CHISWICK SHOWS. 53 



and " Coronation " and " Priory Queen " for instance 

 and what rich and endless bouquets of roses for 

 there are more than 2000 varieties of " the flower " 

 in cultivation did the last horticultural fete at 

 Chiswick produce ! 



These exhibitions of the London Horticultural 

 Society have done wonders in improving public taste 

 and exciting the emulation of nurserymen. It is 

 something, even if the prize is missed, to know that 

 your flower will be gazed at by five or six thousand 

 critical admirers. But they have done more than 

 this : they have brought together, on one common 

 scene of enjoyment, an orderly and happy mass, 

 from the labourer of the soil to the queen upon the 

 throne. We could only have wished that royalty 

 had been pleased to have paid a public as well as 

 private visit to the gardens. Her Majesty would 

 have gratified the loyalest and best-conducted portion 

 of her subjects, and would have seen, on the only 

 occasion, perhaps, when she could have done so 

 without annoyance, a sight, as beautiful even as the 

 flowers the cheerful faces of thousands of well- 

 dressed and happy-looking people of every degree, 

 making the most innocent and enjoyable of holidays 

 out of such simple elements as Music and Flowers. 

 The " Derby day" is certainly a glorious display of 

 Old England, from the proprietor of the aristocratic 

 drag to the hirer of the Whitechapel cart; but 

 the line of distinction, both on the road and the 

 course, is too strongly marked between the drinker 

 of champagne and of bottled stout, and it is rather 



