Jannuy 8, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



29 



thfit ia required to keep it away is tlie syringe used very freely. 

 • — F. P. LucKunRST, Mill Bank Hall. 



BOYAL nOETICULTUEAJD SOCIETY— TOTING 

 BY PROXY. 



We have received two printed circulars asking the Fellows 

 to give the power of voting by proxy at general meetings of 

 the Society. We have on a former occasion warned the I'ellows 

 against giving that power. It always causes more injury than 

 it effects beuetit. It has always been found th.at those in autho- 

 rity, having the funds and officials to work with, are enabled to 

 obtain proxies from Fellows residing at a distance much more 

 readily than any opponent of the Council, who has to apply 

 for proxies individually and at his own expense. No Fellow 

 should have the power of voting on any motion without having 

 heard the arguments urged on both sides. The House of Peers 

 have resigned the privilege of voting by proxy because it was 

 known to operate wrongfully ; and we know of no reason why 

 the Chairman of the Pioyal Horticultural Society's Council 

 should be able to say, any more than a Prime Minister, " Let 

 the opposition argue, I have the majority in my pocket." 



In reply to " A Life Fellow," a reference to the manuscript 

 of my letter of Deo. 25th will show that it suggested that it 

 would have been better if the first words of the " appeal " had 

 been, " The old Council was caused to retire by a very small 

 number of votes, and most of them local ones." I did not 

 propose to alter " A Life Fellow's " letter. I gladly, however, 

 join issue with him on the question of fact whether it was a 

 large or small number of votes which caused the late Council 

 to retire. In your report of the meeting of March '2Cth, 1873, 

 in the number of 27th March, 1873, Mr. Lindsay (page 25U, 

 second column), says, " It would be iu their recollection that 

 the circumstance which had led to these proceedings was at 

 the last annual meeting, the vote for the non-adoption of the 

 report was carried by a majority of 86 to 11 ; the Chairman 

 then stated that he did not see how it was possible for the 

 Council to take any other step than resigning." Eighty-six, 

 mostly Keusingtonians, to fourteen horticulturists ! — this on 

 the authority of the Secretary of the present Council at the 

 annual meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural Society, which 

 numbers some 3500 FeUows ; and " A Life Fello\y " considers 

 that the old Council was not caused to retire by a very small 

 number of votes, and those mostly local ones ! Continue the 

 reference to your report, and it is stated (page25S), that on 

 Mr. Lindsay's amendment to prevent men's proxies, 107 voted 

 for and 53 against, and that ladies' proxies were 225 for and 

 ■206 against. The numbers given in the Gardeners' Clironiele, 

 published on the 29tb, and therefore with more time to get the 

 exact figures, are — " For amendment by show of hands 109, 

 hy proxies 116 ; total, 225. Against, by show of hands 53, by 

 proxies 154 ; total, 207. Majority for the amendment, 18." 

 Further on in your report, the bye-law permitting the Council 

 to resign was voted for by 93, against 23 and 37 proxies. 

 Majority for the bye-law, 33. " The supporters of the bye-law 

 ■did not use proxies." 



What I said is, that without starving horticulture I believe 

 that the Council cannot pay the rent, £2100 according to the 

 charter, when due, and I repeat it. 



" A Life Fellow " hardly sees the point in my answer to 

 his comparison of the Zoological and Botanical Societies with 

 ours. What I said was, that the Crown being the landlord of 

 the houses round the Botanic and Zoological Gardens received 

 on their increased rental a large rent for the space occupied by 

 the Gardens. The Crown is not the landlord of the houses 

 round South Kensington Garden, and the land having been 

 bought mainly out of the people's shillings, it seems an abuse 

 that the rich neighbourhood should not pay a rent approaching 

 to its value if kept private — this to be applied to public pur- 

 poses — or that greater public use should be made of the gardens. 



" A Life Fellow's " last paragraph I do not understand. 

 If he means that I supported the proposal adopted by the late 

 Council to admit Exhibition visitors to the garden on consider- 

 ation of freedom from £2400 a-year rent and £2000 a-year 

 debenture interest, and of an estimated £1000 a-year for hor- 

 ticulture (the settlement with Hfe FeUows being understood), 

 I fuUy admit this responsibility. I think this arrangement 

 would have been a fair compromise. It would not have taken 

 away very much of the privacy of the gardens from the Ken- 

 singtonians ; it would have made some greater use of the laud, 



and would have given some money for horticultural objects, 

 besides freeing the Society from much of the load which weighs 

 it down. I fear that " A Life Fellow's " Keusingtonian 

 friends may regret the day that they prevented terms like these 

 being carried out, and doubt the new Council's will and power 

 to " sell the Society to the Commissioners" on better terms. 

 ■ — Geokge F. Wilson. 



ABOUT ROTHBURY. 



If the question had been asked some twenty or thirty years 

 ago, What about Bothbury ? the answer would likely have 

 been th;it it is a village of no great importance in the centre 

 of Northumberland ; and if the inquiry had been made at an 

 earlier period, it might have been said that its claims to re- 

 spectability were of a somewhat questionable character. The 

 tongue of slander used to say unpleasant things about Both- 

 bury — not that it differed much from other vUlages, but the 

 circumstance of its situation gave it a sort of claim to notoriety. 

 It lies at a considerable distance from any other village of 

 importance, and necessarily exercised a considerable influence 

 for good or for evil over a wide district. It was here that the 

 unfortunate Earl of Derwentwater and his adherents raised 

 the standard of rebellion against the present ruling family of 

 the country, and proclaimed a member of the exiled Stuarts 

 as the Sovereign. The issue of that ill-starred rebellion is 

 well known, and the wide domains of the unfortunate noble- 

 man were forfeited to the Crown on his perishing on the 

 scaffold. Sympathy for him, it need hardly be said, was long 

 felt in the neighbourhood, where his good qualities as a land- 

 lord and a kind and indulgent master were widely known ; and 

 this sympathy no doubt led many to couple his case with that 

 of the family for whom he sacrificed his life, and consequently 

 in Bothbury and other places the people long maintained a 

 hope that the cause of the Stuarts was not altogether desi)erate. 

 Border songs and popular tunes breathing a wish of the kind 

 were common enough in the younger days of people still living, 

 although it does not appear that the Derwentwater property 

 extended to Bothbury, the seat of the family being a good many 

 miles away ; neither does it appear that the claimant for the 

 broad acres it once possessed, whose case occupied so much 

 attention a few years ago, ever found much sympathy or sup- 

 port at Bothbury, although she met with it elsewhere. 



To those intending to visit this once out-of-the-way village 

 a journey on horseback or some primitive conveyance was 

 necessary, and that not long ago. Now, however, that pioneer 

 of civilisation, the railway, takes the traveller to the very 

 place. A single line of rail branching from the North-Eastern 

 line at Morpeth carries the passenger over some twenty miles, 

 more or less, of uninteresting country. This term, however, 

 would not be applied to it by the antiquarian, for objects of 

 interest present themselves at various points on the way. First 

 of all, while changing trains at Morpeth the town Ues before 

 him in a valley on both sides of the river Wensbeok, the rail- 

 way station being much elevated above the town ; in fact 

 the district around Morpeth is very hilly, and crowning an 

 eminence but a short distance from the station are the remains 

 of Morpeth Castle, a stronghold in the border frays, which 

 extended almost down to the union of England and Scotland, 

 when most dweUings of any importance bore marks of having 

 been fortified in some way. The Castle has evidently been 

 one of importance, though not more so than another we catch 

 a glimpse of a short time after leaving Morpeth. This is 

 Mitford, once the stronghold of the Bertrams, a noted family 

 in border warfare, and their family seat is of course mixed up 

 with their history. Other fortified houses, as Ogle, Belsay 

 Castle, and Letter Harle Tower are too far from the line to 

 be visible to the traveller ; but ere long he comes iu sight of 

 Eoadley Castle, placed on a ridge of some elevation, but I 

 believe the structure that now presents itself to the spectator 

 is more of a sham than a real ruin, and its history is unim- 

 portant, while the aspect of the country is not inviting. By 

 degrees this becomes wilder, and now and then gUmpses of 

 distant hiUs reveal the fact that we are approaching a moor- 

 laud district ; at a station a short distance from Bothbury 

 the train stops, and looking out we find the name of one of 

 the gentler sex is posted-up as ticket-collector, and very grace- 

 fully she performed her duties, informing us in reply to an 

 inquiry that the remains of the famed Brinkburn Priory are 

 some three miles off. But the train proceeds, and curving 

 round the steep sides of a hill, the summit of which is in its 

 primitive wildness, it pulls up at what is at present the ter- 



