332 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  22,  If97.' 
because  of  their  beauty,  usefulness,  or  the  cultural  skill  displayed 
in  their  production. 
All  who  habitaally  attend  the  Drill  Hall  meetings,  and  know 
what  is  good  when  they  see  it,  will  most  readily  concede  that  time 
after  time  collections  of  fruits  and  vegetable*,  also  groups  of  plants 
and  flowers,  have  been  in  the  highest  degree  meritorious.  They 
have  represented  cultural  skill  of  the  first  order,  and  have  been  in 
truth  grand  object  lessons,  inciting  to  greater  efforts  on  the  part 
of  many  persons  who  have  been  impressed  with  what  they  have 
witnessed. 
On  such  imposing  and  instructive  displays  have  been  bestowed 
well  merited  honours  ;  but  the  same  strict  adherence  to  the  facts 
of  the  case  have  compelled  both  adjudicators  and  on-lookers  to 
admit  that  by  no  means  all  the  contributions  have  been  of  a 
particularly  commanding  nature.  Some  collections  have  been 
composed  of  plants  or  products  of  the  most  ordinary  kind  as  if  to 
suggest  that  the  exhibitors  felt  compelled  to  “show  something  ; 
and  further,  the  exhibits  have  suggested  that  if  the  individual 
items  were  of  a  commonplace  nature  that  even  these  would  “  tell  ” 
if  the  bulk  were  of  unusual  proportions. 
Again,  it  has  often  been  ob»erved  and  remarked  that  in  the 
desire  to  make  a  “  great  display  ”  exhibitors  have  not  infrequently 
overshot  the  mark  by  including  so  many  inferior  samples,  and  these 
of  necessity  lowering  the  average  value  of  the  whole.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  if  one-third,  or  occasionally  one-half,  of  the  relatively 
inferior  products  had  been  withdrawn  that  the  superiority  of  the 
remainder  would  have  had  greater  weight,  and  the  merits  of  the 
exhibit  in  its  entirety  raised  accordingly. 
It  is  true,  as  has  more  than  once  or  twice  or  thrice  been  heard, 
that  the  ad  judicators  have  sometime*  seemed  to  encourage  collec¬ 
tions  by  granting  awards  more  because  the  exhibits  have  covered  a 
great  extent  of  table  space  than  anything  else,  and  it  has  been  said 
that  kind  and  generously  disposed  men  are  prone  to  let  their  hearts 
rather  than  their  heads  dictate  the  voting  of  medals,  because  a 
showman  has  “  been  at  such  great  trouble  and  expense  to  bring  so 
much  stuff.”  The  governing  body  of  the  Society  cannot  prevent  a 
body  of  twenty  or  thirty  men  voting  medals  at  times  on  the 
principle  of  generous  impulse  ;  and  the  greater  the  number  of 
adjudicators  jostling  against  each  other  the  greater  is  the  reduction 
of  individual  responsibility  ;  but  the  Council  can  limit  the  extent 
of  collections,  and  this  would  have  a  tendency  to  increase  their 
intrinsic  value,  and  a  hall  less  crowded  with  products,  with  every 
item  good,  would  be  more  worthy  as  a  spectacle  in  horticulture 
than  a  crush  and  a  jumble. 
Moreover,  if  it  be  desired,  as  seems  to  be  the  case,  and  not 
unnaturally,  to  limit  the  awards  of  medals  to  a  matter  of  cold- 
hearted  justice  the  Council  can  do  another  thing — namely,  instruct 
the  Committees  to  delegate  three  (a*  in  the  case  of  judging  fruits 
for  flavour),  or  not  more  than  five  members  to  examine  the  col¬ 
lections  and  recommend  awards  for  them.  Each  member  would 
then  be  impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  individual  responsibility,  and 
the  various  points  could  be  much  better  diicussed  than  by  a  score 
of  men  in  a  hurry.  There  would  always  be  plenty  of  members  to 
deal  with  the  produce  at  the  tables. 
These  remarks  have  been  incited  by  a  circular  we  have  received 
from  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  bearing  on  the  overcrowding 
of  the  Drill  Hall,  and  the  sending  of  large  consignments  on  the 
assumption  that  space  can  be  found  for  them  whether  the  hall  is 
full  or  not. 
Exhibitors  at  the  Drill  Hall  Meetings. 
The  Council  of  the  R.H.S.  wish  to  remind  exhibitors  that  the 
object  for  which  the  various  Committees  of  the  Society  were 
constituted  and  the  bi -monthly  meetings  held  was  to  allow  of  any 
new  or  rare  flower  or  fruit,  which  might  be  in  perfection  at  a  time 
when  no  exhibition  was  being  held,  being  submitted  to  a  body  of 
experts  for  adjudication. 
By  degrees  a  practice  has  grown  up  of  groups  of  plants  and 
collections  of  fruits  being  also  sent  by  exhibitors,  such  plants  and 
fruits  being  frequently  neither  new  nor  rare,  and  these  groups  and 
collections  have  become  so  large  and  frequently  so  numerous  that 
there  is  danger  of  the  more  important  work  of  the  Committees 
being  lost  sight  of. 
The  Council,  whilst  grateful  for  the  consistent  support  the 
Society  has  received  from  exhibitors,  and  desirous  of  offering  every 
encouragement  to  them,  and  of  seeing  the  Drill  Hall  always  well 
filled,  feel  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  some  limit  must  be  put 
to  the  size  of  the  group*  and  collections  ;  they  have  therefore 
drawn  up  the  following  rules,  which  they  have  directed  the 
Superintendent  to  strictly  adhere  to 
1,  Exhibitors  at  the  Drill  Hall  of  groups  and  collections  must  give 
notice  to  the  Secretary,  R.H.S.,  117,  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  not 
later  than  the  Friday  before,  of  their  desire  to  exhibit,  and  must,  at  the 
same  time,  state  the  nature  of  their  proposed  exhibit,  and  how  much 
space  it  will  occupy  ;  this  must  in  no  case  exceed  100  square  feet. 
2,  Exhibits  entered  separately  for  the  separate  committees  will  be 
considered  distinct,  but  not  more  than  100  square  feet  of  table  space  can 
be  allowed  for  each;  that  is  to  say,  an  exhibitor  may  stage  100  feet  of 
fruit,  100  feet  of  Orchids,  and  100  feet  of  Floral  Committee  plants  and 
flowers ;  but  each  group  must  be  separately  staged,  and  consist  exclu¬ 
sively  of  fruit,  Orchids,  and  hardy  or  tender  plants  or  flowers  respec¬ 
tively — not  mixed  together,  excepting  only  that  small  decorative  foliage, 
plants  may  be  used  amonest  Orchids  and  fruit,  if  desired. 
3,  The  limit  of  100  square  feet  does  not  apply  to  large  plants  placed 
on  the  floor ;  special  arrangements  should  be  made  beforehand  for  such 
plants  with  the  Superintendent. 
4,  No  alteration  is  proposed  in  the  existing  rules  with  reference  to 
the  exhibition  of  new  or  rare  plants,  flowers,  or  fruits  for  the  Society’s 
certificates  and  awards  of  merit. — By  order  of  the  Council. 
W.  Wilks,  Secretary ,  117 ,  Victoria  Street,  Westviinster. 
N.B. — Should  at  any  time  the  entries  of  groups  be  so  numerous  as 
not  to  allow  of  all  being  staged  in  their  entirety,  the  exhibitors  will  be 
informed  how  much  lees  space  than  that  they  have  applied  for  can  be 
placed  at  their  disposal. 
It  is  a  little  surprising  that  lome  such  conditions  were  not 
promulgated  long  ago  in  the  interest  of  smooth  routine  and  the 
prevention  of  disappointments. 
ANNUS  MEMORABILIS. 
Coming  events  are  now  sufficiently  foreshadowed  on  our 
horticultural  programme  to  warrant  the  assumption  that  exhibitors 
this  year  will  do  their  duty — that  events  to  come  off  will  be 
worthy,  so  far  as  one  may  anticipate,  of  this  memorable  year. 
Sufficient  stimulus  in  the  way  of  peculiarly,  and  one  may  say 
pecuniary,  attractive  prize  lists  has  at  least  been  provided,  and 
it  may  be  expected  that  points  will  be  scored  to  the  general  credit. 
Good  prizes — good  shows.  Well  and  good.  Very  good,  too,  is  the 
outlook  in  this  direction  ;  yet  somehow  this,  with  other  schemes 
propounded,  and  which  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  will  be  carried 
to  a  successful  issue,  seem  to  fall  a  little  short  of  that  loud  national 
horticultural  hurrah  we  would  like  to  vent  our  feelings  in,  the 
effio^s  of  which  should  resound  down  the  corridors  of  time. 
Higher  horticulture  is  now  a  power  with  us,  that  probably  dees 
not  obtain  in  any  other  land  ;  we  feel  that  it  is  so,  that  it  is 
recognised  to  be  so,  hence  we  look  around  and  ahead  into  the  near 
distance  to  prejudge  the  effect  of  our  practical  psean  of  praise  in 
the  general  rejoicing,  and  who  will  *ay  amongst  keenly  interested 
ones  that  unqualified  satisfaction  ensues  ?  We  may,  of  course, 
take  it  for  granted  that  of  necessity,  which  necessity  must  for  the 
nonce  include  a  vast  amount  of  luxurious  decoration  contributed 
by  gardeners  and  gardening  to  refined  festivity,  the  peaceful  art 
will  play  no  unimportant  part  ;  but  familiarity  with  such  displays 
upon  not  rare  occasions  of  ultra-magnificence  leads  us  to  regard 
them  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  one  fails  to  find  that  deep  and 
lasting  impression  we  fain  would  engrave  upon  this  particular 
page  of  the  tablets  of  time. 
It  is  not  the  summing  up  over  that  long  period  of  sixty  years 
which  cannot  but  show  a  favourable  balance  upon  the  credit  side, 
but  it  is  this  particular  year’s  account  which  resolves  itself  into 
the  question  at  issue,  and  whether  it  will  or  will  not  justify  our 
hopes  and  fulfil  our  expectations.  These  remarks  are  really  the 
sum  and  substance  of  some  conversation  with  a  gentleman  recently, 
who  pertinently  asked,  “  What  is  it  you  gardeners  want  to  do  more 
than  you  have  done  in  this  year’s  horticultural  programme  ?,  You 
must  be  satisfied  in  well  doing,  and  possibly  a  margin  will  be  found, 
for  something  monumental  which  the  near  future  will  reveal.” 
May  it  come  quickly  and  be  worthy  of  the  object,  I  respectfully 
xespond. 
If  there  is  any  particular  flower  destined  to  glorify  gardening 
and  share  the  honours  of  thi*  memorable  year  surely  that  is  our 
English  emblematic  one,  the  Rose,  and  judging  from  present 
appearances  it  should  be  well  represented  at  the  time  of  our  general 
