121 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ Febraary 17, 1876. 



former, their Etems matured sooner, and their heads formed 

 eirlier. When planted out early and grown thinly in an open 

 p'aoe (if I had the choice I should select the middle of a fifty- 

 ncro field), the stems of the plants are short and easy to protect 

 (if protection is necessary) by packing round them stubble or 

 other strawey refuse, and these plants will never fail to produce 

 heads in January, and not infrequently I have cut them be- 

 fore Chriotmas. In severe weather the heads must be pro- 

 ti cted by turning the foliage over them, enclosing also a hand- 

 ful of hay. — E. Fish's Pupil. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The adjourned Annual General Meeting of this Society was 

 held on Thursday afternoon in the Council Chamber, South 

 Jvensington. The Eight Hon. Lord Aberdare, the President of 

 the Society, occupied the chair. The proceedings were to a 

 great extent characterised by the same want of harmony which 

 has marked for some length of time the public meetings of the 

 Society, and indeed at one stage of the business — during Lord 

 Bury's remarks — the noise and interruptions threatened to put 

 an end to the proceedings, and it may be said that only the 

 firmness of the noble Chairman prevented the meeting from 

 ending in confusion. 



Amongst those of the Council present were the Hon. and Eev. 

 J. T. Bofcawen, Mr. H. Webb, Dr. Hogg, Mr. Hanghton, Lord 

 Alfred Churchill, Dr. Denny, Sir Trevor Lawrence, M.P., Col. 

 Trevor Clarke, Mr. Kellock, Mr. Campion, &c. Amongst those 

 of the general body of Fellows — of whom there was a good at- 

 tendance — were Mr. Shirley Hibberd, Sir Alfred Slade, Bart., 

 Sir Peter Pole, Lord Bury, Admiral Hornby, Mr. Grote, Mr. 

 G. F. Wilson, Dr. Masters, Mr. Godson, General Scott, Mr. 

 Guedalla, Mr. Smee, Mr. Pinches, Mr. Bateman, Mr. Edgar 

 Bowring, &c. 



The annual Eeport, which was taken as read at the meeting 

 of the previous Tuesday, was circulated through the room. 

 [This Report was published iu our last issue.] 



The CHAiHMiN, in opening the business of the meeting, said — 

 I think it only right that I should first of all explain our ad- 

 journment of this our annual meeting from last Tuesday until 

 to-day. As you are aware it was imperative on the Council to 

 call the meeting for the 8th in accordance with the bye-laws of 

 the Society, but as on that date Her Majesty was announced to 

 open Parliament in person, and as a full attendance of the 

 Fellows could not be expected on such a day, we resolved merely 

 to hold the meeting pro forma in order to adjourn over until 

 to day. An advertisement to this effect was inserted in the 

 papers, and the meeting was held. I was not present myself, 

 but I believe there was but a small attendance of Fellows. I 

 will now explain what took place. The Council, in accordance 

 with their public notice, wished merely to formally adjourn the 

 meeting without transacting any business whatever; but some 

 of the Fellows preEent maintained that in accordance with the 

 Charter of the Society it was imperative on the meeting then 

 convened — being, as it was in fact, they said, the Annual General 

 Meeting — to proceed to the election of members of the Council 

 in the place of those who had retired since the last special 

 general meeting. This they actually did proceed to do, but I 

 would ask you to understand that the members of the Council 

 strongly protested against such a course being adopted, and 

 what followed was done against their wishes and in the face of 

 their oppofition. They held that the adjourned meeting would 

 be quite competent to transact the business set down in the 

 ordinary course of events for Tuesday, but their objections were 

 overruled by the majority of the masting, and the election of 

 members of Council was gone on with. The Eeport, however, 

 was only taken as read, but was not adopted, and therefore it 

 v.ill be perfectly competent for this meeting to accept or reject 

 it as you think fit. It is my business, then, as Chairman, to 

 move the adoption of the Report. I regret very much indeed, 

 in the present state of feeling amongst the Fellows, that it is 

 impossible for me to enter at this time into the subject which 

 no doubt ioterests you most — that is, I mean as to what has 

 been done by the Council since our last meeting. As you are 

 aware, a discussion took place at that time as to the alterations 

 in the privileges of the i?elIo\v3 which the Council considered 

 necessary in order to place the Society on a firm basis as re- 

 garded the payment of our debt and the future income of our 

 Society. We found so much opposition to the new privileges 

 that it was at length agreed we should tako back the rules and 

 revise them as far as possible. This the Council consented to 

 do, and a considerable alteration has been made; indeed, I 

 may say that at another time I could venture to show that 

 very important alterations for the benefit of the Fellows have 

 been made in the new scale of privileges, but I cannot do 

 so at present because of a certain circumstance which has 

 occurred. Only yesterday a Fellow handed in a notice to the 

 Council that he would move to-day a resolution, the effect of 

 which will be, if it is successful, a vote of want of confidence 



in the Council, or, in other words, we will be called upon to 

 resign. Now, there is an excellent rule in Parliament which 

 says that votes of non-confidence shall have precedence over 

 every other question, and that no other business can be brought 

 before the House until such vote has been disposed of, and I 

 would submit to the meeting that on this occasion the same 

 course should be adopted. It is useless, as you will see, for us 

 to difCUES the revised privileges or the future policy of the 

 Society when we have a thing of this kind hanging over our 

 heads. It will be quite time enough for us to talk of what we 

 may or may not do in the future to forward the interests of thi-i 

 Society when the vote of the meeting is taken, and we find 

 whether the majority of those present have confidence in the 

 Council as at present constituted, or whether you are disposed 

 to deprive us of the powers we now possess. I therefore hope 

 it will be the pleasure of the meeting that priority shall be 

 given to the resolution of which Mr. Hardcastle has given notic?, 

 so that we may at once proceed to the disposal of the business 

 which has called us together [hear, hear]. 



Mr. HiEDCisTLE said he must confess it was with considerable 

 surprise — after understanding from the notice which had been 

 issued by the Council that the meeting of Tuesday last was 

 merely to be a pro forma one — that he had been since informed 

 that most important business had been transacted there. Several 

 Fellows had been elected to the Council, and further that the 

 Eeport had been carried [no, no]. 



The Chaieman. — I thitk I gave it to be understood that the 

 Report was not adopted ; and as to the election of Fellows the 

 meeting would have it so, although the members of the Council 

 strongly protested against such a course. It is for this meeting 

 to accept or reject the Report. 



Mr. Haedcastle would accept what the noble Chairman said 

 regarding the Eeport. He agreed that any discussion on the 

 privileges should be postponed until the opinion of the meeting 

 was taken on his motion. He would now come to the question 

 which he had to bring before them. The policy of the present 

 Council up to that time — but not the policy which had been sent 

 round a few weeks since — had been one of inclusion. It was 

 the duty of the Council to secure for the inhabitants of that part 

 of the metropolis all the enjoyment they could consistently with 

 the policy of the Royal Horticultural Society ; but their new 

 policy was diametrically opposed to such a course. In fact, the 

 scientific Fellows wished to get as much as they could out of 

 the South Kensington Fellows, and give them as little as 

 possible [hear]. The question then came. Were the Fellows to 

 submit to such treatment? [no]. For his own part he would 

 strenuously oppose a policy of the kind. He did not wish to 

 express himself with any feeling against any member of the 

 Council. He did not wish this to be an excited meeting, as 

 many of their gatherings were ; but he could not but condemn 

 the policy they wisheel to force on the Society. He thereforo 

 intended to move that the Report should not be adopted, and 

 that the present members of the Council should bo called upon 

 to resign. No doubt the Council had the best intentions, and 

 had done the best they could, but they had adopted a very bad 

 mode of raising the fortunes of the Society [hear]. Looking at 

 the past history of the Royal Horticultural Society, it could at 

 once be seen that it had from the earliest period been divided 

 into two factions — the scientific horticulturists, or gardeners to 

 use an older name, and the non-scientific horticulturists, or those 

 who admired a pretty garden without being learned in the names 

 of the plants or shrubs. Now they all knew very well that the 

 Society could never support itself as a purely horticultural society, 

 and the scientific or gardening portion had failed from the first 

 to make the gardens a financial success. It had been so in the 

 old days, when the Chiswick Fellows depended for a great por- 

 tion of their income on the fetes which they gave from time to 

 time, and it was so at present in regard to their gardens at South 

 Kensington. One thing, then, was very certain — if the horti- 

 culturists or gardeners were bent on carrying out their own 

 objects without regard to the interests of the residents, or if the 

 residents were bent on carrying out theirs, the Society would 

 surely fall to the ground. A change of policy which would make 

 the gardens a pleasant resort for those who resided in the neigh- 

 bourhood could alone save the Society from absolute effacement. 

 With reference to the proposed changes in their privileges he 

 would say a few words. A gentleman who entered the Society 

 as a twenty-guinea or forty-guinea Fellow paid his money for 

 certain privileges, but after a little time he suddenly found a 

 great portion of them cut off. What was he to do ? An annual 

 Fellow could leave the Society without sustaining any pecuniary 

 loss, but if a life Fellow did so he forfeited what he had paid. 

 Did they think if such a policy was adhered to that many would 

 be found willing to join the Society? He thought not. He 

 was just reminded that within the last year they had lost j£16U0 

 of income. Under such circumstances they must consider what 

 was best to be done. He thought the only thing they could do 

 was — he did not like to use the word " turn out" the Council, 

 but he would say "reconstruct" it. If they did so what were 

 they to do next ? If he had a list of names to form a Council 



