THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



FEBRUARY, 1843. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



' Art. I. On Horticultural Exhibitions. By James Barnes, 

 Gardener to the Right Hon. Lady Rolle. 



Having all my life been engaged in gardening, and having 

 been anxious to see the skill and industry of gardeners re- 

 warded, I have carefully watched for many years the effect of 

 the encouragement given at horticultural exhibitions to work- 

 ing gardeners. If the conclusions that I have come to differ 

 from those arrived at by some of my brethren, I trust the 

 circumstance will not be attributed to any partiality on my 

 part, but rather to a want of more extended observation and 

 experience. 



The general impression on my mind is, that, under the 

 present system of exhibiting, it very rarely occurs that either 

 skill or industry gets properly rewarded. 



For instance, at our principal leading exhibitions, encourage- 

 ment is held out for the production of certain articles, no 

 matter what may be their native country, the part of England 

 they come from, who may exhibit them, or how long they may 

 have been in the possession of the exhibitor, provided only he 

 has had them long enough to make them his property. For 

 this purpose, it will be sufficient if they have been purchased 

 the very morning of the exhibition ; and I can state with 

 confidence, that some of the leading exhibitors of the present 

 time never think of growing the productions they exhibit, but 

 scour the country over in search of them, to the no small satis- 

 faction of the nurserymen from whom they are purchased. 

 Whether this shows a taste for horticulture, or a taste for 

 exhibiting, I leave others to determine. What chance has a 

 gardener who grows his plants from their infancy with exhi- 

 bitors of this kind, who can show, at every exhibition, a dozen 

 of plants for his one or two ? A number of respectable men 

 get chosen as judges for such exhibitions, who very often are 

 totally incapable of estimating the merit of the articles for 

 want of practical knowledge. Horticultural exhibitions have, 

 no doubt, done good by stimulating to exertion, but, for some 



3d Ser. — 1843. II. e 



