194 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (JULY, rorg. 
amateur exhibits, by which the Shows are becoming more and more a 
trade display. Formerly the arrangements were more on the lines of the 
provincial Shows, competitive classes being arranged, some of which were 
reserved for amateurs, others for nurserymen, while the remainder were 
open to both. At the present time amateurs compete against nurserymen, 
though they cannot be expected to have the same resources at command, 
and the smaller amateurs are discouraged. Nurserymen themselves dislike 
the arrangement, realising that recruits come from the ranks of the smaller 
amateurs who eventually specialise and form large private collections, which 
is all to the good of the trade. It is suggested that the Society should take 
steps to increase the number of amateur exhibits, not cnly at the great 
Shows, but also at the fortnightly meetings. One step towards this would 
be the setting apart of classes for amateur exhibits, according to the season, 
at the regular meetings. The present system is little more than providing 
spaces for anybody to fill, with anything that they may happen to have in 
bloom at the time. No one knows what is coming, and the groups are 
practically all alike. 
This is quite to the point, and we think more might be done to 
encourage amateur exhibits, particularly in the matter of culture. Of 
course there is the Cultural Commendation for exceptional subjects, but it 
does not meet the case to which attention is specialiy called. Unless 
something is done we fear that amateurs will continue to visit the Shows 
chiefly as spectators. 
Another interesting newspaper cutting is to hand. It is entitled, 
*** Some’ plants: wonders and problems of the humbler life,” by A Be 
Crawley, and might be shortly described as an enquiry into the reason of 
things as they are. ‘It is doubtful,” the writer remarks, “whether the 
animal world, self-conscious in mankind, really understands the plant. « - 
The plant feeds our organisms with starchy food and protein and what not, 
and our souls with beauty. But not even Bergson can give its absolute 
meaning. Maeterlinck explains it on the anthropomorphic principle, as 
flowers were human beings on the make, which is absurd. The plant ® 
one sort of life-stuff, or protoplasm, which has gone one way, the way of 
sitting still, and of being therefore used ; the animal is of the other sort, 
which has gone another way, the way of running about. . - The plant 
has no nervous system, whatever Mr. Francis Darwin may say: 
n, by a process of convergence, it approaches the condition and 
capacity of the animal, while the animal often tends to approach it. 
of the two halves of life aims at meeting somewhere and somewhen.” 
But ofte 
