194 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULIORE AND OOTTAGB GARDENER. 



[ Mai-cli 11, 1873. 



Gkowths. — Tbe first we have complete command over ; there 

 is no reason why an insect or an insect's egg should be left 

 alive on a Peach wall in winter. If they are destroyed there is 

 a chance of the young growths having a fair start before they 

 are again troubled with them. Temperature can only be kept 

 up by good covering ; the best next to glass, even preferable 

 to uncovered and unheated glass, is fiigi domo and a broad 

 coping. The frigi domo is expensive at first, but it lasts a 

 good many years, and in the end I am inclined to think is 

 cheaper than any kind of netting and ten times more effectual. 

 — William Taylor. 



BOTAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Annual Meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, ad- 

 journed from the 9th of February, was held last Tuesday in the 

 Council-room, South Kensington, Viscount Bury, the President, 

 in the chair. Amongst the members of Council present were 

 Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., Mr. Webb, Mr. Little, Mr. Burnley 

 Hume, Mr. Kellock, Mr. Bonamy Dobree, the Hon. and Rev. J. 

 T. Boscawen, Mr. Warner, Mr. W. A. Lindsay, Secretary. 

 Amongst the general body of the Fellows were Lord Lawrence, 

 Sir Alfred Slade, Bart, (recently resigned from the Council), 

 the Hon. Mr. Chetwynd (who has also resigned his seat at the 

 Council), Mr. Godaon, Dr. Hogg, General Scott, l)r. Masters, 

 Dr. Denny, Mr. Fortune, Mr. Houghton, Mr. MacKenzie, Mr. 

 Moore, Mr. Shirley Hibberrt, Mr. Batemau, Mr. Paul, Mr. Beale, 

 Mr. Fraser, Mr. Williams, Mr. Turner, Mr. Standish, Mr. Wells, 

 Mr Andrew Murray, Mr. G. F. Wilson, Mr. Liggins, Mr. E. J. 

 Beale, Mr. Fulton, Mr. Bull, Mr. Smee, Mr. J. E. Pearson, Mr. 

 Noble, Mr. Veitch, Rev. C. P. Peach, Mr. Pinches, Mr. Edgar 

 Bowring, Mr. Walford, Mr. Guedella, frc. 



The Secretary (Mr. W. A. Lindsay) read the advertisement 

 calling the meeting. 



The following is the amended Report of the Council submitted 

 to the meeting : — 



BEPOBT OF THE COUNCIL TO THE ADJOURNED ANNUAL GENERAL 

 MEETING. 



(1.) The Council are happy to inform the Fellows of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society that, since issuing their Report to the 

 Society, the position of affairs has materially changed. 



The speech made on behalf of Pier Majesty's Commissioners 

 at the meeting of 9th of February was so friendly in character, 

 and conveyed assurances so satisfactory to the Society, that the 

 Council feel it incumbent upon them to omit from their Report 

 any passages which might present eveu the appearance of dis- 

 union between themselves and tbe Royal Commissioners. 



(2.) The Council have great pleasure in again commenting 

 upon the magnificent displays of fruits, flowers, foUage, and 

 other plants at the Society's exhibitions during the year 1874, 

 and especially at the coucluiliug exhibition of the season, when 

 the collections of fruit and Chrysanthemums surpassed almost 

 all similar collections of former years. 



(3) The amendments introduced into the schedule, together 

 with the reduction in the number of the exhibitions, have all 

 contributed to this gratifying result. 



(4.) The more purely scientific work of the Society has been 

 ably performed, and the meetings of the Fruit and Floral Com- 

 mittees have been wpII attended. 



To encourage still further the discussion of horticultural 

 subjects, the Council have established, as an experiment, even- 

 ing meetings, which those P'ellows who are interested in horti- 

 culture are specially invited to attend. The experiments made 

 at Chiswick form, as usual, the subject of a supplementary 

 report. , „ ., . , 



(5.) In the course of last summer the Council received a very 

 advantageous offer from Messrs. Prince, for the privilege of con- 

 structing a skating rink in the Society's Gardens. 



(6.) Messrs. Prince proposed to pay by way of rent a sum 

 equal on an average to i.llOU a-year, to erect the rink and neces- 

 sary approaches entirely at their own expense, and to conform 

 to such conditions and regulations as might be approved by the 

 Council. The Council considered it their duty to accept this 

 offer, believing that it would be agreeable both to Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners and to the Society. The moneys accruing from 

 this source would assist the Society to meet punctually their 

 engagements, not only with their landlords, hut with their de- 

 benture-holders and other creditors, and by relieving the Society 

 from the pressure of pecuniary cmbarraBSment would enable 

 them to devote more tim«, attention, and funds to the improve- 

 ment of horticulture in all i B branches. 



The rink might thus be said to come within the terms of our 

 lease, by contributing materially, though indirectly, to the 

 interests of horticulture. 



(7.) Her Majesty's Commissioners, however, did not consider 

 it expedient to become parties to this arrangement, and as under 

 the Charter of the Society Her Majesty's Commissioners have 

 the power to prohibit any proceeding of the Society which is not 

 directly of a horticultural nature, and the Society have, more- 



over, no power to assign, underlet, or part with the premises 

 demised to them without the consent in writing of Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners first obtained, the Council felt it right to proceed 

 no further with the arrangement with Messrs. Prince, although 

 no direct prohibition had been sent to them by Her Majesty's 

 Commissioners. 



The Council be^ to express a hope, baaed upon friendly com- 

 munications recently made to them by Her Majesty's Commis- 

 sioners, that all difficulties in the way of a satisfactory under- 

 standing between Her Majesty's Commissioners and the Society 

 may soon be removed. 



(8 ) The Council have now to call the earnest attention of the 

 Fellows to the financial position of the Society. 



During the past year it has been impossible to make any great 

 impression upon the amount of the debts due by the Society 

 referred to in the last report. The Council are, however, happy 

 to inform the Fellows that they have succeeded in compromising 

 for a cash payment of iUOO a debt due to the executors of Sir 

 Trayton Drake of ilOUO (with interest since 18G4), which was 

 advanced to the Society prior to 18(J0; and which, until the 

 accession to office of the present Council, had been ignored in 

 the published accounts of the Society, and they have also settled 

 a claim of Mr. Cooper's amounting to i;l05 for work done in the 

 year 1862. , . , , ^ , 



It has become evident to the Council, and, indeed, must be 

 apparent to the Fellows, that the ordinary revenue of the 

 Society cannot support its present expenditure; and to prevent 

 any increase of the Society's liabiUties during the year 1875 

 the Council have been compelled to make several, in their 

 opinion, most undesirable reductions in the expenditure. 



The attention of the Fellows is specially called to the fact 

 that unless the rent of i:2400 is paid to Her Majesty's Com- 

 missioners next year, the lease of the South Kensington Gar- 

 dens may be forfeited, and to prevent this contingency an m- 

 creased rei'enue must be obtained. 



This increased revenue the Council suggest may be obtained 

 by concerted action on the part of the Fellows, whether resident 

 in the neighbourhood or not, and by increasing the number of 

 Fellows. The Council are prepared to invite a general meeting 

 of the Fellows to discuss this question in detail. A definite 

 scheme will then be submitted for consideration. 



In conclusion, the Council beg to express their unanimous 

 opinion that it is the bounden duty of the Society to do its 

 utmost to retain the Gardens in its possession as " a suitable 

 area in which they may exhibit and display the progress of 

 horticulture," and also to enable them to fulfil the Society s 

 obligations to their Ufe Fellows and their debenture-holders; 

 and in such a course the Council feel sure they wQl have the 

 hearty and cordial co-operation of every Fellow of the Society. 

 The Chairman said— It now devolves upon me, gentlemen, to 

 place before you the Report of the Council. You will remember 

 the circumstances under which their former Report was with- 

 drawn. The Council and the Society generaUy had been long 

 desirous of coming into amicable friendly relations with Her 

 Majesty's Commissioners. A gleam of light dawned upon us 

 not very long ago, and at that time the Report of the CouncU 

 had been issued to the Fellows. We found that certain passages 

 in that Report stood between us and the consummation of our 

 wishes, and that the Commissioners felt somewhat annoyedat 

 the terms in which they were mentioned m the Report. We 

 felt that as your representatives nothing ought to stand between 

 us and the fulfilment of your wishes and of our wish to enter 

 into relations of the most pe.fect amity with Her Majesty s 

 Commissioners. We had not intended any disrespect .to Her 

 Majesty's CommissionerB, but the Council had intended in their 

 Report to state facts they themselves were m possession of 

 rhear.hearl. They felt, however, that it was absolutely essential 

 that even the appearance of disunion should be avoided by them, 

 and they consented most cheerfully to take back the Report 

 which had been placed before you, and the result has been an 

 amended Report, which is now lying on the table for your con- 

 sideration. We hope that the circumstances which have since 

 arisen are such as fully justify us in the course which we have 

 adopted [hear, hear]. We have several satisfactory announce- 

 ments to make to the meeting. One is the complete restoration 

 of good offices aud good understanding between Her Majesty s 

 Commissioners and the Royal Horticultural Society [hear, hear 

 and " no "1 That I will proceed to place beyond a doubt before 

 I go further. We have received from Her Majesty s Commis- 

 sioners a dispatch dated yesterday, the 8th of March. It is as 

 'o'lows —"I am directed by Her Majesty's Commissioners for the 

 Exhibition of 18.51 to inform you that since the Annual General 

 Meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, held on the 9th of 

 February last, they have taken the opinion of counsel on the 

 effect which the proceedings of that meeting of the 9lh of Febru- 

 ary had on the legal position of the present governing body of the 

 Society; and that they have been advised there has been a sufli- 

 cient acceptance of the resignations of the members of Council 

 who resigned in April 1873, and a »"ft"=ient confirmation of the 

 election of the existing members of Council to render the status 



