will probably take place in time to benefit G. R. G., we recommend him to continue to store his mind with all kinds of knowledge that he can bring to bear upon his profession.Cond.

ART. XXI. Reasons for not subscribing towards the Formation or Support of the Garden of the Horticultural Society of London, with some Remarks on the Management of the Society generally. By MENTOR.

Sir,

PRESUMING the pages of your Magazine to be open to the discussion of every subject relative to horticulture, I send you the following observations as containing my reasons for not subscribing towards either the formation or support of the garden of the Horticultural Society of London, as also some remarks on the management of the Society generally.

Having been elected a Fellow prior to the establishment of the garden, I have lately received a circular from the council, reminding me that former applications from them relative to the garden are still unnoticed, and enclosing to me certain explanatory notes relative to the mode in which each class of the Fellows are to be treated, so far as regards the amount of their donations and subscriptions thereto. Now, as I reside very many miles from London, I cannot, under those regulations, have any inducement either to increase my subscription or become a donor, for I consider the original Fellows of the Society, or at least such of them as have not thought proper to increase their subscriptions, have been very unceremoniously turned to the right about, and shorn of an equal share of the privileges which they were entitled to expect by the charter, notwithstanding the great exertions they have made, jointly and severally, to promote, as much as in them lay, its interests and well-doing, and having by their great and constant attention assisted mainly in placing it on the high ground on which it at present stands ; while those Fellows who have been elected since the formation of the garden, who have merely complied with the regulations. existing at the time of their admission, but who have not once pulled at the labouring oar by which the Society has been called into notice, are allowed advantages which I am decidedly of opinion (and I am not singular in this respect) they are not by any means exclusively entitled to. And further, I firmly believe that by the expensive principles on which the garden is now conducted, the seeds of its own ruin are already

1

sown, unless indeed the government should fortunately be disposed to grant a large annual allowance to make up the great defalcation which must ultimately take place in the finances of the Society without such assistance. I say fortunately, not because I approve of accepting any such allowance, as it would in my opinion totally destroy the independence of the Society, but because without such aid I believe the garden cannot be proceeded with, at least on the present extended, extending, and magnificent scale. Yet even this support, if attained, cannot be considered as permanent, as we have already seen in the fate of the Agricultural Society. I expect also that the finances of the Society will suffer by a falling off in the sale of the Parts published, which may arise from two causes, viz. first, from the increased number of Fellows, many of whom, before they became so, were in all probability purchasers; and, secondly, the papers published are by no means so interesting to the generality of readers as they formerly were, when several persons were each contributors of short papers founded on their own personal knowledge of the facts therein stated, instead of which the Parts are now principally filled with papers relative to the progress of the garden, and of the fruits and flowers therein cultivated, the major part of which may possibly be ornamental, but certainly cannot be considered useful. So that instead of the public drawing information through these publications from every part of the kingdom on subjects of Horticulture, they now obtain little more than observations and memoranda of what has been done in the Society's garden.

In making the foregoing observations, I have no sinister or hostile views towards the Society; on the contrary, I should feel gratified by assisting to uphold it: but I must repeat that I cannot by any means consent to do so, while I so highly disapprove of the regulations which have been introduced, apparently to force the money from the pockets of the original members; for with no other view could the asterisk be affixed to the names (in the List of Fellows) of those persons who have complied with those regulations. I object also to the great outlay which has so inconsiderately taken place in the formation of the garden without funds to support it; and as it never was originally intended to form a botanical collection of plants, I do not, under any circumstances, approve of sending botanical collectors to foreign parts, to search for what? not for the useful, but merely for the rare or beautiful. And you are perhaps aware that doing this is entirely in opposition to the opinion of the late highly esteemed and highly valued Sir Joseph Banks, who carried his partiality to the "useful" so

far as to express his opinion that a coloured plate of a flower should on no account be introduced into the Society's Transactions and although I do not entirely agree with this doctrine, yet I am decidedly of opinion that flowers or fruits requiring a very high temperature should only occupy the second place in the consideration of the council, and that their attention should be principally directed to the improvement of the fruits and culinary vegetables, which it is probable may be brought to perfection in the latitudes of the united kingdom.

All that has been said about a paid secretary I think of no value, as it is my opinion, founded on the experience of some years, that business of every kind is always best and most promptly executed when very few persons are concerned in it; and a hired secretary would not only be without power to act, but from want of that power he would not exert his energies to their full and necessary extent; and I believe, however high such a person might stand in point of talent, or however large his remuneration might be, he would not so completely devote himself to the Society's service as the present honorary secretary does, and I am satisfied that the Fellows ought to be very much obliged to him for so much gratuitous time bestowed on the business of the Society: but

nevertheless cannot help remarking that his zeal has, I think, carried him beyond the boundary originally intended by the charter, or by a large majority of the present Fellows; and although it may be difficult, and certainly unpleasant, to recede from the high ground he has taken, yet it would be better to do so gradually than be let down at once by the run, and which, if the present system of extravagant expenditure is persevered in, must ultimately, and at no great distance of time, be the case.

If the foregoing remarks, containing my reasons for not increasing my subscription, are deemed worthy of publication, they may possibly, by being widely disseminated through the means of your Magazine, open the eyes of many Fellows of the Society to the real state of its concerns, and tend ultimately to reduce the expenditure within the bounds of prudence, and yet retain the power of pursuing every truly desirable object that can be expected to be derived from it; and that this may be speedily accomplished is the sincere wish of,

August 31. 1826.

Sir, &c.

MENTOR.

415

PART II.

REVIEWS.

ART. I.

Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, Vol. VI. Part II. London, July, 1825. 4to. I Plate. THE principal feature of this part is a paper on strawberries by Mr. James Barnet, which occupies eighty of its 133 pages. The plate is a plan and sections of a conservatory. 9. An Account of a new Seedling Grape. In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. Henry Burn, F.H.S. Gardener to the Marquess of Ailesbury, F.H.S. &c. at Tottenham Park, near Marlborough. Read December 6. 1824.

This excellent grape, known as the Tottenham Park Muscat, is the produce of seeds of the muscat of Alexandria, sown in 1819. It is considered equal, if not superior, to the old muscat in point of size, both in bunch and berry, and to surpass it in flavour.

10. An Account of a Lime Duster for the Destruction of Insects on Fruit Trees. In a Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. Samuel Curtis, Glazenwood, Coggeshall, Essex. Read August 20.

1824.

84

This utensil (fig. 84.) is made of tin, 12 inches long, 7 inches wide at its broadest, and 4 inches across its narrowest part. The handle is 5 inches long, and to the top of it is fitted a cap (a), which is put on when the lime is to be thrown on low trees; but when high trees are to be operated upon, the cap is removed, and a pole, of sufficient length to reach the height required, is inserted into the handle. The time for dusting trees with powdered lime is in the dew of the morning. The caustic quality of the lime does not injure the most delicate, fresh-expanded foliage; it is only prejudicial to insects of all kinds, and to dead vegetable matter. Mr. Curtis, by the application of lime dust with this machine, destroved the caterpillars over a

b

whole orchard, giving one dusting just before the blossoms were expanded, and one or two after the blossoms were over and the leaves expanded.

The same utensil may be used for dusting powdered brimstone on trees or plants infested with the mildew, or for scattering salt, tobacco-dust, &c.

11. On forcing Cucumbers. In a

Letter to the Secretary. By Mr. Thomas Allen, F.H.S. Read January 4. 1825.

In growing cucumbers under lights, "the most obvious defects," according to Mr. Allen, are "compost of too light a quality," and "dung not sufficiently worked before it is earthed over." Mr. A. has been in the habit of growing early cucumbers under frames on common dung beds for twenty years, always producing abundance of fruit from March till October. In 1823 he worked seventy lights for the London market, the produce of which was 3360 cucumbers, or four dozen to a light, "a greater product than is usually obtained by any of the ordinary methods of treatment." The beds are made in December or January, the hot horse-dung having been previously turned and watered five or six times. Before earthing it, round flat mats about fifteen inches in diameter, formed by coiling up a band of straw one inch in diameter and ten feet long, are to be prepared and placed on the dung, under the centre of each light. Rye straw is preferred for these mats, as it does not encourage mice. A bushel of compost, consisting of loam and rotten dung, is placed on each mat, and one plant, in preference to more, on the top of each hillock. The top of the plant should be left three inches from the glass; the mould should then be dressed up round the hillock and be pressed close to the roots, and within one inch of the seed leaves of the plant: these, at no time of earthing, should be covered, for this is very apt to cause canker. The earth should be kept within the bounds of the straw mat, and not be suffered to mix with the dung, as that would cause a burning, which is not only troublesome, but in many instances fatal to the prosperity of the plant; because, if the earth is once burnt, its vegetative quality is destroyed, and water will have no effect on it. The only remedy in such a case is to remove the mould, fork up and water the dung, lay on a little rye straw, and replace the earth.

After ridging out, from one quarter to one inch of air is given in the day, and about one quarter during the night. The covering must be very slight for the first three or four weeks, and must not hang over the sides.

"The heat must be kept up by augmenting the linings once a week, turning over and watering them, when they heat so as to