Maieh 27, 1S73. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



259 



of tlie Society ; and eveiy vacancy in tho Council by resignation under this 

 bye-law sball be tilled up by the other Members of the Council, if less than 

 half of them resign at aay time, and by the Fellows of the Society at a General 

 Meeting, if the Members of the Council re3if,'ning are half or more than half 

 of the whole body: and if half or more of tho Members of the Council resign 

 at any one time, a General Meeting of the I'ellows shall be called so soon as 

 conveniently m;iy be after such resi|,'nation, in order to supply the places of 

 the resigning Membei-s of the Council ; and until such General Meeting shall 

 have been hjld. 'Ui rsiiiuin,' Members shall continue Members of the 

 Council, and shall be capable to act as such." 



Mr. HiEDCASTLE, M.P., wished to move au addition to tliis 

 bye-law iu the following words : — " Such resignation and such 

 «lection shall take place in the same manner as required by the 

 10th clause of the new Charter." The honourable gentleman 

 said it was important they should walk in the way of the 

 Charter, and not commit auy irregularity iu making a new bye- 

 law. The 10th clause of the' Charter jn-ovided that the election 

 should take place by ballot. 



The amendment having been seconded, 



Mr. H.iuoHTON said this was a two-edged amendment. Its 

 -ostensible object was that the election should work iu harmony 

 with the Charter, but in auy case it must so work. The real 

 spirit of the amendment, however, was that if auy member of 

 the Council resigned, the Fellows must accept the resignation 

 whether they liked it or not. 



Mr. HiBBERD asked whether the Council in bringing forward 

 this proposition had had sufficient legal advice. 



Sir C. D-iUBENEV. — You may depend they had. 



Sir A. Sl-u>e said if the Chairman thought the additional 

 •words were unnecessary, Mr. Hardcastle would withdraw them. 



The CH.vmMAN did not see the point of them at all. 



Mr. H-i-KDCASTLE should like, before he withdrew his amend- 

 ment, to have some assurance that the Council would follow the 

 way of the Charter, and not adopt any other mode of election. 



The Cn-AmiiAN. — As soon as we leave this room, our resigna- 

 tions being in the hands of the Assistant-Secretary, we cease to 

 be a Council, and only conduct the affairs of the Society until 

 ■our successors are appointed. It is for you to say what course 

 jrou will adopt. 



Mr. "VV. M.-utsH-viL (member of Council) said this one point 

 had been overlooked. They stood in the position of tenants to 

 ■the Commissioners, and the Commissioners were their laud- 

 lords. 



Sir A. Sl.vde asked. Was it possible they were going into tho 

 whole question again ? 



Mr. M.iKSHALL said that the Charter said there should for 

 «ver be a Council. If the Council resigned iu a body there was 

 no Council [cries of no, and question]. Was it or was it not 

 so ? [A voice, Certainly not]. AU he could say was, that Her 

 Majesty's Commissioners were entitled by the Charter to say 

 if there were no Council, " You have broken your lease, and wo 

 are entitled to take possession" [oh, oh]. 



S. A. Sl.vde. — That is an entire misconception. If the Chair- 

 man thought that the bye-law was in harmony with the 

 Charter, Mr. Hardcastle would withdraw his rider- 



The Chairman. — ^We aro indifferent ■whether the words axe 

 ■inserted or not. 



Sir A. Sl.ade. — Then you accept them. 



The Chairman. — No ; I do not mean to say we acijept them. 



Here there were loud cries of "Vote, vote," and general 

 uproar, which lasted several minutes. In the midst Mr. Fish 

 i'ose to speak, and moved from his seat into the centre jjassage 

 ■of the room, where he made vigorous efforts to make himself 

 heard, but in vain. When order was partly restored, 



The Chairman said he had just received the following notice — 

 ■" We the undersigned, being five Fellows of the Koyal Hor- 

 ticultural Society, object to the voting for three new bye-laws, 

 because by the 16th law of the Charter the voting should be by 

 ■ballot." [Loud cries of oh! oh!] 



Sir A. Slade said that as regards the first two bye-laws the 

 application was too late, but it was perfectly in order as regards 

 the third. 



The Chairman said the notice had been signed, G. F. Wilson, 

 <j. E- Bleakius, J. R. Furnyhough, .1. Cox, and E. J. Beale. 



Mr. Marsh.all then read the bye-law regulating voting by 

 ballot, by which it appeared that a meeting at which a ballot 

 ■was demanded should be adjourned for not less than five, and 

 not more than ten days. 



Mr. Lindsay asked why, as the Council were so desirous of 

 resigning, did not Mr. Wilson withdraw his protest ? The only 

 effect of it would be to give his (Mr. Lindsay's) friends an enor- 

 xaous majority. 



Mr. A. F. Godson said he had come ■up from Derbyshire last 

 night to attend the meeting, and he hoped he would not be 

 asked to come up again. 



A Fellow said that Mr. Wilson was putting the Council 

 into a very false position, and he thought the Council also 

 were putting themselves into a very false and disagreeable 

 position, and he ventured to ask the noble Chairman to request 

 Mr. Wilson to withdraw his protest, and let them proceed to 

 vote on the motion. 



After some conversation and confusion, the Chairman said ho 

 took it that the demand for vote by ballot was withdrawn, as 

 well as Mr. Hardcastle'a amendment. He should now put the 

 motion for the adoption of No. 3 bye-law in its present form. 

 The motion was put, and there appeared for the passing of 



The Bye-law (by a show of hands) 93 



Against (by a show of hands) 23 



Proxies 37 



— 60 



Majority for the Bye-law 33 



The supporters of the bye-law did not use proxies. 



Sir A. Sl.ade asked the Chairman to explain the mode of pro- 

 cedure by which they proposed to resign, and how they were to 

 elect a new Council. 



The Chairman- said the Council were willing to facilitate by 

 every way in their power the election of a new Council, but as 

 to the mode of procedure they left that to the meeting. The 

 Assistant-Secretary was instructed to give Ms best attention to 

 this important xjoint. 



Sir A. Sl.ade said, that according to that they were no wiser 

 than they were before. What day would the election take 

 place ? 



The Chairman said that rested with the meeting. The 

 Fellows must hold a meeting. 



After a short discussion it was agreed that a special meeting 

 be called for Friday, the 4th of April, for the election of a 

 Council. 



A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed a very stormy and 

 excited meeting, which lasted over two hours and a half. 



As the Gardeners' Chronicle inserted, on Saturday last. Sir 

 Alfred Slade's incorrect version of my circular to the lady 

 Fellows, and his comments upon it, and as the Journal and 

 Chronicle are seen by my friends all over the world, would you 

 give space to my reply iu your next number '? 



Sir Alfred Slade accuses me of wishing to conceal the fact 

 that I was a member of the Is.st Council, and misrepresents the 

 words I used to prove the truth of his accusation. It is painful 

 to have to make any defence against such an imputation, but as 

 I was in my letter addressing those interested in the objects of 

 the Society, and I had been Chairman of the Fruit Committee 

 as well as member of the Council for the last seven or eight 

 years, it did not occur to me that any doubt could arise as to 

 my personal identity. — George F. Wilson, Heatherbanlc, Weij- 

 hridge Heath, '2ith March, 1873. 



Subjoined is the circular referred to : — 



" Heatherbank, Weybridge Heath, 

 " 14th March, 1.373. 



" Madam, — Many members of the Royal Horticultural Society having com- 

 plained that the printed cu-culars do not reach them, or at least are not read, 

 as an old member, though not on the present Council, and feeling strongly 

 that, whichever of the suggested lines of policy be adopted, the necessary 

 negotiations with the Commissioners will be conducted more successfully by 

 tlie existing Council than by any new comers, however able, ■j/ho would have 

 theii^ experience to learn, I Ijeg to call your attention to the statement of the 

 Council now issued, as well as to the notice of au important meeting of the 

 Fellows to be held on the '^Gth inst. 



" The byelaws of the So.^iety permit of your voting by proxy. Should you 

 desire to keep-in the Council, would you sign and return the enclosed '.' 

 " I have the honour to be, Madam, yonrs faithfully, 



"" Geokge F. Wilson." 



EOYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S FIRST SPEING 

 SHOW. 



This was held yesterday, and afforded a highly satisfactoiy 

 display for this time of year. Hyacinths and other spring-flow- 

 ering plants were the principal subjects of exhibition, but there 

 were also mixed collections of stove and greenhouse plants and 

 Azaleas. Of Hyacinths, Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, exhibited a 

 splendid gi'onp of upwards of 120, besides a magnificent twelve 

 in the nurserymen's class. In this, too, Messrs. Cutbush also 

 staged a very fine group. In the amateurs' class Mr. Douglas, 

 Loxtord Hall Gardens, and Mr. Withall, produced admirably 

 grown specimens, and good exhibitions came from several others. 

 'Tulips were shown in great perfection by Messrs. Veitch, Cut- 

 bush, and Douglas; Cyclamens by Messrs. Little and James, 

 the latter having, besides his group, a tine, broad-petalled, pure 

 white variety called Miss James ; and Lily of the Valley by 

 Messrs. Cutbush, Reeves of Acton, James Rowe, and others. 

 Chinese Primulas from Messrs. Little, James, Dobson & Son, 

 were exceedingly good. Deutzias in excellent bloom came from 

 Mr. Reeves and Messrs. Lane; the latter also exhibited a fine 

 collection of Camellias in small pots, Ukewise Azaleas. Mr. 

 Ward, gardener to F. G. Wilkins, Esq., sent good groups of 

 these and of other stove and greenhouse plants, as did Mr. Wil- 

 liams, of Hollov,-ay, and Mr. 'Wlieeler, gardener to Sir F. Gold- 

 sinid, Bart., Regent's Park. 



From Mr. William Paul, of WaUbam Cross, came a fine gi-oup 

 of Camellias, which has been noticed in a previous report, and 

 cut blooms of Roses ; and from Mr. C. Noble, of Bagshot, a 



