572- 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
June  24,  1897. 
Botanical  Society,  and  known  as  the  Great  Whitsuntide  Show.  The 
former  was  international,  and  exhibitors  from  France  and  Belgium  alike 
competed.  The  whole  was  arranged  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr. 
Gibson,  the  accomplished  landscape  gardener  of  Battersea  Park,  and  a 
grander  show  it  would  be  impossible  to  see.  It  was,  however,  within  an 
ace  of  being  a  fiasco.  The  weather  for  the  days  on  which  the  show  was 
held  was  most  unfavourable  ;  but  with  daring  courage  the  promoters 
determined  to  keep  it  open  longer.  Fine  weather  succeeded,  crowds  of 
visitors  thronged  to  see  it,  and  the  whole  affair  was  a  brilliant  success. 
Never  shall  I  forget  the  astonishment  manifested  by  some  of  the 
foreign  Bose  growers  when  they  saw  D.e  magnificent  pots  of  Roses 
Fig.  122.— Palm  House  ( page  556). 
shown  by  some  of  our  great  firms.  It  can  never  be  too  strongly  insisted 
upon  tbat,  however  much  we  may  owe  to  the  French  for  the  introduction 
of  new  Roses,  they  are  no  match  for  us  in  their  culture.  The  same 
astonishment  was  manifested  at  the  grand  Azaleas  and  Pelargoniums 
which  were  then  so  much  in  vogue,  but  are  now  rarely  seen  ;  and 
English  growers  were  certainly  encouraged  by  these  manifestations  of 
foreign  opinion  to  still  more  persistently  show  their  zeal  in  the  further 
development  of  horticulture. 
The  Manchester  exhibitions,  at  which  I  had  the  honour  of  acting  as 
judge  for  many  years,  had  a  very  marked  effect  on  the  progress  of  horti¬ 
culture  in  the  North  of  England.  They  owed  their  success  mainly  to 
the  energy  and  popularity  of  the  late  Mr.  Bruce  Findlay.  The  Society 
was  at  a  very  low  ebb  when  he  took  it  up,  and  with  the  consent  of  his 
council  he  established  these  annual  exhibitions.  Their  influence  on  the 
cultivation  of  Orchids  was  something  marvellous  ;  nowhere,  and  certainly 
not  in  the  Metropolis,  were  such  plants  to  be  seen  as  were  shown  in  the 
heated  conservatory  which  was  especially  prepared  for  their  reception. 
The  merchant  princes  vied  with  one  another  in  enriching  their  collec¬ 
tions,  and  one  came  constantly  upon  groups  of  them  discussing  the 
merits  of  the  various  exhibits,  while  some  of  the  growers  for  sale  stood 
by  taking  down  their  orders.  It  was  the  only  show,  too,  where  I  have 
ever  seen  Nepenthes  exhibited  by  amateurs.  The  show  embraced  all 
classes  of  plants,  and  unquestionably  tended  to  a  great  development  of 
horticulture. 
The  exhibitions  at  York  and  Shrewsbury  never  seemed  to  me  to  come 
legitimately  under  the  designation  of  flower  shows;  they  were  rather 
galas  in  which  many  other  things  participated,  but  I  suppose  they  must 
have  had  some  influence  in  the  progress  of  horticulture.  I  know  that 
exhibitions  in  the  West  of  England,  which  were  always  held  in  the 
autumn,  such  as  Taunton  and  Weston-super-Mare,  had  a  very  appreciable 
effect  in  this  direction,  and,  indeed,  in  the  days  when  I  knew  them  best 
the  flower  show  day  was  considered  the  great  event  of  the  year,  as  much 
so  as  races  are  in  other  places,  and  in  the  gardens  of  many  around  these 
places  one  could  see  that  the  lessons  were  not  thrown  away,  and  many 
an  enthusiastic  amateur  had  been  encouraged  to  improve  his  garden, 
and  to  incur  an  expenditure  which  without  such  a  stimulus  he  would 
never  have  attempted.  _ 
In  the  same  way  the  fruit  exhibitions  held  at  Edinburgh,  Hereford, 
and  other  places  certainly  advanced  the  culture  of  our  hardy  fruits, 
and  when  competitors  from  all  parts  meet  together  they  are  sure  to 
learn  lessons  from  one  another.  They  learn  there  their  own  defects, 
and  if  they  are  wise  men  they  use  the  knowledge  which  they  have  thus 
acquired  for  the  improvement  of  their  culture.  Why,  however,  it  may 
be  asked,  have  some  of  these  exhibitions  languished,  and  some  passed 
out  of  existence  altogether  ?  There  may  be  many  local  and  personal 
reasons,  but  probably  the  most  potent  one  is  that  of  weather,  a  wet  day 
oftentimes  placing  the  balance  of  accounts  on  the  wrong  side.  But 
even  where  this  is  the  case  the  good  work  done  by  them  does  not  die, 
and  one  can  trace  their  effects  when  societies  have  long  past  into 
oblivion. 
Special  Floral  Societies. 
During  the  latter  part  of  this  period  of  sixty  years  we  have  witnessed 
the  formation  of  special  societies  for  the  encouragement  of  special 
flowers,  and  nothing  has  tended  to  the  progress  of  the  flowers  thus 
encouraged  more  than  these  societies.  They  have  been  formed  for  the 
Rose,  Carnation  and  Picotee,  Dahlia,  Auricula,  Chrysanthemum,  Tulip, 
and  Viola.  Some  of  those  have  a  northern  and  southern  division,  and 
thus  all  partsof  the  country  are  considered.  As  an  example  of  the  effect 
they  have  on  culture  I  may  simply  mention  the  Rose.  The  National 
Rose  Society  was  established  about  twenty-one  years  ago.  At  that  time 
Rose  showing  had  sunk  as  low  as  was  possible.  There  were  one  or  two 
shows  in  the  Metropolis  very  feebly  supported,  and  very  few  in  the 
provinces  ;  while  the  growers  for  sale  were  but  few  in  number.  Since 
then  not  only  have  there  been  excellent  exhibitions  held  at  the  Crystal 
Palace,  but  in  many  places  provincial  shows  of  the  Society  have  been 
held  botv'  North  and  South  ;  while  encouraged  by  its  support  societies 
have  sprung  up  in  all  directions,  and  wherever  these  hold  their  exhibi¬ 
tions  a  great  increase  in  Rose  growing  takes  place.  Then,  again,  this 
has  led  to  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  growers  for  sale,  and  to  a 
great*  extension  of  their  operations  ;  so  beside  the  historic  names 
connected  with  Rose  culture,  we  meet  in  all  parts  of  the  country  with 
those  who  have  made  their  mark  as  growers  of  the  Queen  of  Flowers. 
More  popular  is  perhaps  the  Chrysanthemum,  but  what  would  be  its 
popularity  without  the  exhibitions  which  are  held  in  its  honour?  It, 
too,  has  its  National  Society,  which  holds  its  tournament  every  year  at 
that  most  dingv  of  all  places  for  exhibition,  the  Westminster  Aquarium  ; 
but  those  provincial  societies,  as  well  as  metropolitan,  which  have  been 
started  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  growth  of  the  Chrysanthe¬ 
mum  are  far  more  numerous  than  those  of  the  Rose.  And  what  wonderful 
change  has  taken  place  in  the  flowers  themselves.  I  can  well  remember 
the  pilgrimage  one  used  to  make  every  year  to  the  late  Mr.  John 
Salter’s  Versailles  Nursery  at  Hammersmith  to  see  the  new  flowers 
which  year  by  year  he  used  to  introduce.  They  were  of  course  then  the 
incurved,  reflexed,  and  Pompon  varieties,  and  when  the  first  Japanese 
varieties  were  shown  what  a  howl  of  derision  they  caused.  No  one  at  all 
imagined  their  capabilities,  or  had  any  conception  of  the  size  that  they 
would  attain.  I  am  not  sure  that  this  matter  of  size  has  not  been  over¬ 
done,  for  the  size  of  the  stands  in  which  they  have  been  exhibited  has  had 
to  be  enlarged  ;  and  while  they  are  very  remarkable  as  a  proof  of  the 
careful  culture  that  they  have  received,  it  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  much  has  been  gained  in  an  aesthetic  point  of  view. 
I  cannot  leave  this  part  of  my  subject  without  referring  to  the 
wonderful  summer  exhibitions  which  are  held  every  year  in  the  Temple 
Gardens  under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  when 
