158 THE FLORIST. 



SEEDLING PELARGONIUM EXHIBITION. 



I CONGRATULATE the cultivators of the Pelargonium on the prospect 

 of an annual seedling exhibition, which, under proper arrangements, 

 will be likely not only to improve but to extend the cultivation 

 of this beautiful tribe of flowers. Allow me, however, to call your 

 attention to the principles upon which a seedhng exhibition should 

 be conducted, if it is intended to be really useful : first, with refer- 

 ence to the prizes ; secondly, to the mode of awarding them. 



First, as to the prizes. I see, on reference to the Florist, vol. ii. 

 p. 194, that at the first exhibition at Upton Park there were nine 

 competitors only. I think, considering the popularity of the flower, 

 that, under more judicious arrangements, a much larger number might 

 have been expected, even at the first show. But when I recollect that 

 only four prizes were off'ered, I confess I see no ground for surprise at 

 the small number of exhibitors. An amateur, who raises perhaps 

 fifty or a hundred seedhngs, begins to consider before he packs up 

 his pet for a distant exhibition, whether he is likely to get any thing 

 beyond his labour for his pains ; he reckons up the principal seedling- 

 growers who may probably assail the prize-list, and obtains an indis- 

 tinct but very discouraging vision of Messrs. Beck, Gaines, Forster, 

 Hoyle, and perhaps one or two more floricultural Titans, competing 

 against him for four prizes only ! As long as he can have a chance — 

 though it amount to no more than a bare possibility of success — he 

 is content; he is indifl'erent, in that case, whether his prize is \0s. 

 or 10/. ; but with four prizes only, what conceivable chance can he 

 have against these gentlemen, with their 1500 or 2000 seedlings 

 each ? So, a very little reflection determines his course ; he replaces 

 his seedling on its shelf, and abandons the idea of competing in 

 despair. Now the four prizes awarded at Upton Park amounted in 

 value to 12Z. \0s. The same amount might have been divided into 

 seven prizes — the highest 2/. 10s. ; the lowest \l. — and the result 

 would have been, that the number of competitors would have been 

 doubled. If it be said, that it is not w^orth the while of the large 

 growers to compete for small prizes ; my answer is, first, that I hope 

 and believe that no large grower exhibits seedlings wholly or princi- 

 pally for the sake of the immediate prize-money — he will not avow 

 it, at all events ; and secondly, that even in that case more advantage 

 will result, both to the trade and the public, from a large exhibition 

 open to a large class of small growers, than from a small one mono- 

 polised by a few large growers. There is another view of the case, 

 as regards a class of persons usually supposed to be worth conciliating 

 — viz. the subscribers. I think it will be found that their object is, 

 less to give handsome prizes to those who already grow extensively, 

 and therefore need no encouragement, than to encourage the cultiva- 

 tion of the flowers in the hands of the public. 



Have, then, a sufficient number of prizes to induce the small 

 growers to exhibit, and you obtain not only a greater number of ex- 

 hibitors, but a better list of subscribers. 



