THE EXHIBITION OF FLORISTS FLOWERS IN POTS. 
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press of high, art and adaptation for the nse of highly civilized man, cannot he too evident; and as no 
garden is ever to be imagined to he anything hut a work of art, so should it hear unmistakeable 
evidence of design and harmony in its minutest details. There is, perhaps, no better illustration of the 
want of attention to this principle than may be found in the enchanted valley at Alton Towers. 
The situation is beautifully romantic, but it has the greatest assemblage of discordant objects that can 
be conceived, temples, fountains, rock-works, Swiss cottages, and many other objects equally inharmo¬ 
nious, produce an impression of wonder at the perversion of wealth, rather than the display of taste. 
Each different style of building gives permission for ornamenting our gardens with statues, balus¬ 
trades, and other masonry, thus carrying the eye from the ornaments of the drawing-room and 
saloons of the mansion, to those of the grounds in the immediate vicinity, and presenting the spectator 
with a tout ensemble of consistent beauties. 
Rock-work is a difficult thing to treat well; it is too generally seen as a mere hillock of rubbishing 
stones on a plain surface of turf, looking like a scar in a polished scene, and having no connection or 
relation to any other object. Happy effects, however, may be produced by introducing it as an episode. 
In such a position it will form an agreeable contrast to the more artificial scenes of a garden. In 
speaking of rock-work, I do not by that term mean those unmeaning aggregations of small rubbish 
which are so commonly seen, and which, from want of breadth in the masses, produce no effect; but of 
large massive blocks, thrown together in picturesque forms in humble mimicry of those aggregations 
of granitic rock which one meets with in Devonshire. 
But while we seek to make our gardens replete with consistent ornaments, we must not forget the 
beauty of utility, which is of first-rate importance. We must then endeavour to combine use with 
ornament, and we may remember (cceteris paribus ) that those objects which combine abstract beauty 
with utility will ever be more satisfactory than those which are simply beautiful, or simply useful. 
Man in his rude state is satisfied with those things which minister to his necessities: more civilized 
man aspires to something higher. He adopts the most elegant forms and the most elaborate designs, 
making them subserve his convenience. 
There is now no lack of elegant designs for garden purposes, but let those who are introducing such 
adjuncts beware that they preserve the expression of unity, without attention to which, the result 
cannot be satisfactory. 
THE EXHIBITION OF FLORISTS’ FLOWERS IN POTS. 
T j ?7E recently inserted an article from Mr. Glenny, on the subject of growing Pinks in pots, to 
J*f which we ventured to append the question : “ Why not show them in pots also ?” Since then we 
have thought over the matter, and we see no just reason why Carnations, Picotees, Pinks, Heartsease, 
and even Tulips and Ranunculuses should not be shown in pots as well as Auriculas and Polyanthuses. 
We are quite prepared for the outcry of “ impossible,” “ nonsense,” and similar exclamations from 
those who are either too conceited, or too indolent to try; but we recollect the outcry about Roses 
being shown in pots; some of the largest growers were convinced they could not be grown, or if 
grown, it would be impossible to carry them to any distance, but how futile have such predictions 
been proved, for it is found as easy to grow and carry Roses one hundred miles, as one mile; and 
hence, especially at early exhibitions, they have become one of the leading features of attraction. 
Carnations and Picotees are for the most part grown in pots; Pinks we have the evidence of thousands 
annually produced in Covent Garden Market, can be grown in the same way; then why not exhibit 
them as grown P It may be true that to grow them in the greatest perfection, only a few flowers 
should be kept upon each plant, and that some of the best kinds are inconstant, and occasionally 
produce flowers unfit for exhibition. To this we can only remark, skilful cultivation will make a 
great difference, and if such cultivators as Turner and Bragg, of Slough; Ward, Norman, andNewhall, 
of Woolwich; Wilmer, of Sun bury ; Keynes, of Salisbury; Wood, of Nottingham ; and many more 
growers in all parts of the country who might be mentioned—if these growers could only be induced 
to take the matter in hand, and devote then 1 skill to the subject, we have no doubt they would soon 
show florists’ flowers in as great perfection as other flowers. 
Of Heartsease it is scarcely necessary to say a word, the most successful exhibitors have long 
grown them in pots, in cold frames, finding that system the most convenient and certain for the 
production of first class flowers, and nicely grown in six-inch pots, they would certainly form very 
attractive objects, while the facility with which the flowers could be examined, and their constancy 
proved, would render them much more extensively cultivated than they are at the present time. 
