JANUARY. 
3 
of which the Horticultural Society is the exponent are identical with 
those of civilisation and national prosperity. The special duties of this 
society are, first (as we take them), to procure, make known, and dis¬ 
seminate those subjects of the vegetable kingdom which either beautify 
or adorn our country, or enrich the productions of our gardens and 
orchards, and next by experiments of a practical nature to demonstrate 
the value of every process in cultivation, the relative merits of fruits 
and vegetables, and of the means and appliances by which they are 
produced. If we add to these valuable forms of information, having a 
practical bearing, that ornamental gardening will also receive due 
attention and exemplification, our readers can judge of what is intended 
to be carried out by the council, and of the valuable deductions in every 
branch of horticulture which will hereafter be derived from the labours 
of this society. 
Of the success which attended the experiment of reviving the 
horticultural fetes at the gardens in 1857, and of the wonderful display 
of fruits which the exhibitions at Willis’s Rooms in October last 
produced, our readers were fully informed in our pages at the time. 
Favoured by these successes, a still greater stimulus will be given to 
exhibitions this present year, and we doubt not but that the London 
meetings will also sustain their character for attractiveness, and the 
accommodation they afford for the exhibition of plants, &c., at intervals 
between the greater exhibitions. Several important alterations have 
already been effected at the gardens, under the eye of the new superin¬ 
tendent, Mr. McEwen, who has shown so much judgment and skill 
in reorganising the gardens, and carrying out his plans for future 
improvements, as to merit our best wishes for his success in the 
arduous field before him. 
We must next mention the British Pomological and National Flori- 
cultural Societies, two very useful institutions of somewhat recent 
origin, but both of increasing popularity with their respective supporters. 
Reports of the meetings of these societies appear in our pages as they 
are held. Their practical utility is shown by the faith placed by the 
public in their awards, which present a guarantee of the comparative 
value of the different subjects submitted to their decision—the only true 
guide for purchasers to select by. The success of these institutions 
(which have arisen solely to supply the wants of a large class interested 
in improving the races of fruits and flowers, and determining their 
properties), affords gratifying proofs of the increased favour in which 
these branches of horticulture are held by the public. 
The metropolitan exhibitions for the last year have maintained their 
character so far as concerns cultivation, but some of the classes have 
lacked the great charm of variety—indispensable for keeping up the 
interest of exhibitions. The schedules, as regards classification of plants, 
require great alterations, and those who frame them must make up 
their minds to effect this at once; large miscellaneous collections of 
plants containing seldom more than six or eight really distinct kinds will 
not be tolerated much longer; the too frequent use of duplicates, and 
the introduction of varieties too closely allied to be distinguishable by 
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