April 8. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
29 
desire to leave so grave a question for the consideration of j 
their successors. 
3. Exhibitions at the Garden.— The committee propose 
that only two exhibitions shall, in future, be held annually 
in the garden,—one in June, the other in July. To this the 
council assent, if the financial means, to be presently con¬ 
sidered, should be supplied. The ground is, however, so 
fully occupied for the present year by the Regent's Park 
and Crystal Palace, as to render a June exhibition unad- 
visable. If we have one it must be held in July. 
4. The Council. —The committee think that, for the future, 
one-third of the council should consist of practical horticul¬ 
turists. They advert to the fact that in the charter where 
the first council is appointed, three of its fifteen members I 
are expressly declared to be gardeners; and they consider it 
expedient that the same principle should still be our guide. 
This is a subject to be dealt with by the Fellows at large, | 
who are the electors, rather than by the council who only 
nominate. The council have, however, no objection to make 
to the plan. They do not know what led to a discontinuance 
of the practice, and if it is the pleasure of the Fellows to re¬ 
vive it, they have only to signify their desire. The council 
are, however, of opinion that so large a proportion as one- 
tliird of practical horticulturists on the council (the number 
recommended by the committee) would be unpopular if not j 
disadvantageous; and they advise the society to limit the 
proportion to one-fifth the number of the members of council 
fixed by the charter. 
5. The Financial Question. —The committee say little upon 
this all-important branch of their inquiry. They think that 
“so long as the society is solvent some risk should surely be 
incurred.” The council were of the same opinion in 1854, 
when the losses of that year were ascertained; and it was 
that feeling which induced them to run the risk of 1855; 
which, it must be remembered, has had the effect of deterio¬ 
rating the property of the corporation to the extent of FT,550. 
Risks of this kind are dangerous: and if too often repeated 
soon convert solvency into insolvency. Nor can the affairs of 
the corporation be treated as those of a commercial specula¬ 
tion. Acting under this feeling, the council proposed to re¬ 
linquish the garden, to realise the property there, and to 
apply the proceeds to the discharge of debts; having done 
which the society would know, with more accuracy, its true 
financial position. 
To this, however, the committee decidedly object, and the : 
council have uo doubt that the feeling of the committee is 
shared by many Fellows. What the committee propose for 
the purpose of increasing the revenue of the corporation is , 
as follows:— 
Firstly,—To admit two classes of subscribers ; one paying 
four guineas, as at present, who shall not only enjoy the ex¬ 
clusive privilege of sharing in the distributions from the 
garden, but shall be entitled to a transferable ivory ticket, j 
which shall admit the holder to all the exhibitions, to the use 
of the library, and to all meetings in the society’s rooms;— 
the second, consisting of two-guinea subscribers, paying an 
admission fee of only one guinea, who shall be entitled to 
free admission to all exhibitions and meetings, and to all the 
other privileges of Fellows, except the ivory ticket and a 
share in the distribution of seeds and plants, &c. They 
would leave life-members and early subscribers on the same 
footing as heretofore; but they would give the present four- 
guinea members (including four-guinea life-members), the 
option of cither continuing with the same privileges as at 
present, with the addition of the transferable ivory ticket, or 
of splitting their four-guinea subscription into two two- 
guinea subscriptions, which would enable them to remain 
themselves, and to bring into the society some member of 
their family, as a two-guinea subscriber, without payment of 
an admission fee. Of course the Fellows so dividing their 
present four-guinea subscription would only enjoy the same 
privileges as the new two-guinea subscribers. All payments, 
moreover, would be due on the day of election, and annually 
on the first of May, being always payable in advance. 
It will be impossible, in the short period during which the 
present council are in office, to consider fully and carry out a 
measure of this kind, which would demand a material altera¬ 
tion in the bye-laws; and, therefore, the present council 
express no opinion upon its merits, but refer it to the con¬ 
sideration of those who are to succeed them. 
It is further proposed by the committee to raise among 
the Fellows a subscription to pay off the corporate debts. 
Considerable donations, it is said, have been promised, in 
the hope of extricating the society from its difficulties. Some 
gentlemen have suggested a guarantee fund; while others 1 
propose that the council should invite the Fellows to take 
part in a loan upon the security of the property of the cor¬ 
poration, subject to the claims of the present holders of 
loan-notes, which amount to the sum of To,000. 
Should such measures be practicable, they would, of 
course, remove the difficulties by which we are now met, and 
enable the society to try the experiment of reviving the ex¬ 
hibitions, and continuing to maintain the garden. 
But it must be borne in mind, that if the garden is con¬ 
tinued, and the business of London reorganised in the 
manner proposed, no relief whatever is to be obtained from : 
reduced expenditure; on the contrary, a largely increased 
annual disbursement would be inevitable. The garden, if 
maintained with its present reduced means, would soon be- 
come a wilderness. The reduction of cost spoken of in the | 
report of the committee has been wholly provisional and ex¬ 
ceptional, and ought not to be further persevered in for a | 
single week if the place is to be retained in efficiency. A 
considerable addition to labour and materials of all kinds is j 
immediately needed, even the tools are worn out, many re- j 
pairs must be executed; while the experiments of which it i 
is proposed that the garden should be the scene, are in 
themselves attended by expense. 
The contemplated exhibitions, moreover, must involve a 
larger cost than ever; in the face of the rivalry before us, 
all half-measures must fail. The Crystal Palace Company 
offer at their June show prizes to the amount of nearly 
T900; as large a sum as any one of the society’s meetings 
has usually cost for the whole of its arrangements. Unless 
the society is prepared to render the contemplated exhibi¬ 
tions all that the world expects, no competition could be 
successful. 
Then as to Regent Street, it is proposed that meetings on 
an extensive scale be held monthly; local committees are to 
be constituted, and whatever can render the London House 
useful and attractive is to be put into action. An outlay much 
beyond that to which the society has been accustomed of 
late years cannot fail to alternl such improvements. 
With reference to a possible saving of .£500 a-year, al- ; 
luded to at the end of the report, the council see that there \ 
is some misapprehension on the part of the committee. In 
July, 1854, Dr. Lindley, foreseeing the probable increase of 1 
the pecuniary difficulties of the society, placed his salary of j 
.£500 a-year at the disposal of the council, and at the same 
time offered to continue to give the society gratuitously I 
such advice and assistance as new engagements might per- ; 
mit. This offer the council understand was again made by ! 
the Vice-Secretary to the committee. It must, however, be j 
remembered that the advantages to the society would by no j 
means be commensurate with the sacrifice made by Dr. | 
Lindley; for even were his offer accepted the society would j 
not save more than £200 a-year, while he would lose £500; j 
inasmuch as it can hardly be supposed that an efficient sue- j 
cessor could he found for less than .£300 a-year. Therefore j 
the council did not think it fit for the advantage of the so- i 
ciety that Dr. Lindley’s offer should be accepted in 1854; nor j 
do they feel that the true interests of the society would be | 
consulted by accepting it now, when, if the measures at pre- ; 
sent contemplated take effect, an augmentation rather than 1 
diminution of the duties of the Vice-Secretary would be re- J 
quired. 
Increased, not diminished expenditure must therefore be 
inevitable, should the plans of the committee be adopted. 
If the Fellows, with a full knowledge of this fact, come 
forward and place the couucil in a secure position, then the 
council will be eager to do all that the most zealous Fellow 
can require of them. They will preserve the garden, re¬ 
organise it, and cause it to be restored to a state worthy in 
every way of the society. They will revive the exhibitions, 
and take their chance in the field of competition; and they 
will render the meetings in Regent Street as interesting on I 
a small scale as those at the garden are on a large scale; I 
they will also cause the Bye-Laws to be revised with a view I 
to securing to the Fellows the fullest freedom of action con- ' 
sistent with the provisions of the charter. 
