of Rural JlH and Taste. 



349 



The display of apples was very large ; the 

 best collection being that of A. Bridgeman — 

 167 varieties (original collection of Charles 

 Downing). The following awards were made : 



1st premium for fruit — Henry Cornell. 

 " " pears— J. H. Ricketts. 



" " " grapes — J. H. Ricketts. 



" " " apples — A. Bridgeman. 



The tables were graced with an excellent 

 display of Dahlias, Asters, Gladiolus, by 

 James Vick. Floral designs from Burrows & 

 Wood, W. D. Humphries ; and 12 Palms from 

 Henry W, Sargent. Among the novelties 

 specially noticeable was a new grape seedling, 

 from the Delaware, by Dr. A. M. Culbert ; 

 fruit was twice the size of usual bunches of 

 the Delaware, very compact ; fruit firm, and 

 flavor not quite as sweet ; a fine sort. Mr. 

 T. S. Force was active in several good dis- 

 plays of apples, and specimen plants of Palms, 

 Dracaenas, and Latania. He is quite a suc- 

 cessful amateur. Mr. David Smith, the 

 treasurer of the society, does more than all 

 others to quicken life, and keep the horticultu- 

 ral spirit alive and strong. The largest collec- 

 tions of fruit were those of J. H. Ricketts, 

 who brought 69 varieties of grapes, and 115 

 of pears. Alfred Bridgeman, 100 varieties of 

 pears, 172 of apples, and 21 of grapes. 



Shahestieare's Knowledye of Horticitltiire. 



A recent writer has asked the question : 

 What did Shakespeare know of gardening ? 

 and thereupon sat down to examine his works 

 for the evidences, which he found to be as fol- 

 lows : Of English wild flowers, he mentions 

 about fifteen, alluding to some only once or 

 twice, to others a dozen times. Of exotic 

 flowers, or such as were cultivated in the 

 scanty gardens of his period, more than 300 

 years ago, he mentions nine or ten ; of trees 

 and shrubs, exotics included, there are notices 

 of about twenty-five. Of fruits, about thirty. 

 Vegetables, about equal proportion. Products 

 of the nature of spices and medicines are 

 mentioned to the extent of about a score. The 

 total is thus about 150, or more — considerably 

 more than double that of the total to be found 

 in Milton. Not even Virgil in his Georgics 

 or ^neid has made mention of as many. It 



must be remembered *hat in the days of 

 Shakespeare, there were no " floras" to con- 

 sult ; botany had not yet become a study, and 

 wild flowers few, or no discriminating obser- 

 vers — and all his observations were from na- 

 ture, and expressed in the popular language. 



Conijjlinientari/. American fomological Society, 



The London Gardener acknowledges the 

 receipt of last volume of the proceedings of 

 the American Pomological Society, with this 

 high compliment : " It is by far the most use- 

 ful and well-stored thing of the kind we have 

 ever seen. It is in every way worthy of the 

 country which is destined to become the great- 

 est fruit growing region of the earth, and con- 

 tains a mass of matter of great practical value 

 to American fruit growers, and in a lesser de- 

 gree to ourselves. The paper and printing 

 are of a character superior to what we usually 

 meet with in the best works published in this 

 country." 



A. Horticultural fun. 



Sir George Rose being introduced one day 

 to two charming young ladies, whose names 

 were Mary and Louise, he instantly added, 

 with a bow, " Ah, yes ! Marie Louise, the 

 sweetest pear I know ;" a compliment almost 

 worthy of being coupled with that most beau- 

 tiful one of Sydney Smith, suggested by the 

 Sweet Pea. A young lady walking with him 

 in the garden, paused to examine a favorite 

 flower, on which she had taken great pains. 

 " I am afraid, Mr. Smith," she said, " that 

 this pea will never come to perfection." " Then 

 allow me," taking her politely by the hand, 

 "to lead perfection to the pea." 



Floral I'rises. 



Amid the great interest in preparing floral 

 decorations with cultivated flowers, it is cer- 

 tainly an item of curiosity to learn that the 

 first prize at the annual exhibition of the Tun- 

 bridge Wells Horticultural Society, was 

 awarded to a lady, for her skillful decoration 

 of wild flowers. The variety was a large one, 

 and each tazza and trumpet were filled with 

 Dog Roses, blue Forget-me-Nots, brown tinted 

 sprays of Oak leaves and British Ferns, in 

 each tier the flowers and foliage were most 

 charmingly intermixed. 



