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THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July. 



Essays and Discussions at Horticultu- 

 ral. Mbktings. — Most of our societies now 

 have in connection with exhibitions, sliort es- 

 says of fifteen minutes or so on some practical 

 questions of general interest. At the March 

 meeting of the Maryland Horticultural Society, 

 Mr. Pentland read an essay on window plants 

 which was highly appreciated. At one of our 

 local societies the professor of Botany expati- 

 ates on the popular features connected with any 

 of the plants on exhibition, and attracts many 

 who would not otherwise attend. 



Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. 

 The June "reception" by the ladies of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society was attended 

 by a frightful storm, but in spite thereof, a 

 goodly number of Philadelphia's best citizens 

 attended it. Premiums were offered only for 

 roses, strawberries, and cut flowers. Of the last 

 there were numerous tasteful specimens of art 

 from many of the leading florists of Philadelphia. 

 In strawberries the chief attractions were sup- 

 plied by Judge Parry, and F. F. Merceron, in the 

 Sharpless Seedling. These were very fine, and 

 did good justice to its reputation. Miner's Seed- 

 ling, was meritorious in size and flavor. 



Premiums at State Fairs. — Referring to 

 the forthcoming exhibition of the Pennsylvania 

 State Agricultural Fair, a correspondent says : 



" They do some things better in London in 

 the matter of prizes for an agricultural fair, and 

 set us an example, we can well afford to follow. 

 At the agricultural exhibition to be held in Lon- 

 don, in July next, over $^60,000 will be offered in 

 prizes, and about $200,000 is being raised to 

 conduct the enterprise. Our railroad companies 

 and business men will do well to make a note 

 of the above item and guage their efTorts for 

 promoting the success of the State Agricultural 

 Fair to be held at the Permanent Exhibition on 

 that basis. We thus see that there are other 

 methods besides a protective tariff" which Eng- 

 land uses to bring her industries and general 

 productiveness up to the highest standard." 



[We must say as we have so frequently said 

 of late, that our exhibitions musi be modified 

 in their management before they will be pop- 

 ular as they once were. They have stood still 

 while the world has moved, and especially is 

 this so in the matter of premiums, which ought 

 in these days to be awarded on intrinsic and not 

 on comparative merits. 



Exhibitions are for the purpose of encourag- 

 ing the highest skill, and in order to accomplish 



this the managers desire to make it — first, the in- 

 terest of people to exert this high effort for ex- 

 excellence ; secondly, the interest of people to 

 exhibit the result of these efforts at excellence ; 

 thirdly, the interest of every body to see and to 

 hear of these results. 



In the olden times when people read little ; 

 when they had to go to see in order to learn ; 

 when there were but one or two great exhibi- 

 tions which they had the chance to attend, then 

 there was no difficulty in getting good things to 

 show, and plenty of people to look at them. 

 But now the printing press is the great educa- 

 tor, and people already know all about the 

 things they expect to see. The average ex- 

 hibitor would give more for a ten line puff in a 

 powerful newspaper than for all the advantage 

 possible that could accrue from the trouble and 

 fuss attendant on an "exhibit." But if the 

 managers of exhibitions were to enlist an intel- 

 ligent press in their behalf; were to employ the 

 best liteary talent to write out and explain the 

 merits of the articles exhibited ; were to employ 

 the most intelligent judges capable of distin- 

 guishing intrinsic merits of these exhibitons as 

 discerned by these judges and displayed by the 

 intelligent secretaries, there would then be an 

 inducement for the best skill to exert itself on 

 the best of productions where they would be 

 adequately honored. And if to all this, hand- 

 some rewards would be added in the shape of 

 money, medals, plate or certificates, so much 

 the better. 



At present all that John Smith can hope for 

 is for three good men and true to assert that his 

 pig is a better one than John Brown's, and that 

 he is entitled to a couple of dollars for bringing 

 it before them, and he may, perhaps if the local 

 newspaper is generous, see in its columns a line 

 read " first premium for pig, John Smith." 

 After all this, if he is a business man, he may 

 spend a hundred dollars in advertising that 

 his "pig took the first premium at the Jones- 

 town Fair." But every business man knows 

 that he could get a certificate of the excel- 

 lence of that pig from Judge this, or the Rever- 

 end that, without all the fuss of an exhibition, 

 and at a hundreth part the cost, and so he does 

 not take his goods to the fair. In hard, solid 

 logic " it does not pay." 



We fancy, however, that our people will go 

 on as before for some years yet, and wonder 

 "why exhibitors do not come out?" as they 

 have been doing the few past years.] 



