116 



JOUENAL OP HOBTICULTDKB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ February 11, 1875. 



Eeport op the Codncil to the Annuai, General Meeting. 



The Council, in presenting their Eeport for 1874-5 to the 

 FellowB, have great pleasure in again commenting upon the 

 magnificent displays which the Society's Shows have produced. 

 The amendments introduced into the Schedule, together with 

 the reduction in the number of the Shows, have both con- 

 tributed to this result, and in no instance more remarkably than 

 in the concluding Exhibition of the season, when the collection 

 of fruits and Chrysanthemums transcended almost all similar 

 collections of former years. The more purely scientific work 

 of the Society has again been attended with success. The ex- 

 periments made at Chiswick form, as usual, the subject of a 

 supplementary Report. The meetings of the Scientific, Froit, 

 and Floral Committees have been well attended, and the work 

 done considerable. 



The Council have established a series of evening meetings for 

 the discussion of horticulture. They are convinced that the 

 comparatively small attendsince at the ordinary meetings arises 

 from the inconvenience of the hour rather than any indifference 

 to them on the part. of the Fellows, and they therefore con- 

 sider that evening meetings may be considered of value both by 

 the Fellows and others engaged in the pursuit of horticultural 

 science. 



In the course of the past summer the Council received an 

 offer from Messrs. Prince, the proprietors of Prince's Club, of a 

 large sum by way of rent for the privilege of constructing a 

 skating rink in the Society's Gardens under certain conditions. 

 Whilst considering this offer, the Council gave weight to the 

 following points : — 1, That the present expenditure of the 

 Society cannot be maintained upon its present income, and that 

 some increase would have to be made in the Fellows' sub- 

 scriptions, or additional sources of income be provided. 2, That 

 the large majority of the Fellows would prefer to give up the 

 absolute use for a time of a small portion of their ground rather 

 than pay an increased subscription. 3, That a great number of 

 Fellows would be likely to accept the opportunity of subscribing 

 to a very popular amusement brought to their own doors, and 

 that many persons would be induced to become Fellows in 

 order to obtain the privilege of so subscribing. 4, That Messrs. 

 Prince proposed to erect the rink at their own cost ; to reserve 

 three days of the week for those Fellows who should subscribe 

 to it; to conduct the rink in concert with the Society's officials ; 

 and to pay sums of money as rent, amounting on the average to 

 ^£1100 a-year. The advantages thus offered appeared to the 

 Council to be opposed by few countervailing objections, and 

 they came to the conclusion that they ought not to let slip so 

 admirable an opportunity of increasing the income of the So- 

 ciety. It is true the scheme had nothing to do with horticul- 

 ture directly, but it would have been a great indirect benefit, 

 tending to set more of the Society's funds at liberty for the 

 direct advancement of horticultural science. 



In this last respect the Council had before them the example 

 of Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, who 

 have considered the sale on building leases of land which they 

 had acquired for purposes connected with science and art a legi- 

 timate manner of advancing those interests. The mention of 

 Her Majesty's Commissioners introduces the one difficulty 

 which lay in the way of the skating rink. The Council had no 

 power to sub-let any part of the ground held of the Com- 

 missioners, but Messrs. Pri: oe were ready to accept o' a "license 

 to use " without a lease. But in addition to this the Commis- 

 eioners have power to prohibit any proceeding of the Society 

 with regard to the Gardens which shall not be of a horticultural 

 nature. The Council felt that to communicate with the Board 

 of Management on this subject would be useless, seeing that 

 the Board had declined to discuss with them the Society's 

 affairs ; but the earliest opportunity was taken of bringing the 

 matter to the notice of the Commissioners at their meeting on 

 December 11th. It was finally resolved to acquaint Messrs. 

 Prince fully with the exact terms on which the Gardens are 

 held, and if they were willing to proceed the Council would 

 then undertake such arrangements as they were competent to 

 make. Messrs. Prince, after examining the Society's documents, 

 entered into an agreement and commenced operations. It was 

 confidently expected that in view of the many difficulties which 

 the Society had euoountered in consequence of the onerous 

 engagements originally made with the Commissioners, and in 

 consideration of the many concessions made to them from time 

 to time in support of the International Exhibitions, no inter- 

 ference would take place. Such non-interference would have 

 been at least consistfnt with the expressions of amity towards 

 the Society with which the refusals to co-operate with the 

 Council had been accompanied. Accordingly, for the first four 

 or five weeks no objection was offered. The officials of the 

 Commission were well aware of what was in course of erection, 

 and conversed about it to the Society's officials. Messrs. Prince 

 spent a considerable sum in furthering the undertaking, when 

 suddenly the Commissioners came to the conclusion that an 

 interference was convenient, and intimated that they were 

 about to file a bill in Chancery to test the legality of tie Coonoil 



and to litigate all disputed points with the Society. The Council 

 having repeatedly received this threat for two years, and having 

 taken the highest legal opinion as to its status and as to all 

 other points in dispute, cannot feel any regret that the relations 

 of the two bodies should be at length brought before the public. 

 They are satisfied that not only will their own bona fides be 

 vindicated, but that a public discussion will redound to the 

 credit of the Society. 



The Council have now to call the earnest attention of the 

 Fellows to the state of the Society's finances. It has been im- 

 possible to make any serious reduction in the debt to which the 

 Council called the attention of the Fellows in their last Report. 

 Indeed, since the accession of the present Members to otfice, the 

 Council have been called upon to pay debts previously ignored 

 in the published accounts of the Society. Sir Trayton Drake 

 advanced prior to 1860 ±1000 to the Society at interest; no 

 interest bad been paid since 1864, and although the matter had 

 been before 1873 brought to the Council's notice by legal pro- 

 ceedings, no settlement has been effected. The Council have 

 sxicceeded in compromising this claim by a payment of £600. 

 There was also a claim by Mr. Cooper of .£105, which the Council 

 have settled. 



It has become evident to the Council, as already stated, that 

 the ordinary revenue of the Society cannot support its expendi- 

 ture. Several reductions have been made which will prevent 

 any increase of liability in 1875;* .but this course is looked 

 upon by the Council as wholly unsatisfactory. The question as 

 to whether the Society is to remain at South Kensington is 

 brought into prominence by the necessity of paying rent to the 

 Commissioners in 1876, so that the local Fellows (and neigh- 

 bourhoLd) must now make up their minds definitely either to 

 risk the loss of the Gardens at South Kensington or to subscribe 

 more largely. The Council feel that any increased subscrip- 

 tions ought fairly to fall upon those who use the Gardens most 

 frequently, and to whom their loss would be most serious. 

 Those Fellows who live at a distance and support the Society 

 on account of its being the national representative of horti- 

 culture ought not, in the Council's opinion, to be further taxed 

 for the maintenance of the South Kensington Gardens. To 

 this end the Council are prepared to suggest a scheme for 

 increasing the annual income of the Society should the above 

 policy be accepted, and will call a special meeting for the purpose 

 of submitting their scheme to the Fellows. 



In conclubion, the Council feel it their duty to remind the 

 Fellows that whatever opinion thev may have as to the 

 desirability of retaining the South Kensington Gardens, the 

 Society is bound to do its utmost to maintain its lease, if only 

 for its obligations to the Life Fellows, and, above all, to the 

 debenture-holders. If Her Majesty's Commissioners should 

 succeed in an attempt to get the lease avoided, the property 

 would be released of its debt to the debenture-holders, who 

 would thus lose the whole of their £50,000 originally advanced, 

 or be obliged to accept such a dole as the charity of the Com- 

 missioners might induce them to offer. 



Eepobt of the Chiswick Board of Direction, February, 1875. 



The Chiswick Board of Directors have to report that the 

 operations in that establishment during the past year have been 

 chiefly directed to the general maintenance of the garden, the 

 experimental trials of vegetables and flowers, the supply of 

 plants for the decoration of the gardens and conservatory at 

 Kensington, and the provision of seeds and plants for distribu- 

 tion to the Fellows. As regards the latter, the new plan which 

 has been adopted in lieu of the ballot, of allowing the Fellows 

 to select a certain number of plants from a list provided for the 

 purpose, has been found convenient to work, and, as they 

 believe, has given greater satisfaction to the recipients. 



During the year the garden has been supplied with water 

 from the waterworks, which has proved a great advantage both 

 as to convenience and economy of labour. The imrnediate 

 cause of this supply being laid down was the failure, during the 

 dry period with which we were visited last summer, of the 

 wells upon which the water supply had formerly depended. 



In the Floral Department the distributions to Fellows have 

 consisted of 42,684 packets of flower seeds, 3f.43 plants selected 

 from the distribution list by Fellows, and 428 packages of cut- 

 tings and bedding plants. The Garden at Kensington has been 

 supplied from Chiswick with 13,930 plants for the decoration of 

 the conservatory ; 56,627 plants have been used in the summer 

 bedding arrangements, 3164 plants in the bedding provided for 

 the spring season, and 8487 plants for autumn bedding. 



The comparative trials of new flowers which took place last 

 year, were devoted to Pelargoniums and bedding Pansies, and 

 reports of the results, drawn up by the Floral Director, will be 

 found in the last number of the Society's Journal. The number 

 of varieties of Pelargoniums planted out for these experirnental 

 purposes was 293, whUe eighty-three sorts, chiefly consisting of 



* In particular, reductiong have been made in the stafT ; prizes will only be 

 offered at the most important Shows, those in May, June, July ^ith and 2l8t, 

 and October. Other extensive reductions have been temporarily sauotioned. 



