JUNE. 177 



cultural Society had not hit upon the true way of making itself popular ; 

 and, after all, in these days, that is the point. To be select, and please 

 a few of the noble and wealthy, may be quite desirable ; but to bring 

 " grist to the mill," you must interest the great body of the community. 

 Nineteen out of twenty of the lovers of flowers in England could have 

 had but just this interest in the above show — " It was very pretty," 

 " Some very fine fruit," " What curious-looking plants ! " But where 

 were the note-books taken out, names taken down, nurserymen looked 

 after, and orders given ? Echo answers, Where ? I for one did not 

 see it ; and just for this simple reason, that the plants exhibited 

 were not within reach of the " nineteen." They were stove or large 

 greenhouse plants, or forced fruits from Pineries and hothouses, all of 

 which, of course, the " upper ten thousand" can boast of, but which the 

 majority of the real lovers of flowers cannot touch. 



The Society seems to have made two great mistakes in this show. 

 First and foremost, the most preposterous regulation of making it a two 

 days' exhibition — cruel in the extreme to the poor plants, and very 

 hard upon the exhibitors. Imagine delicate stove plants, Caladiums, 

 Cattleyas, Vandas, &c, exposed to the gas, dust, and confinement of 

 St. James's Hall for two whole days ! One would not subject much 

 hardier plants to such treatment, and the sooner an alteration is made 

 in this the better. Then, again, the prizes offered clearly exclude those 

 things which are within the reach, as I have said, of the great majority. 

 If Pelargoniums and such like plants had been encouraged, it would 

 have increased the popularity of the show. 



Taking these things into account, one is, however, bound to say that 

 the arrangement reflected the greatest credit on Mr. Edmonds, gardener 

 to the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, to whom, I believe, it was 

 committed ; and the effect on entering the room was not so much that 

 you were entering an exhibition, with its stiff and formal accompani- 

 ments, but a well and carefully arranged conservatory. At the far end, 

 in front of the orchestra, were placed six magnificent plants of Roses, 

 from Mr. Lane, of Great Berkhampstead, testifying to the skill and 

 energy of that enterprising grower. It has seldom fallen to my lot to 

 see such pot Roses before. They were, of course (for bushes six feet 

 high must be so), old sorts, but they were the very perfection of growth. 

 Triomphe de Paris, H.P., Paul Perras, H.B., Jules Margottin, H.P., 

 Duchess of Sutherland, H.P. ; Souvenir d'un Ami, T. ; and Baronne 

 Prevost, H.P. In front of these were some small plants of new variegated 

 Geraniums, from Messrs. Henderson, sufficiently striking to be worth 

 looking after. In the centre of the room the fruit was displayed, with 

 some standard Chinese Azaleas in the middle of the long table, and 

 underneath them some pot Roses, from Mr. Francis, of Hertford; the 

 most taking (alas ! there was none of that), well, then, the most 

 tempting dish of said fruit being, I think, the Sir Charles Napier 

 Strawberries of Mr. Smith, of Twickenham ; the berries large, fine- 

 shaped, and of a most brilliant scarlet. Its flavour — alas ! my friends, 

 you know as much of that as I do, for " Noli me tangere " was plainly 

 written upon all. New and striking foliaged plants were in great 

 abundance. The very beautiful Clianthus Dampieri (figured some time 



VOL. XII., NO. CXXXVII. N 



