18 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
lield in the garden-house of the principal inn 
of, at that time, a considerable market town 
—the proprietor happening to be a florist, and 
taking the lead in such things in the neigh¬ 
bourhood, This garden-house was glazed only 
along its perpendicular front, and there, with 
glass in the smallest of strips and sizes—glass 
being so heavily weighted with duty as to be 
inaccessible to any save the opulent, per¬ 
sons very few and far between, indeed—and 
a modern gardener would be aghast if called 
upon to winter his plants in such a building. 
At that time, however, the structure was re¬ 
garded as very superior, and quite gave import¬ 
ance to its possessor. Carnations and Goose¬ 
berries were the subjects shown. Never shall 
I forget the coyness of the exhibitors as to 
the subjects they had to show. A wanted to 
see B’s production on the table before he dis¬ 
played his own, and so on, and on. Fortun¬ 
ately, the weighing of the Gooseberries came 
to break the reserve, and, as this was a matter 
all watched, or bore some part in, by the time 
it was finished the flowers were got on the 
table. Then came another delicate matter, 
the bringing-in of the judges, a work on no 
account to be entrusted to one person, lest the 
opportunity should be taken to bias those 
functionaries ; so a committee was deputed for 
the purpose. Finally, when the judges were 
brought to the door, the room was cleared, not 
however, without difficulty, as A did not hesi¬ 
tate to express his belief that his flowers would 
be unsafe, if left for a moment unguarded in the 
company of B, a charity of sentiment which 
seemed to be by no means singular. Whilst 
the work of judging was proceeding, dinner was 
served, and the awards having been completed, 
the company adjourned in a body to the garden- 
house, to pass the afternoon with pipes and ale, 
where, under the several influences of Flora, 
Pomona, John Barleycorn, and Nicotiana, the 
shyness and suspicions of the morning seemed 
speedily to dissipate, and much genial senti¬ 
ment, in tones of larger or smaller volume, was 
expressed. 
I knew nothing at that time of the governing 
principle which underlaid the whole of the 
arrangements in connection with this and many, 
if not most, other shows of that period. But later 
in life, I learnt it well. It was a supreme distrust 
in everybody and everything; therefore everybody 
and everything were put into bonds. The area 
of exhibition was limited, because an unlimited 
area might bring in exhibitors with productions 
superior to those of men of the locality. The 
exhibitor was to be inspected, lest A and B 
should concert arrangements to the detriment 
of 0 ; and most of all, the judges must be hood¬ 
winked, or otherwise, so exalted was the general 
estimation of their morality, it was held im¬ 
possible their judgment could be unbiassed. 
This is no fancy picture whatever. When, 
in 1845, I was urged to join the Derby Floral 
Society, that Society, in common with all 
others of which I could get information, was 
subject to rules warranting every word I have 
written—rules earnestly believed in and per¬ 
tinaciously upheld by a large majority of those 
interested, and which, probably, would have 
remained for many a long day, but that, from 
the accident of my position, my adhesion was a 
necessity to my fellows, and I was despotically 
resolved that that adhesion should be had only 
conditionally—that the limited area should be¬ 
come unlimited, and the policy of distrust be 
abandoned for that of trust. 
What came of that policy, and the widely 
different feeling which grew up and spread 
amongst florists aforetime very far from each 
other, any one who may have access to the ear¬ 
lier volumes of the Florist or the Midland 
Florist may soon learn ; but this much I think I 
may assert as beyond question—the impetus 
then obtained for floriculture has continued 
and increased to the present day. 
It would be unfair, however, to pass from 
this aspect of the case, without some reference 
to the causes which led to the adoption and 
maintenance of such vicious rules by our floral 
fathers. Fifty years ago, railroads -were not, 
postal communication was everyw r here costly 
and slow, intercommunication difficult, and the 
Press, so far as floriculture was concerned, vir- 
tually unknown. Fifteen years thereafter a 
great sti'ide had been made, our industries had 
been liberated by the righteous fiscal legisla¬ 
tion of the great Sir Robei’t Peel, the trunk 
lines of our iron roads were actively employed, 
the penny post had commenced its beneficent 
work, free trade in the staple food of the people 
had virtually been won, and men with money 
in their pockets able to go beyond their own 
borders, found their fellows, instead of the 
