November 20. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
125 
light soil, to put a handful of the dry stuff in each pot, 
and to shake it about all over tlie surface, leaving wliat 
slicks to the pot, and then to pot. D. Be.vi'on. 
Horticultural Society oe Lonbon —The Council 
of the Horticultural Society have resolved, as appears 
by the following statement, to revert to the old system 
ot enlarged E.xhibitions in London; and it is some 
consolation to know that under this system the So¬ 
ciety attained its greatest success. It is understood 
that in consequence of this resolution, a large part of the 
hothouse collections will be immediately disposed of, 
so as to reduce the expenses of the Garden, and leave 
additional funds available for the encouragement and 
reward of Horticultural skill.— 
Horticultural Society of London, 
2], Regent Street, Oct. 2-‘J. 
In the Annual Report, made by the Council at the last 
Anniversary, tlie attention of the Fellows was directed to 
the Yci'y serious fact that, during tlie three previous years, 
the income of the Society had been unequal to its expendi¬ 
ture, and tliat as much as L'l,25() had been added to tlie 
debt during the year 1854-5. At the same time, a hope 
was expressed that the causes which.brought about so large 
a deficiency would prove temporary. 
The Council have now, however, with very great regret, 
to report that this Impe has proved fallacious, and that the 
debt will have been found to be again considerably increased 
before the close of the present year, if the present establish¬ 
ments of the Society are maintained in their integrity. 
It has been annually shown by the printed Reports that 
the principal source of income, since the j'ear 18-‘!3, from 
wliich the Garden has been maintained, was the Exhibitions 
there, the net produce of which was as much as .4.3,024 in 
the year 1844. This fund has been gradually diminisbing. 
In 185-3 it was LT,7]4, in 1854 only 41455, and in the present 
year, instead of yielding any increase, the Exhibition.s have 
been productive of a loss estimated at about T300. 
After giving this subject the best consideration in their 
power, and consulting Fellows upon whose judgment they 
are disjiosed to rely, the Council liave arrived at the con¬ 
clusion that the Garden Exhibitions will not be profitable 
in future. The distance of the situation from the metropolis 
deters visitors from repairing to Chiswick as former!}', when 
no similar meetings were held in places of more ready access. 
Nor can it be doubted that the proximity of the great Go¬ 
vernment Garden at Jvew, accessible as it is by railway and 
water, and with whose attractions it is hopeless to contend, 
annually renders the Society’s Garden of greatly diminished 
interest. Under these circumstances, the Council have no 
alternative but to reduce the latter establishment within 
very narrow limits, if not to relinquish it altogether; and, 
at the same time, to realize some at least of the valuable 
jiroperty accumulated there towards liquidating the debts of 
the corporation. 
The history of the Society clearly shows that it was in its 
most flourishing state in the year 1821, at which time its 
operations were confined to the encouragement of horti¬ 
culture by rewards, and the publication of its Transactions, 
to exhibitions in London, to the distribution of seeds, Ac., 
obtained from its correspondents, and to the maintenance of 
a small and unexpeusive garden. The subsequent enlarge¬ 
ment of the Society’s undertakings, successful as they have 
been for a time, have ultimately proved beyond its re¬ 
sources; but the Council hope, and confidently expect, that 
by reverting to the old system of 1821 the Society may be 
restored to its former prosperity; and by restricting them¬ 
selves to the encouragement of its original objects, its utility 
and popularity may be maintained undiminished. 
The Council are now engaged in a careful consideration 
of the manner in which these great changes can be best 
effected, as w'ell as of the alterations which may be conse¬ 
quently necessary in the rate of subscription of the Fellows, 
Immediately after their plans shall have been matured, 
they will bo submitted to the sanction of a General IMoet- 
ing, In the mean time, in ordev not to loso tho present 
season, tho CounQil have orclorcdan immediate sale of stove 
plants—the continued cultivation of which, even through 
the ensuing winter, would cause a needless increase of the 
Society's debt—and of some other portions of the corpora¬ 
tion property, such as Herbaria, Ac., which can be disposed 
ot w’ithout detriment to the efficiency of the Society. 
Signed, by order of the Council, 
John Lindley, I ice-Secretary. 
— Alhciueum. 
SHORT CULTURAL NOTES. 
LUCULIA GRATISSIMA. 
“ Theopiiilus” complains that there seems much 
diversity of opinion upon the management of this plant, 
and wishes to know it he can keep it and bloom it in a 
cool greenhouse, from which the frost is merely excluded. 
I fear, I must say, No. If the house, in winter, averaged 
from 45° to 50°, I would say, Yes; more especially if he 
had such conveniences as a frame or pit to keep the 
jilant in a moist lieat, when he first received it, and 
when making its first growth, and until it became of 
some size. Fine blooms were shown in January, 1854, 
at Regent Street, from a wall of a dwelling-house in the 
garden of N. Luscombe, Esq., Combe Royal, Kings- 
bridge. South Devon, when all the assistance the plant 
received was any it might obtain from the heat of the 
wall, and a mat luing in front of it in severe w'eather. 
Wiien the plant is large cnougli to be planted out, it 
would bear a low temperature in such a place, and more 
especially when }ihuited out in a conservatoi’y, as at 
Cliiswick, with full ex]) 0 sure to light, which it would not 
long stand when kept in a pot, with surface of the pot 
exposed, dily own experience would say, that in a 
low'ish temperature, next to being planted out, the plants 
will thrive belter in a box of wood than in a pot, and in 
a pot all the better, it the one in which it is grown is 
encased in another one, and the space between filled 
with moss. All things considered, it will be found to 
thrive best in an intermediate house; a cool greenhouse 
being too cold, and a common stove too warm, unless at 
certain seasons. An article will be found on its culture 
at p. 10 of the last volume, and another at p. 108 of 
Vol. X., or No. 246. From these it will be seen, that 
one difficulty of treating this plant successfully in a 
cool greenhouse arises I'rom the fact, that like most 
large-leaved iilauts of the kind, nurserymen, and gar¬ 
deners, too, are in the practice of hurrying on growth at 
first by a strong, moist heat; and if the plant is carelessly 
forwarded from the nursery, and is not kept growing in 
similar conditions, its whole system receives a paralyzing 
effect, from which it is long in recovering. The advan¬ 
tage of a box in preference to a pot is, that the roots are 
not exposed to such sudden alternations of heat and cold, 
dryness and moisture. 
Ilistorij .—Found by Dr. E. Wallich, on exposed 
places on the hills of Sylhet and Nepaul, and there jiro- 
ducing its corymbs of flowers at the points of the 
shoots, according to locality, nearly all the year. As it 
requires fully 50° to open its bloom freely, we cannot 
have it in bloom in the winter if the temperature is long 
below that. 
Propagation .—I have tried old shoots cut up, and 
young shoots slipped off with a heel, when three inches 
in length, and the success was rather the greatest with 
the young shoots. In each case, the cuttings had the 
advantage of a moist hotbed, inserted in sand over sandy 
peat, and the young shoots here covered with a bell- 
glass, edged up a little on one side at nigbt. As soon 
as struck, pot off in small jiots, and keep in a moist 
heat, giving more air as tho plant growls. Cuttings 
should all bo inserted in spring, and, at least, before mid¬ 
summer, This is of importance, as affects the cuttings, 
and also because whatever or stopping the plant 
receives sliould bo done byduno, at the furthest, that the 
