58 Provincial Hm-ticuUuml Societies. 



the highest state of cultivation, and will indeed make the exhibitions con- 

 centraUons of the horticultural beauties and rarities of the district. The 

 prizes were awarded as follows : — For the best dish of baking apples, the 

 silver medal to Mr. Thomas Cook, gardener to T. W. Beaumont, Esq., 

 Bradley Hall. For the best seedling apple, the silver medal to Mr. M. Hall, 

 Gateshead. For the best dish of eating apples, the silver medal ; for the 

 best dish of dessert piears, the silver medal; and for the best dish of sea- 

 kale, the bronze medal, to Mr. Joseph Clarke, gardener to Mrs. Bewicke, 

 at Close House. For the best twenty-five heads of asparagus,^ the silver 

 medal to Mr. C. Robson, gardener to Dr. Headlam, Jesmond. For the best 

 twelve Camellm japonica flowers, the silver medal to Mr. James Scott, gar- 

 dener to Edward Charlton, Esq. at Sandoe. For the best bouquet of 

 green -house flowers, the silver medal to Mr. William Lawson, gardener to 

 Matthev/ Bell, Esq., Woolsington. The silver medal was awarded to Mr. 

 John M'Cleish, gardener to A. J. Creswell Baker, Esq., of Cresswell, for an 

 Essay on the Culture of Chrysanthemum indicum. {Newcastle Courant, 

 Feb. 16.) 



In the List of Prizes to be given away by this Society in the year 1828, 

 we observe with pleasure, that in each of the lists for the six different days 

 of meeting and exhibition, there is one prize, the silver medal, for " the 

 best original essay, in writing, on the culture or management of any of the 

 above." It is very well to begin with external matters, and to teach men 

 to grow their own potatoes, clothe themselves decently, and give them a 

 taste for a dry lodging, before teaching them mathematics or history ; but 

 all eiFectual and permanent improvement must be founded in the mind, 

 and perpetuated to future generations by being committed to writing. 

 Good habits may be produced in individuals, and by them transferred to 

 their offspring; but circumstances, local or political, may destroy such 

 habits, and the race may revert to barbarism, in the same way as a culti- 

 vated plant, neglected for a few seasons, runs, as gardeners term it, back to 

 its wild state. In the elements of society there is a perpetual tendency of 

 one principle to counteract another, and the history of past ages shows 

 that there is no security for the improvements introduced by science and 

 experience, but the art of writing and the press. We should wish to see 

 every gardener, therefore, not merely a reading but a writing gardener. 

 The Gardener's Magazine has called forth the pens of a few, who would 

 probably never otherwise have distinguished themselves in this way, and we 

 know that it has contributed both to the honour and advantage of these few. 

 We hope, ultimately, to see in our pages, and in the lists of our contri- 

 butors pubhshed with each volume, the name of every gardener who claims 

 to be in the horticultural world. We wish every Provincial Society would 

 follow the example of that at Newcastle, and not only aim at making gar- 

 deners good cultivators, but also good writers. We shall say more on this 

 subject on a future occasion, when we shall endeavour to show how much 

 a gardener's advancement in his profession, and in the general respect of 

 all who know him, depends on, or is connected with, the single circum- 

 stance of the sort of letter ivhich he can ivrite, or the papers which he has 

 written in any gardenhig publication. Let the young gardener mark this, 

 and bear it in perpetual remembrance. 



The Vale of Evesham Horticultural Society, founded in 1827, have pub- 

 lished their rules and regulations, and theii' schedule of prizes, for 1828. 

 They propose to have five meetings, in April, May, June, July, and Sep- 

 tember, and their prizes embrace all the leading articles of culture from 

 tulips to pine-apples. The president of this Society is Edward Rudge, Esq. 

 F.R.S. &c. &c., a botanist, learned, wealthy, a good citizen, and an upright 

 man. Our correspondent, Mr, Fulton, (Vol. III. p. 405.) is one of the most 

 active members. 



