May 15. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
109 
upon the income and subscriptions of the previous year 
for the out-goings of the present. In neighbourhoods 
where gentlemens’ seats abound; in largish towns, where 
you will hardly meet a tradesman, or a mechanic, or a 
labourer, who would not think himself, to say nothing of 
his wife, or his sweetheart, insulted, if you told him he 
had no love of the beautiful in bis composition;—it 
ought to be felt as a sort of public disgrace, that the 
committees of gardening societies cannot move a step, 
without being jerked back by the ominous considera¬ 
tion,—a want of funds. 
“ We do not go to these shows, because there are so few 
things; and because such and such a gardener let us 
know that he could not take his things on account 
of the weather; a very shabby trick of him.” Something 
like these words have been dunned in my ears for 
several years past. Some time ago, 1 entered upon the 
subject of exhibiting, and showed there were many 
cases in which a gardener would consult his own 
happiness and interest in never exhibiting at all. Be it 
to their honour stated, there are many who bold so far 
opposite views, that they will exhibit, if barely permitted, 
instead of being encouraged. Let it be clearly, however, 
understood, that many at country exhibitions have nothing 
but the chance of a small prize, or prizes, to meet the 
; whole of the attendant expenses of carriage, porterage, &c. 
A gardener, who had great experience as an exhibitor 
in London, told me, the other day, that neither distance, 
! nor cold, nor wet, ought to deter an exhibitor at a 
: country show, as he had taken tender plants to London 
with more than a dozen degrees of frost. But then it 
should be known that he was encouraged as well as 
permitted. Contrast this with the case of a mau who is 
merely permitted; who must get a conveyance as best 
be can, one that would do for June, but not for a frosty 
morning in May; and that it is expected that these 
plants shall be returned in as good order as when they 
started, and with the risk of not only trouble but 
expense out of pocket. This last may seem a trifling 
matter; but gardeners are not over paid ; but very often 
the reverse ; and, as a class, have more claims made 
upon their hospitality than, perhaps, any other class 
possessing a similar income ; and, therefore, however 
anxious they may be to please the citizens of a 
neighbouring town, not only with the beauty and the 
quantity of their productions, the question of expense 
alone stares them in the face, as well as the safety of their 
master’s plants of a frosty morning, as preventives to 
I the gratification of the citizen who requires quantity as 
! well as quality to please him. 
Granting, then, and there is something in it, that 
quantity and quality are necessary to the continued 
success of provincial exhibitions, and supposing that 
the gardener has many plants that would be very at¬ 
tractive in a group, though not of a kind to compete for 
tiie prescribed prizes, the question of expense alone 
might prove a great barrier to bis producing them. 
Then, supposing he resolves to compete in several j 
! groups, the difficulty is auy thing but removed. There I 
is not merely the chance of failure, for, however ex- 1 
1 cellent, all cannot be winners; but in many societies, 
! there is not only the yearly subscription, the first open 
I sesame to competition at all, but there is a second fee 
j demanded, as a per centage on all subjects entered for 
competition ; thus giving the whole affair something of 
a sweepstake character, and entailing, so far, another 
dead loss, should he prove unsuccessful. Now, there 
are plenty of cases where even common prudence, in 
such circumstances, must lead a man to pause before 
entailing much expense in furnishing exhibition tables. 
Then what is to be done to secure quantity as well as 
quality, and give a greater interest to the whole affair? 
The last one gained, everything else will be easy. I 
will merely mention a few. 
1. Secure a good income, by a gentle pressure on the 
whole population above the position of day labourers. 
2. Throw overboard the whole concern of entrance- 
money ; far better have smaller prizes at once. The 
trifle it brings is nothing to the annoyance and hesita¬ 
tion it creates. 
J. When a line show from miscellaneous groups is 
required,—technically called furnishing the tables,—the 
whole expense of carriage ought to be guaranteed by 
the committee. 
4. Do not curtail, but increase the classes of ex¬ 
hibitors. Enquire what classes of exhibitors you may 
calculate upon, and make regulations to suit them. I 
have seldom seen more interest exhibited than at 
Daventry, last autumn ; but it was a town affair, every 
body was interested. The vast number of entries was 
almost apocryphal. From the gentleman’s gardener to 
the possessor of one plant in a window, all were com¬ 
petitors, and each with a neighbour possessing similar 
advantages. The prizes, in such cases, were small, but 
they were numerous, just as they ought to be. Mauy 
plants were no ways striking; but they bad never seen 
anything but the window of a dwelling-room. I have, as 
a judge, passed collections of plants, because I had no 
right to know anything of the growers, and regretted 
afterwards to find that they belonged to amateurs with 
but limited conveniences. I did so the other day. Had 
they stood in a separate, well-defined class, they would 
have had a good chance of being favourably noticed. 
We do not expect the bouquet from a labourer’s garden 
to compete with that brought from the plant-houses of 
a nobleman. 
Once more. In addition to well-defined classes, in¬ 
crease the sections in ■which favourite flowers are to be 
exhibited. Get twenty-fours, and twelves, and eights, 
if you can ; but do not despise sixes, nor fours, nor 
threes, nor twos, nor even single specimens. Single 
plants would open up a large supply. 1 have sometimes 
seen this stretched to a point, such as showing in a 
mixed collection, in a collection of plants of the same 
genus, as Azaleas, and then as a single plant, having 
three plants of the same variety. In such a case, we 
would not like to show a specimen singly at all, as the 
best should go in the collection. I certainly should not 
like to award such a single specimen a prize unless it was 
greatly superior to these shown in collections. When 
prizes are offered for distinct groups, plants of that kind 
should be sparingly introduced elsewhere. Encouraging 
single plants of good growth would increase the number 
of exhibitors. From success in one plant many would 
be induced to try two or three; while prudence would 
tell many they would be more likely to be successful 
with three than with eight. 
These remarks have been hastily thrown together, 
and my only excuse for all shortcomings, is the know¬ 
ledge and conviction, that whatever congregates man¬ 
kind in surveying together the beauties of flowers, must 
be regarded as a means for making them wiser, better, 
and happier. R, Fish. 
ADVICE TO YOUNG GARDENERS. 
I find, in looking over the few papers I have addressed 
to my youug friends, that I have omitted a few points 
that it will be wise to remind the young man of on 
taking his first place. 
There are, as is well known, various gardens that are 
of different extent. The highest in rank are the 
gardens belonging to the Royal Family—such as Frog- 
more. The next are the ducal gardens—such as Chats- 
wortli and Trontham. Then there are Botanic Gardens, 
of which the curators, who are at the head of these 
establishments, ought to be clever, intelligent, and 
