Agriculture Abroad. 



389 



AGRICULTURE ABROAD. 



An event probably of some significance in augmenting the 

 friendship between two already friendly nations was asso- 



Horticulture and ^^^^^^ ^'^^ ^^'^ Horticultural 

 International Exhibition at Antwerp. The British 



Friendship: The exhibit, arranged and carried out at 

 British Exhibit at short notice, was at once beautiful and 

 Antwerp. striking, and the circumstances attending 

 the inception and execution of this scheme are of peculiar 

 interest to horticulture. At the request of the Belgian 

 Foreign Oliice the Ministry of Agriculture invited the 

 British Chamber of Commerce to organise a collective 

 display of British-grown fruit and flowers for the Antwerp 

 Exhibition. The Chamber immediately agreed and sent 

 a representative over to Antwerp to interview the Exhibition 

 Committee and obtain particulars. The result of his inquiries 

 was that the Chamber took over the entire space of the 

 Central Hall, an area measuiing 135 ft. by 35 ft. 



On the Thursday and Friday immediately before the opening 

 eight members of the British Chamber went over to Belgium 

 with two truckloads of cut flowers, orchids on roots, fruit and 

 plants. During Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning 

 the representatives worked at high pressure arranging their 

 specimens in the form of a garden and turfing over the remainder 

 of the allotted space. They produced an exhibit that was 

 generally acknowledged to be an example of taste and beauty, 

 apart from any question of the excellence of the specimens 

 shown. On the Sunday H.M. King Albert opened the Exhibi- 

 tion and began his tour of the Hall by spending nearly forty 

 minutes with the British representatives. The King asked 

 many questions about cultivation, the area of nurseries, the 

 position of British labour, and kindred topics. He laid special 

 stress on the thanks that were due to British horticultuiists for 

 the exhibit, and more than once expressed his opinion that it 

 was calculated to improve the relations between the two 

 countries. 



The representatives of the British Chamber were asked to 

 assist in judging the foreign exhibits. It goes without saying 

 that they took no part in awarding prizes to British com- 

 petitors. The collective British exhibit received from the 

 Belgian judges the highest possible award, and two other highest 

 awards went to individual sections. The President specially 

 commended the quality and excellence of the British flowers, 

 the style and arrangement, and the assistance which British 

 horticulturists had lent to the whole Exhibition. On the 



