THE 



May, 1859. 



HOSE wlio cTespaii-cd of the revival of the London Hor- 

 ticiiltiiral Society from the beginnings of extinction 

 - Avhich had settled over it, and the thickening darkness 

 of its financial prospects, may yet have hope. Decaying 

 corporations are not easily restored, any more than 

 decaying frnit trees, and it is often pTpfcrahle to lay the axe 

 to the root than to encoimter the many obstacles Avhich pre- 

 sent themselves over the best considered means of restoration. 

 After much wavering on the part of the council, they have at last 

 adopted a programme suited to the exigencies of the case, and by no means 

 destitute of spirit and piu'pose. The house, 21 Regent Street, had long 

 been pronoimced a dead weight upon the society, and on the 23rd of March 

 last it Avas sold for £2960, and the society is now relieved of a drain upon 

 its exchequer, for which it had never had an equivalent in the value of the 

 house itself The saving in annual expenditiu'c thereby accomplished is 

 also happily attended with means for the liquidation of another portion of 

 the society's debt, which we doubt not, will speedily be cleared off by 

 means of other sources of income, arising from the increase of subscribers, and 

 possibly by sales of stock at Chiswick, where a great change is to take place. 

 The council are now converting the garden into an experimental 

 ground ; its ornamental features are no longer regarded as essential, for 

 gardeners and the general public have access to gardens as well kept, 

 where the best examples of style and decoration may be studied ; and the 

 majority of the Fellows have as good or better gardens of theii' own, and 

 hence, can 'gain nothing in the way of instruction by their visits. The 

 trade have been invited to send in everj^ kind of new vegetable for trial ; 

 the fruit and vegetable conmiittee are arrangii g plans for the examination 

 of the trials to which they are to be subjected, and a consecutive system 

 of reporting thereon is to be adopted forthwith. To make room for the 

 induction of the new system, the society lately distributed gratuitously to 

 the Fellows the greater portion of the stock of bedding-out plants which 

 had been provided for the ensuing summer, and the remainder have passed 

 into the hands of the trade. The affairs of the society will now be con- 

 ducted at 8, St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square. The glories of Chisv\dck 



