238 THE METROPOLITAN JULY EXHIBITIONS. 
perfection, and those gardeners -who have not made the experiment are little aware of the labour 
attendant upon an exhibitor's life. In many eases they cultivate plants for exhibition in opposition 
to their employers' wishes, and so far from receiving aid from the employer, we have known an 
instance in which, after they were grown, the gardener was obliged to show his plants in another per- 
son's name. Many of the finest specimens exhibited are the property of the exhibitor, and not of his 
employer, and we know one person who actually employs a man at his own expense to do his work, 
while he attends the exhibitions. Indeed, the exhibitor's life may, in many instances, be described as 
the " pursuit of knowledge under difficulties," and though the gaining of a gold medal may appear a 
great thing, it will frequently be found that when the expenses are paid, there is in reality but little 
left for the trouble. The encouragement which exhibitors have received this season has been by no 
means commensurate with their claims, and we fear there is some truth in the remark, that the more 
liberally societies are supported, the more illiberal they become to those to whom their success is 
mainly attributable — for without the exhibitors, success would soon be turned into failure. A lesson 
of this kind has been taught the Chiswick management this year, as through the prizes for Pelargo- 
niums being insufficient to defray the expenses of carriage ; the exhibitors agreed to stop away, and 
hence but very few plants of that kind have been presented, while at the Regent's Park, the prizes 
being remunerative, a grand display has been produced on each occasion. AVe have always contended 
that these societies have no right to look upon their exhibitions as a source of revenue, at least not until 
the exhibitors have been properly rewarded, and we are still of the same opinion. The greater their 
success, the more liberal ought they to be in the reward of exhibitors ; but instead of this we are 
sorry to say they screw them down to the lowest remunerative point, and as we have shown above, 
sometimes below that. It is easy to talk of exhibitors being discontented, and of their being selfish, 
and so forth ; but the truth is, in these lucre-loving days, we are all selfish, and societies have no more 
right to expect exhibitors to show below the remunerating point, than exhibitors have to expect a 
society to sustain an exhibition at a loss to the institution. The profit at the Regent's Park will not 
fall far short of £5000, and at Chiswick £3000, which we suspect is more than double what they 
receive from their subscribers : therefore exhibitors ought to have credit for that amount, and, in con- 
sequence, to be better rewarded than they are at the present time. We throw these hints out at 
present as an act of justice to exhibitors, who are not represented by the weekly press, and 
because we have heard, though we hope there is no truth in it, that there is some intention of applying 
the " screw" rather tightly upon the prize schedules for next year. 
Of novelty we have not had much, but the Rose garden at the Regent's Park was a new feature, 
though by no means a prepossessing one. The arrangement was pretty, and properly planted would 
have been effective, but why Roses could not have been planted there without being stuck upon 
broom-sticks, we cannot understand. If evidence had been wanting to show how monstrously ugly 
beds of tall standard Roses look, it is wanting no longer, and if this exhibition effects no other good, 
we know it has opened some people's eyes to the insanity of planting tall standard Roses. But, apart 
from the style of plant used, there was a great lack of the finer kinds of Roses, more especially of the 
Teas, Bourbon, and Perpetuals. We saw no groups, as we expected to have seen, of such varieties as 
Standard of Marengo, Geant des Batailles, Souvenir de Malmaison, Paul Joseph, Madame de St. Joseph, 
and the like ; but there were plenty of summer Roses which would have been better away. In truth 
the garden looked as if planted with the sweepings of the nurseries, such as could not be sold, and we 
should hope many of the kinds never will be sold. The Rose growers have defeated their own end, 
and are justly paying the penalty of planting rubbish where they ought to have sent the very best 
kinds. Another new feature was the Picotees and Carnations in pots at Chiswick, one side of a large 
tent being filled with them. They did not come up to our anticipations, but still they were sufficiently 
good to show that they will ultimately become one of the most attractive features of the July shows, 
and that they will take rank with the Roses in pots before the close of many seasons. We certainly 
expected that persons who, in showing cut flowers, display so much taste, and take such great pains to 
display their flowers to the greatest advantage, would not have been wauting on the score of neatness ; 
but when we say that those persons who had the best plants had huge ugly square sticks supporting 
them, some of the sticks being a foot or eighteen inches higher than the flowers, and when we say 
further, that some of the flowers were backed by cards two inches broader than the flowers they sup- 
ported, it will be seen there was sufficient room for taste to assert her sway, and for improvement in 
showing Carnations in pots. The growers profess to object to the system of showing; so did Rose 
growers : they say a plant will not carry more than three flowers, but we warrant them that, as 
Air. Beck demonstrated despite all opposition, that Roses could be grown in pots, so will some enthu- 
siastic person show them the way to grow Carnations and Picotees. It is true Mr. Turner's skill has 
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