154 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Sept'b. 



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I ^mind shall be feasted with beauty and knowledge. No spontaneous r% 

 rp accumuktion is to produce the great results anticipated; for nine "" 

 / months, certain places have been placarded with an immense sheet, 

 headed " Schedule of Premiums." We are sorry that our limited 

 means do not permit us to indulge in the repetition of the various 

 items contained in it. " And who are to receive the premiums this 

 time!" A very out of place question; and yet that is the question 

 commonly demanded of the cunning ones in horticulture. One says, 

 u Oh, it is easy to tell who will get it." Certainly, we would say — 

 44 whoever merits it." 



We trust, at least, this will be the result. In order to satisfy our- 

 selves in case any competitor might consider himself aggrieved, as 

 frequently many do, let us throw out a few hints to the competitors 

 on this head — the judges we will not pretend to advise. Take the 

 schedule for your guide; take it as it is — not as it should be— for bet- 

 ter or worse ; be guided by it — you made it, or you suffered your offi- 

 cers to make it — though right in front we see those coarse and stink- 

 ing things, Dahlias advanced for the silver medal. Running our eye 

 along, we see another silver medal offered, and for what! "The Cac- 

 ti" neither more nor less. The Night Flowering, Turk's Cap, Old Man, 

 Hedge Hog, Crab Cactus, Mammillarias, Phyllocaeti. We think we 

 see the huge masses of sap and flesh taking their stand for judgment. 

 Following farther, we see another silver medal, for what! — oh, for a 

 design. We shall make no comment ; that is unsafe ground to tread 

 on. Well, we hope the schedule is better than the gardeners think; 

 though few have forty good Dahlias, many have twenty good Cacti — 

 some specimens twelve or fourteen feet high are about. Will they be 

 in bloom! — the schedule does not inform us. We hope all will be 

 well ; and let no one ask who made up this schedule — that is not to 

 the purpose ; why did not the members see to these things in good 

 time! Now as to the judgment, let there be no underhand work — 

 no tampering with judicial authority; no interference, whatsoever, in 

 the Hall, during the presence of the judges; no whispering " that is 

 his," or "this is mine," or ''that is Tom's, or Dick's, or Harry's" — let 

 us have a decision on the merits, irrespective of influence or authority. 

 We have heard enough latterly of this disagreeable carking at the re- 

 sults — the complaints are often well grounded, and often groundless. 

 The gentlemen no doubt do their utmost to please. How few succeed 

 in such circumstances. Thorough acquaintance with the duties to be 

 performed, will, we hope, place the judges far above suspicion as to 

 skill ; their character as men should be quite sufficient guarantee for 

 the purity of their award. We are grieved to hear disrespect cast 

 upon the men who kindly undertake the most difficult portion of the 

 /C duty. We hope our friends whose honor and reputation is in their ( 



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