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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMTANION.— May 13, 1850. 
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cause a needless increase to the Society's debt,—and of some 
other portions of the Corporation property, such as Herba¬ 
ria, Ac., which could be disposed of without detriment to the 
efficiency of the Society. 
On the 34th of December another circular letter was ad¬ 
dressed to every Fellow, explaining the views of the Council 
as to the future course which it might be advisable for the 
Society' to follow, and announcing their intention to convene 
a Special Meeting of the Fellows, immediately after the as¬ 
sembling of Parliament, for the purpose of considering 
those views. 
On the 5th of February this Special General Meeting was 
held, when the Council presented a Report, embodying the 
proposals made in the previous circular, and some other 
points not before adverted to. The Meeting determined, 
before adopting the views of the Council, that a Committee 
of nine Fellows should be appointed to investigate the ac¬ 
counts, and to report to a future Meeting what was in their 
opinion best to be done for the continuance of the Society. 
The Committtee was immediately formed, and the Meeting 
adjourned till March 11th. 
On that day the Committee presented their Report, in 
which, after eulogising the manner in which the accounts 
had been kept, and doing justice to the services of the So¬ 
ciety's officers, they recommended, among other things, certain 
changes in the administration,—that prizes should continue 
to be given at the monthly meetings in Regent Street, that 
two Exhibitions should be held at Chiswick, one in June and 
one in July, and that a class of Two Guinea Members should 
be admitted to the privileges of Fellows. The Committee 
concluded by stating that it was the earnest wish of some of 
the best friends of the Society that a subscription should be 
raised to pay off loans bearing an interest of 6 per cent, to 
the amount of £2,400, and that considerable donations had 
been promised, in the hope of extricating the Society from 
its difficulties. 
The Fellows present having resolved that the Council be 
requested to report to a future Meeting their views as to the 
practicability and advisability of adopting the recommenda¬ 
tions of the Committee, or any portion of them, a third 
Special General Meeting was convened for March 31st. 
On the 31st March, the Council reported generally upon 
other points, but especially upon the preservation of the 
Garden and the Exhibitions there. They repeated their 
anxious desire to preserve the Garden, if practicable, and 
their willingness to make a further trial of Exhibitions in it, 
provided the financial position of the Society would justify 
it. But they pointed out that increased, not diminished, ex¬ 
penditure would be inevitable, should the plans of the Com¬ 
mittee be adopted, adding, that if the Fellows, with a full 
knowledge of this fact, would come forward and place the 
Council in a secure position, then the Council would en¬ 
deavour to preserve the Garden, reorganise it, and to restore 
it to a state worthy in every way of the Society. They were 
ready to revive the Exhibitions, take their chance in the field 
of competition, and render the meetings in Regent Street as 
interesting on a small scale as those at the Garden have 
been on a large scale. 
It was, however, shown by the Accountant, that in case 
these measures should be taken, considerable pecuniary as¬ 
sistance would be indispensable, if the Corporation was to 
be secured against financial danger. There was an imme¬ 
diate need of £4,300, to defray current liabilities, for the 
most part over-due. The whole amount of the property of 
the Society beyond its liabilities was ouly £12,500, from 
which would have to be deducted the value of the Life Com¬ 
positions of 255 Fellows, in case, owing to any future dis¬ 
aster, the affairs of the Corporation should require to be 
brought to a close. 
The discussion which followed upon reading this Report, 
terminated in the following unanimous resolution;— 
“Thatthe Council be authorised to terminate the tenancy 
of the Garden at Chiswick as soon as the Lease will permit, 
and that the property therein be sold; unless such a sum as 
the Council may require for maintaining the Garden shall 
have been subscribed before May 1st.” 
The Council have now to report what has been done to 
give effect to this resolution. On the 3rd of April they re¬ 
assembled, and after a careful review of the financial con¬ 
dition of the Society, arrived at the conclusion that a smaller 
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sum than £5,000 would be insufficient to enable the experi¬ 
ment of maintaining the Garden to be fairly tried. A circular 
letter was shortly afterwards sent by post to every Fellow, 
representing the objects of the Society, and announcing the 
names of donors to the amount of .£580. Since that time a 
further list of subscriptions has been sent to every news¬ 
paper (.570) in the United Kingdom, with a request that the 
editors would be good enough to draw the attention of their 
readers to the position of the Society; a request which the 
Council have reason to believe has been most readily com¬ 
plied with. 
The lists of subscriptions have been advertised gratuitously 
by the Atlienecinn, the Literary Gazette, and the Gardeners' 
Chronicle, to the proprietors of which the Council desire thus 
publicly to express their thanks. 
A second and further list of subscriptions has been for¬ 
warded to all Fellows. 
Finally, many hundreds of circulars and lists of subscrip¬ 
tions have been sent through the post to wealthy inhabitants 
of the metropolis not being Fellows. 
The Council have now to announce that these measures 
have not produced the sum required. Some Fellows object 
to any attempt being made to preserve the Garden, others 
have answered by sending in their resignations ; but from the 
greater number no reply has been received, so that the sub¬ 
scription list, when closed, amounted to no more than 
£2,593 7s.,* contributed by 105 persons, of whom twelve are 
not Fellows. Conspicuous among the latter is Dir. Heinrich 
Behrens, a German ge ntleman, residing near Lubeck, 
wholly unconnected with ^he Society, who has most liberally 
offered to contribute the large sum of iTOO towards the 
proposed fund. 
The result of this appeal is, however, so far satisfactory, 
that it seems reasonable, to defer closing the subscription for 
the present, the Council not doubting that the spirit which 
has been already displayed, will ultimately lead to the con¬ 
tribution of the full sum required. 
It does not, however, necessarily follow, that the Society 
is to have no Garden, and that its horticultural operations 
are to terminate, even if the Garden at Chiswick is relin¬ 
quished. It will be in the recollection of the Fellows, that 
in the scheme proposed by the Council, on the 24th of De¬ 
cember, for reorganising the Society, it was contemplated 
that a small garden should still be maintained for the pur¬ 
pose of raising such seeds as may not arrive in sufficient 
quantity for distribution, for restoring the health of imported 
plants, and for experimental purposes. This also formed 
part of the plan laid before the Society on the 5th of February. 
Among the many suggestions which have been lately made 
to tlie Council is one from Sir John Lubbock, Bart., an old 
Life Member, who remarks, in a letter dated April 11, that 
the obvious course for the Society is to move the Garden to 
the grounds of the Crystal Palace, there being no doubt that 
an arrangement might easily be made by' which the Garden 
would be there preserved in a better locality to the advan¬ 
tage of both Societies. 
Within the last two days the Council have received a com¬ 
munication from the Directors themselves of the Crystal 
Palace, conveyed through Sir Joseph Paxton, suggesting the 
expediency of an arrangement being made between them and 
the Horticultural Society, on terms of mutual interest, by 
which a portion of the grounds in the Crystal Palace Park 
may be occupied by a Garden for the Horticultural Society. 
This proposal is so recent that the Council are not nt pre¬ 
sent in a position to do more than announce the circumstance. 
The actual state of the finances of the Society will be seen 
from the Balance-sheet laid before the Meeting. It will be 
found that the debt of the Society is now T9,388 10s. 4d., 
while at the last anniversary it was £8,821 4s. 4d., showing an 
increase of only .£567 6s. But on the other hand there is a 
diminution in the available assets of the Corporation to the 
amount of £1 ,544 19s., chiefly' caused by the sale of pro¬ 
perty ; namely, of Stove-plants, which produced £569 4s. Od.; 
of the Herbaria, for which the unexpectedly large sum of 
£'253 15s. was obtained; and of the old stock of Transac- 
| lions, Ac., which realised £283 19s. 9d., or nearly £83 be¬ 
yond the sum at which they were valued. 
In consequence of the unsettled state of the affairs of the 
Society it has been found impossible to make any arrange- 
* About £2,800 have been subscribed to this date. 
