jDomestic Notices : — England, 9 '^ 



Hull Botanic Garden. — The Annual Meeting of the proprietors of this" 

 Institution was held on May 5., Colonel Althorpe in the chair. The attend- 

 ance was unusually numerous. The report of the curator stated that, 

 since the last General Meeting, the following alterations and new work have 

 been done in the garden : — The flues of the green-house and west stove 

 have been taken down (being in a decayed state), and built upon a more 

 improved method, which has been found to answer remarkably well, and 

 both stoves have been painted. A pit 30 ft. long by 6 ft. wide has been 

 put up for raising seed, propagating plants, and for other useful purposes. 

 Eight hundred cast-iron labels have been got for naming the plants in the 

 herbaceous arrangements ; and on each quarter of the arrangements a quan- 

 tity of old tanner's bark and soil has been laid, which, with the draining of 

 the preceding year, have been of the utmost importance to them. The 

 plants are arranged according to the Linnean system, and the blanks will 

 be filled up as opportunity and the state of the ground will permit. A 

 number of resolutions, founded on an alleged increase of debt to a large 

 amount during the past year, were moved by Mr. Snov/den, and led to an 

 animated discussion ; but they were all rejected, it appearing that there 

 were no grounds for the allegation. Mr. Snowden also moved some 

 alterations in the laws, but they were not adopted, except one, which per- 

 mitted a proprietor or privileged person to have a female attendant with 

 children, such attendant not to remain after the departure of the principal. 

 {Hull Advertiser, May 7.) 



Birmingham Botanical and Horticidtural Society. — Birmingham, Oct. 26. 

 1830. " The general object of this Institution is to encourage horticul- 

 ture and botany, and, as the first step, to form a garden in which both these 

 departments may be practically pursued upon an enlarged scale. The 

 extent, however, to which it can be carried must necessarily depend upon 

 the support which can be obtained ; and increased funds are still necessary 

 to make it worthy of so large, populous, and wealthy a district. The 

 establishment of a garden, however, can only be regarded as a preliminary 

 measure ; and the committee look forward to the time when, by means of 

 public exhibitions of fruits and plants, and the distribution of prizes, they 

 may be able to benefit horticulture and botany in a still more efficient 

 manner. Nor will another important object be overlooked, viz. the edu- 

 cation of more able and scientific gardeners than are now common. At a 

 General Meeting of the shareholders, held on the 19th inst., it was, at the 

 recommendation of the committee, determined that the garden should be 

 formed at Holly Bank, in the parish of Edgbaston, on land at present in 

 the occupation of Mr. Apsley, as soon as the required number of shares 

 should be subscribed for. The site thus placed at the option of the Society 

 is peculiarly favourable to the formation of an establishment of the kind, 

 as it presents every variety of soil and aspect that can possibly be required ; 

 and, through the liberality of Lord Calthorpe, it can be obtained on advan- 

 tageous terms. Of the value of an institution like the one proposed it 

 is unnecessary to say much. Few persons can hesitate to recognise hor- 

 ticulture and botany as important departments of science, when they 

 recollect that the greater part of the food of man is of vegetable produc- 

 tion ; that to the progress already made we are indebted for wheat and 

 potatoes as common articles of sustenance; and that from the increased 

 investigation which botany has excited some. of the most valuable me- 

 dicines we possess have been discovered." 



We are more than commonly gratified at witnessing the establishment of 

 a horticultural society and garden in the neighbourhood of such a popu- 

 lous and intelligent town as Birmingham. "We understand that the ground 

 fixed on for the garden is situated at Edgbaston, and consists of 12 acres 

 of a beautifully varied surface, with hill, dale, water, peat, loam, every 

 variety of aspect, and complete shelter from the north by rising ground 



Vol. VII. — No. 30. h 



