lxxvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
10. DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS PLANTS. 
A few years ago the Council drew attention to the way in which 
the annual distribution of surplus plants has arisen. In a large garden 
there must always be a great deal of surplus stock, which must either 
be given away or go to the waste-heap. A few Fellows, noticing this, 
asked for plants which would otherwise be discarded ; and they valued 
what was so obtained. Others hearing of it asked for a share, until the 
Council felt they must either systematize this haphazard distribution 
or else put a stop to it altogether. To take the latter step seemed 
undesirable. Why should not such Fellows have them as cared to 
receive such surplus plants ? It was, therefore, decided to keep all 
plants till the early spring, and then give all Fellows alike the option of 
claiming a share of them by Ballot. 
Fellows are, therefore, particularly requested to notice that only 
waste and surplus plants raised from seeds or cuttings are available for 
distribution. Many of them may be of very little intrinsic value, and it 
is only to avoid their being absolutely wasted that the distribution is 
permitted. The great majority also are, of necessity, very small, and 
may require careful treatment for a time. 
Fellows are particularly requested to note that a Form of Applica- 
tion and list to choose from of the plants available for distribution is 
sent in January every year to every Fellow, enclosed in the " Report of 
the Council." To avoid all possibility of favour, all application lists are 
kept until the last day of February, when they are all thrown into a 
Ballot ; and as the lists are drawn out, so is the order of their execution, 
the plants being despatched as quickly as possible after March z. 
Of some of the varieties enumerated the stock is small, perhaps not 
more than twenty-five or fifty plants being available. It is, therefore, 
obvious that when the Ballot is kind to any Fellow he will receive the 
majority of the plants he has selected, but when the Ballot has given 
him an unfavourable place he may find the stock of almost all the plants 
he has chosen exhausted. A little consideration would show that all 
Fellows cannot be first, and some must be last, in the Ballot. Applica- 
tion forms received after March I and before April 30 are kept till all 
those previously received have been dealt with, and are then balloted in 
a similar way. Fellows having omitted to fill up their application form 
before April 30 must be content to wait till the next year's distribution. 
The work of the Garden cannot be disorganized by the sending out 
of plants at any later time in the year. All Fellows can participate in 
the annual distribution following their election. 
The Society does not pay the cost of packing and carriage. 
Fellows residing beyond a radius of thirty-five miles from London 
are permitted to choose double the number of plants to which they are 
otherwise entitled. 
Plants cannot be sent to Fellows residing outside the United 
Kingdom. 
No plants will be sent to Fellows whose subscriptions are in arrear, 
or who do not fill up their forms properly. 
