258 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN aiTlDE. 



readers at heart, and it is the love of horticulture that binds them and us 

 together in something like family ties. As the head of this particular 

 family, we ask for whatever help can be afforded us ; Ave don't want a 

 testimonial or a subscription, or a vote of thanks, or invitation to a din- 

 ner ; we simply want more subscribers to the book, and those who take 

 it will be most benefitfd, for our profit is an infinitesimal fraction of a 

 farthing per copy, and the reader's profit is more potatoes, more apples, 

 more cabbages, more flowers, and everything of the best, and some better 

 than they ever were before ; besides entertainment in the new tasks sug- 

 gested, and the agreeable pastime of reading about gardens and the flowery 

 things that belong to them. A few friends have been very constant in 

 sending us notes of their experience, and results of their inventive genius ; 

 many more might do so who never yet thought of such a thing. There is 

 our friend Ipse Dixit who has grown Planta innominata 500 feet high, and 

 has never yet sent in a word about it ; but if the earwigs creep through the 

 keyhole of his conservatory, and consume his best plant of Lignosus ligneus 

 in a single night, he will immediatelj^ write to know how to prevent such 

 a thing in future, and we shall have to advise him to touch the tail of 

 every earwig with a drop of oil, and that will render them oily and 

 incapable. Then our friend has influence, the result of probity and 

 intelligence, with fifty neighbouring gardeners, and he has never yet told 

 them that the Ploral World is his book, and that from its pages he 

 learned the secret of stretching Eigidorus inflexibilis so as to take first 

 prize with it, and obtain honorary fellowship of the E. H. S. Perhaps 

 this is enough ; it is only once a year we say a word about ourselves, and 

 on those occasions we do, as we do now, v>'ish our readers, contributors, 

 artists, printers, publishers, all who are concerned in the progress of our 

 agreeable labours, a Meebt Christmas and a Happy jSTeav Tear. 



NOTES OP THE MONTH. 



As we intend with our next Number to modify the plan of this portion of 

 the work, a few remarks appear necessary. We find that to give full reports 

 of all the shows tliat occur froni month to month takes up an unreasonable 

 amount of space ; to report one in full, and another in brief, has an appearance 

 of partiality ; and to select for full reports, those which attract the most 

 public attention, is rather to record the movements of fashion than to recite 

 the history and progress of horticulture. Many a local show, unknown be- 

 yond the limits of its immediate operations, does more to advance the art 

 than the groat assemblies where fashion finds relief iu agreeable promenades. 

 This part of the record belongs more properly to the morning newspapers, 

 which ai-e very accurate in lists of prizes and names of the company present, 

 but wofully inaccurate in whatever tliey think it needful to say about scented 

 dahlias and roses grown on Lmrcl bushes. We purpose to adopt a plan which 

 will enable us to report on the progress of horticultui-e without burdening 

 our pages with long lists of names and prizes. It canuot matter much to the 

 mass of our readers that A. B. was first, and C. D. second. No doubt this 

 plan will disappoint many, but we feel that we are bound to employ our 

 pages to the best possible purpose, and information of permanent value 

 should have preference over matters of only temporary interest. Many of 

 our friends, vvho are interested in local exhibitions — ^yhlch we have reported 

 more fully than any other horticultural journal — will probably complain of 



