-z(y^ 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
^ 
Of fruit there was a nice display, for the season, and some kinds, especially the Grapes, were good. 
Pine-apples were sent by ilr. Davis, gardener to Lord Boston ; Mr. Jones, gardener to Sir J. Guest, 
Bart. ; and 'Six. Slowe ; but presented nothing for special remark. The Grapes were more numerous, 
and excellent samples came £i-om the following exhibitors, to whom prizes were awarded : — Cannon 
Hall Muscats ft'om Mr. Spencer, gardener to the Marquis of Lansdowne ; Black Hambm-ghs from 
Messrs. Ingi'am of Frogmore, Tui'nbull, and Fleming, and fi'om Messrs. Da^is of Oak Hill, Mitchell 
of Brighton, and Toy ; Sweetwaters fi-om Messrs. Jackson, 31'Qualter, gardener to Col. Challoner, and 
Daris ; Black Frontignans from Mr. Toy. "We also noticed good samples of Hambm-ghs from Mr. 
Elphinstone, gardener to the Speaker of the House of Commons ; and fine, but unripe. Muscats from 
Mr. Turnbull. Some very good Royal George Peaches and Murrey Nectarines came from JNIr. Fle- 
ming, who also sent Melons — the Hybrid Persian, raised at Trentham. May Duke Chemes were sent 
by Mr. Ingi-am and Mr. Fleming ; British Queen Sti-awberries by Mr. Toy ; and good Keens' Seed- 
lings by !Mr. Elphinstone and !Mr. Meredith, gardener to the Duke of Sutherland at Chefden- 
British Queen Strawberries in pots were also sent by Mr. Slowe. Finally, a coUeetion of Apples and 
Pears of last year's growth, in fine preservation, came from !Mr. Snow, gardener to Earl de Grey, and 
consisted of — Apples : Sturmer Pippin, Golden Harvey, Scarlet Noupariel, Com-t of Wick, Ribston 
Pippin, Winter Queen, Boston Russet, Bull's Golden Reinette ; Peais : Winter Warden and Uvedale's 
St. Germain. 
We must not conclude without noticing an illusti-ation of the quaint proverb, as to the eifeot often 
resulting from necessity, which occui'red at this exhibition. So many plants were present that the 
ordinary stages could not be made to hold them all, and the supernumeraries were merely set on the 
gi-ass, under an awning provided for other purposes. We venture to say, that for dwarf plants gene- 
rally, especially such as Cinerarias and Pelargoniums, a stage very little removed from this make-sliift 
plan would afford a better view of the plants than the more elevated stages generally employed. — M. 
S^Iisrrllnnraiis jPnttrrs. 
mK 
GARDENERS' BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
The annual festival of this excellent charity was cele- 
brated on Wednesday May 15th, at the London Coffec- 
House, when upwards of seventy of the principal 
nurserymen, seedsmen, and horticulturists of the metro- 
poKs and its vicinity assembled under the presidency 
of that amiable and excellent nobleman the Earl of 
Carlisle. The donations announced amounted to nearly 
£400. On the same day the Stauwick Nectarine, a 
very superior kind from Syria, was sold, the proceeds, 
£164 17s., being placed to the fimds of the society by 
the liberality of the Duke of Northrmibcrland, as the 
nucleus of a fund for the construction of ahns-houses, 
" for aged and indigent gardeners and their widows." 
The characteristic and admirable speech of the noble 
chairman we give entire, being convinced that we can- 
not more effectually promote the object of the society 
than in giving permanency to his excellent and eloquent 
address : — 
We have hitherto (said the noble Earl), dealt only 
with those great things and persons connected with 
royalty, war, and the concerns of empires ; but we are 
met together this evening to put forwai-d the claims of 
the Gardeners' Benevolent Instit\ition (hear, hear). 
The first consideration that might naturally occur to 
myself is, what business have I to be in the chair on 
such an occasion, and to have thus the pri\'ilege of ad- 
dressing you ? for it is scarcely necessary that I should 
observe that I do not myself exercise the very honour- 
able profession of a gardener, and furthennore I am 
sorry to say I am not fitted to hold the place amongst 
you I am now occupying by any knowledge or pro- 
ficiency I have acquired in your delightful science 
(hear, hear, and a laugh). But there seems to me to 
be this peculiarity in the bnsiness or profession of a 
gardener, that while it admits of the highest possible 
degree of progi'ess and perfection, it also, in its most 
humble gi'ades, and in artificial methods, opens up 
sources of healthful, innocent, and pleasurable employ- 
ment (cheers). The art of the gardener, dealing as it 
does with perhaps the most exquisite of all the raw 
materials which Nature supphes — the flowers of the 
earth — the art of the gardener seems to me to combine 
the healthy exercise and sturdy out-door life of the 
agricidtural labourer, with the more intellectual and 
studious employment of furnishing models for the most 
ingenious imitations of the milliner, the most deUcate 
enamellings of the jeweller, the richest colourings of 
the painter, the brightest day dreams of the poet 
(hear, hear), and there is hardly a spot of earth so 
rugged, scarcely a tribe of man so rude, that the art of 
the gardener wfll not be found to produce something 
like lovehness to the scene, and some idea of beauty to 
lift up the mind to the supreme fountain of hght and 
beauty, and the Giver of all goodness (cheers) ; and the 
pm'suit of gardening, gentlemen, seems to me not only 
to enhance, but also to make compensation for the 
beauties of natirre ; for the charms of scenery, and the 
loveliness of landscape, are necessarily confined to 
Kmitcd portions of the globe's surface. The full en- 
joyment of these can be but the pri\ilege of the few, 
and it is only some amongst us who can -sisit, and com- 
paratively very few can enjoy permanently, such scenes 
