from May 1, 1830, to April 30, 1840. 439 



VI. — The distribution of new horticultural objects 

 amongst the supporters of and contributors to the 

 Society. 



The desire for dispersing valuable horticultural objects so 

 as to render them generally accessible to cultivators was the origin 

 of the system of distribution undertaken by the Society. The ex- 

 tent to which the Garden Committee have been enabled to carry 

 these distributions appears in some instances to have given rise to an 

 erroneous idea of their object ; and it is with great regret that the 

 Council have observed on the part of a few, either now or lately, 

 Fellows of the Society, an opinion that they were entitled to demand 

 and to receive in each year not only the value of their subscriptions, 

 but much more. The Council, therefore, trust that they may take 

 the present opportunity of stating distinctly, in order to prevent all 

 future misunderstanding, that the distribution of common plants, not 

 introduced by the Society, and readily to be procured in the Nurse- 

 ries, is in their opinion beside the objects for which the Society was 

 instituted, and to which its funds ought to be applied. 



Many of the most valuable importations are received, or can be 

 multiplied only in quantities far from sufficient to supply the whole 

 of the Fellows of the Society. There are also many Members who 

 are only interested about special branches of horticulture, who have 

 no gardens for the growth of horticultural produce, or who would 

 attach no value to certain descriptions of seeds or plants which 

 may be of great importance to others. For these reasons general 

 indiscriminate distribution is often impossible, and in many cases it 

 would be a mere waste of the Society's funds. 



Where, however, in the prosecution of the objects of the 

 Society, opportunities arise of benefitting individuals, it is but 



