242 



JOURNAL OP HORTICUiiTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ March 20, 1873. 



may be cultivated as successfully at an ordinary window as in 

 the best greenhouse, as it wiU there enjoy a greater amount of 

 shade, and the duration of the flowers be proportionately pro- 

 longed. 



Wo have hinted at the possibility of its employment as a 

 bedding plant, but we are unable to oiier any observations as 

 the result of personal experience. It has been stated, ap- 

 parently on good authority, that the plant will endure the 

 open air in our climate in summer, and in the southern counties 

 it might probably succeed, but we doubt whether the experi- 

 ment would be successful far north of London. 



When the tropical character of its native regions is con- 

 sidered, it will excite no surprise that it should require some 

 care for its preservation during the cold months of our winter ; 

 but we think that, in an apartment in which the temperature 

 does not descend much below 50°, no difficulty will be found in 

 keeping it alive, pro^■ided that it is not too frequently watered. 



The genus Torenia commemorates the name of Olof Toren, 

 R Swedish botanist of some eminence. About six other species 

 have been introduced, one of which, T. scabra, a plant well 

 known to gardeners, may be cultivated as a half-hardy annual. 

 T. concolor, introduced a year or two before Asiatica, is an in- 

 teresting species, the flowers of which are entkely of a deep 

 bluish purple, and coming from Hong Kong, it is rather more 

 hardy than Torenia asiatica. — (W. Thompson's Enrjlisli Flower 

 Garden.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Mn. Geokge Lee, of Clevedon, has sent us some noble 

 flowers of that splendid sweet-scented Violet VicioftLi 

 Keoina, and a number of seedlings raised from it varying very 

 much in character. If Mr. Lee persevere in thus improving 

 the sweet-scented Violet, we may expect to see varieties rivalling 

 in size the florists' Pansy. 



Two fine plants, both from Moreton Bay, are at pre- 

 sent objects of interest at Kew. The tree of AEAUcAKLi Bid- 

 wiLLi, in the temperate house, has produced cones for the first 

 time in Europe. It was one of the two original plants brought 

 to this country in 1812 by Mr. Bidwill, the other having been 

 purchased for one hundred guineas by the Duke of Northum- 

 berland. The Kew tree is about 20 feet high, and its branches 

 cover a circumference of about 60 feet. The seeds are very 

 important articles of food to the aboriginal inhabitants, and 

 the property of the tribes in individual trees of the Bunya- 

 bunj'a is the only possession they have, and is the commence- 

 ment of a communal system amongst them. Dendkoeitjm 

 IliLLii is the principal feature in the Orchid house. The large 

 mass in flower has as many as twenty pale yellow racemes, 

 some being as much as 2 feet in length. — {Nature.) 



In the last two months the declared value of Potatoes 



imported was £544,639, and in the same period of 1872 only 

 £35,963. Last month the value was £262,330, against £19,976 

 in the month of February, 1872. 



We have the pleasure to call the attention of our readers 



to the publication of " Van Houtte's Pomona, a descriptive 

 list of fruits, with numerous plates." This contains short 

 descriptions of 431 Pears, and is illustrated by five sheets of 

 coloured figures of Pears and six of outlines. The coloured 

 figures are beautifully executed portraits of the varieties re- 

 presented. 



KOYAL HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Council have summoned a Special General Meeting of 

 the Society, to be held in the Council-room at South Kensing- 

 ton on Wednesday, the 26th March, at three o'clock, for the 

 purpose of confirming the following new Bye-Laws which have 

 been approved of by the Council of the Society at a Meeting 

 held by them on the 11th iust. 



" 1. The eidsting Bye-Laws of the Society numbered 63 and 

 82 are hereby revoked and repealed, and the following Bye-Laws 

 are substituted in the place of them. 



"2. Every Fellow of the Society shall be entitled to appoint, 

 by written proxy in the form marked D in the Appendix to the 

 existing Bye-Laws, any gfiitlemau, being a Fellow of the Society, 

 to vote for him or her at all or any General Meetings of the 

 Society. 



" 3. Any Member or Members of the Council may resign his 

 or their seat or seats by sending a written notice to that effect, 

 addressed to the Secretary of the Society ; and every vacancy in 

 the Council by resignation under this Bye-Law shall be filled up 

 by the other Members of the Council, if less than half of them 

 resign at any time, and by the Fellows of the Society at a Gene- 



ral Meeting, if the Members of the Council resigning are half or 

 more than half of the whole body ; and if half or more of the 

 Memliers of the Council resign at any one time, a General Meet- 

 ing of the Fellows shall be called so soon as conveniently may 

 be after such resignation, in order to supply the places of the 

 resigning Members of the Council ; and until such General 

 Meeting shall have been held the resigning Members shall con- 

 tinue Members of the Council, and shall be capable to act as 

 such." 



The above has been communicated to each Fellow by post 

 accompanied by this statement : — 



"The above Bye-Laws have been prepared to enable the 

 present Council to resign in a body, in consequence of the ad- 

 verse vote of the General Meeting on the 18th ult., on the adop- 

 tion of the Annual Report of the Council. 



" The paragraxjh on which this adverse vote was carried was 

 as follows — ' The Council, looking to the position of matters and 

 the necessity of circumstances, are satisiied that their poUcy in 

 this respect was wise and ought to be persisted in.' Tins policy 

 referred to the endeavours of the Council to work harmoniously 

 with H.M. Commissioners. 



" The following reasons induced the Council to adopt the 

 policy alluded to. 



" The Council have had two great sources of anxiety pressing 

 upon them — viz., the Debenture debt of i'49,7UU, and the im- 

 certainty of being able to retain the lease of the Gardens. 



"The original Debenture debt of £50,000 was incurred in 

 making the Gardens. The Commissioners spent at the same 

 time a similar amount in building the Ai'cades which sirrround 

 them. 



" By the terms of the agreement, after the expenses of the 

 Gardens and the interest on the Debentures have been satisfied, 

 the Society has to pay to the Commissioners yearly, by way of 

 rent, all the surplus receipts from the Gardens up to £2100. If 

 after these payments have been made there remains a balance, 

 the profits are to be equally di\'ided between the parties. 



" The Society are also bound to devote annually three-fifths 

 of their share of these profits to a Sinking Fimdfor the redemp- 

 tion of the Debenture debt. 



" It is further provided that should the receipts from the Gar- 

 dens to be paid to the Commissioners as rent fail for five conse- 

 cutive years to amount in any one year to ±'2100, the lease 

 should be at an end without notice. Should, however, the total 

 sum (in rent and profits) paid to the Commissioners amount to 

 an average of i'2400 a-year from the commencement of the 

 term, the lease remains in force. 



" These three important facts as respects the working of this 

 agreement, and the present wishes of H.M. Commissioners that 

 the visitors to the Exhibition should have the jnivilege of enter- 

 ing the Gardens, had much weight with the CoimcU : 



" 1. The Society has only twice paid its rent to the Commis- 

 sioners — viz., in 1862 and in 1871, and in both instances 

 the payment was made through the assistance of the Ex- 

 hibitions. 



" 2, The Society has only been able to pay off £300 of the De- 

 benture debt, and that was paid in one of the Exhibition 

 years — viz., 1862. 



" 3. The division of profits under the terms of the lease makes 

 the Commissioners and the Society virtually partners. 



" The terms offered by H.M. Commissioners, and under ne- 

 gotiation with the Council when the Annual Meeting took place, 

 doubtless entailed bome sacrifices on the part of the Members, 

 aud especially upon that section of the Society dwelling near the 

 Gardens. These terms would : 



" 1st — Have made ample provision for carrying out the proper 

 object of the Society — viz., the encouragement of Hor- 

 ticulture. 



" 2ud — Have enabled the Society to remain in possession of 

 the Gardens without risk of forfeiting the lease, and 

 virtually without payment of rental. 



" 3rd — Have provided the means of Uquidating the Debenture 

 debt— a debt which every Fellow must feel desirous to 

 have extinguished : and 



" 4th— Have met the reasonable wishes of their partners, the 

 Commissioners, in a spirit of equity. 



" For these reasons the Council still consider that the policy 

 * wan wise aud oaglit to be jtersisted in.' " 



At a meeting of the Sub-Committee of the Horticultural 

 Defence Committee, held on Monday last, it was resolved to 

 recommend the Committees to support the Council at the 

 Special General Meeting to be held on the 26th inst., in their 

 endeavour to pass the Bye-Laws Nos. 2 and 3, enabling all 

 Fellows of the Society to vote by proxy, and making provision 

 for the resignation of Council. 



Estimated Value of Soot. — A genuine economist claims 

 that one of the best fertilisers, going constantly to waste, is 



