AUGUST. 241 



are the issuing of debenture bonds, life membership, &c. Of this latter 

 mode the present Fellows of the Society will doubtless avail themselves 

 more generally than they have hitherto done. Respecting the deben- 

 tures, we should have liked to have heard something more explicit 

 stated ; the lease is for 31 years only, and we are not told what security 

 can be given for the repayment of these bonds when due, as it is con- 

 sidered by many that the proposal to pay them off by surplus income 

 and life subscriptions is too vague a statement on which to borrow so 

 large a sum as is required. We hope, therefore, the Council will be 

 enabled to announce at the next meeting that some arrangement has 

 been effected with the Royal Commissioners whereby they should take 

 up the existing obligations at the expiration of the lease, supposing it 

 not renewed. This would give confidence to the undertaking, and 

 would only be fair and equitable towards the debenture holders. 



Her Majesty and the Prince Consort have most graciously set an 

 example of liberality and patronage towards the Society of which the 

 horticultural world have good reason to be proud, and its effect on the 

 future welfare of the Society can hardly be over-rated. 



The last point to which on this occasion we shall advert is as to the 

 management of Chisvvick, and especially to the distribution of those 

 funds which may hereafter be specially devoted to horticulture proper, 

 and which of course would include the collecting and distributing of new 

 plants, as well as carrying on a large series of experimental trials on 

 culture, training, and proving new things. When the proper time 

 arrives we shall be prepared to urge the necessity of a separate com- 

 mittee of practical and scientific men to manage this department ; but 

 as there is time enough yet for this, we only direct attention to its 

 importance. 



Since the above was written, we learn from the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 of July 23, that the arrangements with the Commissioners are fully 

 settled, as the following extract will show : — " Nor is there any sign 

 of serious difficulty in completing the fund of £50,000, by the issue of 

 debentures, which, under the new arrangement proposed by the Royal 

 Commissioners, will afford as safe an investment as can ever be obtained 

 in operations of this kind. Each debenture is to be of the value of 

 £100, carrying, until paid off, 5 per cent, interest, payable half yearly, 

 and giving the holder free admission, either in person or by transferable 

 nomination to the garden at all times whatsoever. The Royal Com- 

 missioners are to guarantee a sum not exceeding £20,000 to all deben- 

 ture holders remaining unpaid at the end of the first term of 31 years, 

 or else to renew the lease for 31 years more." 



We should have been more satisfied with this arrangement had the 

 Royal Commissioners guaranteed to have taken all the unpaid debentures 

 at the expiration of the 31 years, should they not renew the lease sup- 

 posing they did not exceed £50,000, the sum now authorised to be raised 

 by the Horticultural Society, as the contingency may arise that the 

 liabilities might exceed the £20,000 guaranteed to be paid by the 

 Commissioners, which in such case would leave a deficit unprovided for. 



VOL. XII., no. cxxxix. 



