480 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



small show and sadly deficient in size and quality. But this deficiency 

 was amply compensated by the very extensive show of in-door fruit and plants, 

 more especially Grapes, which were staged in great numbers and of first-rate 

 quality generally : indeed, so forcibly does this apply to the show of Grapes, 

 that a place on the prize list was got only by examples of first-rate cultivation. 

 "We counted 250 bunches of Grapes on one table, and this did not include any 

 but what were entered in the classes for Grapes exclusively, so that taking the 

 bunches set up in collections, there must have been close on, if not over, 300 

 bunches exhibited. Pines were neither numerous nor very fine ; Peaches were 

 exhibited in splendid condition ; and Nectarines, though not so numerous, were 

 good. In the plant department the local nurserymen contributed extensively 

 and well, all furnishing large tables of stove, greenhouse, and hardy plants and 

 flowers. The Lawson Company on this occasion, instead of placing their ex- 

 tensive exhibits in the usual way on tables, set them on the floor of the 

 market-place, — and it must have been apparent to all how much better the 

 exhibition would have looked as a whole, had every plant in the show been 

 arranged in like manner, and how much better the plants individually could be 

 seen and inspected. Placed on the tables, visitors of dwarf stature are con- 

 fronted chiefly with the pots, especially when a close inspection is attempted. 

 The managers would do well, we are certain, if they made use in some other way 

 of the unsightly tables, and left the exhibitors to arrange their plants on the 

 floor. So long as these hideous leggy tables are used, the shows will be as nearly 

 as possible a repetition of each other, and visitors will get tired with the stereo- 

 typed effect ; whereas, if the plants were set on the floor, a new design or 

 order of arrangement could be carried out, at least annually, if not for every 

 show, without any extra expense. 



In the limits of the space that we can devote to the reporting of the show, we 

 will not be able to either describe or remark on but a limited number of the 

 prize winning exhibits, but before doing so, we will briefly refer to the nursery- 

 men's exhibitions. Beginning at the west end of the market-place, the Lawson 

 Company had a magnificent collection of Conifera and Shrubs, one bank of 

 which formed a semicircular terminus to the exhibition-ground, and in front of 

 Avhich was a large oval clump of smaller specimens, comprising Golden Yews, 

 Ptetinosporas, Cupressus, &c, all very effectively arranged and neatly margined 

 with a row of the pretty Golden Box. Besides these two groups, they had two 

 large circles and a crescent-shaped bed of miscellaneous stove and greenhouse 

 plants, including Crotons, Dracaenas, Palms, Anthuriums, mixed with Vallota 

 purpurea, Lilium auratum, Petunias, Pelargoniums, and a nicely - flowered 

 specimen of Clianthus Damperii. This group of beds was very effective, 

 and being below and on a level with the eye, every individual plant could be 

 distinctly seen. Messrs Methven & Sons followed with a table having down its 

 centre tall Tree-Ferns, Dracaenas, Palms, flanked on each side with all the popular 

 stove fine-foliage plants, intermixed with Liliums, Pelargoniums, and some good 

 plants of Todeas and other Ferns, — in all forming a very effective exhibition. 

 Next came the table of Messrs Downie & Laird, having very tall Palms for the 

 centre of the group, and among fine-foliaged plants on each side were very 

 effectively mixed Phloxes in pots, many of them not yet in commerce, stands of 

 spikes of Phloxes and Pentstemons, Violas and Roses, — many of the Pentstemons 

 and Violas being new and very fine sorts. Messrs Ireland & Thomson's table 

 had for its centre large well-coloured Crotons and Tree-Ferns ; and the table 

 was filled up with all the popular fine-foliage plants, having intermixed with 

 them a few Orchids, Begonias, Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, Nepenthes 



