324 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 21, 1888. 
respect. The chief interest in the nominations, 
however, centres in the new ones, and although 
we may well express something stronger than 
astonishment that another of the Kew 
fraternity should he included, there is some 
compensation in the fact that Mr. A. H. Smee, 
the Rev. W. Wilks, Mr. Harry Veitch, and 
Mr. George Paul do fairly represent practical 
horticulture, the element of all others needing 
full and fair representation on the Council 
of such a body as rejoices in the title of 
Royal Horticultural Society. Curiously 
enough, possibly from lack of the needful 
material, the recent suggestion of Mr. John 
Lee that some of the practical gardeners of 
the kingdom should find a place on the 
Council, meets with no support at this very 
opportune moment. Now that all the 
fifteen places are presumably at the disposal 
of the Fellows, it does seem as if an intentional 
slight was being placed upon the gardeners 
of the country. Even but a couple of leading 
men placed on the Council would have done 
very much to give confidence to the gardening 
community, and show that the society was 
making a genuine effort to merit its appellation. 
Still further, it is obvious that some two or 
three others of the old Council might very 
well have made their resignations genuine, 
and not shams, if real gardeners had been 
nominated in their places. 
It will naturally be thought by those Fellows 
who are not well versed in the bye-laws of the 
society that between now and February 14th 
there will be time to take action in this matter ; 
hut we can assure them that such is not the 
case. The notice given by the secretary is 
dated January 12th, and reached the gardening 
papers last week after they had all gone to 
press ; and as intimation of opposition to any 
of the Council’s nominees must be made within 
seven days, and there is no printed list of 
Fellows available, it is obvious that without the 
aid of the publicity given to such matters by 
the gardening press, it was impossible by 
Thursday last to organise anything like com¬ 
bined opposition, so that unless some Fellow of 
the Society has given the proper notice or notices, 
the fifteen who are nominated by the Council 
must be elected at the annual meeting, and the 
ballot will, as usual, he a mere farce. We are 
in a position to state, however, that notice of 
disapproval has been given in the case of at 
least two of the nominations, so that the 
Fellows will have an opportunity of marking 
their sense of the audacious proposal made to 
place Mr. D. Morris, the assistant director at 
Kew, not only on the Council, but also to make 
him treasurer of the society, and this in the face 
of the strong recommendation of the Committee 
of Advice, that Baron Schroder should he 
nominated by the Council for that office. Mr. 
Morris is an unknown man in the horticultural 
world, and as, if put on the Council, he may 
become merely a wire-puller for his official 
superior, it is time that the Fellows revolted and 
put their feet down firmly upon such an imper¬ 
tinent attempt on the part of an official faction to 
make the Royal Horticultural Society nothing 
more nor less than a mere appanage of Kew. 
What connection, may we ask, is there 
between Mr. Morris and horticulture that he 
should be thus pitchforked into one of the most 
important offices of the Royal Horticultural 
Society 1 What has he done for horticulture 
or for the society that he should be thus 
honoured 1 We fearlessly assert that he has 
done nothing whatever to deserve the honour, 
and his selection is a distinct slur on genuine 
horticulturists, many of whom have faithfully 
and loyally served the society for long periods, 
and Avho are not only more fitted to become 
members of the Council, but specially to hold 
the important post of treasurer. Is there so 
little for the highly-paid officials at Kew to do 
that, having already almost monopolised a 
portion of our horticultural literature, they now 
aspire to clutch the offices which pertain to 
horticulturists 1 Let the director of Kew and 
his assistant bear in mind that they are public 
servants, and that the State has a first claim 
upon their services, at all events during 
official hours. Let them employ the super¬ 
abundant leisure they seem now to possess 
in keeping the plants grown at Kew more 
correctly named. Let them take in hand 
the improvement of their precious repository 
of stale information, the Kew Bulletin , 
which is at once the dreariest reading, the 
dearest, and most worthless of all Government 
publications. Let them faithfully discharge 
their obligations to their employers, their field 
of labour being sufficiently extensive and im¬ 
portant to demand the exercise of all their 
wisdom and energy. The Fellows of the Royal 
Horticultural Society must never forget that the 
Society was established and exists for the pro¬ 
motion of horticulture, not botany, and that as 
horticulture is at the present time one of the 
most important industries of the country, they 
should take special care that the society is not 
allowed to he taken in tow by Kew, a purely 
botanical, and very much over-praised establish¬ 
ment. 
Sir Joseph Hooker, the late Director of 
Kew—who seems to be proud of the fact 
that, during the many years the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society has been suffering from chronic 
impecuniosity, his name has appeared only 
on the society’s free list!—lately gave us a 
pretty broad hint that the Kew authorities 
had no difficulty in finding men for any 
position, and we draw the obvious inference 
therefrom that if a Kew official gets forced 
upon the Fellows as treasurer, the next aim 
will be to get even a tighter grip of the 
unfortunate society by appointing one of the 
official clique as its paid secretary or assistant¬ 
secretary. The Fellows could allow no graver 
error, no more foolish blunder than that to 
he committed. It is utter nonsense to assume 
for one moment that Kew officials have special 
qualifications for horticultural offices, or that 
they would be in any way fitted to organise or 
develop a distinctly practical gardening society. 
A purely botanical man placed in such a posi¬ 
tion of responsibility would soon become either 
an unmitigated nuisance, or, worse still, an in¬ 
tolerable despot. We may say at once that the 
appointment of any member of the Kew school 
to the post of paid secretary or assistant¬ 
secretary to the society would be received 
throughout the horticultural world with 
contempt and derision. 
It is degrading to British horticulture that 
the society should be made the sport of the 
Kew officials, and it is a burning shame that a 
Kew protegp- should be nominated for a seat on 
the Council instead of a working representative 
of the gardening community. Referring last 
week to some additions made to the Committee 
of Advice recently formed (but which the 
Council has virtually squashed by nominating 
some of its members to their own body), the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle deplores the fact that so 
many of the most fitting representatives of 
horticulture are excluded because there are no 
guinea or half-guinea rates of subscription to 
the Royal Horticultural Society, and we 
cordially welcome such an expression of opinion, 
which accords so fully with all we have of 
late been urging ; indeed, a stronger argument 
in favour of such a reduced subscription, than 
is the one just quoted, could hardly be found. 
-- 
National Chrysanthemum Society. —The annual 
general meeting of this society will be held at Anderton’s 
Hotel, Fleet Street, on Tuesday, January 31st, at 
7 p.m. 
Prizes for Grapes. — Exhibitors of Grapes should 
make a note in their diaries of the autumn show to be 
held in Edinburgh, on September 5th and 6th next, 
whereat Messrs. W. Thomson & Sons, Clovenfords, 
offer a prize of £10 for “eight bunches of Grapes, at 
least four varieties.” Other prizes are offered in the 
same class, of £5, £3, and £1 10s. 
Professor Asa Gray.—Great sorrow will be felt in 
scientific circles and elsewhere in this country where 
Professor Asa Gray is well known, on receipt of the 
news of his dangerous illness. He passed through 
Philadelphia in good health and high spirits, a few 
days only before he was struck down in December last 
by paralysis. Even should he recover, he can scarcely 
be expected to carry on his accustomed and valuable 
work after the severe shock from which he is suffering, 
especially considering that he is now at the advanced 
age of seventy-seven. 
Sheffield and West Riding Chrysanthemum Society. 
—The third annual dinner of this society took place 
on the 11th inst, at the “Clarence Hotel.” C. E. 
Jeffcock, Esq., one of the vice-presidents, presided, and 
there were upwards of sixty members present. The 
statement of accounts showed that the society is in a 
healthy condition, and it was announced that upwards 
of £40 have already been promised as special prizes, to 
be awarded at the next show, which is to be held on 
November 16th and 17th. One of the principal events 
of the evening was the presentation to Mr. Wm. K. 
"Woodcock (the able honorary secretary) of a purse of 
gold, subscribed by the members in recognition of his 
valuable services during the past year. 
Horticultural Fixtures for 1888. —In the list 
published in our last issue at p. 317, the dates fixed for 
holding the autumn shows of the Royal Caledonian and 
Glasgow and "West of Scotland Horticultural Society’s 
exhibitions, were, in (some unaccountable way, trans¬ 
posed, and we shall be obliged if our readers will alter 
their lists as follows : — September 5 & 6, Royal 
Caledonian Horticultural Society’s Show ; September, 
12, 13, & 14, Glasgow and West of Scotland Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Show, in connection with the 
International Exhibition. 
81. Francois Lacliarme. — A committee has been 
formed for the purpose of collecting subscriptions, with 
a view to erect a tombstone over the grave of this dis¬ 
tinguished rosarian and seedsman, M. Francois 
Lacharme, who died at Lyons on the 5th of November 
last, at the age of seventy years. He was well known 
and respected by a wide circle of friends, especially 
rosarians, and those who made Rose-growing their 
hobby ; and it is chiefly to these that an appeal is made 
for subscriptions, which may be sent to M. Cochet, 
treasurer, at Grisy Suisnes (Seine et Marne), near 
Paris, or to M. Bernaix, treasurer, 63, Cours Lafayette, 
a Villeurbanne, Lyons, France. 
Royal Horticultural Society.—The following is a 
list of the Fellows proposed by the council for election 
on February 14th Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P.; 
Robert Hogg, LL.D., F.L.S.; Professor M. Foster, 
F.R.S.; D. Morris, M.A., F.L.S.; W. T. Thiselton 
Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S.; A. lEL Smee, William Lee, Col. 
Beddome, Geo. Paul, Harry Yeitch, Sydney Courtauld, 
E. G. Loder, Rev. W. Wilks, Baron Henry Schroder, 
and G. F. Wilson, F.R.S. The persons recommended 
by the council to be appointed to the offices of presi¬ 
dent, treasurer, secretary, and auditors of the society 
are as follows President, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., 
M.P.; treasurer, David Morris, M.A., F.L.S.; secre¬ 
tary, William Lee ; auditors, John Lee, Wm. Richards, 
and H. Turner. 
Oxfordshire Chrysanthemum Society.—The fixture 
for the annual show of this society in the present year 
is Nov. 20th next, at Oxford. There are now so many 
Chrysanthemum exhibitions that it is very difficult 
indeed to avoid several falling upon the same date ; but 
there is always an advantage in early fixtures, that it 
enables other societies to arrange, and to prevent, as 
far as possible, the clashing of dates on the part of 
others operating in the same county or district. Chry¬ 
santhemum exhibitions have now become so general 
that in some localities their very existence depends 
upon the same exhibitors being able to show at three 
or four of them, which is a strong cause for harmonious 
action on the part of promoters, in order that there 
may be as little clashing of dates as possible. 
Birmingham and Midland Counties Gardeners 
Mutual Improvement Association. — During the 
current session of this association the following 
papers will be read on the dates named:—January 31st, 
“Flower Gardening,” Mr. W. Wildsmith, Heckfield 
Place, Hants. February 14th, “Alpine Plants, their 
Natural Habitat and Cultivation,” Mr. G. Gutherie. 
February 28th, “Medicinal Plants and the Drugs we 
get from them,” Mr. A. E. Robinson. March 13th, 
“ Cultivation of Fruit Trees in Orchard Houses,” Mr. 
T. F. Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, Herts. The committee 
offer prizes for papers or essays as follows :—Single- 
