Pebruwj 21, 1865. ] 



JOTJfiJTAL Off HORTICULTUKE AND COl'TAGE GARDEITEK. 



145 



These, when applied, should not be buried too deep, other- 

 irise fermentation is hindered. Wood ashes oSer much that 

 is valuable. The ashes ot' all vegetable substances contain 

 lime, phosphoric acid, ar.d alkaline salts. There is usually 

 a little chai'coal or carbon left which is most valuable. These 

 ashes should be applied when newly burned. The effects 

 of manures, however, much depeud on the quality of the 

 soil to which they are applied, and on its state at the time 

 of application. Manures should be thoroughly incorporated 

 with the soil. 



In the case of orchard-houses a weU-drained locality is 

 absolutely indispensable. Many failures occur from neglect- 

 ing to examine into the nature of the subsoil on which the 

 building is to stand. Mr. Rivers has so often insisted on' 

 this point that it is surprising it is not better understood. 

 Any situation almost is preferable to a cold ill-drained one. 

 It must be evident that no Peach-blossoms can set in such 

 houses, shut up as they may also happen to be at that 

 season. The manures roquii'ed for orchard-house trees are 

 naturally of rather a more stimulating character than for 

 trees in the open air. Thus, rich surface-dressings often 

 renewed are required. Liquid manures and weak guano 

 water, alternately each week in the summer season, are 

 beneficial applications. This chapter, then, can only be 

 considered as suggestive, and as such only is it oiiered. — 

 T. C-. Brehact, Richmond House, Guernsey. 



EOTAL HORTICDLTFBAL SOCIETY. 



AX.NTAL MEEriXG. 



The Annual General Meeting of the Fellows of the Eoyal 

 Horticultural Society was held on Tuesday, February 14th, 

 at South Kensington. Lord Henry Gordon Lennox, M.P., 

 presided. The attendance was not large. 



The minutes of the last meeting of the Council were first 

 read by the ex- Assistant Secretary (Mr. Murray), and con- 

 firmed. 



Mr. Edmonds and Mr. Fortune were nest appointed scru- 

 tineers to examine the voting-papers for the election of 

 the Council and oSUcers for the ensuing year. 



Mr. A. Weston moved that the resignation which Mr. 

 S. H. Godson had sent in to the President (the Duke of 

 Bnccleuchl, of his seat at the Council-table be not accepted. 



Major Phibbs seconded the motion. 



Mr. Thkixg desired an explanation from Mr. Godsoa of 

 his reasons for resi'juing. 



Mr. Godson replied that he explained his reasons in the 

 letter conveying his resignation to the President — namely, 

 that he had been refused an examination of the accounts of 

 the Society, in consequence of which he felt that he could 

 no longer sit upon the Council with satisfaction to himself, 

 or with justice to the interests of the Society. It had been 

 alleged that the particular account he wished to see was a 

 private account ; but how stood the matter ? He said in 

 his letter that a statement was made before the Council by 

 which a balance was shown to be against the Society, and 

 it was not satisfactoiy. He accordingly proposed that a 

 sum of .£1000 should be taken up on loan from the bank 

 untU the accounts were investigated by the Council, and 

 that a satisfactory account be given by the next meeting ; 

 and the consequence was that that sum of .£1000 was bor- 

 rowed, and the matter stood for the next meeting. At the 

 nert meeting an accotmt was produced, stating that .£6772 

 or thereabouts of the life compositions, which had been 

 ■ simply held up to that time as a guarantee, should be 

 realised. At the same meeting it was ordered that ^£3000 

 or J64000 of that money should be applied to the general 

 purposes of the Society ; and therefore he the next morning 

 . called at the offices of the Society, and asked Mr. Murray 

 for a sight of the accounts ; but Mr. Murray declined to 

 afford him the sight, and accordingly he brought the matter 

 rmder the notice of the Council at their next meeting. It 

 was, however, answered by Mr. Murray and Mr. Cole that 

 Mr. Murray had no authority to produce the aecount, as it 

 was a private matter of Mi-. Cole's. The Treasurer was the 

 person to produce the statement of accounts, but he refused. 

 He said, "You are the opposition." He (Mi-. Godson) 

 answered, "Well, I can't help that;" and upon reflection 

 he thought that if an inspection of the accounts was to be 



refused to a member of the Council he could not retain his 

 position. Therefore, he wrote to the President of the Society, 

 sending in his resignation ; and he had received in reply a 

 vei-y handsome letter, wherein his Grace sai-l he regretted 

 the Council would lose the benefit of his services, but still 

 more that there should be anything to induce him to with- 

 draw from it. He (Mr. Godson) having resigned, could not 

 of course attend any more meetings of the Council ; but 

 came up at the last meeting, and told th.e gentlemen present 

 that it was monstrous to expect any one to concur in the 

 sanction of the accounts, which the ''ouncil necessarily had 

 to do, unless they were free to examine them at any time 

 [hear, hear]. It was extremely urpleasant to be at variance 

 with either the members of the CounoU or any of their officers 

 on any point, bu'o much more upon a matter of this kind. 

 Everything he had stated had beeu verified by the accounts 

 to bo placed before the meeting that day. Not only was 

 what he had stated verified, but matters were much worse 

 than he had represented them, thus proving that he did not 

 resign his position at tlie Board without sufficient grounds. 

 He could only say, seeing that a motion was before the 

 meeting to retain bis services on the Board, that if he went 

 in armed with the support of the meeting, his position 

 would be very diSerent, and very much more dignified and 

 pleasant than what it had been. If it was their pleasure 

 that he should continue to act on the Board, of course he 

 should feel it his duty to comply, and, moreover, he should 

 feel it his bounden duty to watch closely their interests. 



Ml-. Theing- said Mr. Godson had not answered his ques- 

 tion, whether or not he resignetl willingly ; for he (Mr. 

 Thring) did not think this was the way for Mr. Godson or 

 any other gentleman in the Council to treat the Society. If 

 Mr. Godson felt himself aggrieved it was not his duty surely 

 to resign, still less to come there and attempt to force an 

 expression of approval of the course which he had pursued. 

 No one regretted more than he (Mr. Thring) did losing the 

 services of Mr. Godson, for Iwe really believed that he at- 

 tended most carefully to the interests of the Society, and 

 was a most valuable member of the Council ; but, on the 

 other hand, when a gentleman chose to resign his seat at 

 the Board because he was not satisfied with the proceedings 

 of that Council, he (Mr. Thring) said that was not a proper 

 mode of dealing with the Council or with the Society, for - 

 the business of any society carried on in that way could not 

 possibly redound to prosperity or harmony. Look at the 

 clubs of London, how were their members to hope to get on 

 with a man who on the slightest pretext chose to send in 

 his resignation, trusting to the members to throw it back? 

 If a man in a club was beaten by a majority, it was surely 

 not the right course to pursue to retire. If his conviction 

 remained unshaken, though beaten by a majority, it was 

 his duty to remain, and try with the assistance of time and 

 reason to convince others. If ho was persuaded there was 

 something wrong-, it was his duty to remain and endeavour 

 to put it right. If he suspected fraud, he s'nould certainly 

 not retire and leave the fraudulent to go on perpetrating 

 their nefarious practices, but should rather persevere in his 

 efforts to expose the fraud, and in the event of succeeding 

 then to propose that the delimquents be turned out by a 

 vote of censure or otherwise. He (Mr. Tlu-ing) never yet 

 belonged to a society in which a member threw up his con- 

 nection at the very moment he was wanted, and came say- 

 ing, " Give me the eclat, the glory, and force me back on the 

 Council." That was what Mr. Godson had done, and he 

 (Mr. Thring) thought he had committed an error of judg- 

 ment. He therefore asked the meeting to accept Mr. God- 

 son's resignation. 



Mr. Cldtton observed that as he had been referred to by 

 Mr. Godson it was necessai-y for him to say a few words on 

 this matter. Sir Daniel Cooper was the Treasurer, but as 

 he had gone to Australia, the Council did him (Mr Clutton) 

 the honour of placing him in Sir D. Cooper's position. As 

 an ordinary member he hold, and as a member of the Council 

 he had always held, that every member of the Council was 

 just as responsible as the Treasurer for the correctness of 

 the accounts. He had just as much right as the Treasurer 

 to come and look at the accounts: he (Mr. Glutton) went 

 further and said, it was his duty to do so. The Treasurer 

 was merely the custodian of the money, paying cheques, or 

 otherwise, according to the orders of the Council. The bye- 



