142 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAnOENER. 



r Fobrnorr 20, 1988. 



wonld 1)0 of any interest to the renders of Tm: JorRNAL of 

 HoRTicrLTCKE, I wuulil rIvo ft plan of the range, as the border 

 is above tbo level of tlic Burronndiug pround. So far I must 

 agree with Mr. Thomson ; but with respect to trti-s I have not 

 seen the evil consciinonces of bnrj-ing the stems, on the con- 

 trarj-, it has had a very beneficial eUact. As an instance, I 

 may state that there is an avonno at this place, planted abont 

 ten years a^o, and some alterations being afterwards made, the 

 stems of some of the trees wore covered to the height of i feet, 

 and now these trees are by far the best, so much so, that the 

 owners had several trees bankod-up, and in every case with 

 sncccss. Mr. May, of the Hope Nursery, Bodale, Yorkshire, 

 also gave two or three years ago an account of some Apple 

 trees so covered, and of the giod effects which resulted; not 

 that I woiJd advise such a plan with fruit trees ; but I think 

 that it would bo beneficial to forest trees in some soils and 

 situations. There are few rules, however, without exceptions. 

 — T. T. 



ROYAL HORTICULTUR.U, SOCIETY. 



ANNUAL GEXEUAL MEETING. 



Tms was hold on Tnosday the 13th inst., tlio Dnke of Fncclcnch 

 President, buing in the clmij'. The miuntes of the last iintmnl meeting 

 having bceu read and coufirmcd, Mr. Fortnno and Mr. Booth were 

 nominated scrntiueers of the ballot, which was proceeded witli whilst 

 the report of the Council was being read by Mr. W. Wilson Simnders, 

 the Secretary. 



The report states that the nnmbcr of Fellows increases, and the snb. 

 Bcriptions still more ; regrets the deaths whirli have oecnrred : states 

 that the exhibitions were snccossfnl ; that the income of the Soeicty hnn 

 increased and its cxpenditnrc deeieased. The admissions were — i86.S, 

 11.5,o-21 ; isiil. ls5,i;92 ; ISG.i, •2H1,51'J. The Fruit and Floral Meet- 

 ings have beou successfnl and popular ; the produce of Chiswick not 

 EO snccessful as expected, oiviu;; to the failure of the Strawberry crop 

 and other causes. The immher of packets of cuttings received by 

 members has been 1530, of plants tj2«5, of packets of flower and vege- 

 table seeds 37(i..SS-l. The appointment of the Rev. M. .T. Berkeley as 

 botanical adriser is then referred to ; also tliat he. Dr. Hogg, and Mr. 

 Moore arc to supervise the operations and conduct the experiments at 

 Chi.sirick. the bitter two gentlemen also examining candidates for the 

 Society's certilicates ; and the report concludes with notices of the in- 

 tended proceedings of the cuiTcnt year. 



The result of the ballot was then reported to be that the Duke of 

 Bncclench was elected President; (}. V. Wilson. Esq.. F.R.S.. Trea- 

 Borer; and Lient.-Col. Scott. R.E.. Sccretaiy. for the ensuing year; 

 and that Viscount Sandon, the Right Hon." W. Cowjicr, M.P.^ and 

 Sigismnnd Rucker. Esq., were elected new members of Council in 

 the room of .T. .T. Blandy, Esq., John Kelk, Esq., M.P.. and Major 

 Trevor Clarke, the three members retiring according to the charter. 

 Ct. F. Wilson, Esq.. Licnt.-Col. Scott, and Henrj- Cole, Esq.. C.B., 

 were elected Expenses Committeemen ; and J. Nicholson, Jonathan 

 Clarke, and R. Hudson, Esqrs., An(htors. 



Sir A. SooTT W.vuGH, in moving the adoption of the report, said 

 that it had given him the gi-eatest satisfaction. An institution like 

 the Society ought to he progi-essive in its nature, and he was much 

 pleased at the improvements which had been cfTected in the gardens, 

 as well as at the extension of the privileges of the members. These, 

 he felt sure, would concur in the regret expressed in the report at the 

 loss in one year of three men so eminent in the horticultural world as 

 Dr. Lmdley. Sir .Toscph Paxton, and Sir Wilham Hooker. Ho ob- 

 served with satisfaction panifTraph l(i of tlie report, in which the 

 Cooncil stated their intention to carry ont experiments, which would 

 no doubt Bone to advance the science of horticulture. 



Major Blknkixs, in .seconding the motion, expressed his entire 

 satisfaction at the prosperity of the Society. 



Mr. Nkvillk Gbexville did not quite "understand paragi-aph 20 of 

 Hie report, baring reference to the admission of the Fellows of the 

 Society to the Inteniation.al Exhibition of May next. Was he to 

 nnderstaud that there ever would be an exhibition in the gronnds 

 from which the Fellows would be excluded ? 



^r. H. Cole said that the maui part of the exhibition would not bo 

 beld m the Society's gardens, but on tlie gi-onnd on which the Exhi- 

 bition of 1SG-) stood ; but still, if it were to be held in tlio Society's 

 grounds, the Fellows would enjoy greater advantages than if no such 

 exhibition were to be held at all. Of course, the promoters of this 

 great national exhibition k-new that it had to he i)aid for, and they 

 ll w '"i '°°'' '" " ''™^' °^ recoupuig their adventure. They said. 



We shall be glad of all the accommodation which the Society can 

 pre ns, and for that we wUl give you £300, and, further, we will give 

 the Fellows the first public entry to this great exhibition." That took 

 place on the second day ; on the first the admission was limited to 

 '"f^o who had subscribed and guaranteed the money to pay for the 

 exhibition, which would be on an enormous scale. Thus tlie" Society 

 besides adding .£300 to its funds, secured for its Fellows a free admis- 

 sion to a great public exhibition; and he tmsted that the Fellows were 

 Batisficd that the Council had done what was best for their interests. 



Mr. Geexville expressed his satisfaction at Mr. Cole's exphinalion, 



but hoped that tbo course ailopted wonld not be construed into a pre- 

 cedent for holding exhibitions by which the Fellows might be at any 

 time del>arnxl from going into their own [n*onndH. 



The Chairman exidaiued that the FcIIowb were not debarred from 

 g.'ing into the gardens, hut v.Muld have at all times free access to all 

 l>arts of the exhibition within their own grounds, except when the 

 plants and fruits were being arranged and judged. 



The motion for the ado])ti<i:i of the report having been put to the 

 meeting and nuaniinonsly a'^Tced to. a letter wa< iTad in which MessT*. 

 Lee it Parker reported the v;tluation of the Society's stock at Kensing- 

 ton to be £3783 lis. M., and at Chiswick, £2202 15^.., or £5986 6*. 6rf. 

 in all. 



A Fellow asked the Couuf 11 to reconsider their decision as to the 

 admission of the pulilic at 3./. . .n five days a-week during the autumnal 

 months, and inquired whethe; [lie experiment had proved successful. 

 Another Fellow asked how many persons had availed tbem^iclves 

 of the pririlege, and whether there were any countervailing ihsad* 

 vantages. 



Lord H. Gordon Lennox. M.P.. answered that the rosnlt had been 

 a great financial success ; and so far from any damage baring been 

 done to the gardens, he was happy to say tliat there was none what- 

 ever. 



Mr. CoLi-: remarked that the cheap admissions only took place in 

 August and September, when London might be said to be out of town. 

 Colonel CinLLosEK observed, that as a very old member he thought 

 the tlireepenuy admissions lowered the character of the Societj-, and 

 ho knew many ladies felt disgusted, after baring paid their i'-tO, or 

 four guineas per annum, at the gardens being thrown ojien at such a 

 charge. They would rather that certain days should be free. 



Mr. Edgar Bowring wished to say a few words on the threepenny 

 admissions from a Commissioner's point of riew. The Commissioners 

 gave up the land to the Society that was the prodace, in 1S51. of the 

 shillings of the million, and the Commissioners felt that it was pro- 

 perty held by them in trust for the public. He might obscrA-e that the 

 Society had acquired twenty-two acres of land witliont any paA-ment in 

 what was now becoming a densely-peopled neighbourhood, and which 

 was worth from one-quarter to one-half a luilliou sterling. In ad- 

 dition, the Commissioners had spent betiveou £*>0,000, and £70.000, 

 themselves, and the total rent paiil last year was i'lSS, and the Fellows 

 would recollect that in the previous year no rent was p.aid at all. so 

 that it was quite cle.:iv that the Society hold this large estate for no- 

 thing. It was thou a question whether the general public should not 

 have some pri^-ilege in respect of these gardens. He did not know what 

 was the best shape that pririlege should take, but he agreed with 

 Colonel Challoner that the better plan would be to throw open tii^ 

 gardens at certain times free. 



Sir A. Wacgh considered that the gardens were not to be looked 

 upon as being wholly for the selfish enjoyment of the Fellows and 

 their friends, but should be regarded in a scientific point of riew for 

 the benefit of the pubUc. 



Lord H. Lexno.x said the subject had been under the considei-ation 

 of the Council, and they felt that the gardens might be made available 

 for the use of artisans when the Fellows, for the most part, were out of 

 town. The Council wore anxious to hear whether they had better 

 continue the present system of threepemiy admissions, or whether the 

 gardens should be open in the autumn on Mondays. The latter course, 

 he assured the meeting, might bo adopted with perfect confidence 

 that there would be no damage done. 



The Chairman said that it was the object of the Conucil to elicit 

 from the meeting whether the public should be admitted free on one 

 day, or on five days at the charge of 3(/. 



*0n this subject some discussion then took pl.acc, in which Colonel 

 Challoner, Lord H. Lennox. Mr. Cole. Mr. Bnnney, and Mr. Sidney 

 Smith took part, and a motion Avas made to admit the public free on 

 Mondays dnriug the months of August and September; but it was 

 withdrawn, and ultimately it was resolved that the subject should be 

 left to be dealt with by the Council. 



Dr. Richardson then pnt some questions relative to the privileges 

 of two-guinea Follows, complained that these privileges Atere not made 

 sufficiently intelligible, and. finally, that whereas four-guinea members 

 had forty admission orders and two ti-ansfcrable tickets, the two-guinea 

 members had only twenty such orders and one non-transferable ticket. 

 Therefore, he argued that the two-gninea members had not half the 

 privileges of those paying the higher rate of subscription. 



Mr. Cole said that Dr. Richardson appeared to think that the two- 

 guinea members should have aH the privilcrcs of the four-guinea ones. 

 He himself wonld like to make two guineas do the work of four as well 

 as any one ; but it was necessary that there should be some induce- 

 ment held out for members to pay the higher rate of subscription, and 

 that had not been done by taking away any privileges from the two- 

 gninea subscribers. 



Dr. Richardson repudiated any idea of wishing the tAvo-gninca sub- 

 scribers to usurj) the privileges of those pa^-ing four ; all he wanted 

 was that members' privileges should in each case be distinctly under- 

 stood. 



Mr. SvDNEV SArrra thought there ought to be a series of lectures 

 on botany and horticulture in addition to the Tuesday meetings, than 

 wliich notliing, howcv -r, could bo more delightful : and he imagined 

 this could bo done Avitiiont much, if i'.ny. additional expense, as there 

 were plenty of gentlemen who would give lectures free. 

 The Cilueman assured the meeting that if the Council foond any- 



