^&ig^. 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES.— CALEDONIAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
m& 
No flower wMoh has two sliades in the ground-colour, yellow, white, or straw, it must be all one 
shade. 
No flower that is not a respectable approach to a cii-cle. 
No flower that is crumpled, and will not lay flat. 
Attention to these points will not fail to put the judges to the test ; they cannot pass over such 
a stand, and give a prize for size to a stand with a single really blemished bloom, while any stand 
is free — we do not mean free fi-om blemish altogether, for that is impossible, but we mean free from 
those distinctive faults which ought to turn out a stand. There is not half so much fault in the run 
petal of a pink, as in the eye of a Pansy breaking into the margin ; yet a run petal is fatal to 
the finest stand in the world ; and so, in the case of the Pansy, ought a broken field, that is, a field 
broken by the eye breaking through it to the margin. 
Thei-e may be a good deal done by arrangement in a stand. The Pansy should be so arranged 
that the yellow grounds, white grounds, and selfs, should be uniform, and separated from each 
other. No two whites or yellows should come together, except in the centre of the stand — yellow 
at the ends of the top and bottom rows, and white at the ends of the middle rows; or if there be 
fom- rows, yellow at the ends of the first and thii-d, and white in the second and fom-th. There 
is such want of contrast, want of taste, want of common sense, in nine-tenths of the stands, that we 
often wonder that they get prizes at all — half-a-dozcn white grounds are crammed close together, and 
perhaps yellow ones as conspicuously assembled in another part ; here and there a muddy self ; and 
perhaps there a fine flower, with one shade of colour in the bottom petal, and another in the side 
petals ; a struggle sometimes between a dirty white and a yellow — the last point that the cultivators 
for sale would give up, yet an admitted fault, though conspicuously shown to the present day, by 
retaining varieties that should be banished altogether. 
There can be no doubt, that if any one amateur grower would stand to this, the judges must place 
all others for a time below him. It is cleai- to us, that so long as exhibitors will put in a single bloom 
with a disqualifying defect, the stand is, by right, as much out of the competition as if it had twenty 
blemished flowers. The old dogma is a good one : you show — for it is applied to all flowers — you 
show twelve flowers for a prize ; one of the twelve has a fault, which, by common consent, makes it 
not a show flower — ergo, you only show eleven flowers, and these cannot compete ; and the careless- 
ness of judges has become a nuisance, and a wet blanket on progress. It has arisen at great shows, 
where there if a money- getting interest to serve ; and so long as the quantity of flowers cover the 
tables, and gratify the jjublic, who pay for admission, the committees are useless. The judges are not 
selected as they are at those social meetings where the laws are rigidly enforced ; therefore blemishes 
which would not be tolerated an instant, in a meeting of true florists, are passed over at the great 
exhibitions, so that the subjects are sho^vy and attractive. It is not too much to say, that the great 
exhibitions have thrown a damper on the culture of those flowers which are not very showy ; and they 
have encouraged monstrous specimens, instead of healthy and natm-al growth, simply because they 
make a greater show on the tables. All small things, like Pansies, which ai'e to be placed on a stand 
occupying two or three feet of superficial space, are by no means adequately encouraged ; and 
Geraniums, which, when grown as large as they can be without sticlis would not be large enough, 
are encom-aged of a monstrous size, and bad growth, which woidd not be shown at all except that the 
growers are allowed to put a hundi'ed props to support the branches and flowers in theii- places. 
BliBrrllnninug IMim. 
CALEDONIAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
May 11.. — The Spring Competition Meeting was 
held in the Society's Garden, Inverleith. The display 
of Exotic and Spring flowering plants was good, and 
many of the specimens evinced high culture. The 
nurserymen's prize for Shrubby Greenhouse plants, 
was gained by Messrs. Dickson & Sons, Inverleith, who 
had Hovea Celsi, Chorozema Lawrenceana, Bossisea 
linophylla, Platylobium rhombifolimn, Podolobium stau- 
rophyllum, and an Azalea. The fu-st prize, in the compe- 
tition among practical gardeners, was awarded to Mr. 
J. Eeid, gardener to Prof. Syme, Millbank, for beau- 
tiful specimens of Tetratheca verticfllata, Chorozema 
Lawrenceana, Azalea lateritia gi'andiilora, A. Glad- 
stanesU, Epacris miuiata, and Pimelea Heudersonii. 
A prize for the three finest stove plants (Orchids and 
Cacti excluded) was awarded to Mr. H. Kitchie, gard- 
ener to W. M. Innes, Esq., Parson's Green, who had 
Gesnera splendens, Begonia coccinea, and Balsamina 
latifoUa. A fine flowered specimen of TropEeoliun 
tricolor, was shown by Mr. C. Douglas, gardener to ' 
H. Craigie, Esq., Ealcou Hall ; and for the two finest 
dwarf Cacti, the ih-st prize was gained by Mr. J. 
Pender, gardener to D. Anderson, Esq., Moredim, who 
produced finely flowered plants of Epiphyllum glauoes- 
cens and E. Hitchinii. For Tropicar Orchids an award 
^^^^^^^^il 
