HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 19, 15 February 1845, Page 4

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

This Society held their Third Annual Meeting at Barrett's Hotel, on Thursday evening, February 6th, to receive the report of the Committee and to elect officers for the ensuing year. The Chair was taken by Col. Wakefield, President of the Society, when the following report was read :—: — THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE HORTICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY. Your Committee have great pleasure in presenting you with their Thiid Annual Report, and if in some respects it is not as satisfactory as they could have wished, if the support which the Society has received during the past year has not been so great as in the years preceding, it was to be anticipated that the general depression which has so long I existed throughout the colony would be felt in some degree by your Society. Your Committee have therefore proportioned their efforts to the means afforded them, and have so limited their expences duriug the year as i to leave a considerable balance available for future exertious when the present depression shall have passed away, and the improved state of the colony may justify them hi expecting increased support. This balance the Trustees, in the exercise of the powers granted to them by the last general meeting, have not deemed it expedient to invest by way of mortgage on landed security for many obvious reasons. It may be sufficient to state that, up to the time of making this Report, no Crown title has been issued by the Governor for any of the lands in this settlement, though your Committee, at the period of making their last annual report, were in confident expectation that this important question was on the point of being finally settled. The balance now in the Treasurer's hands amounts to the sum of £5Q 7s. lid. Your Committee have the gratification to inform you that they have received a promise from his Excellency the Governor of a grant of the ten acres of land alluded to in their last report. For the reasons above assigned they have not' as yet inclosed or cleared any portion of this land, because such a step would not only bft immediately attended with considerable expence, but would also involve anadditional annual outlay which for the present it would be prudent to .avoid. Your Committee have the pleasure cf informing you that they have heard of the safe arrival of the case of plants, stated in their last report to have been sent to Messrs. Loddiges and Sons, Hackney, and have in return received from them a large case of gooseberry plants, which were distributed at a low price among the subscribers of the Society. These plants were packed in earth, but your Committee are concerned to add thafcvery. few of them have shewn any signs of-vegitation. This is the more to be regretted as such an addition to the gardens of the colony would have proved most valuable ; it is however desirable that the results of these experiments even if unsuccessful

should be^arefully stated, as they are of importance nfcgdetermining the best method of sending trees^d plants so great a distance. From the experiments already tried your Committee have reason to believe, that the method of packing plants or seeds in air tight cases, is not to be depended upon as likely to be attended with success. The cases of plants sent to the London Horticultural Society, to Sir W. Hooker, and to Mr. Gowen, together with the dried specimens of plants and seed sent to the same parties have not yet been acknowledged. Your Committee in conclusion desire to express their sense of the kindness and liberalty of Edward Wakefield, Esq., in sending to your Society a very valuable collection of seeds gathered in the Jardih de Plants of Paris, which will be distributed among the members. The following resolutions were then passed That the Report now read be received and adopted. That the thanks of the meeting be given to the Oft'cers of the Society for their services during the past year, and that they be requested to continue their services for the ensuing year. The thanks of the Society were then voted to Mr. R. Davis, for the gratuitous use of his room for the exhibitions, and to Mr. Suisted for his kindness in allowing the use of his room for the present meeting. The thanks of the Society were voted to their Chairman, which concluded the business of the evening. The following is a list of the officers for the ensuing year — patron : The Bishop of New Zealand. , PRESIDENT : Colonel Wakefield.