who has succeeded to the estate since the decease of the Duke of 

 Devonshire, has also relinquished her claim to more than 200Z. 

 a year till March 25, 1861. The Council feel that this important 

 aid to the finances of the Society calls for the warmest acknow- 

 ledgment. 



They have also the satisfaction to report that the income from 

 the sale of produce at the Garden was last year considerably 

 increased, notwithstanding the almost total destruction of out-door 

 fruits by spring frosts. In 1857-8 it amounted to 14:21. 18s. 3d.; 

 in 1858-9, to 1901. 10s. ; and last year it rose to 292Z. 18s. 8d. 



In the course of the year the Flower and Fruit Committees 

 have been re-constructfed and placed upon a more active footing, 

 Mr. Thomas Moore having been appointed Secretary of the 

 former, and Mr. Robert Hogg of the latter. Their operations 

 having been recorded in the Monthly " Proceedings " of the 

 Society, sent free to all Fellows, require no comment. The 

 Secretaries have laboured earnestly to do all that has been practi- 

 cable under the circumstances ; but until a proper place of meet- 

 ing and exhibition shall have been provided at Kensington, it will 

 be impossible to render them as efficient as they must be when 

 suitable accommodation shall have been found. ^ 



With regard to the monthly issue of what are called " Proceed- 

 mgs," it is obvious that it can only be regarded as a temporary 

 expedient to furnish the Fellows with periodical accounts of the 

 progress of the Society. The Council contemplate giving it a 



subjects that press upon their attention will permit them to con- 

 sider its future plan. 



The present state of the accounts of the Society will be found 

 in the Appendix, and the Council trust that they will be regarded 

 as satisfactory, when it is seen that the entire debt, everything of 

 every kind included, which on the 31st of March last year stood 

 at 10,752^., is now represented by the comparatively small sum 

 of4,296Z. 



Liabilities so small as these have ceased to have any signifi- 

 cance, and the Council entertain the confident belief that the 

 Society is now entering upon a career of utility and prosperity 

 such as it has never before experienced. 



