1849.] REPORT ON FLOWERS. 35 



ANNUAL EXITIBITION, 1849. 



REPORT ON FLOWERS. 



Samuel F. Havex, Chairman; Mrs. M. |^D. Phillips, Mrs. P. S. Can- 

 field, Mrs. G. W. Richardson. 



The floral display at this exhibition, 'manifested a well sustained interest in 

 that department of horticulture which appeals to the finer senses, and pro- 

 motes the growth of domestic tastes of a purifying and elevating character. 

 The decorations of the room, marked by a simplicity most pleasing to a culti- 

 vated perception of the beautitul, were exceedingly appropriate. They were 

 as they should be, subsidiary to the real purposes of the exhibition, and not de- 

 signed to attract to themselves the attention more properly due to the articles 

 contributed for observation and comparison. To Dr. Samuel Flagg, for whose 

 services in a similar way the Society has often before been indebted, belongs the 

 credit of the skill and judgment shown in their arrangement. The stands, 

 boaquets, and vases of cut flowers, and the pots of parlor plants, were numer- 

 ous and well selected ; the dishes, in which smaller flowers are displayed to most 

 advantage, exhibited variety and taste in their combinations ; and the whole 

 collection must have afforded gratification to the scientific cultivator as well as 

 to the more superficial and less enlightened observer. 



It would be desirable, on some accounts, if in awarding premiums, the crite- 

 rion of merit could be somewhat modified. With absolute superiority for the 

 only standard it is evident that the advantages of competition are not equally 

 shared. Those who possess large gardens, which have been long and highly 

 cultivated, whe'cher for ornament or profit, must be expected to furnish the 

 finest varieties and the choicest specimens of their kind. So, too, it would be 

 strange, if those who from abundant materials have been in the daily habit of 

 arranging and combining shades and trees, with a view to their best effect in 

 vases or bouquets, should not manifest the results of practice and experience, 

 apart from any natural difference in judgment or taste. The art of disposing 

 colors and forms, either in the way of harmony or contrast, so as to produce 

 the most agreeable impression, requires the labor of study and experiment not 

 less than the analagous arts of music and painting, — indeed, it is one of the 

 most difficult and last acquired departments of the latter. Thus the contribu- 

 tions at our Exhibitions which are made from more limited resources, and by 

 comparatively new cultivators, are liable to be thrown too much iu the back 



