PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
XIX 
to induce exhibitors to send such plants, flowers, and fruit as they may happen 
to have in perfection at the end of the week. The Council desire to recall 
to the Society that, in instituting those weekly shows, it was specially desired 
to give to Fellows the opportunity of bringing to notice such beautiful objects 
as would otherwise escape exhibition. 
20. Wishing well to the International Exhibition before alluded to, the 
Council have concluded arrangements with the Committee of Management 
of the International Exhibition and Botanical Congress which will doubtless 
prove satisfactory to the Fellows. Fellows and debenture-holders of the 
Society are to have free admission to the whole show—both to the portion 
which is within and that which is without the grounds of the Society—on the 
second day of the exhibition; and such portions of the show as maybe exhibited 
in the garden will be open to Fellows and debenture-holders at all times, 
excepting when the plants and fruits are being arranged and judged. The 
Committee of Management of the International Exhibition have further under¬ 
taken to pay the Society the sum of 300/. in lieu of the receipts at the doors 
for the week in which the exhibition takes place. 
21. It is with pleasure that the Council announce to the Fellows that the 
spacious hall for all kinds of meetings connected with the promotion of arts 
and sciences is about to be erected, under the patronage of the Queen and the 
presidency of the Prince of Wales, on the vacant site between the Conservatory 
and Hyde Park. It will be an amphitheatre like the Colosseum at Pome, 
capable of seating 6,000 persons with great comfort, and affording ample 
and suitable space for flower shows and horticultural gatherings. This hall 
will in many ways promote the interests of the Society's Hardens, and the 
Council have felt it their duty to afford temporary accommodation for the 
offices connected with it. A copy of the prospectus of the . Central Hall will 
be given to any Fellow of the Society who applies for one at these offices. 
22. The Council report with gratification that their appeal for subscriptions 
for the late foreign collector of the Society, Mr. Weir, who w r as disabled in its 
service, has been liberally responded to by many of the Fellows ; but the sum 
received is as yet too small for the purchase of an annuity adequate for his 
maintenance, and the list still remains open. The Council do not propose, this 
year, at least, to employ a foreign collector on the Society’s sole responsibility; 
but two gentlemen, travelling on their own account—the one in Eastern Africa, 
the other in the Brazils—have received commissions on the part of the 
Society, and the Council will take every other available opportunity of 
introducing new and interesting plants into their Harden. A collection of 
plants made at Esperanga, in the province of Bahia, Brazil, has just been 
received from Mr. E. Beed, and they will be carefully cultivated at Chiswick 
for distribution among the Fellows. 
23. It is with satisfaction that the Council call the attention of the Fellows 
to the list of prizes offered by members of their own body, and by other 
members of the Society, for special productions. These prizes are to be 
awarded at the show on the 14th June next. Some of them are to encourage 
the growth of tropical fruits, a branch of science of great interest to 
horticulturists, and hitherto attended with many difficulties. These difficulties 
will doubtless be surmounted, and the Council will be glad to aid the 
endeavours now being made to overcome them in every way in their power. 
As a further inducement to experiment, they are enabled through the 
liberality of a Member of the Council to offer a prize of 10 guineas for the best 
Essay on the Hrowth of Tropical Fruits, which may be sent to the Council 
during the present year. 
Sir Andrew Scott Waugh then moved the adoption of the Report. 
The motion having been seconded by Mr. Blenkixs, 
Mr. Hrenville rose, and requested some explanation might be given as to 
the agreement between the International Horticultural Exhibition and the 
Society, alluded to in the 20th paragraph of the Report. 
Mr. H. Core, C.B., said that the main part of the Exhibition was not to be 
held in these grounds: but if it were to be, he thought the arrangements were 
still such as would give satisfaction to the Fellow's of the Society. They 
would get admission as soon as the Exhibition was thrown open to the 
