HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



brought to a premature termination, and it became apparent that 

 it would not do to trust to tents for holding the remainder of 

 the Shows. Had such an accident happened to the Great Show 

 tent when crowded with valuable plants, the consequences might 

 have been ruinous ; it was therefore resolved not to risk holding 

 them in these tents, which had thus from their size or con- 

 struction proved unfitted or unable to sustain the strain that 

 might be brought upon them. 



Their collapse also brought to a termination much good 

 wrath and indignation which was being poured out upon them 

 by some of the newspapers of the day. The great unsightly 

 canvas structures, rising 36 feet high, acted like a screen to 

 shut out all view of the Garden from the upper windows of the 

 refreshment rooms in the southern arcades, and the visitors 

 naively complained that they were thus prevented obtaining a 

 gratuitous view of the Garden from these windows. The gales 

 of June brought this topic of the hour to an end. 



The Second and Third Great Shows were held in the 

 Conservatory and arcades. 



As already mentioned, the Council had taken effectual means 

 to secure Exhibitions which should do the Society credit in the 

 eyes of the numerous visitors from abroad, and on every occasion 

 throughout the year the number of exhibitors, and the beauty 

 of the plants exhibited, bore ample testimony to the success of 

 the measures of the Council. An interesting feature in them 

 was that introduced by Sir Wentworth Dilke in the previous 

 year, and now repeated by him, viz., the offer of prizes for the 

 decoration of the dinner-table with fruit and flowers. Similar 

 prizes were now offered by other Fellows for the decoration of 



