February 10,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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Royal Society at 4.80 p si. 
Queaett Club at 8 I\M. 
nyal Romanic Society at 3.45 P.M. 
Sexagesima. 
Hlortu uitural B.nefit Society, Annual Meeting Caledonian Hotel. 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
‘^S^FTER the unfortunate failure of the Society’s 
provincial Show at Liverpool and the financial 
loss sustained thereby, a cheering balance 
sheet was out of the question. It was not, 
however, perhaps generally anticipated that 
the deficit on the year’s transactions would 
amount to nearly A1600. Yet such is the 
fact, as is clearly stated in the auditors’ report 
that is published in another column. The only pleasant 
sentence in that report is the meed of praise accorded to 
Mr. Dick for the “perfect manner ” in which he has kept 
the accounts of the Society. That is very high praise 
indeed, and if it were not merited it would not have been 
accorded by the experienced scrutineers whose names are 
appended to the document. Mr. Dick is an old and ex¬ 
perienced official, and we are pleased to see his diligence 
and care so emphatically acknowledged, for, having the 
Society’s interests deeply at heart, his task must have 
been the reverse of exhihrating. 
It seems that the most formidable item in reducing 
the revenue of the year is the £850 as representing the 
subscriptions of the large number of Fellows who re¬ 
signed because their tickets, which admitted to the Indian 
and Colonial Exhibition, were made non-transferable. 
This was done entirely by the Royal Commissioners, as 
landlords of the property, the Council of the Royal 
Horticultural Society having no voice in the matter. In 
this respect the Society has been the victim of an alliance 
that, however, in some other respects might have been ad¬ 
vantageous. Whether the Exhibition Committee or Com¬ 
missioners were substantially benefited by the withdrawal 
of the privilege is perhaps a moot question; but it is quite 
certain the Society was injured, and that during a signally 
unfortunate season. 
Still we would not unduly magnify the importance of 
those resignations for it must be conceded, we think, 
that persons who withdrew their support from the Society 
because they could not lend their tickets to friends and 
servants for visiting the Colonial, &c., Exhibition, could 
not be in very deep sympathy with the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society and its work At best they were not sup¬ 
porters to be depended on, and if they had not resigned 
last year they would probably have taken their departure 
this in the absence of any great sensation in the gardens 
to which they could have access. “Fellows” of that 
kind are not such as can be relied on for the steady sus¬ 
tenance of the Society, and it is a question if “ local 
support ” in the past has not been purchased at too high 
a price. 
It has been the alliance of the Royal Horticultural 
Society with the world of fashion, which it has had to 
share in feeding, that has crippled its power for pro- 
No. 346.— Vol. XIY., Third Series. 
moting its legitimate work, and has thereby alienated 
those who ought to be its natural supporters—horticul¬ 
turists of various grades all over the country. It is free 
from all binding alliances now, having just had an escape 
that not a few persons who are interested in its welfare 
will deem fortunate rather than otherwise, and this brings 
us to consider the genera 1 , report ol the Council, apart 
from the auditors’ report above noticed. 
The report opens with the recital of a scheme for 
joining hands, so to speak, with the Corporation of the 
Royal Albert Hall on the basis indicated on another page. 
The “ preliminary negotiations ” referred to had for their 
object, no doubt, the securing for the Society on easy 
terms the necessary structural conveniences for the 
transaction of its business, and it was not unnaturally 
thought that there was nothing particularly incongruous 
in the association of music and flowers; indeed, this 
association is formally established in Belgium, and we 
believe in several instances both Horticultural and Har¬ 
monic Societies have been strengthened by the amalgama¬ 
tion. The proposition in question was therefore not quite 
visionary in its inception; but we are not able to with¬ 
hold the expression ot our opinion that the embodiment 
of the scheme in the report was not called for under 
existing circumstances. We have reason to believe that 
the negotiations entered into between the Council of the 
Royal Horticultural Society and that of the Royal Albert 
Hall Corporation fell through, in consequence of the latter 
having failed to get powers to enable them to obtain pos¬ 
session of the Conservatory and the upper part of the 
garden It would have been better to have promptly 
expunged all the matter relating to the scheme, as its 
publication without comment or explanation tends to 
mislead. Instead of the paragraphs on that subject being 
“ taken as read,” they should have been taken as wiped out. 
It is gratifying to find that in many respects the work 
of the Society is regarded as satisfactory, and we have 
not a doubt correctly so. As worthy of particular 
mention are the special committees and conferences, the 
Chiswick trials, the fortnightly meetings, the special 
shows, and the winning of a second prize for an essay by 
one of the under gardeners, xvhose name, however, is 
withheld. The distribution of ordinary seeds and plants 
is to be discontinued, and not, we think, before time, as 
numbers of packets could be purchased for a few pence 
from seedsmen, the distribution of what is rare and not 
readily obtainable being more in consonance with the 
Society’s functions. 
We are told in the report that 230 first-class certifi¬ 
cates to plants and flowers were submitted for adjudication 
during the year ; but if, as we are informed, those mem¬ 
bers of the committees who refrain from voting are not 
counted as negatives, we do not hesitate saying that a 
different method of procedure is urgently needed, as it is 
evident that by the policy of individual self-effacement of 
members plants may be officially stamped as superior by 
a minority of votes. Possibly more may be heard on this 
subject, for if the practice indicated is common the credit 
of the Society and the value of its certificates must bo 
seriously impaired sooner or later. 
The future of the Society is not easy to forecast. 
That it has a future there can be no doubt. It will sur¬ 
mount present difficulties. A home of its own on its own 
freehold is the great desideratum. Until this is forth¬ 
coming its head-quarters can probably continue at South 
Kensington on the easy terms of freedom from payment 
of rent. The difficulty is the acquirement of a perma- 
, No. 2002.— Von. LXXVI., Old Series. 
