142 THE GARDENER. [March 



Mr Spink with feelings of sincere gratitude. He had given up his 

 time to me ; he had treated me with the greatest kindness where every- 

 thing and everybody were strangers. 



The following morning landed me in the show ground of the War- 

 wickshire Agricultural and Horticultural Society. In no section of 

 the latter department was there anything introduced deserving to he 

 recorded. The character and quality of the material differ in no par- 

 ticular from what is to be seen at our autumn meetings throughout 

 the country. Visit twenty of them, and they will be pretty much the 

 same. This is an age of change, and certainly a change of plants has 

 here become a necessity. The finances of the society suffer by a con- 

 tinued sameness. Often and often have I heard visitors express their 

 disapprobation by saying, " There is nothing new to be seen; it is the 

 same thing over and over again." These are pungent expressions ; 

 they convey more than actually appears : it is time, then, for managers 

 to calculate the consequences, as it is they alone who can make the 

 necessary reforms by remodelling their schedule. Only offer remuner- 

 ative prizes, and gardeners will soon be equal to the demand. 



This is not a question that can be fully discussed in an article of 

 this kind : it deserves more thought than a few running comments. 

 The defect is only to be acknowledged, and how to settle it will soon 

 transpire. 



As the air of Warwickshire is all the refreshment the managers con- 

 sider necessary to support their judges, I had now nothing further 

 to detain me, beyond a little professional gossip, so I retraced my 

 steps to Birmingham, and by the next midland train reached Worcester 

 on a visit to Mr Smith's nursery, and fortunately found him at home, 

 and he offered me every facility to look through his extensive grounds. 



Alexander Cramb. 



The Gaedens, Tortworth. 



[To he continued.) 



MANCHESTER EXHIBITION. 



This grand event, for it is nothing less, begins on the 14th of May, and ends on 

 the 21st. It will, as hitherto, be held in the Botanical and Horticultural Society's 

 Gardens at Old TraflFord. 



For plants and flowers of various descriptions, there is offered in prizes the 

 startling sum of £906, and for fruit £21. 



We observe that Mr Williams of Paradise Nursery, Holloway, London, offers a 

 prize of £50 for fifty plants ; one half of them to be in bloom, the other half to be 

 foliage-plants. This will be the Derby of the horticultural year. The Society 

 offers £25 as the second prize in this class. 



