April 4, 18k9. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
2G9 
•*< TF you want a medal from the Royal Horticultural Society 
_L empty your houses of such plants as you happen to have, 
and make a great bank of them ; the quality of the plants individu¬ 
ally is not material, and rarity counts for little or nothing. The 
point is to cover as much space as you can, and make a display. If 
you have a few plants of fair merit make these prominent, and so 
dispose the remainder that they best hide the defects of each 
other. That is the way to win a medal.” Those are the words of 
.a visitor to the last meeting or Show of the Royal Horticultural 
Society at the Drill Hall in Westminster, and as we heard much to 
ihe same effect in the building we give them the prominence to 
■which we think them entitled. 
Our attention was directed to a table of mixed ordinary decora¬ 
tive plants arranged down one side of the building, and we were 
.asked to point out those of them which were specially meritorious. 
With the exception of a few fairly good masses of Lily of the 
Valley we could find no plants in the group that would have won a 
third prize in competition at a good provincial show, while as 
regards pleasing and tasteful association we have times out of 
number had the duty imposed on u«, in judging plants arranged for 
-effect, of placing better groups outside the circle of prizewinners 
■when there were more than three exhibitors for as many prizes ; 
jet at this Drill flail “ display,” a large huddled mass of very 
•ordinary plants, the highest of all honours dispensed at the meeting 
was recommended—namely, the silver-gilt Banksian medal of the 
■■Society. 
For what purpose are the medals of the Society distributed, 
;and with what object ? They are intended as an official recog¬ 
nition of merit in cultivation, or for raising or introducing plants 
■or fruits of distinct value. The object is, giving the honour that is 
-due to the recipients, and thereby affording an incentive to others 
to equal or excel them in the success of their endeavours or the 
■excellence of their work. When products of commanding merit 
are exhibited, and medals are adjudged for them, the Society 
lionours itself as well as those who prove their claim to high recog¬ 
nition ; but when the medals are granted without sufficient dis¬ 
crimination, though their possessors may be gratified, the Society 
loses status, and the value of the medals is lowered in the estima¬ 
tion of the general horticultural community. 
When a silver-gilt medal is granted to an exhibitor for two or 
three vanloads of plants, distinctly and decidedly inferior as a 
whole to thousands that are sold in Covent Garden olr any market 
morning,, and thence dragged through the streets on costermongers’ 
barrows, it is time to protest, in the true interests of the Society 
and of horticulture, against such awards. These the Committees 
■“ recommend,” and the Council sanctions, or otherwise, their 
recommendations. The relative positions of the two bodies are 
similar to those of two branches of a legislature, which exist 
in all well-governed countries ; and if the first, under the 
influence of impulse, or insufficient investigation resulting from 
hurried work, arrives at a decision, which, after a careful review 
of the whole circumstances, is found to have been declared pre¬ 
maturely, immediate action is arrested by the power of the second 
and supreme authority. For the purpose of competency, the 
revisers, so to say, must be practical, and understand the subject 
that is brought before them ; they must have the courage of their 
No. 458.—Vol. XVIII., Third Series 
convictions, and decide accordingly. If they are net competent 
on the one hand, or are weak-kneed on the other, they bear what¬ 
ever of disapproval attaches to the position; if they have the 
knowledge to judge soundly, and the strength to act firmly, they 
receive the honour that is their due under the circumstances. 
We can quite understand that it is not pleasant to enforce a 
right under certain circumstances, even if it is to prevent a wrong ; 
and in the case under notice we have not the slightest doubt that 
the silver-gilt Banksian medal of the Society was wrongly applied, 
and especially as judged in comparison with the minor awards of 
silver medals granted to other collections of plants at the same 
meeting. We do not hesitate saying that in relative excellence of 
culture or novelty the collection which received a distinction higher 
than any of the others was the least meritorious of all. The honour 
must have been granted after a cursory examination, not a critical 
investigation, and the occasion was one in which the Council 
should, if it has not done so, intervene for maintaining the high 
value which should attach to the medals of the Society. It is 
no secret that the freedom with which they are dispensed is, in the 
opinion of many persons, rendering them less prized ; and the 
granting of such a high award to such a common exhibit is not 
calculated to ennoble the medals as representing distinguished 
merit. Whatever of this was possessed by the exhibit in question 
consisted in its bulk alone, which must have filled the eyes of the 
examiners to the dazzling point, and prevented a judicious critical 
examination. We have never before seen a silver-gilt Banksian 
medal of the Royal Horticultural Society recommended for such a 
commonplace assortment of ordinary plants, the vast majority of 
which possessed no merit whatever as examples of cultivation, and 
we shall not see a similar occurrence without raising a protest 
against it. 
We would seriously ask, Of what value was the group to either 
the Society or visitois ? As probably nine-tenths of the latter 
were expert cultivators it could obviously possess no interest to 
them ; and the few inexpert visitors would be the least impressed 
with flowers they can see any day. The London public do not, and 
will not, attend the Drill Hall to see market plants inferior to those 
which pass their windows on barrows, and the Royal Horticultural 
Society will lose rather than gain prestige by according distinguished 
honours to plants which do not possess distinguished merit. 
It may be urged in extenuation that something must be given 
for large collections of plants brought a long distance and at con¬ 
siderable cost. If that principle is to operate it would be better to 
hire plants for adorning the Hall, though we do not advise it ; 
but granting medals of honour as compensation to tradesmen for 
displaying their wares, whether these are specially meritorious or 
not, is not, we think, the object for which the Royal Horticultural 
Society was established, and we question very much if it is the 
best method of, we will not say keeping up its dignity, but of 
contributing to its prosperity. 
We do not know that the Council have sanctioned the recom¬ 
mendation of the Committee ; we hope they have not, for this is a 
case in which they would be perfectly justified in exercising that 
veto which they properly reserve to themselves. We do not alto¬ 
gether find fault with the Committee, for they have merely 
followed a practice that had become almost habitual, of awarding 
medals—not for merit, but as thank-offerings to exhibitors for 
furnishing the exhibition room. This is not the object, however, 
for which medals were instituted. If awards are to be made to 
exhibitors for filling so many square feet or square yards of surface 
they ought to take some other form than that of medals, and these, 
the highest honours of the Society, ought not to be lavishly and 
inconsiderately scattered abroad as if they were mere counters in 
a game of chance. These are honorary distinctions conferred by 
an important Society, and now that we have an infusion of new 
blood into the Council, and the Society is, we trust, returning to 
its ancient traditions, we hope to see its honours reserved for 
No. 2114.—Vol. LXXX,, Old Series. 
