326 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



t April 23, 1874. 



Mr. LiGGiNS Baid he rose with great satisfaction to second the 

 proposition. He did so with confidence after the remarks of 

 Mr. Bateman, which were edifying, no doubt, but did not convey 

 to their minds any reason why this proposition should be 

 adopted. These applications for vote by proxy did not come 

 from the country Fellows at all [hear, hear]. They had been 

 silent in the matter. The applications came from Fellows resi- 

 dent in the neighbourhood of the gardens. Some of them had 

 been on the Council, and had been giving valuable services to 

 the Society, and none more so than Mr. Bateman [hear, hear]. 

 It was a remarkable fact that during the many years Mr. Bate- 

 man was a member of the Council he never asked that the 

 privilege of vote by proxy should be conceded [hear and 

 laughter J. It appeared to him to be thoroughly out of place to 

 have such a vote for a Society like theirs, and for no greater 

 reason than this, that the ladies* proxies were used on the last 

 occasion for a purpose totally different to that for which the 

 ladies intended they should be used [hear, hear]. He was sure 

 no lady would give her proxy for entangling the Society in the 

 meshes of the Court of Chancery. The Society required peace 

 and rest. No doubt it was in some financial difficulty, but not 

 one of an insurmountable character. If that difficulty was to 

 be overcome, it must be by giving support to those gentlemen 

 who had undertaken the duties of the Council Board [hear, 

 hear]. The Fellows must give those gentlemen every possible 

 support ; and when they were told that the Council were pretty 

 unanimous in their opposition to this proposition, it was the 

 duty of the Fellows to give them all the support they could. 

 He sincerely hoped the meeting would put aside all that had 

 been said about the past, and at once proceed to pass the amend- 

 ment. 



Mr. Shielet Hibbebd said if they did not carry the amend- 

 ment they would violate the fundamental principle of their 

 Charter. The fact was, they had a right to vote by baUot ; that 

 mode of voting was becoming more and more in favour, even 

 amongst the scientific bodies. The object of the ballot was to 

 destroy any voting personal element. There remained after the 

 ballot was taken no record of the way in which any man had 

 voted. When they had the ballot, why should they substitute 

 vote by proxy, the very first principle of which was to put the 

 voter in the first place, publish him, and leave a record as to 

 how he voted 1 



Mr. Fish wished to say a few words in reply to the noble 

 Chairman. The Chairman had stated three objections to proxy- 

 voting, one being as to the expense of postage ; but he wondered 

 it had not occurred to the Chairman, that if there were four 

 thousand Fellows in the Society, surely if one thousand had to 

 be written to by halfpenny postcards the tax would not be so 

 heavy [a laugh]. The next objection was that proxies would 

 not be used for the purposes for which they were given. Now, 

 he thought it would be very easy for members to guard against 

 such an occurrence, as anyone who went through the bye-law 

 could see [no]. As to the misappropriation of proxies at the 

 late meeting, he thought the noble lord had done a little injus- 

 tice who took up proxy-voting papers on that occasion. What 

 they were advocating was, not a Chancery suit but a friendly 

 advice in order to avoid a Chancery suit [hear, hear, and no]. 

 They would have been very wise had they adopted that. He 

 must also say a word as to the Council. He thought there ought 

 to be a strong Council, and once a Council was in office he felt 

 bound to support them in every way. He believed the last 

 Council was weak, and that therefore it died. The matter before 

 them did not touch the Commissioners at all. Some of their 

 editors made a terrible thing out of these Eoyal Commissioners, 

 with their mouths wide open ready to swallow horticulture 

 [laughter]. He had no fear of that. He beheved in the ser- 

 vices the Royal Horticultural Society had done for the advance- 

 ment of the science, and that if the Commissioners wished to 

 swallow horticulture they could not doit [hear and laughter]. 

 Proxy- voting, he thought, would be a great boon to the country 

 Fellows, and it would bring a great many guinea members 

 into the Society. He did not believe there had always been 

 parties and sections in the Society. He thanked the Council 

 very mucli for having called that meeting, but he felt they 

 were bouud to call it by the terms of the Charter. They 

 wanted by proxy-voting to get an unbiassed expression of 

 opinion from the majority of the FeDows. For himself, he 

 asked for proxy-voting to prevent him having the necessity of 

 running up to London every day of meeting to vote. He must 

 protest against accusations being made against highly respect- 

 able men 



The President. — I rise on a point of order respecting one 

 observation by Mr. Fish. We shall be always glad to see him in 

 a position to vote on this or any other occasion, but at the present 

 moment he is not in a position to vote according to the bye-law 

 [laughter]. I take this opportunity of saying so much, because 

 there may be other honorary members here who think they have 

 a right to exercise the vote, but imfortunately they are prevented 

 doing so under bye-law No. 31. 



Mr. Fisn. — I am a forty-guinea life member [great laughter]. 



The President. — It is perfectly true you are a life member, 

 but you are an honorary Ufe member [renewed laughter]. 



Mr. Fish. — I voted before. 



The Pbesident. — It is not byway of reproach this is said, but 

 because other honorary members might wish to vote. We 

 should like to see them vote, as they can become Fellows if they 

 Uke. 



Mr. Fish. — I was presented with a forty-guinea life-member- 

 ship for my services in connection with the first provincial show. 



Sir A. GoBDoN (quoting from a book) said Messrs. Fish and 

 Clay were made honorary members on the 0th of November, 1869, 

 for services in connection with a provincial show, but there was 

 no authority in the Charter for doing so. 



Mr. G. E. Frebe said this episode showed them some of the 

 advantages of the proxy system. If Mr. Fish had sent his 

 proxy it would have been examined, and his vote would not 

 have been taken. Now he told the meeting that he had already 

 voted. He would remind his lordship in the chair that if half- 

 penny postcards were sent to all the Fellows the cost would be 

 only £8 6s. 6d. 



The President said he should now put the amendment, 

 which was that all the words after the word " repealed " should 

 be omitted. The bye-lawwould then read — " The existing bye- 

 law of the Society No. 63, and the proxy form D in the appendix, 

 are hereby revoked and repealed." 



The amendment having been put, there were — 



For the amendment 48 



Against it 18 



Majority in favour of it 30 



The President then put^ro forma the original resolution as a 

 substantive motion. There were forty-nine for it, but its oppo- 

 nents did not express their dissent. 



The meeting then broke up. 



[Where were the country FeUows on Tuesday last, who have 

 been represented as sighing so long and so deeply for the 

 power to vote by proxy ? Not only were they conspicuous by 

 their absence, but the FeUows generally regarded the boon 

 which some beneficent gentlemen proposed to give them with 

 so much indifference that no more than eighteen attended to 

 pass the bye-law granting so great a privilege. 



We have from the first regarded this movement in favour 

 of giving the Fellows power to vote by proxy as not only un- 

 called for, but positively mischievous. It was bad enough in 

 the hands of the lady Fellows, but to extend it to the whole 

 body it would have been productive of constant irritation and 

 great abuse. It would give the power to every little clique to 

 keep the Society in constant agitation, and the Fellows have 

 shown by their indifference to the proceedings of last Tuesday 

 how little they care for it, and how much better they prefer to 

 be left alone and to be allowed to prosecute their gardening 

 without molestation and turmoil. 



The great argument which has been used to further this 

 object, which some ingenious individual has endeavoured to 

 promote, is, that the country Fellows want to have a voice In 

 the management of the Society's affairs ; that nothing is done 

 for them ; that if proxy- voting were granted there would be a 

 wonderful accession of numbers, and that a millennial period 

 wUl have begun in favour of the Society. But, unfortunately, 

 we have no evidence of this ; the country Fellows have never 

 asked for this power, nor do they want any person to pat them 

 on the back and make martyrs of them. They are not qnilie 

 such feeble folk as they are represented to be, and when there 

 has been any real danger to the Society, we have generally 

 found them patriotic enough to be in their places when their 

 presence was of service. 



The meeting resulted just as we anticipated and as we de- 

 sired. A large majority rejected the bye-law, and not only 

 was the power for the Fellows generally to vote by proxy 

 refused, but that privilege which the lady FeUows have hitherto 

 enjoyed was very properly withdrawn. Proxy- voting is, there- 

 tore, abolished in the Royal Horticultural Society, which iis 

 now in this respect in the same position as all other chartered 

 societies and learned bodies in which no such power has ever 

 existed. — Eds.] 



AGEEATUM IMPERIAL BLUE TOM THUMB. 



I wish to consult the experience of other gardeners as to 

 the Imperial Blue Tom Thumb Ageratum. Its very low growth 

 made it appear a most valuable addition to the carpet patterns, 

 and the year before last it looked very hopeful with me. Last 

 year I used many thousands, and although it was much admired 

 it did not satisfy me, as the leaves turned black, and the flowers 



