HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES 7 



This suggests at once the desirability of keeping in 

 touch with the Press. In some Societies a competent 

 member of Committee is told off to provide reports and 

 news paragraphs for the local and horticultural press ; in 

 others the work falls upon the Secretary. A great deal 

 depends upon the skill, enterprise, and good humour of 

 what we may call the Publicity Department of a Horti- 

 cultural Society. Editors are human, and a neatly 

 written or typed report of a meeting, or a bright 

 paragraph relating to some interesting exhibit, discussion, 

 or event, is always welcomed, especially if it comes from 

 some one having authority or experience, and is sent with 

 a pleasantly worded request " for insertion in your 

 valuable journal," etc., etc. 



But, after all, one can only suggest a few of the uses 

 and possibilities of a Horticultural Society. In the 

 limits of space at disposal only the fringe of the subject 

 can be touched upon. I hold that no Society should 

 exist wholly and solely for the purpose of running an 

 annual exhibition. Lectures should be arranged for, 

 demonstrations given, and discussions started, for the 

 purpose of keeping members and supporters together all 

 the year, and for adding materially to the usefulness of 

 the Society. The programme of lectures and meetings 

 should be made as attractive as possible, and, if the 

 Society is made up entirely of professional gardeners, 

 the young men should be given their opportunity to 

 shine. Once or twice during the winter season some 

 well-known authority should be engaged to lecture ; it 

 is a mistake to have none but local lecturers, even 

 though every one be a high authority we all like to see 

 and hear the people we read about and who are famous 

 in our own profession. Societies that hold exhibitions 

 and also arrange a programme of Lectures are usually a 

 great success, as they deserve to be. 



