March 4. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 400 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
MARCH 10, 1856. 
We.vther near London in 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
1855. 
Rain in 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R,& S, 
Mof n’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Day i f 
Year. 
4 
Tn 
Hclophorus nubilua. 
29 . 576 — 29.573 
49-27 
S.W. 
Inches. 
00 
40 a 6 
44 a 5 
6 10 
27 
11 
52 
64 
a 
W 
Helophorus Fennicus. 
29-793—29-730 
53—26 
S.E. 1 
—• 
38 
45 
6 34 
28 
11 
38 
65 
6 
Th 
Spercheus sordidus. 
29.866—29.851 
51—23 
N.E. 1 
36 
47 
sets. 
@ 
11 
24 
66 
7 
F 
Rerosus luridus. 
29 . 892 — 29 . 8 I 6 
46—22 
E. 
— 
33 
49 
6 a 52 
1 
n 
10 
67 
8 
S 
Sphseridium scarabieoides. 
5 SuND.w IN Lent. 
30.086—30.066 
45—18 
N.E. 
— 
31 
51 
8 22 
2 
10 
55 
68 
9 
Sun 
30.063— 29.894 
41 — 27 
E. 
— 
29 
52 
9 52 
3 
10 
39 
69 
lu 
M 
Cercyon quisquilluni. 
29 . 838 — 29.754 
40—17 
S.E. 
-« 
27 
54 
11 23 
4 
10 
24 
70 
JIeteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-nine years, the average highest and lowestteni- 
peratures of these days are 49.3°, and .32.3°, respectively. The greatest heat, 68°, occurred on the 9th, in 1830; and the lowest cold, 7°, 
on the lOth, in ’.647. During the period 126 days were fine, and on "0 rain fell. 
Before our next number is issued to our readers tbe 
Report of the Committee over wliicli Mr. Godson 
presides will have been submitted to the Horticultural 
Society. On that Report, and on its reception or rejec¬ 
tion by the Fellows, depends the existence of what may 
be, and we hope will be, a Society most useful and most 
influential to our national gardening. Knowing this, 
we look with no ordinary anxiety and interest to the 
proceedings that will occur in Regent Street on the 
I 11th instant. 
^Yhat the Report of the Committee may recommend 
we cannot foretell; but deeply shall we deplore, in 
I common with every one who has the promotion of 
j British horticulture at heart, if the Committee do not 
' feel justified in recommending tlie possession of the 
: garden at Chiswick to be retained. We cannot but 
j hope that they will recommend it to be retained; for 
j we are convinced, and we know many first authorities 
who have the same conviction, that the Chiswick 
Gardens might be so cultivated as to be self-supporting. 
We mean that the sale of the produce, totally inde¬ 
pendent of uncertain e.xhibitions, would pay for the 
expenses of supervision and cultivation. If so, why 
should a garden on which 4:29,()0(J have been expended, 
I and which contains within its boundary the finest 
I collection of hardy fruits in Euroiio, be abandoned, and 
I lost to the community? It is such a collection for 
reference as could not be again assembled in our 
generation. 
Another recommendation we hope to find in the 
Report is, that the Secretariat be placed in other hands. 
This is essential; for we warn the Committee, and we 
warn the Society, that unless confidence not only of 
better management, but of more courteous treatment, is 
restored to the gardening community, that community 
will not rally round them. 
The Vice-Secretary, we are told, holds as a dogma that 
a great society cannot be well managed unless the chief 
power is given to one man. There is just enough of 
I truth in this dogma to conceal that in it which is a most 
j mischievous error. The executive—the supervision of 
the carrying out of all plans—may well be confided to 
one officer,—for such unity is the best mode of obtain¬ 
ing promptness and vigour of e.xecution. But the plans 
previously should be well digested and canvassed in a 
Council or Committee of jManagement. Let many men 
consider plans^let one man carry them into effect. 
If an illustration is required, let that be derived from 
the Royal Agricultural Society of England. They have , 
a Council and Committees to advise and resolve upon the ' 
management of different departments. 'They have a 1 
Secretary to see that their resolutions are carried out, j 
and that secretary, Mr. Hudson, is a model. Active, ' 
calm, persevering, courteous, firm—always and to all j 
ready with an appropriate answer, and that answer never I 
an unkind one. j 
Such a man must be had for the Horticultural Society, j 
He is to be found without difficulty, and then, if the an¬ 
nual subscription is moderate, there will be a prompt ' 
and powerful increase of the society’s ranks and j 
finances. i 
For years past—we may say, without exaggeration, 
even ever since the birth of the society—one man’s 
opinions have been too much allowed to prevail. It was 
so whilst Mr. Sabine was the society’s official, and the 
cloak of evil influence fell from him upon Dr. Lindley. j 
The results arc told in one fact—overwhelming all de- ; 
fence—nearly 4:70,000 have been obtained from various | 
sources, and disbursed in ten years,—yet the society is j 
unrelieved from its large debt! ; 
it is quite possible that a middle course may be sug¬ 
gested. It may be proposed that the Garden shall be ' 
placed under a management distinct from that in Regent i 
Street, and that thus, while the Vice Secretary continues 
to reign in London, an oligarchy may rule over Chiswick 
Garden. Could such an arrangement be secured—could 
a necromantic circle be drawn around the garden, potent , 
to exclude, totally and for ever, the spirit which has 
blighted and now wishes to abandon that garden, such 
an arrangement might so far be advisable; but wc have 
an unsbakeable conviction that that spirit would over- ^ 
stej) any circle—any resolutions—any rules that might 
be intended and ordained for bis exclusion. Our con¬ 
viction is founded not so much upon our opinion of tbe 
present Vice-Secretary as upon our knowledge of what 
invariably has occurred when the interference of an 
influential officer has been sought to bo excluded from 
any department of a Society with which he is connected, , 
and to which department he is adverse. Hints, sug¬ 
gestions, and passive opposition have always effected 
his purpose. 
We make our observations in entire ignorance of 
what the Committee purpose recommending to the Soci¬ 
ety for adoption; for although the Committee met as 
long since as on the 9th of February, and has, we be¬ 
lieve, heard evidence, and met repeatedly since, yet its j 
CCCaXXYlU- Voh-XY. 
