254 



THE OABDE NEB'S MONTHLY 



[AuausT, 



mORTICULTURAL fSoCIETIES. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Horticulture at the CententsIal.— Before 

 proceeding with our notes we may say that it 

 does not seem to be well understood that the 

 plan of awards at this great exhibition is essen- 

 tially different from any that has gone before, 

 and in our opinion is far superior. In the old 

 style there is a premium of a few dollars, or a 

 medal of equal value, awarded to a mere handful 

 of successful competitors. • No one knows why 

 he got that premium. It is all a matter between 

 him and the jvidges. After he has the premium 

 it is of no use to him unless he advertises it; un- 

 less perchance the recipient of the premium be 

 one of those rare philosophers to whom the pos- 

 session of the secret within his own breast that 

 he has something superior is a reward in full for 

 all his merit. Those who get no premium are 

 absolutely unknown to the world, and yet very 

 often the success of an exhibition is as much or 

 if not more dependent on the nine who get 

 nothing as the one who gets all. There is no one 

 who has had experience as an exhibitor and has 

 given any serious thought to the question but 

 who would cheerfully give up his " premium " if 

 the society would instead do the advertising for 

 him. The Centennial Commissioners are the first 

 to make the departure. The plan they have 

 adopted will in future be known distinctively as 

 the " American plan." Everyone's exhibit will be 

 noticed in the final report and its actual merits 

 — not comparative merits — detailed. These final 

 reports, going all over the world, and into the 

 hands of every intelligent man, form the best 

 possible advertisement, and worth to the busi- 

 ness man a thousandfold more than any premium 

 would be. Yet, and in the pomologieal depart- 

 ment especially, we have heard people say they 

 do not care to exhibit because there is no in- 

 ducement. The inducements are even greater 

 to them than to any other class of exhibitors. 

 They not only have their names with the meri- 

 torious nature of their products with whatever 

 medals may be awarded, not to them as compe- 

 titors, but as marks of distinction, recorded in 

 the final reports, but have the advantage of the 

 publication of the preliminary reports of the 

 committees upon which the final ones will be 



founded. Surely this is far better than any ordi- 

 nary system of competition? Under the old 

 system no report could be made at all until the 

 close of the exhibition. Judges could not to-day 

 award a premium for the best strawberry or other 

 fruits, when to-morrow a superior one might be 

 before them. We can only say that they who do 

 not exhibit for " want of inducements " are the 

 most strangely obtuse people we have ever met 

 with. Not only do we approve of this American 

 system, but we look upon it as the only system 

 that can rejuvenate many of our tottering socie- 

 ties. In these days the best business men care 

 much more for the advertising than the pre- 

 miums. There are many cases where the pre- 

 miums will be advantageous. There always will 

 be some to whom cash is worth more than an 

 advertisement, and especially will this be so with 

 gentlemen's gardeners, so many of whom are 

 badly underpaid for their services ; but what we 

 have said is in view of general principle rather 

 than of special exception. 



The main exhibitions of fruits promise to be 

 a great success, though little may be done with 

 continuous shows. At the time we write Horti- 

 cultural Societies from Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, 

 Indiana, Massachusetts, Ohio and Canada have 

 asked for space for ten thousand plates for the 

 12th of September exhibit. Surely some of the 

 other States will want to come in ! It will no 

 doubt be the most wonderful sight ever seen in 

 this world, with the fruits at the Agricultural, 

 and the Horticultural department with its plants 

 and flowers. The annual exhibition of the Penn. 

 Society is to go on as usual in their hall in Phila- 

 delphia. Philadelphia ought to be the great 

 central point for horticulturists in September, 

 1876. Independent of this we believe the Horti- 

 cultural Department of the Centennial will hold 

 a special exhibition, but no details have been re- 

 solved on up to this time. 



The grounds around the Horticultural Hall on 

 the Centennial Grounds are becoming daily more 

 beautiful. We notice in a leading paper some 

 criticisms on the way the whole is laid out. It is 

 easy to criticize when the reasons are not known. 

 In a tremendous effort like this no one man is able 

 to have his own way, even in his own department, 

 and yet before the public he seems responsible for 

 all. In regard to the horticultural grounds it must 



