250 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ March 27, 1873. 



in autumn, afterwards thin-out and shorten the shoots to pro- 

 mote fresh growth. They are not suitable for walls. 



Mandfrillia siiaveolciir: jiroduces in chisfers a very sweet- 

 scented, white, bell-shaped flower, and is suitable for a cool 

 greenhouse, being hardier than some of the preceding. It will 

 answer for covering pillars, rafters, or for spreading over a 

 portion of the roof; in either of these positions it is, perhaps, 

 more subject to red spider and thrips than any other plant 

 similarly situated. It requires to be frequently fumigated and 

 syringed, and must have plenty of water at the roots ; for in 

 its season it is a very fast-growing plant. I am sorry such a 

 desirable plant is not more cultivated. I believe many have 

 discarded the plant because it does not succeed very well in a 

 pot. I have seen it thriving out of doors on a south wall at 

 Battle Abbey in Sussex and other places. In such positions 

 it become deciduous, and requires matting-up in winter. Under 

 glass the plant should be kept dryish at the root in autumn 

 and winter, and afterwards be moderately praned before it 

 commences to grow. — Thomas Eecokd. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Makch 26th. 



A Special General Meeting of this Society -was held yesterday 

 (Wednesday), in the Council-room of the Society, South Ken- 

 sington, for the purpose of confirming certain new bye-laws, 

 which have been approved of by the Council of the Society at a 

 meeting held by them on the 11th inst. ; the object of the new 

 bye-laws being to enable all Fellows of the Society to vote by 

 proxy, and to make provision for the resignation of the Council. 

 There was a very numerous attendance of Fellows, including 

 many ladies, and the greatest excitement prevailed throughout 

 the proceedings. 



At the request of Mr. "W. Wilson S.vundebs, who said he was 

 suffering from hoarseness, in consequence of having had to 

 attend a public meeting elsewhere in the morning, the chair was 

 occupied by Loed Alfred Chubchill. 



Sir C. LiNDs.iY expressed a wish, before the formal business 

 of the meeting was proceeded with, to ask whether Mr. George 

 F. Wilson intended to use the proxies he had obtained by the 

 following letter, -n-bich had been sent to a very large number of 

 ladies [hear, hear.] The letter did not fairly state the whole 

 facts of the case, and for that reason these proxies ought not to 

 used [loud cries of " Hear, hear," " Question, question."] Now 

 Mr. Wilson was committed to all the acts of the Conucil [hear, 

 hear], for he only resigned on the 11th February, 1873. The 

 letter, which will be found at page 259, was then read. 



The CHAiniiAN (after some interrnpti^n) said : I think we had 

 better proceed at once to the question before the meeting. I 

 can assuj'e the meeting that Mr. Wilson lias acted entirely upon 

 his own responsibility in this matter. We have had no sort of 

 communication with him whatever on the subject, and I need 

 hardly say that any private member has a right to do what 

 he likes. 



A Fellow. — It appears that the date of Mr. Wilson's letter was 

 anterior to the date of the notice from Her Majesty's Commis- 

 sioners. The letter from Her Majesty's Commissioners, I find, 

 is dated the 8th February. 



Mr. Wilson said, I beg to give a distinct answer to the ques- 

 tion which has been put to me — I shall most assuredly use all 

 the numerous proxies that have been entrusted to me by the 

 lady Fellows. I also wish to add that I have a right to com- 

 plain of a letter of mine which has been published in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, in which a number of words were inserted 

 which I never used, which were intended to make out that I 

 denied being a member of the Council [hear, hear]. My words 

 were, and I have them here, ' As an old member, though not of 

 the present CuuncU.' I was most careful in my words, and I 

 most distinctly deny ever having asked the lady Fellows to 

 vote, but I said, ' The bye-laws of this Society permit you to 

 vote by proxy.' For the part I have taken I can assure the 

 meeting that I have been thanked by numbers of ladies. 



A Fellow. — A most dishonourable transaction [hear, hear, 

 no, no, and interruption]. 



Mr. G. E. Blenkins. — I rise to order. Mr. Lindsay has no 

 right to make such a statement at this stage of the proceedings. 

 It ought to come before the meeting properly [hear]. 



The Assistant-Secret.uiy (Mr. Richards), then read the ad- 

 vertisement from the Times of Saturday the 15th of March, 

 containing a copy of the new bye-laws. 



The Ch.mkman then said he found himself in a pecuHar, and 

 to him somewhat difficult position, inasmuch as he had not had 

 time to put his thoughts into order, as he should like to have 

 done. He joined the Society at a vei-y recent period, as they 

 all knew, and under peculiar circumstances, and when the meet- 

 ing took place on the 11th of February he purposely abstained 

 from attending, knowing that his election was to come under 

 consideration. He was aware of the letter from the Commis- ' 



sioners making certain propositions to the Council, and his first 

 impression was that it was their duty to reject them. Since 

 then he had altered bis opinion on that point, and why ? Be- 

 cause a subsequent letter had been received from the Commis- 

 sioners, in which they entirely withdrew their original pro- 

 posals, and made suggestions which formed the basis of the pro- 

 posed arrangements between them and the Council [hear, hear]. 

 That letter having been withdrawu, there was nothing to prevent 

 him from acting with the meeting on the present occasion. 

 Looking at the difficulties and intricacies of the matter, he bad 

 since changed his opinions strongly in favour of the policy pro- 

 posed to be adopted by the Council [hear, hear]. That policy 

 was one of concihation with the Commissioners. The Society 

 had found that its financial position was such that it was not 

 capable of making that strong and independent movement on 

 its own behalf which some of its members had advocated. His 

 opinion w"as that they had better under all circumstances act 

 harmoniously with the Commissioners' proposals [hear, hear, 

 and oh, oh]. They were, according to their original proposi- 

 tion, to receive from the Commissioners ±'2100 a-year, which 

 would in all probability have been paid back again as rent ; A'200O 

 towards the extinction of the debentm'c debt, and a sum which 

 would amount to ilOOO a-year for the sale of season tickets, mak- 

 ing a total of i'5400, and he took it that would have been a binding 

 agreement for the entire term. By that means they would have 

 found their rent would have been paid, and eventually they 

 would have had i'2000 a-year to expend upon the gardens. That 

 would have been the result had they adopted the propositions of 

 the Council. Now it might be thought that, whilst giving up 

 this sum, they had excluded the Exhibition public from their 

 g.ardens, but be was mistaken if it did not turn out that in this 

 they were counting without their host. These were the financial 

 advantages submitted to them, and which were withdrawn upon 

 the letter of the Commissioners to the Council, which was read 

 at the second meeting on the 18th of February. But the meet- 

 ing, led by the eloquence of the honourable Baronet, ijroceeded, 

 when there was no question before them, to x^ropose a vote of 

 censure upon the Council for having submitted these proposi- 

 tions to the members [No, no, no, and hear, hear]. I can 

 understand on no other ground could you have wished to pass 

 that resolution. 



Sir A. Slade. — It was the non-adoption of the Eeport [hear, 

 hear, and applause]. 



The Chairjlvn. — That is tantamount to a vote of censure upon 

 the Council, and the Society loses the whole of the financial 

 benefits which would have accrued to them ; and, indeed, it is 

 very doubtful whether you have not excluded the whole of the 

 pubUc [hurrah, and hear, hear]. The Council felt that they 

 were pledged to resignation by Lord Henry Lennox, who filled 

 the chair at the first meeting. They therefore, somewhat 

 hastily, came to the conclusion that it would be prudent for 

 them to resign their seats. They did this without examining 

 fully into the bye-laws of the Society ; and the result was, they 

 found that as soon as they had done that, there were legal diffi- 

 culties in the way which could only be got over by submitting a 

 new series of bye-laws to the Society. By doing tins they had 

 done all that lay in their power to give the Fellows the means 

 of legally dismissing them if they determined so to do, and 

 electing others to fill their posts. They had used no sort of 

 means whatever to obtain a single vote, either one way or the 

 other [cries of oh, oh, and hear, hear]. He did not believe that 

 a single member had canvassed for a single vote [renewed cries 

 of oh, oh, and order] . The question before them was the adop- 

 tion or non-adoption of the resolutions, and it therefore became 

 his duty to put them to the meeting seriafivi. The first reso- 

 lution was as follows : — 



" 1. The existing bye-laws of the Society mimheTed 6.^ and 82 are hereby 

 revoked and repealed, and the following bye-laws are substituted in the place 

 of them." 



Mr. Lindsay said that as the Council proposed to take the 

 propositions seriofim instead of as a whole, his resolution w*ould 

 be that '' 63 and " in that resolution be struck out. It would 

 save him a great deal of trouble if he criticised what the Chau-- 

 man had said, rather than give them the history of these pro- 

 ceedings, which he had intended to do [hear, hear], and he had 

 to thank the noble Chairman for having thus facilitated his 

 work. It appeared that on reflection the Chairman entirely en- 

 dorsed the policy of the Council, and therefore there was no 

 reason why he should not involve him and the Council in a 

 common condemnation, which it was their desire to do [hear, 

 hear]. It would be within their recollection that the circum- 

 stances which had led to these proceedings was that at the last 

 Annual Meeting the vote for the non-adoption of the Report 

 was carried by a majority of eighty-six to fourteen. The Chair- 

 man then stated that he did not see how it was possible for the 

 Council to take any other step than that of resigning, in which 

 he entirely concurred. He was sorry to say that it had resulted 

 in the most unfortunate circumstance for the Society, because 

 the Chairman dissolved the meeting instead of adjourning it 

 As soon as that meeting was over the Council held a meeting, 



