16 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GARDENING. 



a colony of these Flemish refugees formed a settle- 

 ment ; and to this day florists' flowers are largely 

 grown there, and frequent exhibitions held. 



Thirty and even fewer years ago, these exhibitions 

 ■were a necessity, as they were the only means by 



of these meetings, each purchaser paying for and 

 taking home his plants. With the establishment 

 of a horticultural press came more enlarged oppor- 

 tunities for interchange of opinion on plants, and 

 the best modes of culture; and this new vehicle 



\X 



Show Auricula (Variety C. E. Brown). | Mf^dpxs 



which florists could interchange views as to the best 

 modes of cultivating their favourite flowers. They 

 were then as much of a social as of a competitive 

 character, and when the task of awarding prizes 

 had been performed, the florists sat down, and over 

 pipe and glass talked for hours about their floral 

 pets. In those days a new variety of known quality 

 of anj' popular flower, when a sufiicient number of 

 jilants had been obtained, was "let out" at one 



brought into notice many other plants outside of 

 those then known as florists' flowers. The Eose, 

 among others, became highly popular; the "bedding- 

 out system," as it is termed, began to attract public 

 attention ; and the consequence was that some of 

 the most valuable of the best -known florists' 

 flowers declined in public estimation. The improve- 

 ment in the culture of fruits and vegetables, and 

 the introductiouof many new varieties of each, also 



