Apkil 1 . COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
I) 
M 
D 
W 
APRIL 1—7, ) 856. 
1 To Elater obscurus. 
2 W Opilus mollis. 
3 Ta Necrophagus vestigator. 
4 F Silpha obscura. 
5 S Silpha tristis. 
6 Son 2 Sonday after Easter. 
7 M Cholera oblonga. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Weather near London in 1855. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun | 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & 3, 
Moon’s 
| Age. 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
30.382—30.221 
48—22 
N.E. 
_ 
36 a 5 
32 a 6 
4 m37 
26 
3 
51 
30.173—29-967 
46—27 
S.E. I 
02 
1 34 
33 
4 55 
27 
3 
33 
29.723—29.566 
51-39 
S. 1 
08 
32 
35 
5 11 
28 
3 
15 
29.868—29.723 
51—23 1 
N.E. 
06 
30 
36 
5 26 
29 
2 
5 7 
30.051—30.013 
57—33 j 
W. 
— 
28 
38 
sets. 
@ 
2 
39 
30.135—30.119 
64-40 
N.W. 
— 
25 
40 
8 a 50 
1 
2 
22 
30.120—29.994 
60—32 1 
N.W. 
01 
1 
23 
41 
10 21 
2 
2 
5 
S3 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 
98 
Meteorology of the WEEK.-At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-nine years, the average highest and lowest tern- 
peratures of these days are 56.2 , and 35.9 .respectively, The greatest heat, 78°, occurred on the 3rd, in 1648; and the lowest cold ld° 
on the 1st, in 1638. During the period 112 days were fine, and on 84 rain fell. , aim wie lowest coin, id , 
Whoever becomes a Crusader, whether against the 
1 profaners of the Holy Sepulchre, the invaders of the 
| Turkish Empire, the owners of Rotten Boroughs, or 
oven agaiust the mismanagers of a Horticultural 
Society, is sure to gather no satisfaction to himself, and 
much disappointment to those who looked to him as the 
champion of their opinions. 
The Committee recently appointed to suggest cor¬ 
rections of abuses, and better courses for the future, to 
the Royal Horticultural Society, is no exception to that 
general result of experience to which we have referred. 
Their Report is unsatisfactory to themselves, and it has 
disappointed those who are anxious for better days to 
the Society. 
We are quite aware that the disappointment, as in 
most cases, arises because too much was expected ; aud 
j from that proneness of human nature to hope for vast 
results from the possibilities of the future. But the 
disappointment in the present instance has some justi¬ 
fication, in the fact that the Committee were very 
I divided in opinion, and that many important changes 
I were lost by very small majorities. We think that 
I Ml this should he fully and fairly published; and that 
evory amendment brought to a vote should be stated, 
with the names of those who voted for and against 
the amendment. W e so think, and so wish, because 
j the existence of a Society capable of so much benefit 
| to our national gardening is at stake, and because it 
i is as certain ruin will come upon that Society if 
j larger changes are not effected in its management, as 
I it is that that ruin is now overhanging it. 
Mr. Bohn was prevented by illness attending the 
; Committee’s meetings, during the last weeks of its 
j existence, and how much he disapproved of its determi- 
j nations is told in this letter to its Chairman, Mr. God- 
( son; a copy of which letter Mr. Bohn sent to Dr. 
Lindley:— 
“North End Hodse, Twickenham, 
“ March loth, 1856. 
“ My dear Sir, —Our Report, as now printed, has altered its 
character so much since you and I first laid our heads to¬ 
gether to consider how the gardens could be saved, that I 
scarcely recognise it. As it has been so difficult for nine to 
agree what is best to be done in the dilemma, it is manifest 
that Dr. Lindley must have had a troublesome task of it to 
please all classes. The nurserymen want experimental 
gardening to be pursued with more energy, to keep on the 
seed collecting with its great aud comparatively unprofitable 
expenditure, to substitute one management for another at 
quite <m large a cost, aud to maintain without diminution all 
the presept expenses. This is simply impossible in our 
present reduced circumstances and in the face of active 
counter attractions, unless the public, in perfect reliance 
on future management, come forward witli a large sub¬ 
scription. 
“ My views are, and always Lave been, that the gardens 
must, as far as possible, be made self-supporting; in the 
first place, by every possible diminution of expense ; and, in 
the second, by abolishing all privileges which interfere with 
the sale of the garden produce. I think that if the gardens 
were delegated to some practical superintendant, who should 
have the power to sell every thing and produce any thing he 
might please lor sale, so that he docs not interfere with the 
general beauty aud efficiency of the gardens, we shall pretty 
nearly arrive at this object. The four guinea subscribers 
should have the privilege of purchasing whatever the 
gardens afford at something like half the market price. I 
admit, this is approaching the character of a nursery, but 
not more so than has taken place in selling the trees from 
Rivas toil Park, or is customary on estates where butter, 
cheese, milk, and cattle, are sold. In these utilitarian days 
the public will not waste a large expenditure in the aristo¬ 
cratic notion of doing tilings in a princely manner. The 
gardens must, in some way or other, be nearly self-sup¬ 
porting, and we must be helped over our present difficulties 
by a subscription from the encouragers of horticulture. 
Without these two main ingredients, I see little use for 
legislation ot any kind. I think my plan of a transferable 
ivory ticket might give an impetus, when it is plainly 
seen that there is a prospect of our continuance, otherwise 
Dr. Lindley’s plan of London exhibitions and lectures is 
better than anything proposed in the Report; and though the 
Society, so altered, would be very likely to dwindle away 
after a season or two, yet it seems to be our only alternative. 
I perceive that you have studiously avoided saying anything 
about the clays of exhibition. These ought to be, as they 
have been for half-a-century, Saturdays; and I look upon 
the changes made last year in substituting Wednesdays, and 
then going to those vulgar gardens ^t Gore House, as being 
the great cause of our headlong decline. Dr. Lindley was, 
I believe, controlled in this by the Council: if so, the voters 
for the change are responsible for the consequences. We 
know some of the allegations which were put forward; but 
they are so feeble as to be not worth answering. 
“ I have fought hard in tire Committee for two Exhibi¬ 
tions, feeling that the public fetes have always been tbe great 
attraction of tbe Gardens ; but I begin to fear, that after all 
this procrastination, we shall hardly he able to get up one; 
but one we must have, and that in the beginning of dune, if 
our connection with the Gardens is to exist any longer. I 
j do not see why we should not haveja second, consisting mainly 
of music and voluntary exhibitions. The gay public care a 
great deal less for the science of an Exhibition than they do 
for the conventionality which brings them together, on a 
fine day, to see and to be seen. 
“ There is one other matter which comes to my mind, that 
ought, perhaps, to have been dwelt on in the preliminary 
part of your Report. The Gardens, as they now stand, have 
been valued, as though to an in-coming tenant, at .£17,000 ; 
but any eye that is accustomed to laying out grounds must 
see that the plants must have cost £'-10,000. Would it not 
be discreditable to the age to surrender nil this for some¬ 
thing like a deficiency of £4000 or £5000; for the house 
and library in Regent Street will most assuredly discharge 
all our liabilities excepting tliis amount? 
No. CCCXCII. Vol. XVL 
