FEBRUARY. 35 



the enrolment of many new Fellows, who, in the course of time, would 

 bring us thei}' friends, by which means our ranks would soon be crowded 

 with recruits. I would do away at once with the objectionable rule, 

 that the persons introduced must be " maids, wives, or widows," &c., 

 residing in the houses of Fellows! Let a Fellow freely pay his sub- 

 scription, and as freely "do what he pleases with his own " purchased 

 rights and privileges. Continue to give Fellows the option of purchasing 

 ti{ kets at a reduced price ; but abandon the troublesome formula which, 

 up to the present time, has had the effect of a " prohibitory duty." 



Judging from the annual subscriptions received for the three years 

 1852-3, 1853-4, and 1854-5, I make an average of about 2500/., 

 which gives us some few less than 600 paying members ! Are we to 

 conclude that a country at the head of scientific horticulture, as Old 

 England is universally admitted to be, cannot number more than 600 

 paying admirers ? The question is too absurd to call for a serious reply. 

 And yet it needs no prophet's eye to see that even this limited number 

 will soon be sorely reduced, if the affairs of the Society and its manage- 

 ment be not immediately thrown widely open, and some important 

 restrictions made in the cost of conducting its business. I am told 

 that one office-bearer receives 500/. annually for his services. If this 

 be true, is not the amount excessive ? and, under existing circumstances, 

 would it not be advisable to reduce that amount ? 



Apply the pruning-knife freely in all directions, and our annual 

 expenditure might be soon reduced to about half the sum at which it 

 has stood for some years, and this might be effected without impairing 

 the usefulness or jeopardising the stability of the Society. On the con- 

 trary, vigorous measures of this kind would soon place large sums at 

 thi command of the new administration ; present habilities would be 

 gradually liquidated, and the Council enabled to put forth more liberal 

 schedules of prizes at future exhibitions, which may, even yet, become 

 as productive of revenue as at any period of the Society's existence, 

 even though they be held at the Chiswick Gardens — a place above all 

 others suitable for grand metropolitan horticultural fetes. To effect 

 this, however, all the present restraint and mystification must be 

 removed, a result which can only be brought about by tlie exertions of 

 a numerous and practical Council, composed in the way I suggested at 

 the commencement of this paper. 



I look upon the destruction of our fine old institution as a foul and 

 indelible blot upon Horticulture. Even the scheme just proposed for 

 our consideration tells too plainly that its framers, even if they possess 

 the will, are ignorant of the imij to redeem our fallen fortunes. The 

 vessel must be newly manned if we hope to escape the shoals and 

 quicksands among which she has been steered, and from which her 

 pilots are unable to extricate her. 



The present visionary scheme includes the holding of " London 

 exhibitions yearly, during the spring and autumn," in "some spacious 

 place to be hired for the purpose ; " it further proposes " that monthly 

 meetings be held as heretofore, in Regent-street, &c.; but that Medals 

 AT THOSE MEETINGS BE DISCONTINUED." May I be permitted to 

 enquire, in all simplicity, if our exhibitions have been distasteful to 



