February 24, 1853.] JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



145 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



Dav 



of 



of 



M'nth 



Week. 



24 



To 



25 



TV 



26 



Th 



27 



F 



28 



s 



1 



Son 



2 



M 



FEB. 21— MARCH 2, 1863. 



St. Matthias. 

 Ember Week. 

 Clusius bom 1526. E. 

 Evelyn died 1706. G. 

 Frogs spawn. 

 2 Sunday in Lent. 

 Hor. Walpole died 1797 



Weather 



near London jn 1862. 



















Sun 



Sun 



Moon 

 Rises 



Moon's 



Clock 

 before 











Rain in 

 Inches. 



Day of 



Barometer. 



Thermom. 



Wind. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



and Sets 



Age. 



Sun. 



Tear. 





degrees. 







m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 





m. a. 





30.124-29.950 



41—35 



N.E. 



— 



59af6 



28af5 



23 mO 



6 



13 30 



55 



30.164-30.030 



41-32 



E. 



— 



57 6 



30 6 



30 1 



5 



13 21 



56 



30.310-30.283 



36-34 



N.E. 



— 



55 6 



32 5 



27 2 



8 



13 11 



57 



30.205-30.041 



37—32 



N.E. 



— 



53 6 



34 5 



IS 3 



9 



13 



58 



30.027—29.927 



44—34 



N.E. 



— 



51 6. 



85 5 



55 3 



10 



12 49 



59 



29.955-29.777 



43—29 



N.E. 



— 



48 6 



37 5 



23 4 



11 



12 38 



60 



29.591-29.500 



37-15 



E. 



— 



46 6 



39 5 



57 4 



12 



12 26 



61 



Meteorology op the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these days are 47.8- and 33.8° respectively. The greatest heat, C2-, occurred on the 27th, in 1846 ; and the lowest cold, 18", 

 on the 24th, in 1860. During the period 136 days were fine, and on 110 rain fell. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



T'S showed in our last 

 notice of the report of 

 the Council of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society what 

 was the real condition of the finances. 

 "We showed that after all liabilities 

 were paid the Society had only £3141 9*-. at their 

 credit wherewith to begin the world on the 10th 

 of February in this present year. We also stated 

 that the receipts during the year had been, on revenue 

 and capital account together, £48,081 Os. 4rf. We shall 

 now glance at the way in which this and upwards of 

 £7000 in addition has been spent. In fact, the whole 

 expenditure on the year has been £54,016 3s. 9d., without 

 any part of the debentures being paid off. 



And first in the account comes Chiswick. Chiswick 

 last year cost £2400 18s. 'id., rent, taxes, labour, imple- 

 ments, seeds, plants, and everything included ; but to 

 the credit of this must go £435 12s. lOd. received for 

 garden produce and charges, which, in fact, reduces the 

 expenditure of Chiswick to £1965 5s. 5d., besides the 

 enormous quantity of bedding-out and decorative plants 

 which it has contributed towards the garden at Kensing- 

 ton. Chiswick, therefore, in round figures, costs the 

 Society £1965. 



We come now to the " Expenses of Management " 

 account. This includes salaries, printing, advertising, 

 Journal, the two Committees, foreign importations, fur- 

 niture, wages, &c. — in short, everything connected with 

 what may be called the offices, and amounts to £5990 Is. 2d. 

 The first item is for salaries and collectors' poundage — 

 £1439 'is. 2d. How much there may be set down for the 

 latter we do not know; but suppose the whole amount 

 were applied to salaries, which includes, we presume, the 

 plant-collectors, there is nothing to complain of out of 

 such an expenditure. The work to be done in the offices 

 of such a Society, where there is so much book-keeping, 

 management, and correspondence required, cannot be 

 little ; and where men of education and of competent 

 ability are necessary, the remuneration must be in ac- 

 cordance with the status of the Society and the ability 

 of the individuals. " Printing, Advertising, and Sta- 

 tionery," £787 9s. 9i?. seems a very large amount, seeing 

 that it does not include either the Journal or the same 

 items for the expense of the exhibitions. Taking the 

 whole of the printing, including Journal, advertisements, 

 and stationery together, it amounts to £3344 9s. 5d. ; of 

 which £1105 15s. 'id. is for the Journal, and £1458 5s. od. 

 is for the exhibitions. Now a question naturally arises, 

 Is the Journal worth such an expenditure? The main 

 object for which this was established was as a means of 

 communication between the Council and the Fellows. 

 At the meeting held at the rooms of the Society of Arts 

 in the Adelphi in 1859, Fellows of the Society complained 

 that they never knew what was going on, the announce- 

 ments of the Council being confined exclusively to one 

 No. 100.— Vol. IV., New Sesjjss. 



gardening publication, and, as only some of the Fellows 

 saw that paper, the rest were kept in ignorance of what 

 was going on. It was upon this suggestion that the 

 Journal was begun. The number of Fellows then was, 

 perhaps, not half the number it is now, and consequently 

 the cost of the Journal was proportionately less ; but 

 now that the Council advertise so liberally in the garden- 

 ing and daily papers, we certainly do not see any neces- 

 sity for a monthly Journal, and especially as not one tithe 

 of the Fellows ever open it. For all purposes as regards 

 the information to be communicated, a quarterly publica- 

 tion of modest pretensions would suffice, while all an- 

 nouncements of current events can be made through the 

 ordinary advertising mediums as is done by all other 

 public bodies. 



The whole expense of the Fruit Committee during the 

 year was £172 4s. 4d., and of the Floral £157 3s. 5d. These 

 amounts speak for themselves, 



The "Foreign Importations," £418 12s. 6d., we take 

 to mean Mr. Weir's plants sent home, of which but little 

 is as yet known. People are asking why it is Mr. Weir 

 lingered so long about Rio, and did not penetrate at once 

 to the district where greater success might have crowned 

 his labours. It is nearly two years since Mr. Weir left 

 England ; and contrasting his labours with those of Mr. 

 Fortune and Mr. J. G. Veiteh in Japan, both of whom 

 went and returned laden with treasures within two years, 

 they certainly do not contrast very favourably. "Wages," 

 which is exclusive of labour at Chiswick and at the Ken- 

 sington Garden, is put down at £746 2s. Id., and amounts 

 to nearly one-half of the whole labour of the garden and 

 conservatory. The miscellaneous — £431 14s. $d, and law, 

 £242 9s. 4d. complete the principal items in this account. 



The next statement is " Expenses of Exhibitions," 

 £9908 3s. Id. This includes printing, advertising, and 

 posting, £1458 5s. 5d. ; prizes and medals, £2101 17s. 6d. ; 

 the " bands " played to the tune of £3022 7s. Id. ; and 

 the tents cost £1672 9s. 6d. Police, making a new road, 

 commission on tickets, &c, make up the remainder. 



The '* Kensington Garden Expenses " amount in all to 

 £7261 Os. 5d., the principal items of which are labour 

 £1823 3s. 2d. ; rates, taxes, and insurance, put down by 

 mistake as " rent, rates, taxes, and insurance," the rent 

 being a distinct item, £1329 6s. 8d. ; sculpture and orna- 

 ments, £1161 10s. Id. ; implements, manure, coals, and 

 coke, £558 15s. lid. ; trees, plants, and seeds, £603 3s. id. 

 Repairs sounds a strange item in the expenditure of an 

 establishment where everything is supposed to be only a 

 year old, but repairs have already been done during the 

 year to the amount of £313 12s., or nearly the cost of 

 the Fruit and Floral Committees together. 



The interest on debentures amounts to £1817 14s. 7d., 

 and the rent to the Royal Commissioners of 1851 is 

 £2289 10s. annually. Upwards of a year being due on 

 the 1st of January last, the amount stated in the account 

 as being paid for rent to that date is £3318 12s. 



We have thus gone over the leading heads of expendi- 

 ture in the revenue account, which amounts altogether to 



£30,368 



3d., 



and which, being deducted from the 

 No. 752.— Vol. XXIX., Old Semes. 



