The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs Volume 12 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 edition. Excerpt: ... is a secondary consideration with almost every shewer; the only improvement to be made upon this plan is to substitute medals for money. One other obstacle we shall glance at, which has perhaps prevented so active an interest being taken by the public in horticultural societies in this country, and it is the difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of competent judges in the various departments, who shall have solely the progress and encouragement of the science in view, in their decisions. In order to increase the number of these, we would suggest the.appointment, each year, of different individuals, of influence and taste, who, under the instruction or advice of the members of the society, would soon acquire the necessary knowledge; and though, at first, a few misjudgments might be made, yet the advantages would, we think, soon be made manifest in the increased interest of all parties in the decisions and in the spread of a correct knowledge throughout the community;--for it may be safely asserted, that the more the number of good judges and amateurs are increased the higher will be the character of the exhibitions, and the more popular will horticultural societies become. We hope soon to see them established, in all our larger towns, on those liberal principles, and trust that all, who have the disposition and taste, will commence at once, even though upon an humble scale. Boston, May, 1846. We fully endorse the greater portion of the views of our correspondent, in relation to the management of horticultural exhibitions, and trust soon to see his propositions carried into effect. We have long since incidentally thrown out hints, with the hope of seeing many improvements in this way, and we are glad to find there is a tendency towards their...