March 2, 1876. 1 



JOURNAL OP HOUTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



175 



hear]. A critical question was impeniling over them. They had 

 less tbftu half the funda they BhouM have becaiiBe the diKsrii- 

 sions hitherto pxisliug iu the Society had operated most in- 

 jarioaely in a quarter whore they locked for munificent aid ; he 

 referred to the proposition of Mr. Freake to advance the Society 

 jEoOOO or i'TOOO to e.xtricate it from its difficultios. Of courEe 

 Mr. Kreake, like any man of sense, huiif; back as to his venture 

 because he did not kuow what tbo Society was goinp to do, and 

 Baw the whole concern waa being pulled to pieces ; but if tbey 

 went before the public with a scheme, and exhibited unanimity 

 with respect to it, he had no doubt that would have so great an 

 influence on Mr. Freake that he would no longer hesitate to do 

 what he promised [hear, hear]. He must say the action of the 

 Council in this case met with his entire approbation, and en- 

 titled them, not to hia thanks, bnt to the thanks of every Fellow 

 of the Society. If the adoption of the proposals had been 

 moved he should be happy to second it [cheersj. 



Mr. Alfked Smee said he believed the trne policy to be pur- 

 sued was to got all parties together, so that they might act with 

 unanimity. He begged, however, to state most emphatically 

 that nothing that all of them could do could damage the Royal 

 Horticultural Society [hear, and a laugh]. Although the Society 

 might be short of funds, or that it had gone down in its funds, 

 the Royal Horticultural Society still would rise [hear and 

 "question"]. The Society could never receive any lu jury, hut 

 while tbey were saddled with creditors they must provide the 

 necessary means to pay them [hear, hear]. How were they to 

 keep up their expen&es ? This summary of amended privileges 

 would not bring them out of their dif&cuUies. It never would 

 do that. Even ii they did not support their Society it would 

 still remain as it was [laughter]. They must fall back upon 

 some method by which to increase their income. Lflt them 

 look at the Alexandra Palace and other places of amusement. 

 They might have skating rinks and ice places, and he should 

 be happy to inquire how they could have ice winter and 

 summer. Still, however, they might introduce novelties. Un- 

 less they kept up their horticulture they should never maintain 

 their gardens or their position [hear, hear]. He again asserted 

 that nothing could damage the Royal Horticultural Society in 

 itself. The question they had to decide was, how, under their 

 present circumstances, they proposed to go on until final arrange- 

 ments were made, so that the Society might go on prosperously. 



Mr. Hardcastle said he wished to express on his own part — 

 and he did so quite personally, although he dared say all the 

 other members of the committee appointed to confer with the 

 Council agreed with him — his great satisfaction at the step the 

 Council had taken that day [cheers]. He did not say that satis- 

 faction was qualified by something which fell from the chair, 

 but at any rate he could not take more than his just share of 

 responsibility for the action of the committee. As far as he 

 understood these regulations, they appeared to be founded upon 

 an exceedingly good principle, although possibly some of the 

 details might require amendment. The Council had adopted, 

 and in fact must adopt them on their own responsibility [hear, 

 hear, from members of Council]. Of course, the Society was 

 only too glad they should take the responsibility, the Society 

 being convinced at the same time that the regulations were 

 based upon highly honourable principles [hear, hear]. He 

 might be permitted to state what perhaps was known to most 

 ladies and gentlemen present, that as far as be bad had the 

 opportunity of studying the regulations, they were substantially 

 what were submitted by one member of the committee to the 

 Council, and to him whatever credit can be given was due to 

 him for having devised these regulations [hear, hear]. He 

 (Mr. Hardcastle) did not wish to criticise them, because he 

 thought that in the second section there was mention made of 

 the "owner" in this way; — "Each four-guinea Fellow is 

 entitled to two transferable tickets, admitting the owner on all 

 occasions, with liberty to introduce personally four friends, 

 except to fetes, conversazioni, and flower shows, and on reserved 

 occasions." Now in that section they had the word " owner," 

 and 



A Fellow. — It means "bearer" or "holder." 



Mr. Habdcastle.— Oh, of course there is no doubt as to what 

 It is meant for. 



The Chairman (Lord Alfred OhnroLill). — The word in the 

 printed list is a misprint. 



Mr. WiLLiASi Hauohton. — That is so ; it is a misprint. 



Mr. Hardcastle, — Very well; but it would be as well perhaps 

 to have a qualified admission for servants up to a certain hour 

 of the day ; but I must say, as regards the other regulations, 

 they a'^pear to me to be based on a right princiole. I will not 

 take up the time of the meeting any longer, because I have just 

 seen a friend of mine (Mr. Edgar Bowring, C.B.) getting on his 

 legs. I sit down saying that I trust the meeting aud the Society 

 generally will accept these regulations unanimously [cheers]. 

 I think, my lord, it is most important that if these regulations 

 are accepted at all they should be accepted unanimously 

 [applause]. By adopting such a course we should prevent the 

 recarrenoe of those dissensions which have unfortunately too 



long prevailed iu the deliberations of the Society, and which, 

 I am not without hope, will eventually cease to be one of th© 

 features of the jjroceedinga of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 [cheers]. 



Mr. tnoAR BowRiNO, O.B. — I think it would be much the best 

 course if the Fellows agree with my suggestion that the meeting 

 should first approve of the proposed regulatiuus which the 

 Council has submitted to the Fellows [hear, hear]. I shall be 

 very happy to second the adoption of these regulations if any 

 gentleman moves it. 



Dr. Pinches — I will move the adoption of the regulations 

 with much pleasure [hear, hear]. 



Mr. BowRiNU said he was glad the motion had been proposed 

 by Dr. Pinches, and thought the few words he (Mr. Bowriug) 

 had to address to the meeting would be found of a highly satis- 

 factory nature. He had to state that on his way to that meeting 

 he met Mr. Freake, who said he was sorry he had not known the 

 meeting was to have been held. Mr. Freake authorised him to 

 state on his behalf that without considering these regulations 

 2>er se, if the meeting adopted the propositions of the Council, 

 if there were no differences of opinion upon them or unnatural 

 dissensions amongst the F'ellows, he was still prepared to carry 

 out his munificcut offer of advance of money to the Society 

 [loud cheers]. Ou that point he might say no more [hear, 

 hear]. He entirely concurred in the opinion that unless some- 

 thing waa done to place the Society on a proper bftsia they 

 should lose a number of their country Fellows and their London 

 F^ellows as well, while very few fresh F'ellows would come into 

 the Society. He was very glad, therefore, to see the way in 

 which the Council had come round to the views of the Fellows. 

 He would most earnestly urge upon the Council and upon all 

 the Fellows that it was of the very greatest importance to re- 

 cover the Fellows they had lost [hear, hear]. He had every 

 reason to know that most of the Fellows left the Society because 

 of the loss of their privileges, which left their membership of no 

 use whatever to their families. Let the Council make a special 

 appeal to these Fellows. He should make the suggestion that 

 a gentleman should be appointed to go round to those Fellows 

 and bring them back to the fold of the Society [hear, hear]. As 

 to getting an accession of fresh F"ellows, he thought they should 

 take some strong and immediate steps to induce people to join 

 the Society. He should say there ought to be a systematic 

 house-to-house canvass in the interest of the Society in that 

 great, wealthy, and growing neighbourhood. He need not detain 

 the meeting with any further remarks. He saw every appear- 

 ance of perfect unanimity on the questions before them, and he 

 felt very happy in seconding the motion proposed by Dr. Pinches, 

 that the propositions of the Council contained in the Amended 

 Summary of Privileges of the Fellows for the year 1876 be 

 adopted by the meeting [cheers]. 



Sir Henry Thring, C.B., said he was extremely happy to see 

 the meeting unanimously in favour of the reception of these 

 rules. When the Society did come down, come down they 

 must [cries of "no"]. Well, he wished to explain shortly what 

 a society like theirs was. On various occasions he had heard 

 gentlemen call themselves the " South Kensingtonian " and the 

 " Horticultural" party respectively, who never had anything to 

 do with the meetings of the Council. 



[Lord Aberdabe, the President of the Society, here entered 

 the Council-room and took the chair, which Lord Alfred S. 

 Churchill vacated as soon as the noble President was seen ap- 

 proaching the Council table.] 



Sir Henei- Theino, in continuation of his address, said they 

 had heard the Society could not exist unless under the Charter. 

 He pledged his legal reputation it was not possible for it to do 

 so. They should all like to see the Horticultural Society rise 

 like the phosoix from its ashes, but they were anxious to seo 

 how that could be accomplished. Some twenty years ago the 

 Society chose to accept a fresh charter, and that was the one 

 under which it existed. It possessed in South Kensington a 

 garden, whether for good or had, but at any rate the garden at 

 Chiswick was the property of the Society. The Society must 

 remain in unity or cease to exist [hear, hear]. It must retain 

 both gardens. There was no law by which one party in the 

 Society could call itself the " Royal Horticultural Society " and 

 the other the " South Kensington Society." He pledged his 

 legal reputation to the meeting that under the Charter they 

 could not separate their gardens. What would be the effect of 

 all this quarrelling? They had three different Councils in ofQce 

 during the last four or five years. The first Council was turned 

 out for some reason or other ; another came in which was not 

 very flourishing, and the Society became in a worse position 

 still. He did plainly assert they were on the verge of ruin 

 [no, no]. Let them look boldly into the future if they 

 wanted to have a brighter prospect for the Society. Let them 

 have a houte-to-house canvass [hear, hear]. Every man must 

 exert himself to save the Society. When he first came to that 

 neighbourhood eleven years ago the Society had an income of 

 £7000 a-year. They must all pull together, and not come there 

 to talk a lot of balderdash [oh, and laughter]. It was not a 



