32-1 



JOUENAL OF HORTICUIiTUEE AMD COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



I April 23, 1874. 



the leaves, and they will settle into complacency that the 

 disbudding must be right. Even Vines which have pushed 

 several inches may be thinned by disbudding, but in this case 

 if much has to be taken out let it be done a little at a time, 

 and at intervals of a few days. It may make little or no differ- 

 ence to the crop this year, but future years will show the benefit 

 of the practice. The shoots so left — left thinly — should be 

 allowed to carry all the foliage possible, providing always that 

 every leaf have room to expand without interfering with its 

 neighbour. That is the real and true guide in the disposition 

 of wood and foliage. 



But to the spindle-shanked Vines. They ought not to be so, 

 and they need not be so. When so formed they are difBcult 

 to cure, but nothing is more easy to prevent. Let them carry 

 a little foliage down to the root, and no fear of the stem not 

 thickening. A few years ago one of my amateur friends planted 

 a vinery. For the first 6 feet of the rods no Grapes were re- 

 quired. Instead, however, of rubbing away the buds I advised 

 him to leave a few, and pinch them, keeping green foUage 

 down to the root — at least for a few years. He had to run 

 the gauntlet of a laugh at carrying foliage where it was not 

 wanted, " robbing," as he was told, " the main part of the 

 Vine." Robbing, indeed ! It was feeding, and the Vines are 

 now, as they ought to be, thicker at the base than at any other 

 point. The passage for sap is fuU, ample, and free, and when, 

 as they have been sometimes, permitted to carry fruit down to 

 the ground, that at the bottom has been finer than on any other 

 part of the Vines, and no Vines generally could be in better 

 condition, untouched as they have been from the beginning by 

 any but an amateur's hand. A proper and reasonable system 

 of disbudding has been the main element in their prosperity, 

 every leaf having had room to expand, and at the same time 

 no light lost. Sunshine for every leaf, and always a leaf for 

 sunshine — that is the point to aim at, and, other conditions 

 being favourable. Grapes will follow as a matter of course. 



I am induced to advert to this subject, fuUy believing that 

 one of the greatest of all causes of indifferent Grapes is the 

 overcrowding of foliage, a direct consequence of disbudding 

 neglected, or improperly or insufficiently performed. Very 

 frequently, also, too much wood is left at the winter pruning 

 in little vineries attached to villa residences. The only correct 

 mode of treatment in such cases is, at this season, disbudding. 

 I was once called to prune a vinery at the end of April, when 

 the eyes all over the house had pushed 3 to 6 inches. Pruning 

 was out of the question, and to leave the Vines as they were 

 was certain ruin. By disbudding carefully and gradually, 

 leaving only the base shoots, a really nice crop was secured, 

 and after the following autumn pruning no one could tell that 

 the Vines had ever been pushed out of the ordinary routine of 

 orthodox management. 



At this season of the year if anyone is troubled with Vine- 

 bleeding to an alarming extent — and I have occasionally seen 

 people at their wit's end in attempting to arrest the waste of 

 sap— a specific generally as handy as most things, and as easily 

 applied, is the " knotting " used by painters. I have seen it used 

 in extreme cases, and have never yet known it fail. This is a 

 hint I gathered from an amateur ; so in the statement made at 

 the beginning of my letter, that this class can at times give 

 instruction to gardeners, I did not, to use a provincialism, 

 " speak without the book." — J. Wkight. 



KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A SPECIAL general meeting of the Society was held in the 

 Council-room, South Kensington, on Tuesday last, for the pur- 

 poBO of considering and, if thought desirable, adopting or con- 

 firming the following new bye-laws, which had been made by 

 the Council of the Society at a meeting held by them on the 

 17th of March, 1874. 



" 1. The existing Bye-law of the Society numbered 03, and the Pi'oxyForm 

 D in the Appendix, are hereby revolted and repealed, and the following Bye- 

 law and Proxy Form H, are substituted in place thereof : — ■ 



"Every Fellow of the Society entitled to vote may appoint by written 

 proxy, in the fonn marked H, any properly qualified Fellow to vote for him 

 or her, otherwise than by ballot, in his or her absence, at any general meet- 

 ing of the Society. 



•' Every such appointment of Proxy must be delivered to, and left with, 

 the Clerk or Secretary of the Society, at the olHce of the Society, at least 

 forty-eight hours (Sundays not included), before any vote shall bo given by 

 virtue thereof." 



Here follows Proxy Form H : — 



" 2. That, if the new Bye-law relative to Proxy-voting be adopted, the Bye- 

 law No. 51 be altered by substituting the words ' two weeks,' for the words 

 * one week.' " 



The chair was taken by Viscount Bury, the President of the 



Society. The attendance was not large, but those present, 

 amongst whom were some ladies, appeared to take the greatest 

 interest in the proceedings. 



The minutes of the general meeting of the Society held on 

 the 8th of January last, when a pledge was given by the Presi- 

 dent that the Council would bring forward the bye-laws as 

 above, having been read by the Secretaiy, Mr. W. A. Lindsay, 

 and confirmed, 



The President rose and said : — Ladies and gentlemen, I have 

 very few words to address to you on this occasion. The Council 

 has convened a special general meeting of the Society for the 

 purpose of considering and, if t'nonght desirable, adopting and 

 confirming certain alterations in the bye-laws of which the meet- 

 ing is already in possession. The circumstances under which 

 the new bye-laws have been prepared by the Council will pos- 

 sibly be fresh in the recollection of all the Fellows of the Society. 

 Certain Fellows of the Society — or, rather a numerous body of 

 them, as we had reason to beUeve — thought it was desirable to 

 extend the privilege of proxy-voting, which was enjoyed by the 

 lady members of the Society, to the whole body of the Fellows. 

 At the time of the last general meeting a resolution to that effect 

 was moved as an amendment upon the proposal of the Council 

 that their report should be adopted. That naturally amounted 

 to a vote of want of confidence in the Council, although those 

 gentlemen who promoted the amendment disclaimed any such 

 intention ; but, of course, if a Council puts forth for a Society a 

 report and asks its adoption, and an amendment is made upon 

 it, the question is whether it is intended or not to become a vote 

 of want of confidence. For that reason the Council were en- 

 tirely unable to concur in or adopt it ; but at the same time they 

 said they had no wish to stand between gentlemen who enter- 

 tained such an opinion and the whole body of the Society, and 

 that if these gentlemen wished to bring the matter before the 

 consideration of the Society, the Council were willing to abide 

 by any decision which the Society in general might adopt. But 

 there is a peculiar clause in the Charter under which we exist, 

 which provides that no bye-law shall be brought before the So- 

 ciety for its adoption unless it be drafted by the Council. The 

 Council as a body entirely disapproved of what was proposed, 

 but, having stated they did not wish to interpose their authority, 

 but were anxious to have the matter discussed, they said they 

 were willing to take the responsibility of drafting a bye-law, but 

 would do so for the formal reason that it could not otherwise be 

 submitted to the Society at all — that they did not wish to piu 

 themselves to the principle of such a bye-law, and that they 

 reserved to themselves the right of discussion. I will just read 

 an extract from my speech, which was most accurately reported 

 by the gentlemen who vrrote for the horticultural papers. It is 

 as follows : — " The Council will undertake — you will consider 

 that this is a pledge on their part — having so drafted it, that 

 they will not canvass against it, or ask for proxies against it, or 

 do anything in opposition to it ; but as individual members of 

 the Society they will reserve to themselves the right to discuss 

 the matter when it comes forward." Now, gentlemen, I need 

 not say we have had this matter under our very anxious con- 

 sideration. We bring a bye-law before you ; we place it upon 

 your table, and, as a body, we have now discharged the obliga^ 

 tion we have incurred. The obligation now ceases, and we 

 arrive at the time when we can discuss the question on its 

 merits [hear, hear]. We are unanimously opposed to this prin- 

 ciple 



Mr. W. A. Lindsay (Secretary). — Not " unanimously ;" there 

 is one dissentient. 



The PKEsroENT. — Well, the majority of the Council with one 

 dissentient, although 1 was not aware there was one ; but of 

 course he will speak for himself. But as far as the Society is 

 guided, or chooses to be guided, by the majority of its Council, 

 the Couucil thinks this bye-law which they now submit for your 

 adoption or rejection would be injurious to the Society were it 

 adopted [cries of "hear"]. I wish carefully to guard that of 

 which I have the honour to be the head, from any suspicion of 

 unfairness in this matter. We have not canvassed against the 

 proposition ; we have not done anything in opposition to it. We 

 have fulfilled our pledge ; the bye-laws are on the table, and 

 now we resume the position of stating our candid opinion about 

 it [hear, hear]. It would be impossible for any Council — and 

 this is my deliberate opinion, ladies and gentlemen — witb any 

 self-respect to continue the management of your affairs if any 

 such system as that proposed were created [hear, hear]. In 

 railv/ay matters and those of other pubhc societies, the Council 

 or Board of Management may be called upon, as a matter of 

 course, to send to the great body of shareholders on the eve of a 

 general meeting, requesting that proxies may be returned in 

 favour of the Board of Management. Now, supposing we adopted 

 that course — and if proxy- voting were the rule we should have 

 to adopt it — say that we have four thousand Fellows, the postage 

 would come to something like i'16 Ws. [a laugh]. That would 

 be a very heavy expense for the Council to place upon the 

 Society. It is no question of confidence in your Council, which 

 would be absolutely at the mercy of any single gentleman in the 



