60 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
formity with the charter; G. F. Wilson, Esq., 
Lieut.-Col. Scott, and Henry Cole, Esq., C.B., 
Expenses Committeemen; and J. Nicholson, 
Jonathan Clarke, and R. Hudson, Esqs., 
Auditors. 
The adoption of the report was then moved 
by Sir A. Scott Waugh, who expressed his 
satisfaction with it, with the improvements 
effected in the gardens, and with the exten¬ 
sion of the privileges of the members; and 
the regret which he, in common with other 
Fellows of the Society, felt at the loss of three 
such eminent men as Dr. Lindley, Sir William 
Hooker, and Sir Joseph Paxton. He observed 
with satisfaction that part of the report in 
which the Council expressed their intention 
of carrying out horticultural experiments. 
Some questions were then put by Mr. 
Neville Grenville relative to the admission of 
Fellows during the International Exhibition, 
and it having been explained by Mr. Cole and 
the Chairman that the Fellows would have 
free admission to that exhibition on the second 
day, and at all times, except when the ar¬ 
rangement and judging of the plants and 
fruits was going on, to those portions of it 
in the Society’s grounds, Mr. Grenville ex¬ 
pressed himself satisfied. The motion for the 
adoption of the report being seconded by Mr. 
Blenkins, Was then put to the meeting and 
carried unanimously. 
The valuation of the Society’s stock by 
Messrs. Lee and Parker, was next reported 
to be—Kensington, £3783 11s. 6d .; Chiswick, 
£2202 15s.—or altogether £5986 6s. 6d. 
Some discussion afterwards took place as to 
the propriety of the threepenny admissions 
during those months when the Fellows are, 
for the most part, out of town. Colonel 
Challoner considered that such a rate of 
admission lowered the Society in the eyes of 
the public, and suggested that it would be 
better to throw the garden open free on certain 
days. Mr. Edgar Bowring said that as the 
estate, which the Society held on most ad¬ 
vantageous terms, formed part of that pur¬ 
chased with the proceeds of the Exhibition of 
1851, it was in one sense public property; 
and that therefore the general public should 
have some privilege in respect to it, either by 
facilities for admission at certain times, or by 
having free days. For himself he was rather 
inclined to think the latter course preferable. 
Several Fellows having expressed their opin¬ 
ions on this subject, and a motion that Monday 
should he a free day during August and Sep¬ 
tember having been made and withdrawn, it 
was ultimately agreed that the best course 
would be to leave the matter to the Council to 
decide upon. Some questions having been put 
as to the privileges of the Fellows, and the 
Chairman having promised that if there was 
any obscurity as to these it should be made 
clear, the meeting closed with the customary 
vote of thanks. 
One fact worth recording as indicative of 
the increasing prosperity of the Society is, 
that at the meeting held on the 20th, no less 
than thirty new members were elected; and 
now that the Council have shown their anxiety 
to do all in their power to extend the Society’s 
sphere of usefulness, there can he little doubt 
that it will meet with a yet greater share of 
encouragement. 
International Horticultural Exhibi¬ 
tion and Botanical Congress. —Owing to 
Dr. Seemann’s having to proceed on a mission 
to Central America, he has been under the ne¬ 
cessity of resigning the Secretaryship of the 
Congress, and Dr. Masters has been appointed 
to that office. 
Longevity or Trees.' —The Washington 
Elm, at Cambridge, is supposed to be upwards 
of 140 years old, because it is known that the 
celebrated Whitfield preached under its shade 
in the year 1744. The Aspinwall Elm, at 
Brookline, is known from historical data to be 
two hundred years old. The great Elm on 
Boston Common is believed to be of about 
the same age. Now, of these trees, the first 
measures 14 feet in girth, at 4 feet from the 
ground; the second measures 17 feet, at 5 feet 
from the ground ; and the third, 16^ feet, at the 
same height. There is a remarkable Lime tree 
at Neustadt, Wurtemberg, which was so noted 
in the 13th century as to be called “ The Great 
Linden.” An old poem, dated 1408, mentions 
that “ before the gate of the city of Neustadt, 
rises a Linden, whose branches are sustained 
by sixty-seven columns.” These columns 
were pillars of stone, set up to support the 
immense branches, one of which extended 
horizontally more than 100 feet. Its age is 
computed at about 820 years. The celebrated 
Tortworth Chestnut is probably the oldest 
and largest tree in England. In the reign of 
Stephen, which began 1135, it was remarkable 
for its size. It is now 55 feet in girth, at 5 feet 
.from the ground, and is doubtless 1000 years 
old. One of the oldest Oaks in England is 
the Parliament Oak, in Clifstone Park, so 
called from a Parliament held under it by 
Edward I., in 1290. Who has not heard of 
the immense Oak near Cozes, in France, 
90 feet in circumference at the ground, out of 
whose hollow centre a room 10 feet in dia¬ 
meter and 9 feet high has been cut out ? It is 
put down at 1500 years from the acorn. The 
Olive tree attains a great age. One, lately 
cut down in the suburbs of Nice, Italy, showed 
nearly 1000 years .—[American Horticulturist.) 
Remarkable Fig Trees. — In a recent 
Number of the “Journal of Horticulture” 
Mr. Dawson gives an acount of some remark- 
Fig trees at St. John’s, near Ryde, Isle of 
Wight. The property, until lately, belonged 
to the Simeon family, and the gardener was 
Mr. John Lawrence, of whose decease and 
long and faithful service a notice appeared in 
our volume for 1865. Last autumn the ground 
was sold for building-purposes, and there is 
therefore every probability that the trees will 
