THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 12, 1S59. 
203 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day 
of 
M’nth 
Day 
of , 
Week. 
JULY 12—18, 1859. 
Weather 
nf.ar London in 1858. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun Moon 
Sets. R.andS. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Cl 
bef 
Barometer. 
Thermom. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
ock 
Sun 
Day of 
Year. 
12 
Tir 
Mahernia verticillata. 
30.051—30.000 
81-57 
w. 
_ 
58 af 3 
12 af8 52 0 
12 
5 
14 
193 
13 
W | 
Yirgila lutea. 
30.007—29.965 
77—56 
s.w. 
.02 
59 3 
11 8 | 43 1 
13 
5 
22 
194 
14 
Th 
Veronica salicifolia. 
j 29.951—29.856 
8# — 52 
S.W. 
— 
IV. 
10 8 46 2 
14 
5 
29 
195 
15 
F 
Solanum jaaminoides. 
29.791—29.760 
90—57 
S.W. 
.16 
2 4 
9 8 rises 
© 
16 
5 
35 
196 
1G 
S 
Tropoeolum pentaphyllum. 
29.897—29.823 
83—51 
s.w. 
.18 
3 4 
8 8 | 4 a 9 
5 
41 
197 
17 
Sun 
4 Sunday after Trinity. 
i 29.990—29.977 
84—41 
s.w. 
.20 
4 4 
7 8 I 19 9 
47 
198 
18 
M 
Mimetes divaricata. 
30.110—30.016 
83—45 
s.w. 
.01 
5 4 
0 8 j 30 9 
5 
52 
199 
Mf.teorolooy of the Wf.kk.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 75.3° and 51.3°, respectively. The greatest heat, 93 3 , occurred on the 14th, in 184/ ; and the lowest cold, 40 , 
on the 17t.h, in 1856. During the period 134 days were fine, and on 90 rain fell. 
The great Kensington Gore sclieme of the Horticul¬ 
tural Society has at last been made known, and the 
Fellows and the public are now in possession of all the 
particulars relative to this vast undertaking. A Meeting 
was held in the house of the Society of Arts, Adelphi, 
last Thursday, when a large gathering of the most in¬ 
fluential Fellows of the Society assembled to hear the j 
statement from the Council. A full report of the Meeting 
will be found in another portion of this paper; and we 
need not, therefore, enter into any particulars as to the 
scheme itself, further than to say that it is one which the 
Fellows of the Society who are interested in the advance¬ 
ment of horticulture, and in preserving the legitimate 
objects for which the Society was instituted and its 
charter obtained, should regard with great caution, and 
not allow themselves to be hurried into it without having 
some security or assurance that these objects will be 
maintained. 
There are two aspects in which this great outlay of 
money and heavy responsibility are to be regarded. The 
first is, as the means to an end; and the second—which 
in our opinion, is by far the more important—its bearing 
upon horticulture. As regards the first of these aspects, 
as a means for raising money, which it is said is intended 
to be devoted to the advancement of horticulture, we 
think that the plan will be successful, great as the amount 
required assuredly is, provided advantageous terms can 
be made with the Koyal Commissioners as to the length 
of the lease. The spirited way in which the scheme has 
been taken up by Her Majesty and the Court is almost 
a guarantee that, as a commercial speculation, it ftill 
meet with public support; and the way in which it is 
intended the new garden is to be laid out and applied bears 
on the face of it a fair prospect of success. But wdiat we, 
as horticulturists, want to know and be assured of is, 
the bearing that all this will have on horticulture and 
the Horticultural Society as it was originally constituted ; 
and this brings us to the consideration of the second 
aspect in which we are to regard this movement. 
There is no doubt in the minds of those who have given 
any attention to the subject, that the decline of the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society has been brought about by a lavish, un- 
remunerative expenditure, and culpable mismanagement. 
We have never heard but this one opinion expressed 
among horticulturists. By such courses the Society 
is brought to the verge of bankruptcy, its energies 
No. 563.—You. XXII. No. 15. 
paralysed, and its operation has become effete. To raise 
it from this state of positive inanition, great changes are 
necessary, and ample funds must be provided. Believing 
as we do that the Kensington Gore movement will be 
productive of a considerable income, we are of opinion that 
if that income be faithfully applied to the development of 
the objects originally contemplated by the founders, the 
Society will again take a respectable position among the 
great institutions of the' country. But this end is not to 
be effected in the ornamental garden and fashionable pro¬ 
menade at Kensington Gore. The real working and tell¬ 
ing effect of the Society must be carried out elsewhere; 
and before we give our entire and cordial support to the 
scheme now proposed, we must, for the Fellows of the 
Horticultural Society, have an assurance that the garden 
at Chiswick will be maintained in its integrity. It is well 
known that the present intention of the Council is to give 
up a portion of that garden which embraces the arbore¬ 
tum, and part of the orchard, including the large con¬ 
servatory. The respectable entrance from the “ Duke’s 
Boad ” lias already been closed as a preliminary step, 
and visitors to the garden are compelled to enter by a 
miserable back lane, which is both unattractive and in¬ 
convenient. Now, when the Council are prepared to 
enter upon a plan involving an outlay of £50,000, with 
the prospect of realising an income, which, according to 
their own estimate, will amount to £17,000 a-year, we 
really think that in curtailing the Chiswick garden on the 
ground of economy, they are “ straining at a gnat and 
swallowing a camel.” To carry out the whole objects of 
the Society, the entire garden is absolutely necessary; 
and if, as it is intended, there is to be an Arboricultural 
Committee formed,—and a very important Committee it 
will be,—the arboretum will then be required. 
We do most earnestly hope the Council will see that it 
is for the interest of the Society that the course we have 
pointed out should be followed; and we have no doubt 
if they will give an assurance by some such act that this 
great movement is not so much the formation of a great 
West End promenade, as the greater development of the 
usefulness of the Society, they will have the cordial sup¬ 
port of the Fellows and the whole horticultural com¬ 
munity. If, however, they give no such assurance, the 
whole of. the present proceedings must be regarded as 
nothing more than a great commercial speculation got up 
under the wing of the London Horticultural Society, 
but too little regarding the objects for which the Society 
was founded. 
