4 
MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
year shall he informed of the fact bv the Treasurer. If 
thirty days after such intimation any are still indebted, 
their names shall be formerly laid before the Society at 
the first meeting. 
XI. Honorary Members. — Any person not residing in 
the colony, who inav be distinguished as .a scientific pro¬ 
moter of Botany, Horticulture, or Agriculture, or who 
shall becohie an approved correspondent of the Society, 
may be appointed by the Council, an Honorary Member 
of the Society. 
XII. Honorary Life Members . —The Council may 
award Honorary Life Membership to the writer's of the 
best papors or essays on subjects of importance, due 
notice of the competition for such a prize having first been 
given. 
XIII. Life Members. —Any member paving the sum 
of ten pounds to the General funds of the Society, at one 
time, shall be a Life Member, 
XIY. Secretary. —The Secretary shall summon and 
attend all meetings, and shall cause a minute book or 
books containing the proeeeedings and transactions of the 
Society to be kept and laid upon tlie table at all meetings 
of the Society, (Other than Committee meetings) for in¬ 
spection. 
XV. L rider Secretary. — The Council shall appoint a 
paid Under Secretary, who shall be under the control and 
direction of the Honorary Secretary, Such Under Sec¬ 
retary may also be appointed Collector. 
XVI. Treasurer. — The Treasurer shall receive pay¬ 
ment of all monies due to the Society, and shall deposit 
the same as often as they amount to £20, in the Bank of 
New South Wales, to the credit of the Society. A finan¬ 
cial statement shall he laid before the Council when 
required. 
XYIt. Payments . —Claims against the Society,.when 
approved hv the Council, shall be paid by cheques signed 
by tlie 1 rcasurer and countersigned by tlie Secretary. 
XVIII. Auditors .—Two Auditors shall bo appointed 
at the General Meeting to audit the Treasurer’s accounts. 
The accounts as audited to bo laid before tlie Annual 
Meeting in J ulv. • 
XIX. Admission to Exhibitions. —Tlie Public shall he 
admitted to all Exhibitions by cards, on payment of such 
charge as shall be agreed on by the Council. 
XX. Additional By-Laws. —A standing By-Law Com¬ 
mittee shall be appointed to whom all proposed alterations 
to or additions to the By-Laws shall be referred for their 
report. 
Amongst other great advantages which the members of 
this society possess, is their union with the Society of 
Arts, which was established by the Horticultural Improve¬ 
ment Society, one of the terms and conditions of union is 
that— - Whenever any member of an Associated Colonial 
Institution, bearing a letter of introduction from its 
Secretary, shall visit London, he. may enjoy the usual 
privileges of a corresponding member’of the Society of 
Arts, during his stay, and may have his letters addressed 
to him at the Society’s house in the Adel phi.” 
^On the 20th of January this Society held its opening 
Meeting, when the following paper was read thereto by 
His Excellency tlie President; since which time many 
papers of a very interesting and useful character have 
been read at the monthly meetings* and will in due course 
appear in our columns. 
ADDRESS 
To Members op Australian Agricultural and 
Horticultural Societies. 
It is usual for the President of Societies, such as this 
which I am now addressing, to give to the Members, on 
then- first meeting, a general outline of the objects for 
which the Society has been ronstitated, and of the means 
by which such objects can best be carried out 
Now, although the present cannot, perhaps, in strict¬ 
ness, be said to be the first meeting of this Societr, which 
is, in fact, but an amalgamation of two Societies, which 
have hitherto . been working for the same objects, thouirh 
pot.m uiusoa with each other : yet, as I cannot hut hope 
1 ut t-iis union will give additional encouragement to the 
Members, and bo the moans of extending the sphere of our 
usefulness, I will avail myself of the present opportunity 
to give a brief sketch of the present state of Horticulture 
and Agriculture in this Colony, and will then call tlio 
attention of Members to the various modes in which the 
exertions of the Society may bo made available towards 
the improvement of both. 
I lia-ye given precedence to Horticulture, not on ac¬ 
count of its relative importance, hut on being the parent, 
in some measure, of Agriculture—the first step taken bv 
any individual when placed in such a position as would 
compel him to minister to all his own wants, would be to 
cultivate just so much land as would suffice for himself 
and his family, and this he would do by mere garden cul¬ 
ture ; when population springs up around him die division 
of labour takes place, aud as the demand for agricultural 
produce increases beyond the amount which mere horrid 
cultural labour can supply, animal labour Is brought in 
to assist and to lighten tjiat of man, the plough takes tho 
place of spade, the harrow of the rake, and the produco of 
one man’s labour when thus combined with that of 
animals becomes adequate to the maintenance of fortv of 
fifty of his fellow creatures. The return, however, if 
measured by the produce of equal areas of ground, is 
diminished, the work is done in a more hasty and slovenly 
manner, and tlie ground docs not yield tlut amount, 
which, under the careful working of the gardener, it would 
he made to produce. After a time, the projection which 
pojmlation bears to the land which has to sustain, it be¬ 
comes greater, labour becomes cheaper, and it becomes 
desirable to increase the acieable yield of the soil; the 
processes of the Agriculturist then becomes more and 
more assimilated to thoso of the Horticulturist; better 
instruments are used, every kind of mechanical appliance 
is called into action, more labour is bestowed on the soil, 
it is reduced to a better tilth, its chemical qualities are 
investigated, manures, in greater quantity and of the pro¬ 
per kind are applied, and the child, Agriculture, when it 
has arrived at its perfect growth, will he very closely 
assimilated to its parent Horticulture. In combining 
these kindred objects, therefore, I cannot but conceive 
that the Society has acted wisely—looking to the presen: 
state of the colony ; and I will now proceed to investigate, 
first, the condition of tho parent, which, when determined, 
will enable us to guess prettv well tho condition of tlie 
child. ‘ 
What, then, is the condition of Horticulture in New 
South Wales? 
A reference to the market price of Horticultural pro¬ 
duce would almost he a suindent answer to such a 
question. 
I do not, of course, mean that these market prices 
would he in any way a test of the amount of our Horti¬ 
cultural knowledge, but they are a fair index of the state 
of practical Horticulture. I believe, indeed, that we have 
amongst us many scientific Horticulturists, many whose 
knowledge of the Botanical classification of Plants, their 
qualities,, uses, modes of cultivation, &c., is both accurate 
and extensive, but vye are deficieit in what may be termed 
the economy of Horticulture. The cultivation of tho 
ground is slovenly,, weeds are allowed to absorb much of 
the nutriment which should gcr to the plant, and though 
tliis slovenly system may be attributable to a certain ex¬ 
tent to the deficient supply pf labour at the disposal of tho 
gardener, yet, few or no efforts have been made to devise 3 
remedy for this evil, or to place at the disj*osal of fiio 
Horticulturist, machines, which might ease his toil and in¬ 
crease the produce of his land. 
If this be the case with regard to the parent what may 
we expect with regard to the child ? If Agriculture be 
but a slovenly system of Horticulture, what can we ex¬ 
pect when those who should show a better example, do, ia 
fact, content themselves with applying to their gardens a 
system which Is more slovenly than ought to be tolerated 
even in a moderately conducted farm. 
If the crops in the garden are smother ed with weeds, 
what right have we to expect that the land of the farmer 
should bo kept clean. If the gardener lias not been 
stimulated by the high rate of wages to an attempt to in¬ 
troduce some Substitute for manual labour, what right 
