260 THE FLOEAL WORLD AXD GAEDEX GUIDE. 



Brunswick Nursery, Stoke Newington. At the Crystal Palace, chry- 

 santhemum shows have never answered commercially, and the directors 

 have wisely given them up. The exhibitions at the Agricultural Hall 

 were nearly successful, but not quite. The place is too large, too 

 cold, too wild and grim in character to be fit for a chrysanthemum 

 exhibition ; for at this dull time of year the public have no appetite 

 for entertainments, unless they are presented in bright, light, and 

 comparatively comfortable chambers. It has been the good fortune of 

 the United Horticultural Society to exemplify the possibility of making 

 a November show thoroughly attractive and successful, both in a 

 strictly horticultural and a commercial sense. Surely there has never 

 been a more beautiful spectacle than was presented to the public by 

 the Guildhall, on the evenings of November 14 and 15, when this 

 Society held its splendid exhibition there. That it was appreciated, it 

 is sufficient to say, that during the days of exhibition it was visited 

 by over 5000 persons. That the exhibition comprised tree ferns, 

 orchids, gourds, fruits, and miscellaneous productions, in addition to 

 chrysanthemums, detracts nothing from the importance of the last- 

 named subjects. We have always advocated the adoption of a broad 

 basis for November exhibitions. Let the chrysanthemum have the 

 high place it deserves, and give it such prominence that it will be the 

 principal element in the display, but provide compensation for its 

 want of grace by introducing subjects which add variety and give relief, 

 and by contrast render the chrysanthemums more beautiful than if 

 seen and judged alone. Of all the suburban societies, that at Brixton 

 Hill has carried this idea into effect most completely and satisfactorily, 

 and the shows there have always been models for the rest. 



The several " homes " of the chrysanthemum have this year been 

 sufficiently lively with exhibitions. The Stoke Newington Society, 

 which is the oldest of all, had the misfortune to be compelled to hold 

 its exhibition in a dark school-room, where it was impossible to appre- 

 ciate the many beautiful examples of skill and taste that were presented. 

 This benighted spot appears, indeed, to be singularly deficient of public 

 spirit, for though a wealthy district, and making some pretensions to 

 activity in intellectual, and religious, and scientific matters, it has never 

 had any better place for public assemblies than the filthy barn which 

 bore the name of "Manor Booms," and which has happily been swept 

 away, or some two or three dark and fusty school-rooms, where children 

 are half poisoned while being taught, and where, if an exhibition or 

 public assembly takes place, all the parties concerned feel that the little 

 candle they have lighted is most ignominiously placed under a bushel. 

 However, the Stoke Newington growers came out in full force at the 

 Guildhall show, aud their productions were seen and admired, and they 

 had some compensation for their troubles, while at the same time they 

 "were assisting a most praiseworthy undertaking. 



The South Es?ex Society has made the finest show of specimens this 

 year of any. We congratulate the South Essex growers on their 

 success, and trust the example they have set may be profitable to 

 many. At Brixton, too, superb specimens were shown, and with them 

 many first-class subjects from the stoves and greenhouses of the district. 

 Yery satisfactory, too, was the exhibition by the North- w r estern amateurs, 



