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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  4,  1902. 
to  the  amount  of  £30,000  in  eighteen  months,  and  then  to  give  a 
mortgage  for  another  £30,000  pending  the  time  when  millionaire 
Fellows  of  trans- Atlantic  extraction  are  as  plentiful  as  stolen 
turkeys  at  a  negro  thanksgiving,  the  present  plans  might  be 
postponed,  or  recast  for  a  more  pretentious  programme.  At  the 
rate  millionaires  are  appearing  on  the  Western  horizon,  such  a 
Napoleonic  policy  of  tempting  Providence  might,  after  all,  not 
find  its  termination  in  a  Moscow,  Leipsic,  or  Waterloo.  The 
American  “  wakeupfulness  ”  preached  bv  the  halfpenny  news¬ 
papers  consists,  like  Bonaparte’s,  of  recklessly  discounting  the 
future,  and  it  sometimes  succeeds.  If.  therefore,  the  Council 
feels  sufficient  of  this  spirit  of  modern  progress  surging  in  its 
veins,  some  action  should  at  once  be  taken  to  reconsider  the 
matter  of  the  hall  de  novo.  If  not,  all  efforts  should  be  directed 
to  temperately  modifying  the  existing  plans. 
Every  effort  should  be  made  to  raise  a  structure  which,  if  it 
cannot  out-rival,  will  at  least  hold  its  own  with  the  handsome 
residential  blocks  which  are  destined  ,  to  rise  around  Vincent 
Square  and  everywhere  in  Westminster  during  the  next  thirty 
years.  In  support  of  our  contention  expressed  last  week  re¬ 
garding  the  unsightliness  of  the  slate  roof,  we  this  week  publish 
two  suggestive  sketches  of  what  could  be  done  to  give  increased 
dignity  to  the  building.  They  are  the  work  of  another  Fellow, 
our  artist  Mr.  Shayler,  and  are  merely  intended  to  show  roughly 
how  with  a  little  patience  and  meditation  the  Building  Com¬ 
mittee,  in  conference  with  their  architect,  could  effect  altera¬ 
tions  incomprehensible  to  ordinary  minds,  and  of  which  we  our¬ 
selves  do  not  pretend  to  furnish  more  than  a  vague  indication. 
The  Horticultural  Hall. 
Following  up  the  remarks  which  we  made  last  week  regarding 
the  ground  plans  of  the  three  first  floors  of  the  Horticultural 
Hall,  we  again  enter  upon  the  subject.  Since  that  time  we 
.judge  by  the  letters  which  are  reaching  us  that,  the  criticisms 
we  have  ventured  to  pass  upon  this  long  desired  temple  of 
British  Horticulture  are  by  many  not  considered  to  err  upon  the 
side  of  severity.  Indeed,  like  Lord  Clive,  we  may  well  be 
astonished  at  our  moderation.  Having  respect  to  the  great 
difficulties  the  Council  has  had  to  encounter,  and  to  the  present 
modest  dimensions  of  the  building  fund,  we  have  suggested 
merely  an  inexpensive  alteration  in  the  design  of  the  roof.  But 
our  correspondents  attack  the  proposed  plans  in  the  same  com¬ 
prehensive  spirit  in  which  the  Highlander  passed  criticism  upon 
his  gun,  which  ironically  suggested  its  improvement  into  a  com¬ 
pletely  new  one.  They  would  have  entirely  fresh  designs. 
If  the  centenary  were  not  so  near,  and  if  more  time  remained 
•for  the'augmentation  of  the  subscription  list  and  the  elaboration 
of  fresh  plans  proportioned  to  a  larger  building  expenditure, 
such  a  policy  might  not  be  unwise.  All  these  demands  for  a 
^general  reconsideration  of  the  scheme,  however,  involve  in  the 
end  a  much  greater  cost,  and  this  sum  can  only  be  secured  by 
the  usual  methods  adopted  by  enthusiastic  churchwardens  and 
speculative  Australian  sheep-farmers;  to  wit,  -a  mortgage  on  the 
church  or  farm  of  a  similar  amount  to  the  capital  in  hand. 
If  the  Council  is  daring  enough  to  reckon  upon  subscriptions 
