I'EliRUATiY 13. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
345 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
BI 
D 
\V 
1 Weather nh 
FERRUARY 12—18, 1966. ' U, , ' 
Rarometer. 
1 
AR Lon 
Thermo. 
UON IN 1855. 
Wind. Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Bloon 
R. & H, 
Moon’s 
Age. 
_ 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
12 
Tu 
! 
Noctua nlgricaria. j 29.481—29.465 
36—23 
N.E. — 
23 a 7 
6 a 5 
0 
19 
6 
14 
32 
43 
13 
W 
Ember Week. : 29.443—29.356 
29— 0 
N.E. 1 — 
21 
8 
1 
43 
3 
14 
31 
44 
14 
Til 
Valentine. ' 29.400—29.322 
36—17 
N. - 
19 
10 
3 
5 
8 
14 
30 
45 
15 
F 
Noctua primaria. ; 29.925—29.699 
34 — 10 
N. 1 — 
17 
12 
4 
20 
9 
14 
27 
46 
16 
S 
Tinea nubilea. : 29.954— 29.811 
32—19 
N.E. — 
15 
13 
5 
23 
10 
14 
24 
47 
17 
Sun 
2 SuNDAV IN Lent. 1 29.897—29.8G9 
27— 2 
N.E. — 
14 
15 
6 
9 
11 
14 
20 
48 
IS 
Bl 
Tinea totrieea. 1 30.010— 29 . 98 O 
29 — 3 
N.E. — 
12 
17 
6 
41 
12 
14 
16 
49 
JIeteorologv of the Week. —At Cliiswiok, from observations during the last twenty-nine year.s, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these day.s are 45.5°, and . 11 . 3 °, respectively. 'J'he greatest heat, .5Q°, orcurred on the 12th, in 1S34; and the lowest cold, 6 °, 
on the 17 th, in 164.5. During tlie period 120 days were fine, and on 70 rain fell. 
AIEETING OF THE LONDON HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY, Febeuauy 5tii. 
This was a “ special general meeting of the Tlovticnl- 
tural Society,” to tliscnss the suliject of our difFiciiUies, 
the be.st way to get out of them, aiul to lay clown rules 
and plans for a third start. ’The second start began in 1830, 
wlien tlieollice of Honorary Secretary wasaholisliedin the 
person of j\lr. Sahiiie, and tliat of a paid Secretary was 
substituted in tlie person of Dr. Lindley. At that time, 
1 the extravagance of Mr. Sabine left the Society in debt 
i to the iimouiiL of nearly T30,0o0. This hea,vy load has 
weighed down the energies ol' the Society ever since; 
but were it not that a rival eslablishnient sprang up in 
the Regent’s Park, the Council had reasonable liopes of 
extingiiialiing the debt from tlie jirolits of the summer 
shows; hut the easy access to tlie Regent’s Park Garden 
to the ]teople in I.ondon settled the question against 
Chiswick shows long before the Council of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society seemed to believe that they had a rival 
to contend with. 'I’he rival establishment was also more 
fortunate in the choice of the Curator, Mr. Marnock, 
who manages and superintends everything connected 
with the shows with such a tact, such courtesy, and such 
j system, as no one at Chiswick ever dreamed of; and, as 
j Mr. Marnock rose in the favour and estimation of exhi 
bitors and their camp followers. Dr. Lindley’s rigid dis¬ 
cipline at Chiswick went down proportionately in the 
comparison. All this time the Council acted foolishly, 
by incuri'ing expenses for which there was little or no 
cull, considering the Society’s thfancial ditllcullies, and 
they did this in the teeth of warnings and jirophecies oi' 
future danger and of an approaching dead lock. 
]\lr. Charlwood, of Covent Garden, never missed an 
anniversary meeting—when the affairs o(’ the Society 
were under notice—without pushing the most urgent ap¬ 
peals against the directing power; and Mr Godson, Q.C., 
was no less urgent, after the fashion of a skillul lawyer, 
j He often tpld us, at those meetings, tliat the beds would 
i be taken from under us, some day or other, to pay lor 
I the debts of tbe corporate body; but whether they were 
' to be tbe llower-beds, or the hotbeds, or chamber beds, 
, he never said ; and lawyers do talk so much that people 
j take little note of what they say, unless they have to pay 
‘ them. At all events, the Council took little heed to 
; tliese warnings until it was too late, and they found 
themselves over head and years in tresh debts; and, in 
swallowing the leek, they proposed to this meeting to 
get rid of the garden altogether, and to slick more 
closely to the London branch ot the establishment in¬ 
stead. 
’J.'his proposition came in the following report, which 
was read by Dr. Lindley, who took his usual place next 
to the Chairman. The iSLirquis <it Salishiinj was voted 
into the chair;— 
The Fifilows of the Society have been made aware by the circular 
letter of tlie Council, dated October 23, 18.'.5, that in consequence of the 
continued unproductiveness of the Garden Kxhiliitions, some f;reat 
alteration in the expenditure of the Corporation has become inevitable ; 
unless the large debt against which successive Councils have bee n ' 
struggling with vaiying success, for a quarter of a century, is to be much 
increased. 
In the Annual Report made by the Council at the last Anniversary, it 
was explained that, during the previous three years, the income of the 
Society had been unequal to its expenditure, and that as much as £1250 
had been added to the debt during the year 1854-5. 
It had, indeed, been annually shown by the published reports of the 
Council, that the prineijial source of income from which the Garden had 
been maintained, namely, the Exhibitions there, had been gradually 
diminishing, it having beeir in 1853 dS'1715, and in 1854 only .£'455, 
while in 1855, instead of yielding any revenue, the Exhibitions had 
resulted in a loss estimated at about .-£300. 
Such being the case, and in the opinion of the Council no favouraVde 
change in the,Garden Exhiliitions being likely to occur (the experiment 
of reviving them in 1855 itnder the best advice which could be procured 
having wholly failed), the Council felt it to be their duty, as quasi- 
trustees of the property and interests of the Corporation, in the first 
jdace to take measures for securing it against a further increase of debt, 
and secondly, to consider in what way the corporate means could be best 
employed with a vimv of extinguishing the debt already incurred, and at 
the same time of carrying out those objects for w'hicii the Society was 
incorporated. 
It was shown by the accounts laid before the Society at the last anni- 
ver.sary that the income from all sources, excefit Garden Exhibitions, 
was .£2710 18.S'.,* w’hile the expenditure under all heads, with the same 
exception, was £4002 14s. 4d. It will also be found that of this 
expenditure about £ 2 C 00 belonged to the Garden, and about £2000 
to the establishment in London, to Which the interest of debt, salaries, 
and the cost of the Society’s publications was charged.f Hence it was 
evident either that the Garden absorhed nearly the whole income of the 
Society, leaving almost nothing for the London establishment, or that, 
after defraying the cost of the London establishment, only £700 at the 
utmost was applicable to tbe maintenance of the Garden—a sum wholly | 
insufficient to preserve even the lowest possible degree of vitality in such 1 
an establishment. It was not a difi'erence of a few hundred pounds, ! 
which economy, pushed to the utmost, perhaps might neutralize, but of | 
£'2000 a year, which no economy consistent w ith existence could materi- j 
ally aflVct. 1 
in the (harden w'as locked up a very large part of the means at the 
command of the Council for discharging the debts of the Corporation. It [ 
w'as for forming this establishment that before 1830 had been incurred the | 
great debt of £' 22 , 000 , which no elVovt on tlie part of the Society has since , 
been able to extinguish. In bis valuation, made last April, Blr. (ilendin- I 
ning reported that tbe contents of the Garden were worth £15,656, or 
£6835 more than the whole debt of tbe Corporation, floating and bonded, 
at that time. However uncertain such valuations are, there could he no 
doubt that in Ihe Garden was to be found a large part of the means which 
existed of extricating the Society from its difficulties. 
Sucli were the reasons, viz., that £4700 a year could not be paid by , 
£’ 2700 , and that the Garden represented a large part of the property ot 
the Society, which forced the Council to tlie conclusion that, so far as 
they could discover, that establishment must be wholly or in part relin- j 
Return of the Income and Expenuiture of the Horticul¬ 
tural SOCIETV FOR 1854-5, EXCLUSIVE OF THE GARDEN. 
Income: 
£ 
.V. 
d. 
Annual Subscriptions. 24 14 
19 
t) 
Admission Fees from Fellows . 
42 
(1 
0 
(juarterly .fournal sold . 
28 
1 
6 
'I'ransactious and Fruit Catalogues sold 
10 
2 
8 
Rent of apartments let off . 
175 
0 
0 
Bliscellaneous Receipts. 
Ejpendihire : 
40 
14 
4 
— 2710 
Ipferest on Loan notes. 
2,57 
5 
0 
Rent, Taxes, &'C. 
257 
19 
3 
Repairs, Furniture, tkc. 
35 
13 
1 
Housekeeping Expenses. 
■Salaries and Wages, Collectors’ Pound- 
38 
15 
6 
age, &e. 
870 
13 
6 
Cost of Quarterly .lournal . 
8 
11 
8 
i9 
0 
Printing, Stationery, &C. 
23 
15 
5 
lOxpcnscs of Meetings, Postage, &c. .. 
145 
5 
1 
Costs of Medals awarded. 
139 
5 
0 
Law Expenses, 1852-4 . 
27 
11 
10 
— 2007 
Balance in favour of the Society 
No, CCCLXXXY. VoL. XV. 
