m 



ii- JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGK GABDENER. 



[ February H, 186©. 



nothing but the bare annual inoome now to draw upon. If 

 any Fellow can devise means for increasing that, even by the 

 amount of the cost of the Journal, we have so much con- 

 fidence in the Council that we believe their first endeavour 

 would be to produce it. 



The Annual General Meeting was held on the 9th inst. in the 

 Coaueil-room at South Kensington, James Bateman, Esq., F.R.S., in 

 the chair. There was a very scanty attendance of the Fellows. 



The Chairman said that he had to express his regret that in conse- 

 quence of the absence of their noble President, the Duke of Bucclench, 

 who was unable to attend owing to his absence in Scotland, he {Mr. 

 Batemau), had been asked to preside. He observed that the gathering 

 ;waB not very large, and he supposed, therefore, that the businftss was 

 ,iiot very important, so that there would be but very little for him as 

 X^hairmau to do, but that Uttle he would strive to perform to the best 

 of his ability [hear, hear]. The first duty he had to perform was to 

 Lave the advertisement convening the meeting read by the Assistant 

 Secretary. 



Mr. BiCHARDS (the Assistant Secretary), then read the advertise- 

 ment convening the meeting, and the minutes of last Annual General 

 ■Meeting, which were approved and signed by the Chairman. 



The Chaieiian then said that be presumed they could not do better 

 -than follow the precedents of former years in the appointment of 

 scrutineers to take the voting papers for the Council and the officers- 

 ■While the scrutineers, Mr. Robert Fortune and Mr. W. Beattie Booth, 

 were ascertaining the result of the votes of the Fellows, the Assistant 

 Secretary would proceed to read the Report. 



Mr. Richards then read the Annual Report, which is appended. 



The Report of the Auditors was then read. 



Mr. E. S. Dalk begged to move that the Report be received and 

 adopted. 



The CHAiRiiAS presumed that some gentleman in the body of the 

 room would second the motion. 



Dr. Masters said that before the resolution was put he wished to 

 ask a question as to one of the matters referred to in the Report. 

 That to which he referred was the fifth paragraph, which ran thus : — 

 *'The Council are now making arrangements by which reports of the 

 experiments conducted at Chiswick, and of the transactions at the 

 various Committees, can be obtained by the Fellows without the delay 

 which the present form of the publications of the Society has hitherto 

 necessitated." That had been a great question, and it was quite 

 proper that at last there should be some regulation as to the more 

 systematic pubUcation of the Journal. Now, he (Dr. Masters) con- 

 sidered that there were two classes of the Fellows of the Society who 

 were interested in its operations — those who took a direct interest in 

 it, and those whom he must call, and who were a totally distinct class, 

 the dilettante, and who, though they took a less direct interest, were 

 still a most important section of the subscribers. To neither did the 

 present mode of publication of the Journal commend itself, its inter- 

 vals were uncertain, and at much wider periods than they ought to be. 

 He {Dr. Masters) did not intend, and he was sure the Fellows of the 

 • Society had not a word to say against the general items, of its intelli- 

 gence, its tone, or its Editor ; but the complaint was that they got it 

 at no regular times, and it was with pleasure that he saw the Council 

 had taken the matter in hand, and he should be glad, indeed, to hear 

 that there was a probability of the Council being able to carry out 

 some plan of supplying more regular and frequent information. He 

 had no doubt he should be told, as he had been told before, that it 

 ■was a question of expense, and the Council would raise the cry of von 

 possiimus. But they ought to consider how the present mode affected 

 •the Society. They must look at it in a business point of view, and 

 everybody knew that in private life they were obliged to make an ont- 

 ay on which they got no direct return — to use a trite though somewhat 

 •vulgar phrase, they must " throw a spra to catch a herring," and he 

 Dr. Masters) felt sure that if the Society were to do so in the more 

 regular and frequent pubUcation of their Proceedings, it would benefit 

 the coffers of the Society. He begged to ask what the arrangements 

 were which the Council contemplated or were making with regard to 

 the more systematic and regular publication of their reports as sug- 

 gested in the paragraph of the Report to which he (Dr. Masters) had 

 referred [hear, hear]. 



Mr. W. M'lLSON Sattnders could only assure the meeting that the 

 Council felt with Dr. Masters that the publication of the Proceedings 

 of the Society had not been what it ought to have been, but he (Mr. 

 Saunders) could not say what it was going to be. But what he could 

 say in reply to Dr. Masters, was to tell him and the Fellows what they 

 wanted, and would try to do, and were trj-ing to do. He could only 

 say that the Publication Committee had met that day, and were trying 

 to carry out some plan such as he (Mr. Saunders) would sketch out. 

 At present there were, generally on the Tuesday, during five or six 

 months of the year, meetings of which the proceedings should be 

 reported weekly, but for the rest of the year it was thought that a 

 monthly report would snifice. It was, therefore, proposed that the 

 business which was brought forward at the Scientific Committees, the 

 ■Floral and Fruit Committees, should be immediately after the meet- 

 ings prepared, so that it might be edited by Mr. Berkeley and brought 

 into such a foi-m as to bo ready for distribution to the members of 

 the Society on the next Tuesday after the business had taken place. 

 The result of that arrangement would be that thronghout the summer 



the Fellowa would have about every Tuesday the record of the busi- 

 ness of their Committees — the Scientific Committee, the Fruit Com- 

 mittee, and the Floral Committee [hear, hear]. There would be, of 

 course, a number of papers read, and a great deal of valuable informa- 

 tion given, and the Council hoped that the plan which they should 

 propose would have the desired effect that it would be adopted by the 

 Society, for they (the Council) should not wish to propose more than 

 they hoped the general body of the Fellows would agree to. They 

 had a gentleman before them who had taken a very great interest in 

 the matter, and had given them the benefit of his experience in such 

 matters. The Council beheved it could be carried out. They would be 

 glad to effect the ijublication of the Proceedings as he (Mr. Saunders) 

 had suggested, but they were hampered by want of means, which, 

 however, it was hoped would be forthcoming, and he only expressed 

 the view of the Council, in conjunction with his own, that the plan 

 proposed would be satisfactory to the Members of the Society [cheers j. 



Mr. R. Plualbk beggfid to second the motion that the Report be 

 adopted. 



Mr. S. H. Godson was not sure that he understood the Chairman 

 correctly when he stated that the meeting was not so important as 

 many previous ones bad been, but be (Mr. Godson), thought that the 

 Annual Meeting was the moat important one of the year. The speaker, 

 who was hardly audible, was then understood to refer to the large 

 balance of £1179 against the Society, and to express his fear that they 

 would be worse off than ever, and, like their predecessors, have a hope- 

 less deficit. He thought the Report ought to have had something in 

 it more satisfactoiy, and those who had incurred the expenditure were 

 responsible for the Report. He had gone through the Report as well 

 as he could, and the accounts, which they had all had an opportunity 

 of doing, and he thought the reason of that balance should have been 

 stated. It was tnie he found an item of " Subscriptions unpaid, 1868, 

 £1000, valued at £500," but the deficiency he thought showed a great 

 laxity on the part of the Society, and proved that they were in the 

 same position, or fast drifting towards it, as they were in 1855, when 

 they were overwhelmed with debt, and it seemed to him that the 

 question really was whether they should not put their shoulders to the 

 wheel, and by some means turn that deficit into a balance in their 

 favour. He was sure it would be very gratifying to the Fellows of the 

 Society to see such a wholesome state of things brought about, and 

 the Council must be equally pleased when they come to consider the 

 matter. It was true, as he (Mr. Godson) had heard it said since he 

 had been in the room, that it was not so bad as it might be, but he 

 thought it need not be so bad as it is [a laugh]. He thought the 

 accounts were not kept in a satisfactory way, and it was all very well 

 to have a gentleman to draw upon ; but if he, the Treasurer, had been 

 there he would have told the meeting how much there was in the bank, 

 how much they owed the bank, and the amount of unpaid liabilities. 

 That was what ought to be shown on the face of the accounts, and he 

 (Mr. Godson), knew that when he was last there the whole thing was so 

 incomprehensible to him that he forbore from coming to the meeting. 

 He hoped, and had no doubt, that some gentleman there would, as of 

 old, give him a lecture, but he thought in a case of that kind the 

 Council should at the outset of the Report, while they said that "The 

 action of the Society during the past year has been gradually settling 

 into the course which greater knowledge and experience have shown it 

 advisable to follow,' have shown how they meant to meet the diffi- 

 culties of not haying funds, and call upon ihe Fellows to put their 

 shoulders to the wheel and come forward as they had done on previous 

 occasions. He must further be allowed to say, that he did not con- 

 sider it the most respectful thing that could have been done to invite 

 a member of the Royal Family to become one of the CouncQ when 

 the Society was in such a bad state, but rather when they were in a 

 flourishing condition and could carry out the objects of the Society 

 with more satisfaction and vigour. In saying what he had he would 

 only remark, that the Annual Meeting was the only time when the 

 general body of the members had any opportunity of saying anything ; 

 and he hoped that the Council would earnestly consider the present 

 position of the Society, and do something to remedy the existing con- 

 dition of things, 



Lieut.-Col. Scott begged to remark, that when Mr. Godson found 

 fault with the Couucil he should, in his complaint, remember that 

 when they talked of the accounts as Mr. Godson phrased it, it should 

 be remembered that " the action of the Society ' referred to the scien- 

 tific portion of its operations. The Council had not referred in any 

 way to the monetary position of the Society, or said that they were in 

 a flourishing state ; but they had not been unmindful of the general 

 body of the Fellows as Mr. Godson would wish to lead the meeting to 

 believe, for it was put faii'ly and frankly before the meeting in the 

 Report that " the Council have, however, refrained from diminishing 

 the amount of prizes offered, from a desire uot to lessen one of the 

 favourite enjoyments of the Fellows; for although the Society still 

 suffers from the effects of the commercial calamities of 1866, the 

 Council regard this depression as temporary, the actual decrease in 

 the number of Fellowa being only eight." [hear, hear.] What more 

 did Mr. Godson want ? The Council had been referred by him to the 

 state of the Society and its funds, and they (the Council), said clearly 

 that they were suffering from the effects of the monetary depression of 

 I8ti() ; and when he blamed them for not getting in the subscriptions, 

 he (Col. Scott), could tell them of one Society where they were £3000 

 in arrear, while in their own (the Royal Horticultural Society), they 



