GROUPING PLANTS AT EXHIBITIONS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1990, 10 July 1880, Page 4

GROUPING PLANTS AT EXHIBITIONS.

[Melbourne “ Leader.”] The arranging of plants at our exhibitions, instead of improving with time and_ practice, is, on the contrary, actually deteriorating ; never before have we seen worse arrangements or heard more complaints of the way in which plants ate set up than this year ; tha plants seem to be placed on the stages at haphazard, without any design or regard to appearances; in one part of the show-room or tent a lot of flowering plants may be seen in a mass, while in other parts are masses of green with hardly a flowei intermixed. Complaints of the poor appearance presented by the masses of plants at shows are now so general that surely the committees of societies cannot fail to see the necessity for a change of some kind or other. The absence of any proper kind of arrangement argues either defect in the management or its entire absence- It is as though no one in particular was responsible, or that none undertook the duty. The desideratum appears to be that a manager should be appointed, one who understands the business and who should have the sole control of the arrangements, be paid for his work, and thus made responsible for its due and efficient performance. Surely there could be no difficulty in adopting and canning out a systematic mode of arrangement, either by a genera! manager or even a small subcommittee, We have previously advocated the plan of judging the plants before they are staged, a plan which would greatly facilitate matters, for the judges could begin their work earlier than under the present method, and by having the various competing articles in juxtaposition—the whole under their view at once —would be enabled to arrive at their decisions very quickly ; in the meantime the manager wonld be able to allot the requisite extent of space and the proper position for oaoh lot and place the plants where the whole of those competing in the same number could be seen from the same point, and the public would be able to compare and mark the differences between the skill of one competitor and another, at tha same time that the plants were grouped and arranged in the most effective manner, thus adding much to the interest of the show and increasing the feeling of satisfaction in the visitors. Frizes might be also offered for the most effective grouping, both of plants in the schedule numbers and according to a plan which is carried out in some shows in England in which each exhibitor brings the number and the kinds of plants which he considers will best £ll a definite extent of space, according to the following description:—“ Another feature of this exhibition” (Byfleet), writes John Cornhill in the “Garden," “is that instead of forming classes containing a fixed number of plants, the exhibits consisted exclusively of groups, in which the competition was restricted only to space. By varying the space to be covered little growers were enabled to compote on advantageous terms, and more groups were formed than wonld otherwise have been the case. When the show is of a purely local character and the neighbourhood uot a large one, it would be wiser to follow some such system as this than to restrict exhibitors to a certain number of specimens, as it often happens that either the grower cannot muster the required number, or that he hesitates to bring forward a somewhat uneven lot. Many small growers are thus debarred from exhibiting, and many a good plant in this way remains at home instead of gracing the exhibition tent. Another point in favour of the grouping system is that it affords scope for the exercise of taste in the grower, who may often with plants of an ordinary description and of not large dimensions form groups of a pleasing description.” Thus, groups of finefoliaged and flowering plants, although not containing anything very rare or costly, may, owing to judicious and tasteful arrangement, produce an exceedingly pleasing impression. Gardeners are frequently called upon to cultivate both judgment in selection and taste in arrange, ment; they must not only know how to grow their plants well, but the knowledge of how to place them to the best advantage is often required of them, both in conservatories and other plant houses, os well as in drawingrooms, halls, and other parts of dwellinghouses, besides public buildings where balls, fetes, and other gatherings are held. This, therefore, should not be lost sight of at plant exhibitions, and no form of exhibiting can so well call forth the energies and resources of the grower in this respect as tne arrangement of groups of flowering and fine foliaged plants, limiting him to space, bnt allowing of the full exercise of judgment in the choice of subjects. However, a show need not, indeed ought not, to be confined entirely to groups ; classes should be formed in which the merits of certain species or genera—as calceolarias, pelargoniums, fuchsias and others —could bo displayed and brought into competition by different growers.