CHAPTER XXIV. 
EXHIBITING. 
“ Perchance you wonder at this show ; 
But wonder on till truth makes all things plain .' 7 
Midsummer Night’s Dream, V., 1. 
S HE healthy excitement of a horticultural exhibition tends 
in a most direct and powerful manner towards the im- 
provement of the garden in all those departments 
which minister more especially to the spirit of emulation, 
and more or less on those that lie outside the field of com- 
petition. As a matter of course some gardeners who become 
tired with zeal in competing for prizes, are the worse for it in 
all their ways and their work ; but the influence, on the 
whole, is beneficial and, generally speaking, it is to the em- 
ployers’ interest to encourage the contribution to the horticul- 
tural show of the products of the garden. In the every day 
life of the English gardener, there is much wearisome monotony, 
much dreary dullness, much unhealthy depression, and the 
horticultural exhibition affords a most agreeable and desirable 
change from the leaden routine ; and the men who take an 
active part in the management, as well as in the competition, 
are usually found to be trustworthy and vigilant, and spirited 
in the discharge of their most ordinary duties. The bustle 
and consideration of detail, and the close association with men 
of experience and business tact, are of great service to a young 
man who associates himself with the working department of a 
flower show, and the hope of attaining a good position in the 
prize list, will quicken his activities to the great advantage 
of his garden work, if his mind is but fairly balanced, and 
bent on the attainment of respectability by the due discharge 
of every duty. The occasional mischief that results from the 
influence of the flower show, is seen in the neglect of certain 
departments in order that extra care may be bestowed on 
