February 11, 1805. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



129 



liked, for two days out of evei-y twenty-one days. Unity of 

 system is one of the means of success. In suoli a case, 

 whatevei- the time the foreman left, we should expect him 

 to give the necessaiy instructions to the person in charge 

 on Sunday, and also to see that everything was right before 

 he went to sleep at night. The man who would decline to 

 -do this is not a proper person to be a foreman, and should 

 not undertake the responsibility. In fickle times and fickle 

 weather he will not confine his attention even to these two 

 times, and, without this anxiety, there can be little progress. 

 There ai-e few places where the duties of Sunday are not 

 made as light as possible, by everything being watered that 

 needed it on Saturday ; but in most cases, where there 

 is much glass, attention must be given to air, shading, 

 covering, &e., not involving so much labour as attention, 

 as a neglect of air-giving for half an hour or an hour might 

 ruin a crop ; and a whole bushel of " I'm so sorry — it can't 

 be helped," will not fix Peaches on trees from which they 

 have fallen. It is true that some men object to do any- 

 thing on Sunday, take their stand on the fourth Command- 

 ment, decline to do what is not a work of necessity or mercy, 

 and tell us that contributing- to mere luxury is no work of 

 necessity. Well, we find no fault with them for holding 

 such opinions, and acting up to them, but we may question 

 their prudence if they have anything to do with gardening 

 in these times, when it is becoming more and more a matter 

 of luxury. The looking after what is grown under artificial 

 circumstances, must be considered quite as much a work 

 of necessity and mercy as the giving of water and food to 

 our domestic animals. There is, however, bad management 

 in foreman and master, if work has to be done on the 

 Sunday which could be equally well and profitably done on 

 the Saturday or Monday.] 



THE BALANCE SHEET OP THE EOYAL 

 HOETICCLTUEAL SOCIETY. 



As I do not expect that many of your readers will take 

 the trouble to wade through the accounts of the Koyal Hor- 

 ticultural Society, I propose, with your permission, to put 

 forward a few of the most salient points in as short a com- 

 pass as possible. 



First, as to the form of the accounts. As long as the 

 balances were in favour of the Society we had an account 

 headed in one year " Assets and Liabilities ;" in another 

 year "Profit and Loss." In 1861 this account showed a 

 balance in favour of the Society of ^610,623. Since, how- 

 ever, the tables have turned, and our liabilities on each 

 year's account have' been greater than our assets, this head- 

 ing has been carefully struck out, otherwise this year it 

 ■would have stood thus — 



£3295 I Liabilities £10,939 



I propose, before I finish, to show by what confiscation 

 of property even this small amount of assets is obtained. 



Secondly, as to the aecounts themselves. The balance of 

 ^1433 from 1863 is equalled by the liabilities from 1863 of 

 exactly the same sum of ^1433 ; but there is this to be 

 observed, that the sum of .£500 for sculpture, which still 

 remains unpaid, was in the 1863 account charged to the 

 balance of .£1433. In 1864 the admission fees were .£420, 

 in 1861 iS1990. 



The fetes stood thus — 



Receipts in 18Gi £H83 I Expenses in 1S61 £2174 



inlSOl 4003 I „ iul86L 2897 



Thus, in 1864, with a vastly increased number of members, 

 Tve have a loss of X691, where in 1861 we had a gain of 

 ^1206. Among the items of expenditure we have, in 1864, 

 .an item of about £400 for a conversanone : as only three 

 members of the Council were present to receive the guests, 

 ■they cost the Society a little'more than ^£100 a-head. It 

 may be said that the loss has been caused by increased ex- 

 penditure on horticulture ; but, as an example, in 1864 the 

 cSociety allowed their Fruit and Flower Committees ^£150, 

 ■when in 1861 these same Committees were credited with 

 i£285. On the skittle alleys and funereal embellishments of 

 ;South Kensington the Society expended the sum of ^62352 ; 

 but surely that is museum art, not horticulture. Piscicul- 

 ture cost us ^6130. What did we get by it? Nothing. The 

 Journal cost 4333, and except as a vehicle for praising the 



Council, what is it ? The next item I beg to call your at- 

 tention to is rent, rates, &o., ^6714. In the English of the 

 Council rent does not mean rent, for this j£714 is the amount 

 of the rates, taxes, &c., without anything being allowed for 

 the annual rent of ^2400. I should like to analyse the 

 other accounts, but fear to infringe on the patience of your 

 readers. 



To show how the assets balance of £2647 was arrived at, 

 I talce the life-composition account. By tliat a sum of 

 i£6713 stands to the credit of the life-composition fund. 

 By the spirit of the Charter, and the 13th clause of the 

 Agreement, this fund is sacredly set apart, under certain 

 conditions, to meet the claims of the composition life- 

 holders. This year, under the dictatorship of Mr. Cole, has 

 been so terribly disastrous that, to prevent the Society 

 seeing the whole amount of the deficit, the Council has 

 (besides d£500 of last assets), confiscated, out of this sum 

 of £3713, no less a sum than ^1066. This leaves the 

 balance of .£2647, really the remainder of the property of 

 the composition life-holders, so sacredly guaranteed to them 

 in its entirety by the Charter. This balance, even, does not 

 really exist, as ^£2748 is now due to the Treasurer. Had 

 this J'uud not been confiscated the deficit this year would 

 have amounted to more than ^£15,000 ! 



Now, shortly I propose to consider the effect of the balance 

 sheet on the prospects of the different classes of Fellows. 

 The annual subscribers will withdraw du'ectly the insolvency 

 of the Society is declared. As to the life-composition 

 holders, their fund, guaranteed by the Society, is gone — not 

 one farthing really remains. Practically, anybody now 

 paying a life composition, pays it not on the guarantee of 

 the life-composition fund and the Charter, but on that of an 

 insolvent society — their money is spent before it is actually 

 paid! 



Lastly, as to the debenture holders. The Society has not 

 paid a tangible amount of rent for two years. This debt, 

 before the end of the ten years, when the gardens become 

 forfeited to the Commissioners of 1851, will amount to about 

 ii20,000. To this sum must be added the sum of— say 

 ,£3500 yearly deficiency, which, without interest, will amount 

 to about £24,000. As the Commissioners, to Avhom this 

 £20,000 will be then due, are only responsible for £20,000 

 of debentures, the unfortunate holders will have only Chis- 

 wick to look to for payment. What dividend will they be 

 likely to get, after the public creditors for £24,000 have had 

 what they can from the realisation of Chiswick ? 



One question more. V>''here is the interest on the deben- 

 tures to come from next year? (see clause 14, "Agree- 

 ment.") Do let us have one more struggle for honesty and 

 the Horticultural Society. Let us try to prevent the evil 

 day, when 



" To E. T. Smith the gardens sold, 

 Shall trodden be by lioidens bold ; 

 And Cremorne nvraphs tee livelong day 



■With D and C at ' skittles ' play." 



— An Unpobtunate Lifeb. 



THE EOYAL HOSTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



With the snow whitening the earth, and the roads so 

 slippery as to render locomotion, whether to man or horse, a 

 task of no little difficulty and some danger, there was but 

 little prospect of there being much to be seen at the weekly 

 show, more especially as Begonias were to be its special 

 attraction ; accordingly we were not disappointed when we 

 found none there, save a few from the Society's own garden. 



Mr. Bull, Chelsea, sent some Araucarias, among which 

 were Cooki, Bidwilli, and a nice little plant of Bulei ; also, 

 four plants of Libocedrus Doniana. W. Mercer, Esq., Staple- 

 hurst, had Eucharis amazonica ; Lady Caroline Legge, Ca- 

 mellias ; Mr, W. Smyth, gardener to Lord Sondes, Elmham 

 Hall, a very good specimen Epacris, Ardisia crenulata. 

 Scarlet Nonpareil and Boston Russet Apples, and Beurre 

 de Eance Pears ; and Major Trevor Clarke, Chrysanthemums 

 Prince Albert and Andromeda. Mr. Melville, gardener to 

 the Earl of Eoseberry, Dalmeny Park, Edinburgh, sent his 

 Improved Hardy Autumn or Winter Broccoli, in which, from 

 the letvvea growing over the curd, the latter is protected 

 from the frost .and sudden tha^wing by which this crop is so 

 fpequejitly cut off. 



