PREFACE 



No effort has hitherto been made to bring together those 

 various items of information which a newly formed 

 or re-organised Horticultural Society so often needs. 

 Questions relative to the formation and conduct of a 

 society reach the Horticultural Journals week by week 

 and seem to point to the need of some such work as the 

 present. There are other matters of moment to society 

 officials, such as tenting, halls, staging for the exhibits, 

 heating, ventilation and insurance, but these are all so 

 directly governed by local circumstances, they have not 

 been included in the scope of this book. The aim has 

 been to produce a handbook that will prove valuable as 

 a work of reference to those who have the conduct of 

 Flower Shows, and the compilation of rules and regula- 

 tions for the government of societies ; it has also been 

 produced for the purpose of helping all but the oldest 

 and wariest of that great army of amateur and profess- 

 ional gardeners who love to stage the products of their 

 skill in competition with those of their fellows. If the 

 book proves helpful in these directions its purpose will 

 be served. 



CHARLES H. CURTIS. 



BRENTFORD, 



March 1910. 



253058 



