xc 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ment as formerly, but for the dessert, has been so great that the 

 Board of Directors would recommend to the Council to institute 

 a system of orange-culture at Chiswick. There are at present 

 no less than three houses devoted exclusively to stove-plants, one 

 of which might be spared for this purpose, and thereby enable the 

 Society to exhibit to the Fellows, and horticulturists generally, 

 the pleasure and profit to be derived from this hitherto neglected 

 branch of fruit- culture. 



5. The new Orchard House, to the erection of which the 

 Council gave their sanction last year, is now completed, and will 

 speedily be furnished with complete collections of Peaches and 

 Nectarines, Apricots, and Cherries. These three kinds of fruit are 

 what the Directors have thought proper to select for the first 

 investigation ; and for this end, as complete collections as possi- 

 ble of these have been obtained. Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridge- 

 worth, has offered a large number of his fruiting peaches and 

 nectarines (most of which are newly raised seedlings of his own) 

 on terms so liberal as to amount almost to a gift. The Eev. W. 

 Kingsley, of South Kilvington, has most liberally presented a 

 large collection of carefully hybridized seedlings of Peaches and 

 Nectarines, which have not yet fruited, but from which there is 

 every reason to expect varieties of great excellence, when the 

 care and judgment with which the hybridization was conducted 

 are considered. Mr. Pearson, of Chilwell, near Nottingham, has 

 also intimated his intention to send some of the handsome or- 

 chard-house trees for which his establishment is noted. 



6. Prom the Pomological Department the distributions have 

 been very numerous, 1700 packets of fruit-tree cuttings of 

 Apples, Pears, "Vines, Pigs, &c, and 75,000 packets of vegetable 

 seeds, having been distributed among the Pellows in the past 

 season. 



7. The Directors are making the most earnest exertions in 

 carrying out the recommendations of the Scientific Committee, on 

 the result of which they hope to be able to report another 

 season. 



8. The usual attention has been given to the supply of plants 

 both for outdoor and indoor decoration at South Kensington ; to 

 the distribution among the Pellows of plants, seeds, and cuttings ; 

 and to the growth, for the use of the Ploral Committee, of plants 

 and seeds for trial. 



9. The number of flowering and other plants which have thus 



