760 MONTHLY SUMMARY. 



In the Great Exhibition there was a collection in which they were 

 imitated by insects' wings. As artificial flowers are largely used 

 for ladies' headdresses, they have long been an established branch 

 of commerce, and consequently greater ingenuity has been exer- 

 cised in perfecting them ; but unfortunately, from the same cause, 

 greater attention has been paid to their effect than to their fidelity 

 to nature. At the Chrj^santhemum Show were exhibited artificial 

 flowers prepared by Mrs. J. Nash, of Jamaica, from the outer 

 cuticle of the leaf of the Yucca aloifolia, called in Jamaica " the 

 Spanish Dagger." To a similar set of flowers (not the same, but 

 not superior) exhibited by Mrs. Nash in the Exhibition building, 

 the Jurors awarded a Medal *' for an ingenious and very tasteful 

 application of the epidermis of the Yucca aloifolia m the manu- 

 facture of artificial flowers." This material has a delicacy and 

 beauty which would give it an advantage over others, were it not 

 that its manufacture or execution is attended with greater difficulty. 

 A supply of the material was intrusted to artificial flower-makers 

 both in London and Paris, but they failed to produce samples 

 equal in execution to those exhibited by Mrs. Nash ; and although 

 we are too practical to recognise merit in merely conquering a 

 difficulty for the conquest's sake, we see both merit and import- 

 ance in such a conquest, where the beauty of the material 

 furnishes a reason for attempting to overcome the difficulties 

 attendant on its manufacture. 



At the Show on the 11th was also exhibited a beautiful collection 

 of fruits from Hamilton, in Upper Canada. These arrived too 

 late for the International Fruit Show. The finest part of this 



collection was the apples, which seem to attain a greater size and 

 perfection there than they do in this country. The number of 

 different kinds of fruit, all grown in the open air at this period, 

 was noticeable, and speaks more for the climate of that district 

 than volumes of meteorological tables. There were apples, pears, 

 grapes, walnuts, chestnuts, hickories, Juglans nigra, Crataegus 

 berries, capsicums of various kinds, maize, &c. Peaches, necta- 

 rines, apricots and plums would not travel, otherwise they, too, 

 would have been sent. If such a country does not prosper, 

 it cannot lay the blame upon the climate. 



Now that the immediate bustle attending the International 



;^uit Show is over, and we have had time to see how it has been 



viewed by our own Fellows and the English public, as well as the 



-importance attached to it by the foreign exhibitors, we can esti- 



.mate its worth more fairly. We can now see that it is a ranch 



