THE HAMILTON HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION 



THE fruit, liower and vegetable exhibi- 

 tion held in the Thistle Rinks, Ham- 

 ilton, on September 12-14, was a complete 

 success in that it created an increased inter- 

 est in general horticulture. Owing to its 

 being a very busy season with the fruit 

 growers and to the fact that the fruit and 

 vegetable growers of the Niagara District 

 did not seem to fully understand the objects 

 of the show, the exhibits of fruits and vege- 

 tables were not as large as might otherwise 

 have been the case, but were very creditable 

 nevertheless. 



On Wednesday the school children of the 

 city were given a half holiday and over 

 1,700 of them attended the show. A most 

 successful excursion to the show was run 

 by the enterprising St. Catharines Horti- 

 cultural Society. These features added 

 greatly to the success of the exhibition. 



The prime object of the promoters was to 

 aid the fruit, vegetable and amateur flower 

 growers of the Niagara district, and in this 

 they were most successful. The opinion of 

 ]\lr. Roderick Cameron, of the Queen A'ic- 

 toria Park, Niagara Falls, is that the dis- 

 play of flowers in several ways eclipsed any- 

 thing before held in Ontario. " It is a very 

 creditable show," said Mr. Cameron, " and 

 of special value to the amateur." 



The rink in which the flowers were shown 

 growers. A special feature of the work 

 done by the Hamilton Horticultural Society 

 was shown in the great display of window 

 boxes and hanging baskets. The window 

 presented a most pleasing appearance. The 

 cut flowers, especially the gladioli and as- 

 ters, were excellent. Encouragement had 

 been given to the growing of every variety. 

 Prizes were ofifered principally to amateur 

 boxes, over 20 in number, added much to 

 the appearance of the building with their 

 profusion of foliage and flowers. 



The display of commercial plants, includ- 

 ing not less than 100 square feet area, de- 



.•■erves special mention. There were four 

 entries, and the judges remarked that for 

 real value they surpassed anything ever on 

 exhibition at Toronto. The special fea- 

 tures of the one which got the red ticket 

 were the elegant group of palms of differ- 

 ent varieties of which the centre-piece was 

 composed, the Cocos Weddelliana palm, 

 which is one of the most graceful for table 

 decoration, and the elegant ferns. A little 

 more color on this group would have made 

 it nearly perfect. In the table which won 

 second prize, the Araucaria excelsa, was the 

 best in the show, and the color effect was 

 good, but the centre-piece Ficus elastica, 

 was rather tall and ragged. The centre- 

 pieces were the weak points of the other 

 two entries. 



A fine sample of the work done by horti- 

 cultural enthusiasts in Hamilton was seen 

 in an excellent display of native ferns by 

 Dr. Storms. The doctor had a collection 

 of ;^;^ varieties of ferns native to Canada, 

 each carefully numbered and the names 

 typewritten so that everyone could get the 

 correct name. Some of the varieties, such 

 as Asplenium augustifolium, Aspidium 

 Goldieanum, Polypodium sculari and three 

 specimens of the royal ferns are very rare. 

 As a further encouragement to fern grow- 

 ing Dr. Storms purposes offering a special 

 prize next year for a collection of ferns. 



The pendulous fuchsia, the variegated 

 leaved begonia, the scarlet Salvia, the twin- 

 ing English ivy and many specimens, such 

 as the Rubber plant, Dracena, Oleander and 

 palm, plainly demonstrated the place of the 

 amateur at the show. 



It is claimed by ]\Ir. Cameron that Can- 

 ada is sadly lacking in evergreen shrubs and 

 plants to decorate her landscape in winter 

 and afford shelter and protection to our 

 numerous birds, which are forced to go 

 south when cold weather comes. To show 

 what can be done to change this state of af- 



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