COTTAGE GARDENS ASSOCIATION. 531 



SPECIAL PRIZES from individuals is open to objections, 

 although I am sure they are usually offered from high and 

 generous motives. At the ordinary flower show some 

 nurserymen look on these as advertisements of the 

 cheapest and most remunerative class, and perhaps their 

 acceptance may be excused there on the grounds of 

 finance ; but at the cottagers' show, where very small 

 money prizes are given, special prizes surely are not 

 needed, and at both they open the door to a compromise 

 of independence. Mr A., whose sympathies are wholly 

 utilitarian, gives 33. and 2s. for the best and second best 

 dish of potatoes. Mr B., who rejoices in the superiority of 

 an aesthetic nature, gives a like amount for the best 

 arranged bouquets. Mr C, who is fond of the table, 

 supports the cultivation of fruits, while Mr D., who is of 

 a domestic turn, offers 55., or perhaps a guinea, to the 

 domestic of unexceptional character who has lived the 

 longest in the same family. When the prize-cards are 

 placed on such exhibits, the names of the donors, as John 

 Brown, Esq., are written in a large bold hand, while you 

 must put on your spectacles to read the name of poor 

 Hodge, who by his industry and skill has made two pecks 

 of potatoes grow where but one grew before. Again, 

 when the prizes are distributed on the ground, which they 

 often are in the afternoon of the show, the distributor has 

 been known to give some kindly words of advice in the 

 face of the company to some of the triumphant prize- 

 takers. Now, I do not think that these mistakes and 

 intrusions are frequent or over -balance the good which 

 results from the cottagers' show as it is, but I do say that 

 they reduce the value of it, and are unworthy of the issues 

 which naturally hang upon successful cottage gardening. 



Finally, if a cottagers' show is held in connection with 

 cottage gardening, it should not be contrived primarily 

 as an outing for the local residents at large, but as an 

 exposition of cottage industry and skill, and as a gala- 

 day for the cottager. 



