XXX 
Monthly Council, February 5, 1890. 
4 .965?., it will be seen that our origi- 
nal forecast was realised in quite a 
remarkable manner, for if we could 
have raised in the City 10,000?., this 
excess would have been almost exactly 
wiped out. 
It is with much gratification, how- 
ever, that I am in a position to 
announce that the general result of 
(he working of the Society during 
18^9 is so satisfactory that we are 
able out of our own resources to place 
to the credit of the Windsor Show the 
5,000?. more which we originally hoped 
to obtain from extraneous contribu- 
tions, and, notwithstanding this, to 
carry forward the handsome balance 
of 2,013?. to the credit of next year. 
I am sure that all the Council, and 
the members of the Society at large, 
will desire that the most brilliant and 
successful Agricultural Show that has 
ever been held, a Show honoured by 
the immediate presidency of out- 
Sovereign, and the active personal 
interest of the Royal Family, and 
which has done more to enhance the 
credit and reputation of the Society 
than anything else that could be 
mentioned, should not have attached 
to it the undeserved stigma of being 
a financial failure. 
Our extra receipts fur that Show 
have come to us not in swollen ad- 
mission fees at the gates, but in the 
much more satisfactory and per- 
manent form of a large, influential, 
and enduring increase of our number 
of members. In moving, therefore, 
that out of our receipts for the year 
1889 the sum of 5,000?. be placed to 
the credit of the Windsor Show, 
which did so much for the Society, 
and was so effectual a recruiting 
agent for it, I feel sure that I shall 
have the cordial and unanimous sup- 
port of the Council. 
Turning now to the items of receipt 
which have made this proposal pos- 
sible, I find that during the year we 
received no less than 7,617?. for 
annual subscriptions, as against 
5.120?. in 1888, the subscriptions 
received in advance being carried 
forward in both cases to the year 
to which they properly belong. One 
excellent result of the general interest 
excited amongst members by the 
Windsor Show was that we received 
during the year the unusually large 
sum of 703?. for subscriptions in 
arrear. The receipts from life com- 
positions during 1889 were no less 
than 5,C90?., as against 1.198?. in 
1888, the same adjustment of figures 
as in the case of subscriptions being 
made to bring the compositions into 
the year in which the members' 
privileges commenced. 
Our other sources of income can be 
dismissed in a few words, as they 
were much the same as usual. In- 
vestments and rents yielded 1,190?. 
as against 1,017?.; the sales of the 
Journal and other publications, and 
receipts from advertisements yielded 
514?. as against 755?. (in which, how- 
ever, one and a half year's advertise- 
ments were included) ; and the fees 
paid by members for chemical 
analyses yielded 756?. as against 763?. 
in 1888. Our total income was there- 
fore 15,767?., as against 9.539 in 1888, 
or an increase of no less than 6,228?. 
It may, perhaps, be urged that a 
portion of this really represents capi- 
tal, as the life compositions received 
ought to be spread over a series of 
years. We have not been unmindful 
of this possible criticism ; but as the 
life compositions of past years have 
been placed to the -credit of current 
revenue, whatever their amount, we 
have thought it best to leave the old 
arrangement undisturbed for this 
year, which is the end of the first 
half-century of the Society's exis- 
tence, and of the life composition at 
the old rate of 10?. ; and to take lime 
for consideration of the best plan for 
dealing in the future with life com- 
positions in their relations to revenue. 
On the other side of the account, 
our ordinary expenditure for last 
year, despite the fact that the great 
accession of new members necessarily 
involved increased work and therefore 
greater expense, was about the same 
as usual. General administration 
cost 3,895?., as against 3,776?. in 
1888 ; the Journal, of which of course 
many more copies had to be printed 
to satisfy the needs of new members, 
cost 2,233?., as against 1,890?.; the 
Laboratory cost 1,268?., as against 
1,135?., and our other Scientific 
Departments — Botanical. Entomo- 
logical, and Veterinary, 651?., as 
against 536?. Our education prizes 
and examinations, senior and junior, 
