MONTHLT SUMMARY. 495 



On the 1st tbere is to he a General Meeting for the election 

 of Fellows, 



On the 19th and 26th the Floral and Fruit Committees meet. 



On Wednesday, the 20th, a ballot will take place for some of 

 the plants recently sent home from South Brazil by the collector, 

 Mr. Weir, and from South Africa by Mr. Cooper. A few of these 

 have come in sufficient numbers to allow of their being distributed 

 by ballot ; and as some of them are valuable, it has been thought 

 better to make an extra ballot for their distribution. 



The large Carp presented by Her Majesty have now become 

 quite reconciled to their new abode. They are fed daily between 

 three and four o'clock, a process which seems always to afford 

 considerable interest to a number of spectators. The fish have 

 spawned, and the large basin is now swarming with a multitude 

 of young Carp. 



The supply of Gold and Silver Fishes has also received an 

 addition by the donation of some fine specimens made by Master 

 Dudley Scott, of 79, Eaton Square. 



Egress and Regress of the Public between the Exhibition 



and Garden.^ — Arrangements have now been made with the 

 Commissioners of the International Exhibition by- which the 

 public can have the power of returning to the Exhibition after 

 visiting the Garden, without repayment. As persons pay for 

 admission to the Garden from the Exhibition, they will be fur- 

 nished with a check ticket, the delivery of which ^will enable 

 them to return again into the Exhibition at any time on that 

 day. This privilege is only extended by the Commissioners to 

 those who pay, and only once for each payment, and therefore 

 does not apply to the Fellows or their friends. 



Occupation oi Chairs. — Various complaints have been made 

 to the Council of the unreasonable detention of chairs by visitors 

 who are not using them. The light in which this practice is 

 viewed by many of the Fellows is piquantly expressed in the 

 following letter which the Council have received : 



Sir, -' ' ^ ' /it/y 12,"l862.^ 



I will feel obliged to you to bring before the Council a practice 

 of monopolising chairs for persons (real or imaginary) not using them, which 

 has become prevalent in the gardens^ and on such an occasion aS yesterday is 

 a serious nuisance. 



A man sitting on one chair would put his legs on another, and Lis umbrella 

 on a third, assuring an exhausted lady that they were all three ''engaged." 

 One crinoline would frequently do similar duty, indeed 'on one occasion an 

 individual retained no less than five chairs piled up, growling and snarling 



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