703 WHAT OFR NEIGHBOUES THINK OP US. 



of which it seemed to us that the total length might be esthtiated 

 at 600 metres. This Exhibition has profoundly astonished us 

 by the number of plants, their size, their culture, and their 

 flowering- There were there, without exaggeration, 150 plants 

 of orchids of a vigour of vegetation and of a freshness of colour 

 beyond all praise ; a crowd of flowering plants cultivated in 

 strong bushes, enormous Azaleas and Pelargoniums, grown in 

 pyramids furnished to the very base, Tt would be impossible to 

 cultivate better, with the view of producing great effect. To 

 speak the truth, this mode of culture is often — more especially 

 for the Pelargoniums — less conscientious than that of the Belgians. 

 There are a great many rods and threads in the plants, but one 

 must be professional to observe them, and it matters little to the 

 public, who only see the exterior decoration without looking at the 

 reverse of the medal. Besides, plants so strong, -we "were about 

 to say so monstrous, produced under the artificial climate of our 

 Conservatories, necessarily call for artificial modes of culture ; 

 they require artificial manures, guano, compost, &c. ; they require 

 supports, and guides for their branches, which bend under the 

 weight of their flourish, 



" The English Horticulturists have perfectly comprehended the 

 real importance and use of Exhibitions. They cultivate with a 

 view to the competitions, and to carry off at them the prizes for 

 plants of which they would not dispossess themselves at any price, 

 because no sura of money would compensate for the advantages 

 which their success at the Exhibitions procures them. These 

 specimen plants are a sign-board which spreads the name of the 

 Horticulturist before the eyes of millions of visitors in all the 

 results of the competition, in the numerous accounts of the 

 Exhibition which appears in the publications of the Society,' and 

 in a crowd of journals and of reviews. We know to what a 

 degree the English use and abuse all kinds of advertising. To 

 carry off a prize in a Great Exhibition at London, and to carry 

 it off always in the same competition, so that his name stands 

 always the first at the head of such or such a speciality, is a 

 powerful engine of publicity, of which the English Horticulturists 

 have fully understood the importance. With us, where capital 

 is rare in general, and with gardeners in particular, Horticul- 

 turists, with difficulty, refuse to sell the plants which they send 

 to Exhibitions, or are preparing for them. These plants sold, 

 they rear new ones, but that operation is slow and doubtful, and 

 at the next competition success may escape them." 



