200 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Maich 6, 1873. 



very sheltered situation it presents a woe-begone appearance, 

 on account of the wind breaking and tearing its large leaves 

 into ribbons, and therefore where so grown it must be protected 

 from the wind. In a state of nature it attains the height of a 

 tree. The leaves are upwards of a foot long, and about 

 G inches broad, bluntly obovate in shape, and coriaceous in 

 texture ; the upper side is deep green, but clothed below with 

 a deep brown tomentum. The heads of bloom are very large 

 and terminal, flowers large, campanulate, and snowy white, 

 saving the upper lobes, which are suffused with rosy purple. 

 It is a superb species, but I warn amateurs that it will not 

 hloom in a young state. Native of the mouutain of Tonglo, 

 at 10,000 feet elevation in Silskim Himalaya. — Expeeto Ceede. 



KOYAL HOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



Nothing has yet been definitely settled by the Council as to 

 the course they intend to pursue. Their desh-e is to resign in 

 a body, and to enable them to do so we beheve it is con- 

 templated to summon a special meeting of the Fellows to pass 

 a bye-law to that effect. We are further informed that this is 

 the only way by which they can take power to themselves to 

 resign. Without professing to be sufficiently well informed on 

 the subject, we doubt if the Council can take the course they 

 have indicated. We conceive that the Council having been 

 elected, and having voluntarily accepted office for a year, they 

 are in the position of Trustees of the Society, and cannot re- 

 sign as _ a body. The Charter, although it provides for the 

 resignation of individual members under certain conditions,, 

 makes no provision for the resignation of the whole body, and 

 we doubt very much if any bye-law especially framed to meet 

 the case is legal, being contrary to the spirit of the Charter. 



It is very proper that the Council having voluntarily ac- 

 cepted the trust for a year, should not be permitted to abandon 

 the Society and to leave it without a head. Supposing the 

 Council to resign, who is qualified to take the initiative ? No 

 individual Fellow can do so, and certainly no body of Fellows, 

 which must be self-constituted can do so, because any meeting 

 which is not called by a Council must be an uncoustitutional 

 body, and if no Council exists there cannot be a constitutional 

 meeting. We do not see how the Council can resign under 

 any arrangement that is contemplated, except by an appli- 

 cation to the Court of Chancery. 



A\Tiether they remain, or whether they retire and are suc- 

 ceeded by a new body, we sincerely trust that the poUey we 

 indicated in our last to separate from the Royal Commission- 

 ers will be carried out. Year after year the relationship be- 

 tween the two bodies becomes more embittered and action 

 more difficult. The Royal Commissioners have schemes of 

 their own they wish to develope, and the Royal Horticultural 

 Society stands in the way, and, being treated as the little 

 brother or small boy of the party, has to yield and make con- 

 cessions that are adverse to its independence and humiliating 

 to its position. It is no gain to the Society to remain in the 

 close connection with the Royal Commissioners as these are 

 now constituted, and with the policy they act upon. Had the 

 lamented Prince Consort been spared to carry out his enlight- 

 ened views in his own way, the Royal Horticultural Society 

 would have found a friend to lu'oteet and a wise counsellor to 

 direct it ; but since his death the Society has been forced to 

 fight against aggression on all hands. This being the state of 

 matters, would it not be better for all parties that a separation 

 took place ? There need be no difficulty provided both sides 

 agree, and the terms upon which it is carried out could easily 

 be settled by those who are experienced in cases of arbitration. 

 The Society has expended on the estate of the Commissioners 

 a sum of upwards of £70,000. It owes a debenture debt of 

 £50,000, for the half of which the Commissioners are liable. 

 There is an unexpired term of eighteen years of the lease still 

 to run, and at the expiration of the lease the Commissioners 

 have to pay the Society .1:15,000 in the event of non-renewal. 

 Taking these facts into consideration, it is a question to be 

 settled as to what compensation the Society is to receive for 

 the surrender of the lease. It is only those who are profession- 

 ally accustomed to the settlement of these questions who are 

 competent to say what compensation is due to the Society ; 

 and no doubt, if such a negotiation is entered upon, the solu- 

 tion will be easily arrived at. But there are certain stipulations 

 in the arrangement we should not like to be lost sight of. 

 The Society on going back to the old home should reserve the 

 right to hold the fortnightly meetings at South Kensington, 

 an office and a room for the reception of the Lindley Library ; 



and as regards the great summer shows, these may be matter.? 

 of arrangement with the Commissioners, who, in oui' opinion,, 

 would find it theh' interest to subsidise the Society to hold, 

 their great shows in the garden at South Kensington. We 

 cannot imagine any attraction that will be more effeciive than 

 these flower shows ; and there is always this alternative with 

 the Society — if the Commissiooers decline to receive them, 

 there are other public bodies who are willing to do so. 



If the Council insist on retiring, and they succeed in doing 

 so by any arrangement whatever, then it will be the duty of 

 the Fellows to elect their successors ; and we fervently hops 

 that they, whoever they may be, will be pledged on accepting 

 office to enter into immediate negotiations with the Royal 

 Commissioners to bring about a separation between the two- 

 bodies. 



Since the above was in type we are informed that the Council 

 will submit new Bye-laws to a General Meeting about the 26tlt 

 of March, enabling them to resign in a body. 



I WAS sorry to see the objection raised by "A Yeuy Old- 

 F.R.H.S." to the nomination of Lord Alfred Churchill on the 

 CouncU of the Royal Horticultural Society. It could only 

 have been on the ground that titled members of the Council 

 habitually neglect the duties of their office, and that as a 

 matter of course Lord Alfred would do so likewise. I have 

 been a co-director with him on four different public companies, 

 and I can say that I know of few who give more scrupulous 

 attention to the interest he represents than his Lordship ; and 

 as regards practical interest in horticulture, I know that in 

 his large garden at St. Helen's, Sandhurst, he is truly a prac- 

 tical horticulturist. — A. A. C. 



Will "Not a F.R.H.S.," kindly name some. Fellows in 

 and about London — good horticulturists, who will have the 

 welfare of the gardening community at heart, and competent 

 men of business who will be able to attend the Council of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society if nominated and elected ? Those 

 who will step forward to put their shoulders manfully to the 

 wheel to help on the horticultural waggon will be doing good 

 service. 'I named Mr. Hole as one whom most horticulturists 

 would rally round, my object being to break down the system 

 by which the Council elected themselves ; the Fellows — i.e., 

 the Society, virtually having no voice in the matter. If I had 

 known what I do now it would have been an easy matter, I 

 think, to have elected the first day whom we choose. As,, 

 however, the CouncU has since broken-up, it does not much- 

 matter, but many men have said to me privately, and some 

 have written publicly to say, there are plenty of competent 

 horticulturists about London. I say pray let us have the names. 

 If we want to win our cause do not dehay. — C. P. Peach. 



A MEETING of the Committees of the Society was held at 

 Charing Cross Hotel, on the '24th of Febrnaiy, when it was re- 

 solved that a HoKTicuLiDiiAL Defence Committee should be 

 appointed, consisting of three members from the Fruit, Floral, 

 and Scientific Committees respectively, as follows : — Fruit 

 Committee : G. F. Wilson, F.R.S. ; J. Lee, Dr. Hogg. Floral 

 Committee : J. Fraser, B. S. Williams, T. Baines. Scientific- 

 Committee : R. Fortune, T. Moore, Dr. Masters, F.R.S. Hon. 

 Sec, H. J. Yeitch. 



BOSES LA FRANCE AND MARIE BAUMANN. 



Regaeding La France and Marie Baumanu from a gardener's- 

 point of view, that is in respect to their general utility, I would 

 assign both of them a high position in the first class. Marie 

 Baumann is certainly not a rampant grower, under good treat- 

 ment its growth is sufficiently robust for all practical purposes. 

 The whole of the plants of it under my care have thriven well, 

 and some of them produced last autumn stout shoots upwards 

 of "2 feet long, and then its possession of fine form and gorgeous 

 colour no one can deny ; even its disparagers in your columns 

 are prudently silent on these points. 



The merits of La France in every point are so great that 

 when repeatedly admiring it, and hearing others unanimously 

 loud in its praises, one never contemplates the possibility of 

 having to defend it. Of an extensive collection embracing 

 most of the best kinds. La France certainly took the leading 

 position last season, every plant of it producing a profusion of 

 fine, full, and very sweet-scented flowers. Baroness Roths- 

 child is a bold, striking, and very beautiful variety, but it is 



