CAUSES OF SUCCESS. 2/ 



These Nottingham florists are equally successful in the 

 outdoor culture of the Rose. On the 4th of July 1870, 

 I attended, as one of the judges, the annual exhibition of 

 " The St Ann's Amateur Floral and Horticultural Society," 

 at Nottingham. The Society consists of artisans, occupying 

 garden allotments in the suburbs of Nottingham, and justly 

 prides itself on having developed a taste for gardening 

 among the working classes. Nearly eighty prizes for Roses 

 alone, varying in value from two guineas to two shillings, 

 were offered, and closely fought for. The Roses were 

 excellent, the interest and excitement of the exhibitors were 

 intense. The winners (so I learned from their president, Mr 

 Knight, well chosen to preside over working men, for he 

 was untiring and ubiquitous in his shirt-sleeves) were twist- 

 hands, shoemakers, tailors, mechanics, &c. He talked to 

 me, con amove, of their devotion to their gardens and their 

 glass. How they carried their bags of coal through the 

 deep snow, and how early in the morning, and late at even- 

 tide, they robbed themselves of rest for the Rose. 



I rejoiced both to see and hear. I have always believed 

 that the happiness of mankind might be increased by 

 encouraging that love of a garden, that love of the beautiful, 

 which is innate in us all. Get a man out of the dram and 



