1881.] TRANSACTIONS. 69 



Autumn : you have to compare flowers which resemble each 

 other in nothing : — without contrasting or even salient features 

 wherefrom to frame a scale of pre-eminence. It might be far 

 more to the purpose, as it would be much more practicable, to 

 call for stands of distinct species. If you had them not, you could 

 procure them and, sooner or later, achieve the prize. And then 

 there would be diversity enougli to save contributors and com- 

 mittees, alike, from mental perplexity and worriment. At 

 present, tiie great trouble about the varieties is, tliat they do not 

 vary ! Take a stand of Late Phlox, for example, on the 22d of 

 September, ulto., with the contents of seven (7) bottles, out of 

 forty (40) identical. Scattered throughout the collection, it is 

 true, for effect, in a sort of irregular skirmishing line, but yet 

 all of one and the same variety. If you will determine that 

 duplicates shall not be allowed, hereafter, in any case, a great 

 part of the present causes for embarrassment may be avoided. 

 That is the course which an honest ambition to secure the best 

 displays would suggest, and it is a rule which your Floral Com- 

 inittee for A. 1). 1881, are unanimous in urging for adoption. 

 While a thing of beauty may be a joy forever, it should not be 

 overlooked that there may be too much of a good thing ; bulk 

 and loveliness being scarcely convertible terms. 



With reference to the common practice of holding a court of 

 review, after the decision of Committees, because of individual 

 disappointment, it may be worth the while to occupy a moment. 

 Let the Exhibition of July 28th furnish an illustration. Upon 

 that occasion your Trustees offered three premiums for Stands of 

 " Cut Flowers," explicitly requiring them to be " Seedlings of 

 1881." The obvious and natural meaning of the requirement 

 would appear to be, that the flowers shown must be grown from 

 seed sown in the open ground — en ple'uie terre — as our Horti- 

 cultural confreres in France would say, and during the current 

 year. Wiiy else wait so long ? If a seed will not germinate 

 and develop before August, when will it ? Apples, Peaches, 

 and Pears, bud, blossom and mature ; and the Earhj Harvest, 

 River, Doyenne cT Ete, with an occasional Citron des Cannes^ 

 have crowded your tables in profuse succession, ere the advent 

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