1895.] TRANSACTIONS. 11 



own sweet will, is so complete, that the judgment of most ex- 

 pert Florists must be invoked that a just award shall settle the 

 relative merits of the various exhibits. The advance towards a 

 thoroughly eclectic exhibition has been steadily onward, without 

 evident check or hindrance. The former unit of superiority is 

 adopted for a present standard of common ex(?ellence. The 

 greater or less throngs that crowd our side benches in eager ex- 

 pectation of the bounty that they have got to anticipate, — almost 

 to exact, — from the cultivators of choice specimens of rare varie- 

 ties are privileged to gaze upon a banquet that never fails. But 

 how little thought do they bestow upon the skill and industry 

 that were required to insure the sequence of bud or blossom ! 

 How little do they reck of the cost of it all ; of the sleepless vigi- 

 lance and unending toil ; of the watch against excess of heat or 

 the stealthy onset of frost ; from any or all of which imminent 

 perils no one can feel sure of exemption ; yet escaping which, 

 they are accounted mean unless they make lavish distribution 

 after gratuitous display. Might not guests at our Exhibitions 

 well go down into their pockets before soliciting, as a free gift, 

 flower, or fruit, that have cost so much time and Labor? 



But dismissing consideration of that mental perversity that 

 would gather where it had not strewn, and which is shameless 

 in its persistent effort to transform a generous display into a cus- 

 tom of promiscuous dole, we are warranted in priding ourselves 

 upon the signal progress which has crowned the aims and efforts 

 of the Society throughout its felicitous existence, but more 

 especially during the past decade. The Rose was always with 

 us ; as fragrant in the simple gardens of our mothers as now on 

 those pretentious occasions when the collections of plutocrats 

 become almost oppressive from their sheer magnitude and heavy 

 perfume. Yet, how lately have we acquired all that opulence 

 of floriage which the Orient has yielded for our admiration and 

 delight since first the squadron of Perry cast anchor in the waters 

 of Japan j The pages of an Encyclopaedia would be required to 

 do justice to the vast number and rare excellence of plant and 

 shrub that have come to us so easily that we almost seem to 

 have possessed them ever. Forsythiaand Weigela, Iris or Lily, 



