2 
THE FLORIST. 
sugary Muscat flavour ; seeds 2—4. This variety, from its being 
an abundant bearer and a free setter, forming magnificent well- 
shouldered bunches, appears to be highly deserving of cultivation.” 
The following is an extract from the Report of the Meeting of 
the British Bornological Society, Nov. 6, 1856:—“Mr. Spencer, 
of Bowood, brought bunches of his Bowood Muscat. It had been 
previously exhibited before the Society, but this time was riper 
and in a better condition to be judged. Its flavour was pro¬ 
nounced quite equal to the Muscat of Alexandria, and was 
esteemed superior to that variety in the form of the bunch, which 
is compact and well-shouldered- It also appears to have the 
desirable acquisition of setting well.” 
The plate was prepared by our artist, Mr. Andrews, from one 
of the bunches exhiWted. 
DO EXHIBITIONS ENCOURAGE HORTICULTURE AS 
THEY OUGHT? 
Are our horticultural exhibitions influencing improved culture in 
plants, flowers, and fruits as they should do ? This is a question that 
has often occurred to us when inspecting the country exhibitions, par¬ 
ticularly in the northern counties, and we fear that in many respects 
the question must be answered negatively. That the great metropolitan 
shows have done very much for the advancement of horticultural science, 
no one can deny, although occasionally we see mistakes committed, as 
shown in the three large Fancy Pelargoniums exhibited by Mr. 
Thomson, at the last July show in the Regent’s Park. In this 
instance we saw that by giving plants too much pot room—overpotting 
them—the object the cultivator had in view, of obtaining masses 
of bloom, was frustrated, and an exuberance of growth was the result. 
It must have been evident to all that a great mistake had been made, 
for in the immediate vicinity of these plants were other plants nearly 
as large, and completely covered with bloom, in pots about half the 
size. The metropolitan shows form a great school in which the science 
of horticulture can be studied from practical examples, but we regret 
the lessons there offered are not more closely followed in general 
practice. Not but what many of the provincial horticultural societies 
are much in advance of others, as at Oxford, Derby, Manchester, 
Norwich, Skircoat, Brighton, Clifton, Bath, and other places, where we 
meet with specimens of horticultural skill worthy of a high position at 
the Crystal Palace or Regent’s Park fetes. We name Halifax and its 
surrounding neighbourhood with pleasure, as a great many well-grown 
stove and greenhouse plants are to be seen there ; still at the Halifax 
autumn show we observed much that denoted want of ordinary care in 
the culture of plants that were exhibited there. Many of the specimens 
had not received the thought and attention necessary to good culture^ 
and these remarks apply to a great many country exhibitions. Further 
north, at Glasgow and other places, the same results were visible, and 
at the September show at Newcastle-on-Tyne, we never saw such a 
