HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



207 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



INTELLIGENCE AND SPIRIT OF AMERICAN FARMERS. 



Horo stands tlie Case 1 



As It may be hoped that associations for promoting variety and excellence in 

 fruits and flowers will be multiplying in the country, it may be well to publish 

 occasionally a lew of the most approved regulations for conducting them. The 

 following were in force at the late exhibition at Princeton, where, we understand, 

 as well as at Newark, the display was exceedingly creditable to the taste of the 

 members and the neighborhood. We very much regretted it was impossible to 

 comply with the invitations of friends to be present at both of them. May we 

 not lament the existence of a taste which still calls for such premiums to be de- 

 livered in " chink" instead of books, or plate, or medals, or other enduring me- 

 morials, however small in money value, but which might be preserved as fam- 

 ily trophies ? 



power of withlioldiiig premiums, if the arti- 

 cles exliibited do not merit them. 



Evei-y article, if possible, is to be accom- 

 panied by its proper uame. 



It is also desirable tliat the fruits, vegeta 

 bles auil flowers exhibited should be accom- 

 panied by short observations ou the mode of 

 cultivation, if peculiar, together with any 

 otlier remarks of utility. 



It is clearly to be understood that all fruits, 

 vegetables, flowers, &c. brought for competi- 

 tion, are to be the growth of thi^ competitors. 



Dishes and glasses will be furnislie d by the 

 Sfjciety to contributors, for the jiurpcjse of ex- 

 hibiting their productions, if required. 



RICHARD S. FIELD, Piuaident. 



Wm. W. King, Rec. Sec. 



REGULATIONS. 



Any person may deposit articles for exhi- 

 bition, but premiums will be awarded to 

 members only ; but this is not to prevent 

 those who are not members from depositing 

 articles for premiums, provided, at the time 

 of deposit, they announce their intention of 

 becoming members, and pay the annual dues 

 for one year. 



All premiimis not called for w^ithm three 

 months will revert to the Society. 



Articles for which a distinct ^jremium has 

 been awarded cannot be put in competition 

 again at the same meeting m a general dis- 

 play. 



Committees shall have the discretiouaiy 



It would be better if agricultural societies having in view the culture of the 

 great staples of the plow, would leave to special societies the business of promot- 

 ing improvements in horticulture, and reserve all the means they can command 

 for eliciting and diffusing knou-Iedge. Advancement in Agriculture depends not 

 on the number of experiments and the exhibition of results, but on a knowledge 

 of the structure of implements, the qualities of the fertilizers, and the processes 

 employed to reach such results, with an explanation of the principles involved 

 in the germination, growth and increase of the animal or the crop. The two 

 great wants of American Agriculture now are capital and knoiviedge I The av- 

 erage wheat crop of England has been gradually brought from twelve bushels 

 up to an average of between twenty-five and twenty-eight or thirty. This has 

 been effected by horse-hoe husbandry and by turnip-culture, and now by thorough 

 draining. But knowledge, the result of scientific investigation, is doing more 

 for it now than industry has done before. Liebig himself has declared that all 

 future improvements in Agriculture must result from the application of science. 



We have before us a Prize Essay, of more than 400 pages, with engravings — 

 being a report on the agricultural progression of a single countv, (Norfolk^ elicited 



(447) 



