190 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Marcli 10, 1863. 



specifications for horticultural structures, and useful or orna- 

 mental buildings. In botany, to name nine plants in ordinary 

 cultivation out of every ten oorrectly ; to understand vegetable 

 physiology as far as regards the germination of seeds, formation 

 and development of plants ; entomology, in its relation to the 

 ravages of insects on vegetation ; and pomology, so far as to 

 name and distinguish nine fruits in every ten of such as are com- 

 monly cultivated. 



Persons answering these queries will be called upon to submit 

 themselves to an examining-board appointed by the Company 

 within two years from the date of their admission. Parties 

 signing the declaration and refusing to be examined to be dis- 

 carded the Company ; but those who answer the call, though 

 unsuccessful, to continue members, but their declaration on 

 application paper to be scratched. Those who successfully pass 

 the examination to have medals of bronze, with the emblem of 

 the gardener on one side with his motto, and the emblem of 

 the country to which the medal belongs ; and on the other the 

 value, as first, second, or third. A certificate to accompany the 

 medal, duly signed by the President or his deputy. The value 

 of this is too apparent to need explanation. 



Candidates may state if they are a correspondent of any hor- 

 ticultural journal, and which, naming half a dozen of the sub- 

 jects which they have written upon, if so many ; if less, they 

 must not sign, for it is evident they are not professed writers. 

 They may also state whether they have been successful exhibi- 

 tors, when and where ; naming a few instances, and the subjects. 

 Candidates may exercise their discretion about answering these 

 queries. 



Candidates giving satisfactory answers to the numbered in- 

 quiries shall, by paying an entrance fee of 5s., be registered 

 members of the Company ; amateurs, an entrance fee of 10*., 

 their address and remittance shall be a sufficient guarantee of 

 their respectability ; employers — and I make a great point of 

 their co-operation — without them we can do nothing, £1. 



This entrance money would realise — employers £10,000, ama- 

 teurs £5000, and gardeners £20,000, or in all £35,000. Now, 

 as gardeners are so peculiarly liable to rheumatic diseases, ren- 

 dering them unable to work in their old age, and not a few are 

 cut off in the prime of life, leaving a wife and several children 

 destitute — for those reasons we would place the money in the 

 Government Funds, which would afford £1050 yearly, and 

 allow of twenty-four married pensioners being kept in decent 

 circumstances, instead of pining in the poor-house after they 

 have been disabled through no fault of their own, and twenty- 

 four widows or widowers. The former should have £20 yearly 

 for life, or until such time as death severed them, when £13 15s. 

 would be allowed to the survivor. The voting for pensioners to 

 be as follows : — Gentlemen and ladies 4 votes, amateurs 2 votes, 

 and gardeners 1 vote. 



Employer members to pay £1 annual subscription, amateurs 

 10s., and gardeners 10s., or 2s. Gd. per quarter, payable in 

 advance. 



Two shillings and sixpence of employers' subscription should 

 be appropriated to the uses of the Charity Fund, which would 

 yield £1250, whereby twenty-four married pensioners and 

 twenty-four widows or widowers could be elected pensioners. 

 It is expected that gardeners would not hesitate to contribute 

 to this fund, say 2s. Gd. yearly ; and as they would have pre- 

 cedence over non-subscribers they ought, one and all, to sub- 

 scribe, which would be ample to keep all their own poor without 

 troubling ratepayers. In that case there would be 384 pension- 

 ers on the list. 



Seven shillings and sixpence of employers' money to be em- 

 ployed as follows :— One-half, £1875, to be distributed to suc- 

 cessful essayists; £78 2s. Gd. to be given to each district 

 (mentioned hereafter), and that, equally divided, again given to 

 the branches, at each of which a prize Bhould be offered for the 

 best essay on whatever subject the employer members Bhall name, 

 to be competed for by members of the branch. The other half, 

 £1875, to be appropriated to the printing of essays, which shall 

 be at the rate of two for each district, and they shall be chosen 

 by vote. The essays not to exceed 12 foolscap pages. Employers 

 to have copies of the essay volume free, but members to pay Is. 

 for it. The printer to sell any number he chooses after the 

 above regulations have been fulfilled. 



I now come to write of the meeting-places of the Company. 

 Supposing the United Kingdom to be divided into districts — 

 viz., twenty-four for the whole kingdom — i. e., fourteen for 

 England and Wales, four for Scotland, and six for Ireland ; 



according to this arrangement each district would comprise 

 4166 members, and the districts being divided into branches of 

 63 members each, we have 1612. Thus the head quarters of 

 the Company would be in London for England, Edinburgh for 

 Scotland, and Dublin for Ireland ; districts to have their head 

 offices at the moBt central part of the district, and branches 

 to be distributed according to the number of members — fifty to 

 form a branch. 



Each district office and branch shall find, furnish, and pay 

 for hire of its own rooms, and all accounts thereto belonging. 

 Each branch to forward 7s. Gd. for each member to the district 

 office, which sum is to be forwarded by it to the head office of 

 the Company, where it shall be applied to the printing of the 

 Company's Journal, and publishing, and other expenses con- 

 nected therewith, and for those purposes only. The Journal to 

 consist of twenty-four pages of printed matter relating to 

 gardening or horticulture, containing the best of the papers read 

 at meetings of the Company, novelties exhibited, awards, state 

 of weather and vegetation, and communications. Free discussion 

 should be allowed in its pages to members, and reports given on 

 the general business of the Company. I think termB might be 

 come to with the gardening papers of each country, to do the 

 printing for the Company on the condition named hereafter, with 

 power to receive pay for advertisements, an unlimited number, 

 and to sell the Journal at a reasonable price to non-members. 



Each member paying 7s. Gd. to the Journal fund would raise 

 a capital of £37,500, of which £8750 should be given to the 

 London office, for the purchase of plant and hiring of offices 

 for the transaction of business connected with the Journal, 

 and other matters ; £3750 to Ireland ; and £2500 to Scotland. 

 Besides the grant for formation of offices, &c, a further grant 

 shall be made as follows :— Head office of England, £13,100 ; 

 Ireland, £5700 ; and Scotland, £3700 ; for which each member 

 is to receive, free, a copy of the Journal of the country or head 

 office to which his district is attached. 



Two shillings and sixpence of each member's subscription to 

 be appropriated to pay for hire of rooms, lighting and warming 

 in winter, &e. The branches shall select their own meeting- 

 places — that is, the most convenient situation — and make their 

 own agreements, for which they alone will be responsible. No 

 doubt there would be great difference of opinion about the meet- 

 ing-places. Some would say a club-room at a public-house, for 

 the sake of the friendly glass and merry chat ; but a public-house 

 is the worst place imaginable, for our proposition is intended to 

 enlighten the mind, to cultivate the intellect, and to improve the 

 man's social and moral condition. 



A school-room would be the most economical meeting-place, 

 and one every way calculated to answer the purposes ol" the 

 Company. Fortnightly meetings should be held, when a short 

 paper would be read, or of such a length that not more than 

 half an hour would be occupied in reading it. Ten minutes to 

 be allowed any member for discussion on the paper. The paper 

 to become the property of the Company. New plants, fruits, 

 and vegetables to be exhibited, for which certificates may be 

 awarded if the subject merited the distinction. Extraordinary 

 productions, and specimens of subjects relating to gardening, 

 might be exhibited, for which a vote of thanks may be given. 

 The meetings to commence at seven o'clock in the evening. 



In connection with the Company would be an exhibition 

 fund, in which all could join, non-members aa well as members. 

 To this fund members would pay respectively — employers 10s., 

 amateurs 5s., gardeners 2s. Gd., and non-members of the Com- 

 pany any sum not less than 5s. ; tradesmen 2s. 6d., and working 

 men and cottage-gardeners Is. I calculate the subscriptions 

 would realise £50,000, of which £20 to be granted to each 

 branch, £500 to each district, £3760 to the central (or head) 

 of England, £1700 to Ireland, and £1300 to Scotland. Thus 

 each branch would have its exhibition, once yearly, each district 

 two, in May and September, which would be held at different 

 places, the places being chosen by the subscribers ; and the 

 central four in April, June, August, and October — also held in 

 different places, theBe being chosen by the subscribers. 



Subscribers of 10s. to have three tickets to attend all the 

 shows of the central, district, and branch of whioh they are 

 members ; those paying 5s. to have two tickets for the central, 

 district, and branch ; 2s. Gd. subscribers to have one ticket for 

 central, two for district, and three for branch to which they are 

 attached; Is. subscribers to have one ticket for one central 

 Bhow, one for district, and two for the branch to which they 

 belong. 



