THE ELOEAL MAGAZINE. 
NEW SERIES.] 
MARCH, 1873. 
[No. 15. 
EXHIBITIONS. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
February 12. 
Thanks to some of our enterprising nurserymen about 
London — such as Messrs. Veitcb, Bull, Williams, &c. — 
a very excellent Show was held at the Council-room on 
the day named, although there was not much of novelty 
in the subjects exhibited. First-class certificates were 
awarded to Mr. William Bull, for Encephalartus villosus 
var. ampliatus, an exceedingly handsome plant ; to Mr. 
Denning, gardener to Lord Londesborough, for a fine 
variety of La3lia autumnalis; to Mr. Goddard, gardener 
to H. Little, Esq., Twickenham, for Cyclamen persicum 
\Yhite Perfection, a large well-formed flower of the 
purest white; and to Messrs. Jackman and SonSjM'oking, 
for Thuja occidentalis aurea, a beautiful golden variety 
of great interest and beauty. Many cultural commenda- 
tions were given, some deservedly, and others in which 
it was very questionable ; especially is that the case with 
cut blooms, for it can never be told whether the culture 
of the plant from which they have been taken is good or 
had. 
THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A CRISIS has at last come in the affairs of this unfortunate 
Society; we say unfortunate, because some of the evils I'rom 
which it is suffering are clearly to he traced to external 
causes, although others are the result of its own misma- 
nagement. \Vhen the Society was reorganized previous 
to the Exhibition of 1862, the ground on which it now 
exists was leased to the Society by the Commissioners 
of 1851, and the present buildings were erected; it was 
even then seen that in the minds of the Commissioners 
the one idea was that, while it might in a secondary 
point of view benefit the Society, it was really to he re- 
garded as part of the plan by which the chief interest in 
all matters of science was to be centred around the South 
Kensington Museum. The placing at that Museum the 
collection of modern paintings, the building of the Royal 
Albert Hall, the proposal to receive the Natural History 
collection from the British Museum, the attempt to get 
the Herbarium from Kew there also, — all showed very 
unmistakeahly that the Commissioners of 1851 only in- 
tended that the Royal Horticultural Society should he 
their very humble servant. They have quietly con- 
trived that the Society should become their debtors 
to such an extent that it existed simply on sufferance, as 
the mortgage, so to speak, could he foreclosed at any 
time ; moreover, by always having a sufficient number 
of their own body on the Council of the Society, 
they were able to manage its affairs in accordance with 
their ideas. But ivithout the consent of either of these 
bodies a state of things has grown up which has upset 
all their calculations. A large number of persons who 
live in the neighbourhood, but who have no taste for 
botany or horticulture, have found the gardens a conve- 
nient and quiet place to send their nurses and children 
to saunter in of a morning, or for themselves of an 
afternoon. They have felt a good deal put out about 
the influx of visitors from the International Exhibi- 
tions, and consider it rather an abuse of their privi- 
leires. The Commissioners of 1851, not satisfied with 
the present management, have just issued a document in 
which they propose great alterations, making the Society 
still more their servants, and throwing the gardens 
open to alt visitors to the Exhibition. This has aroused 
the ire of two parties — the horticultural section of the 
Fellows, who have hitherto received but little favour from 
the Council, but who see in this attempt an endeavour to 
swamp that body by the Commissioners, and to make it 
by that means of still less use to horticulture; while the 
Fellows who live in the neighbourhood are up in arms, 
and the consequence has been that the annual meeting 
on the 11th, and the adjourned meeting on the 18th, have 
been scenes of violent reerimination, which reflect no 
credit upon many who took part in them. What the 
result may ultimately be it is impossible to foresee, but 
as the Commissioners of 1851 have the might on their 
side, it is not easy to see how the Horticultural Society 
can do aught but acquiesce in these plans. It may be 
safely said that never had a Society such a chance of 
success as the Royal Horticultural Society had, and never 
have advantages been so thrown away. 
SPRING FLOIVERS AT THE CRYSTAL 
PALACE. 
The Exhibition of Spring Flowers at tbe Crystal 
Palace will, says a contemporary, be opened some time 
next month ; and we hear that Messrs. Downie, Laird, 
and Laing will also at the same time have a Spring 
