586 Provincial Horticultural Societies : — 



the figures, though in flowers, were well defined, and the proportions good. 

 The trouble of getting it up must have been immense, and the taste evinced 

 was excellent. (^Star in the East, Sept. 22.) 



Cheshire. — C/iester FloricuUiiral and Horticultural Society. — June. The 

 neat and tasteful manner in which the plants were staged, reflected much 

 credit on the parties. {Garcl. Gaz. July 7.) 



Altrincham Floricultural and Horticultural Society. — June Q. This show 

 was for tuHps, plants, fruits, and vegetables. {Ibid., Aug. 25.) 



Cornwall. — Gwennap Cottage Gardening Society. — Aiig.l. Third An- 

 nual Exhibition. The display of cottagers' fruits and vegetables far excelled, 

 both in quality and quantity, either of the previous exhibitions, and gave a 

 convincing proof of the growing zeal, industry, and generous emulation, dis- 

 played among the cottagers of the neighbourhood, for the numerous rewards 

 so liberally subscribed for the occasion. The avenues leading to the room of 

 exhibition were tastefully decorated with evergreens and ornamental arches, 

 the voluntary work of the cottagers themselves; while the interior was ele- 

 gantly fitted up with flags, flowers, and ornamental devices ; among which, the 

 name of our youthful queen, formed of choice dahlias, was very conspicuous. 

 The centre tables were filled almost entirely by the cottagers' specimens ; while 

 the end of the room, fronting the entrance, was filled with choice plants, from 

 the well known gardens of the gentry of the parish. The Rev. T. Phillpotts, 

 president of the Society, in an address, which we regret we are not able to 

 report at length, congratulated the Society on its improved prospects, and on 

 the advantages which the neighbourhood were deriving from its establishment. 

 It appeared, that not only had the competitors greatly increased, but that many 

 cottagers had been induced, by the distribution of seeds, and the patronage of 

 the Society, to pay more attention to the cultivation of their gardens, and to 

 devote hours, which w.ould otherwise have been spent in the beer-shop, to the 

 comforts of their homes. At four o'clock, an excellent band of music, which 

 had been in attendance during the exhibition, gave notice of the approach of 

 the children of the National Sunday Schools of the parish, with their teachers, 

 amounting to nearly 800. This interesting group, arranged with the flags of 

 the several schools, after marching through the grounds of the vicarage, were 

 conducted to the scene of the intended fete, and were there regaled with a 

 liberal supply of tea and cake. Among the prizes, we noticed one, which 

 we were glad to see, for the best climber in front of a labourer's cottage. 

 {Royal Cornwall Gazette, Aug. 17.; and West Briton, Aug. 17.) 



Western District Cottage Gardening Society. — This meeting was most nume- 

 rously and fashionably attended ; and, notwithstanding the unfavourable 

 influence of a cold and changeful season, the display of fruits, vegetables, and 

 flowers was such as had never been witnessed upon any former occasion. 

 Numerous prizes were awarded ; after which, the Rev. H. E. Graham addressed 

 the meeting in a most eloquent speech, in the course of which he observed : — 

 " Notwithstanding the peculiar advantages of climate and soil which render 

 this part of the county capable of producing fruits, flowers, and vegetables of 

 the very first order, we cannot conceal the fact, that the beneficent purposes 

 for which this Society was formed, and which, for two years, it has actively 

 promoted, have not yet been attained to the extent its friends could wish. 

 This partial failure is not attributable to any want of energy on the part of 

 this institution ; and it has been to me a subject of anxious enquiry. Why the 

 vast population of this district neglect the pleasing and useful occupation of 

 cottage gardening ? Why it is that we find the manure pile and the pig in front 

 of the house, where the useful vegetable and the ornamental flower ought to 

 be growing ? The only answer 1 have been able to obtain, has been, that it is 

 not the habit of the miners ; that they care httle or nothing about their gar- 

 dens ; and that, for the most part, they return from their work exhausted, and 

 unfit for any further labour." The reverend gentleman then proceededto 

 describe the comforts enjoyed by the cottagers in Wales, from the cultivation 

 of their gardens ; and drew a contrast between the Welsh labourers and the 



