372 



Ret I ■ospective Criticism, 



duced to the scale of 2 in. to 

 1 ft. for our Arb. Brit.) The 

 variegation is white and yel- 

 low, with very dark, and also 

 with light, green ; and it does 

 not seem to be attended with 

 that ragged and imperfectly 

 developed appearance of the 

 leaf common to most varie- 

 gations. The plants are said 

 to take the habit of shrubs 

 rather than of trees ; and a 

 number of them having been 

 propagated by grafting, are 

 now selling by Mr. Davies at 

 one guinea each. We have 

 recommended Mr. Davies to 

 send a plant to the Horti- 

 cultural Society, in order that 

 it may be seen by the horti- 

 cultural world generally. 





Art. hi. Retrospective Criticism. 



Errata. — V. 296., for " Siedle," read " Seidel;" p. 297.,^ for "garden 

 itself," read " Royal Garden." P. 298., for " Polj^odium aureum," read 

 " Acrostichum aureum." P. 300., for " Encephartos Frederick Wilbelmi, and 

 E. AltensteuM," read " Encephalartos Friderici Guihelmz, and E. Altensteinw." 



Some atteratioiis proposed in t/ie Form of the Exhibitions of the Productions of 

 Horticultural Societies. — Those I would suggest are, that market-gardeners, 

 nurserymen, and all those persons who are known in anyway to traffic in 

 plants, should form one entire class, and compete among themselves ; and 

 that the private gardeners of the nobility and gentry should form another 

 class, their productions at the exhibitions occupying a separate part of the 

 room, and that they also shall compete among themselves. The latter class, 

 at present, are not able to compete with the traders; and how can they? In 

 the article of asparagus, for instance, sixty heads are required to be produced 

 as a specimen. Now, the trading gardener has, perhaps, sixty times the space 

 of ground the private gardener has for his selection ; hence his great advantage 

 over the latter. The public nurseryman and florist must, of course, obtain, by 

 early purchase, the newest and primest articles for the market, long before 

 they are introduced into private gardens : their plants, i&c, are more for sale 

 than show ; and, consequently, they can bring ten for one that can be brought 

 from a private garden. The private gardeners cannot possibly anticipate what 

 are coming forward to the exhibition ; for the ladies and gentlemen are not in 

 the habit of purchasing plants or flowers, until they have seen them exhi- 

 bited in tolerable perfection. It is with humility that I submit the forgoing 

 observations to your consideration : they are the honest dictates of a heart 

 that harbours not a wish but for the good of man; they are made in the 

 absence of every feeling of disrespect for a single individual ; and they aim at 

 nothing but to prevent dissatisfaction and unpleasant feelings among the dif- 

 ferent parties concerned. — Q. Doncaster, Nov. 7. 1835. 



The Horticultural Society' s First Show of May 14. (p. 332.) — In looking over 

 your remarks upon the London Horticultural Society's show of the 14th of May, 

 I observe, in the enumeration you give of the fruits exhibited, melons are in- 

 cluded. Now, a person looking over' the list of prizes, would uati:rally en- 



