MARCH. 



33 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



REPORT OF IHE COUNCIL TO THE ANNIVERSARY MEETING, 

 FEBRUARY 10, 1863. 



The first duty of the Council on meeting the Fellows on the present occasion is to 

 congratulate them on the success which has attended the Society during- the past season. 



A reference to the balance sheet appended to this report will show that the receipts have 

 largely exceeded those of the previous year. 



While thankfully acknowledging this measure of success, the Council cannot but feel that 

 had H.K.H. the deeply lamented Prince Consort, who laid the foundation of it, and to whom 

 it is mainly due, been spared to the Society, results even much beyond this would have been 

 achieved. A very large portion of the prosperity which the Society has enjoyed beyond its 

 ordinary receipts is referable to the Great Exhibition. The interests of the two undertakings 

 during the past year were closely linked together, the same causes which injured or be noli ted 

 the one equally affecting the other. Had, therefore, the influence of His Royal Highness 

 been spared to it, it cannot be doubted that the Council would now have had" to present a 

 report oven more favourable than the present. 



Out of the receipts during the year, amounting to £29,800, a sum of £8676 was received 

 as the Society's share of the joint season ticket?; a sum of £1125 from the various refreshment 

 contractors for portions of the Society's premises let to them, and £5029 fivm the promenades 

 chiefly drawn on those days when the charge for admission from the Exhibition to the 

 garden was sixpence. 



The flower shows produced upward* of £5000, which is the largest amount that has 

 ever been drawn by the Society, from that source in any one year. Had it not been for the 

 large number of joint-ticket-holders, this amount would of course have been still greater. 

 The shows themselves were also of unparalleled excellence, the Council having determined 

 that nothing should bo spared to make them worthy of the Society, and such as would leave 

 a favourable impression on the numerous visitors from abroad. A statement is given in the 

 appendix showing the amounts received and the expenses disbursed at these shows so far as 

 the latter can be separated from the general expenses of the establishment. 



The Council have also to report favourably on a more important portion of the financial 

 resources of the Society— viz., that drawn from the subscriptions. The following comparative 

 statement of the number of Fellows, and their rates of payment, as at 31st December, 1861 

 and 31st December, 1862, shows the increase during the course of the year— viz., 





As at 3l3t Dec, 1861. 



As at 31st Dec, 1862. 



Payable in 

 advance. 



Retro- 

 spectively, 



Payable in 

 advance. 



Relro- 

 spectively. 



Fellows who have compounded by paying 

 Increase 



716 



915 



334 

 555 



10 



25 

 6 

 215 



7 

 16 

 912 

 1307 



386 

 587 



3 

 9 



( . } 



2520 

 256 



256 



3215 



98 



98 



2776 



3313 

 2776 



537 



. The above table shows the actual state of matters each year, at 31st December. But on 

 taking deaths and resignations into account, it appears that 633 new Fellows have joined the 

 Society since 31st December, 1861, and that there have been 55 deaths, and 41 resignations. 



It will be seen from .the above table that the recommendation of the Council in last 

 year's report, that Fellows who paid retrospectively should change their retrospective 

 payment into one in advance, has been well responded to— the number of retrospective tub- 

 scribers having been reduced from 256 to 98. Many of those who are still in this position 

 have no doubt continued so from inadvertence, and it is hoped that in another year the 

 number may be still further reduced. 



Through the consideration of the Fellows too, the transference of the period of payment 

 from the 1st of May to the 1st of January has been all but unanimously carried into effect 



As regards the expenditure, the unfinished state of the garden, together with the 



