142 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



guished in ray grounds, — one of them having pre- 

 cisely the habit described by you. Truly and re- 

 spectfully yours, H. B. Lubeck, Free Hanse 



Town, June, 1848 



The London Horticultural Exhibitions. — 

 We see, by the English gardening journals, ihat 

 the great July exhibition of the London Horticultu- 

 ral Society, was more numerously attended than 

 any upon record, no less than 13,823 visitors hav- 

 ing been admitted by tickets. 



When we state in addition that these tickets 

 were sold at either 3s. 6d. or 5s sterling each, 

 (say at an average of $1,) we place before our 

 readers the means of judging, not only of the inter- 

 est which the English public feel in horticulture, 

 but also how much the society is patronised by the 

 rank and fashion of England, for it is evident from 

 the charge that a large part of this concourse of 

 visitors must have been of the wealthiest classes. 



These magnificent fetes are indeed among the 

 great shows of London. They are held in the open 

 air, in the Society's garden at ChisM'ick, in the 

 suburbs of London. The flowers and fruit are ar- 

 rayed in tasteful tents disposed on the lawn in va- 

 rious parts of the ground; several bands add the 

 charm of music to the entertainment, and various 

 members of the royal family and nobility, with thou- 

 sands of ladies in tasteful costume, give gaiety and 

 brilliancy to the striking scene. 



The London Horticultural Society is the richest 

 corporation of the kind in the world. Its assets 

 are at present estimated at over £48,000, with a 

 debt of a little more than £9000. Its income for 

 the past year was abont £6,091, (say $30,000.) 

 and its expenses £5,294. It publishes quarterly 

 Transactions, including interesting original com- 

 munications on horticulture, and maintains one or 

 two botanical travellers, who are constantly in for- 

 eign countries searching for rare plants to enrich 

 its garden. These rare plants are propagated and 

 distributed to such members of the society as may 

 desire them, and some idea may be gathered of the 

 extent of this distribution by the following extract, 

 which we make from the report of the garden com- 

 mittee for the last year : 



" The distribution of plants, packages of seeds, 

 and parcels of cuttings from the garden has been 

 as follows : 



Plants. Seeds. Cuttings. 

 1847 '48— To members,.. 6,071 44,041 3,085 

 To foreign countries, cor- 

 respondents, &c., 1,256 6,848 350 



To her majesty's colonies, 116 519 86 



Total, 7,443 51,408 3,521 



"The garden committee have directed Mr. 

 MuNROE in making this distribution, to keep in 

 view as far as possible the principle of not propa- 

 gating plants that are readily procurable at the 

 nurseries, and also that applications are to be com- 

 plied with according to the order in which they are 

 made." 



In addition to this, " all those Fellows of the So- 

 ciety who may be desirous of determining the 

 names and qualities of fruits, are supplied with 

 specimens of such varieties as the garden of the 



Society produces, on application to the Secrefarf., 

 Not more than two specimens of any sort are sent; 

 and the expense of the package and carriage is 

 charged to the Fellows making application for 

 them. If a second supply of the same fruits should 

 be required, it is not furnished gratuitously." 



We notice that " sixty-eight dozens of pears and 

 sixty-one dozens of apples," named specimens, 

 were sent out in compliance with the above regu- 

 lation last season. 



Most of our readers are familiar with the service 

 which this society has rendered to pomology, by 

 its Lescriptive Catalogue of Fruits — the result of 

 comparisons of thousands of varieties. A feature 

 scarcely less valuable has been introduced lately in 

 its management. This is " the trial of every ex- 

 periment, however ludicrous, that has been so 

 brought forward as to excite public attention ; the 

 object being to enable the council to publish an of- 

 ficial report of its fallacy, instead of denouncing it 

 without a trial, which would rather strengthen than 

 overturn the sinister object of schemes, and of re- 

 porting its success if it turn out well, upon an au- 

 thority that cannot be questioned — the fair trial in 

 their own garden." 



The education of gardeners, practically and the- 

 oretically, is another cf the most useful plans car- 

 ried out by the Society. Practically, they are in- 

 structed in the labors of the garden itself, (which, 

 in turn, thus has its operations performed at dimin- 

 ished expense.) and theoretically, by lessons on va- 

 rious subjects in horticulture, delivered by Profes- 

 sor LiNDLEY, and other competent persons. The 

 gardeners have a reading room and a library of 

 more than 400 volumes. 



We have given these few details in order to di- 

 rect public attention to the importance of the la- 

 bors of a horticultural society of the means and 

 ability for good which the London society possesses. 

 While it is evident that no one of our cities can, for 

 some time to come, hope to support such a society, 

 it is no less clear to our minds that such an institu- 

 tion, liberally supported by the United States gov- 

 ernment, would be productive of great public good 

 in every part of the Union. 



New Food for Flowers. — Last spring I plant- 

 ed three dozen dahlias, and, on the same day, my 

 neighbor, Mr. Neill, did the same. Our gardens 

 being only separated by a light iron railing, we could 

 watch what attention each paid his favorite plants, 

 and I can safely affirm that the golden fruit in the 

 fabled garden of Hesperides, was not more unceas- 

 ingly watched, watered and weeded, than were 

 his, Mr. Neill's, flower garden and mine. I re- 

 marked that his dahlias, and those in the surround- 

 ing parterres, were dwarfish, discoloured, and 

 broken in the beautiful contour such flowers should 

 preserve, when approaching perfection. They 

 seemed to droop, while mine rose to a towering 

 altitude, casting disdainful glances of superiority 

 on those of their class in my neighbor's garden, as 

 well as on the lowlier inmates of my own. My 

 friend was surprised at my success, and continued 

 his floral labors with more zeal, but with little 



