PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
CCV 
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 
Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1868. 
Mr. W. Wilson Saunders, F.R.S. in the Chair. 
Th6 minutes of the last Annual Meeting having been read and signed, 
Messrs. Geo. E. Blenkins and Robert Fortune were appointed scrutineers. 
The Assistant-Secretary (James Richards) then read the following 
Report. 
Report of the Council to the General Meeting. 
11th February 1868. 
1. The Council is happy to be able to make, on the whole, a satisfactory 
Report to the Fellows of the present state and future prospects of the Society. 
The subscriptions received from Fellows during the past year amount to 
£8,027, as compared with £8,176 in 1866, £7,975 in 1865, and £7,8!0 in 
186-1. One gratifying sign of growing confidence in the future of the Society 
is the fact of twenty-live old Fellows of the Society, who had resigned, having 
again become members. 
2. A new and most legitimate and promising source of future income has 
also been opened, while a wider sphere has at the same time been given to the 
operations of the Society. The Exhibition at Bury St. Edmunds, which was 
announced in last year’s Report, has more than answered the most sanguine 
expectations of its promoters. In spite of unpropitious weather, it proved not 
only eminently successful as an Horticultural Exhibition, but also as a finan¬ 
cial speculation. The Council confidently anticipates a still more decided 
success from the Show which it is proposed to hold this year at Leicester ; for 
there is no reason to doubt that the interest, great as it was, which was taken 
in the success of their Show by the horticulturists of Bury St. Edmunds and its 
neighbourhood will be at least equalled at Leicester, while the population of 
the latter town is very much greater. The deputation which was sent by the 
Society to make the necessary arrangements there met, moreover, with the 
most gratifying assurances of support; a guarantee fund was raised in the 
town without any difficulty, and special prizes to a large amount have already 
been promised. The Autumnal Provincial Shows thus bid fair to become one 
of the most effectual and popular means of furthering the objects for Avhich the 
Society is incorporated; and, while they may be expected to add considerably 
to the funds of the Society, will tend to encourage and promote the study and 
love of Horticulture throughout the country. 
3. The Council refer also with the most lively satisfaction to another evi¬ 
dence of the increasing usefulness and spreading influence of the Society. 
There are now no less than 52 Florieultural and Horticultural Societies in 
union, and of these 24 joined during the p>ast year. 
4. The accounts of the Society, which have been placed in the hands of the 
Fellows, will further show that the Council did not take too hopeful a view 
of the affairs of the Society when at this time last year they expressed the 
opinion that, though requiring strict economy, its affairs were in an encoura¬ 
ging position; notwithstanding all the drawbacks arising from the serious 
monetary depression of the last two years, it will be seen that its revenue for 1867 
has considerably exceeded the outlay necessary to carry on its work. The 
only items on which the Council have permitted any increase of expenditure 
over that of former years are those relating to Chiswick Garden, and the 
Fellows will observe that the Chiswick Board state in the annexed Report that, 
even with this increase, more funds are wanted to bring the Society’s working 
at that place into full efficiency. The Council, therefore, in the belief that a 
judicious outlay in the manner suggested in the Report alluded to will result 
in increased produce, as well as increase of general usefulness, have made some 
further additions to the Chiswick labour item for this year. 
5. The labours at Chiswick during the past season have met with much 
success. M. Bause, the foreman of the Floral Department, has succeeded in 
