of untold prosperity.