194 THE FLORIST. 



THE HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION AT THE CRYSTAL 



PALACE. 

 This exhibition was held at the Crystal Palace on the 2d of June, and 

 had excited more interest than any other exhibition of the year, in con- 

 sequence of the Crystal Palace Company having issued a most hberal 

 schedule of prizes, accompanied with very liberal arrangements. It 

 was expected to be the leading show of the year, and expectation cer- 

 tainly was not disappointed, for never was such an amazing quantity of 

 plants seen at an exhibition before. It was an enormous success, so far 

 as the gathering together of exhibitors and plants was concerned ; but, 

 mewing it as an exhibition, we are compelled to regard it as a failure. 

 Our impression is, and we know it to be the impression with many 

 more, that in so large a building, so highly attractive in itself, the hor- 

 ticultural exhibition should have been made the principal featm-e for the 

 day, and aU the surrounding objects, even to the building itself, should 

 have played a secondary part. The dais and Collard's piano should 

 have been removed, with much of the surrounding statuary, &c., and 

 taking the centre of the transept as a centre of the horticultural exhi- 

 bition, the whole might have been brought together, by a little manage- 

 ment, and formed the grandest display of horticultural skill ever brought 

 together. Whether the plants had been arranged in the building or 

 under canvass out-of-doors, they should have been brought together. 

 We have an instance of this at the Regent's Park, where, under the 

 new arrangement, the plants, when well arranged, produce a most 

 striking effect. 



We maintain that in a building like the Crystal Palace, the display 

 of plants should be made the principal feature, and this can only 

 be done by bringing the whole into a mass, and arranging it in the most 

 effective manner. If it had been brought into the centre of the 

 building, as we suggest, means might have been taken to produce a 

 subdued light, by stretching canvass across above the galleries, and yet 

 would have allowed visitors to view from the galleries the effect produced 

 by the plants themselves. It may be urged that so large a display of 

 plants could not be seen without great inconvenience to the visitors, if 

 brought together as we suggest ; but we do not see that any incon- 

 venience would arise, if the necessary precautions were taken. The 

 visitors ought all to pass one way, neat barriers should be placed about 

 eighteen inches or two feet from all subjects exhibited, as it would not 

 only be a great protection to the plants and fruit, but would enable all 

 to see better. We know that on the day in question much inconvenience 

 and grumbUng arose from the absence of these two requisites, especially 

 with the fruit exhibitors. The fruit was shown on a side table, where 

 visitors could pass but on one side, with no barrier whatever ; and we 

 heard many complaints about the injury the fruit had sustained, while 

 in some cases it had disappeared altogether. We were disappointed in 

 finding the exhibition cut up into pieces as it was, part in the left nave, 

 a corresponding part in the right nave, pieces of the exhibition in other 

 parts of the building, while the eastern galleries outside of the building 



