Pobraary 12, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



143 



Jammry 1st, 1873, to £402G 18s. 5<Z. The moat preasiuf; have 

 been met, to the extent of £3035 15s. id, but £391 3s. Id. stiU 

 remain. 



All the liabilities of 1873 have been paid np, except a sum of 

 abont ±'3096 3s. 



The Council have to observe that by the agreement of 1860 it 

 was provided that the Kxpensea Committee, consisting of six 

 members, three appointed by the Exhibition Commissioners 

 and three by the Boyal Horticultural Society, should meet from 

 time to time to sanction the payments made by the Society out 

 of the receipts from the Gardens. Since the year 1871, how- 

 ever, this Expenses Committee have not met, owing, during the 

 past year, to persistent refusals to do so on the jmrt of the 

 'Exhibition Commissioners. 



In July, 1872, a payment of £1200 was made by the Society 

 to the Exhibition Commissioners on account of rent, and in 

 anticipation of the accruing surplus. To no part of this sum 

 iad the Commissioners any claim under the agreement of 1800 

 unless it existed as a clear surplus on the receipts of the year. 

 At the end of the year only a part of this surplus existed ; and 

 although the payment was made under a distinct understanding 

 that in this case the money, or any part of it not due, should be 

 refunded, the Council, after many applications, have failed to 

 recover from the Exhibition Commissioners the sum in ques- 

 tion, amounting to about i'931. 



There is one item in the financial statement to which the 

 Council wish to call the serious attention of the Society — the life 

 compositions. 



By the agreement of 1860 life compositions were authorised 

 with the proviso that, during the continuance of the lives com- 

 pounded for, one-fifteenth of the amount of such compositions 

 should be chargeable in each financial year as part of the receipts 

 of the Gardens. This composition mouey was for some years 

 funded, but about ten years ago the then sum invested was 

 spent. 



So long as the actual receipts for Ufe compositions in each 

 year equalled this charge against the Society no inconvenience 

 arose. As, however, the charge increased year by year, while 

 the receipts under the head of life compositions diminished, the 

 time at last arrived when the receipts no longer equalled the 

 charge. Last year the deficiency was £101 2s., and this deficiency 

 may annually recur. 



Doubts liaving been raised as to the validity of the proceedings 

 of the Meeting of 1th April last, which received the resignation 

 of the old and elected the new members of Council, a case was 

 laid before Mr. Lindley. Q.C., the standing counsel of the Society, 

 and the late Attorney- General, Sir J. Coleridge. These eminent 

 lawyers stated their opinion that the proceedings were perfectly 

 valid, and the present Council legally elected. 



In December last the Council received a requisition, signed 

 'oy twelve Fellows, to call a Special General Meeting for the 

 purpose of passing a bye-law enabling all Fellows to vote by 

 proxy. This Meeting was held on the 8th January, and a motion 

 was passed that the Council should re-enact a bye-law which, in 

 the course of the preceding year, had been rejected by the 

 Society. The Council consider that the question of proxy- 

 voting will have to be argued on much more general grounds 

 than those argued at the Meeting. They therefore intend to 

 invite further discussion upon the question, when more of the 

 Fellows are in London, and, pending the decision then to be 

 arrived at, are unable to comply with the instruction carried at 

 the Meeting of the 8th January. 



Eepokt of the Accountants. 



"8, Walbrooi, London, E.G., .January Slst, 1874. 



" To the Conncil of the R \val Horticultural Society, South Kensiu-^ton. 



"GcNTLEMEN. — In compUanc9 with your instnlctions, we now bog to for- 

 ■ward the reveune a-^count of your Society for the year 1873, du]y audited, and 

 showing faftpr lyin:^iu'^ forward the sum of ^931 3^. at debit on the Slst De- 

 cember, 1872) a balance against the Society on the transactions of the imat 

 year of £441 158. 



" This anaount hag been increased by charging the accoimt with £2fMl Is. Id. 

 liabilities belon^ng to previous years, but paid in 1873, in addition to others, 

 still outstanding, of ,£391 3s. Id., so that the balance existing at the debit of 

 this account on the Slst of December last, was iS474 .5s. Sd. 



" We have not prepared a balance sheet showing the position of your So- 

 ciety, as our Instructions were not to that effect. 



"To do this would necessitate the exanilnatioa of many balances {repre- 

 senting very considerable amounts), which seem to have been carried forward 

 ior a long term of years, the thorough Investigation and testing of which 

 would be a work of great labour and very considerable expense. 



" The balance at your bankers on the 31sit December, 1873, was £375 19». Id. ; 

 ;and there was in hand (petty cash) on the same date, the sum of £6 4s. Gd. 

 " Wa are, gentlemen, yours faithfully, 



" C. F. Kemi', Fobd, & Co." 



Bepoet op the Chiswick Bo.uiD OF Direction, Febbhakt, 1871. 

 The Board of Directors have to report that the garden labour 

 at Chiswick, which for the last year or two has been very much 

 directed towards the various works of re-arr.ingement, conse- 

 quent on the recent curtailment of the area of the garden, has, 

 by reason of the completion of those works, been available for 

 other purposes, so that during the season of 1873 it was found 

 2>racticable to take up a fair share of the experimental trials of 



vegetables and flowers, for which, in conjunction with the supply 

 of decorative plants for Kensington, the garden is now more 

 especially designed. These trials were not indeed wholly sus- 

 pended during the period when the alterations were in progress, 

 but they have now again assumed in some degree the more 

 extended form and comprehensive character which the im- 

 portance of the subject demands. 



lu the Fruit and Vegetable Department the distributions to 

 Fellows and correspondents of the Society comprise 60,000 

 packets of vegetable seeds and 1543 packages of cuttings of 

 Vines and scions of fruit trees. Amongst the latter was an 

 important collection presented to the Horticultural Society of 

 Victoria, of which the oflJcials of that Society report that 

 " owing to the lengthened voyage of the ship by which they 

 were forwarded, a large number perished." 



A considerable collection of Cherry trees of pyramidal form 

 were, some few years since, got together ; but they proved to be 

 extremely unsatisfactory, owing partly to the difficulty of effi- 

 ciently protecting them ; they have therefore been dispensed 

 with, and have been replaced by young trees planted against the 

 boundary walls, and which are to be trained as single cordons. 



An extensive collection of pyramidal Plum trees, which had 

 become too much crowded, have been transplanted and re- 

 arranged at wider intervals so as to admit of their fuller deve- 

 lopment. 



The trees planted out in the orchard-house had grown so freely 

 that they had already become too much crowded ; and as thin- 

 ning-out in some form was necessary, the opportunity has been 

 taken to lift and pot the pyramidal trees, chiefly Peaches and 

 Nectarines, and to re- arrange the standards, which are still 

 planted out. In this way the overcrowding of the trees may be 

 more readily prevented by the temporary removal of the potted 

 trees. 



Many new varieties of the Grape Vine have been introduced 

 to our gardens within the last few years, and it has been thought 

 desirable to devote a house to the growth of these, with a view 

 to a closer observation of their peculiarities and merits. The 

 small curvilinear vinery, in which the different sorts of White 

 Muscats had been brought together some years since for a like 

 object (which has been accomplished), has been set apart for 

 this purpose. 



The experimental trials and comparisons of the varieties of 

 different vegetables have, during the past season, been taken up 

 chiefly by such important subjects as Potatoes, Peas, and Kidney 

 Beans. Of the Potatoes, the trial has been very complete and 

 satisfactory, some 271 reputed varieties having been planted, 

 though this number has been greatly reduced by ascertaining 

 that many of the names are synonyms of others. Some of the 

 more recent American varieties have proved to be highly meri- 

 torious, as have some of the English seedlings raised by Mr. 

 Robert Feun, of Woodstock ; and nine first-class certificates 

 h.ave been awarded l>y the Fruit and Vegetable Committee. 

 The trial of Peas has been a continuation of iihat of the previous 

 year, and in this case five certificates have been awarded, all to 

 novelties raised by T. Laxton, Esq., of Stamford. The trial of 

 Kidney Beans, though only a partial one, has resulted in the 

 award of five first-class certificates. These trials will all be duly 

 reported on in the Journal. 



It is proposed to recommend to the Committee to continue 

 during the present year the critical examination of Potatoes and 

 Kidney Beans, and to add thereto the varieties of Celery, which 

 now seem to be in need of another revision, with the view of 

 ascertaining which are' the most profitable and meritorious. 



In the Floral Department similiar activity has been displayed. 

 The distributions comprise 60,000 packets of flower seeds, 3825 

 plants allotted by ballot, and 873 packages of cuttings of plants ; 

 while for the Society's own use at Kensington 12,876 plants have 

 been grown and furnished for the decoration of the Conserva- 

 tory ; 63,010 plants have been expended on the summer bedding, 

 and 31,833 on the spring bedding of the past year. lu addition 

 to these, 37,917 plants have been supplied during the months of 

 November and December to furnish the display during the 

 ensuing spring. 



The comparative trials of flowers have been chiefly amongst 

 Zonal Pelargoniums (which are so numerous and important as to 

 require annual revision). Fuchsias, Pentstemons, and Phloxes. 

 Of the Pelargoniums no fewer than .522 varieties were planted 

 out for observation ; and amongst these, in their various sections, 

 the Floral Committee distributed twenty-nine certificates. The 

 salmon-coloured and white-flowered varieties of Pelargouiums 

 not being found suitable for open-air culture, but being highly 

 decorative as cool greenhouse plants, the Committee in 1872 

 desired that a trial of these as pot-plants should be made, and 

 fifty-four varieties were thus grown, with the result that one was 

 specially certificated, and a selection of the most useful of the 

 remainder approved and recommended for in-door decorative 

 purposes. In the case of Fuchsias 182 varieties were grown, 

 and seventeen of these were certificated as desirable decorative 

 sorts ; while of Pentstemons and Phloxes large collections were 

 planted out, and four of the former and seven of the latter were 



