On the 19th of July, Manchester was the great centre towards which horticulturists tended from all parts of the United Kingdorn - for Scotland, Ireland, and Wales had its representatives there. This annual provincial gathering does afford, in an eminent degree, a great central meeting-point, where the rising men of the present day can grasp the hand of those who have left their mark high up in the annals of horticulture, and come face to face with men they had hitherto only known by reputation. This has long been a desideratum, and the provincial meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society well supply it. It is a means of cementing old ties, and of forming new friendships; there is an exchange of reciprocities and an interchange of ideas both secured, the pleasure derived from which lives long after the opportunity has passed away.

On this occasion the Royal Horticultural Society nearly, if not quite, went to the wall. It was so completely overshadowed by the great agricultural gathering, that it had to content itself with a very sparse patronage, and a probable deficit. The site of the horticultural gathering was badly chosen, though it is not unlikely that there was no choice in the matter. It was on the opposite side of the agricultural gatheriug, most difficult of access - for all, or nearly all, the conveyances were monopolised by the visitors to its much more pretentious neighbour. The entrances to the grounds would have disgraced a country show, so roughly and hideously were they constructed; the ground was rough and uneven, and where it had been attempted to make the passage tltrough the tents a trifle more pleasant, it had been done by laying down some spits of turf, that soon became loosened, and actually made the way more difficult. The tents were too widely distributed; one, containing the Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, etc, was placed so far away that many visitors would not attempt to reach it over the rough turf and under the broiling sun.

Many of the stages for the plants were as hideous as the entrance-gates - huge rough deal slabs without any pretence at covering; and the plants being widely distributed, the naked deformity of the stages became more markedly apparent. Without attempting to enter into the matters of dispute between the Royal Horticultural Society and the Council of the Manchester Botanic Gardens, it was yet a great calamity that these fine gardens could not have been made the site for the show; and to have obtained them, and the prestige attaching to them, would have been worth a large sacrifice on the part of the Royal Horticultural Society. There was a most convenient site, numberless appliances, and the undoubted administrative capacity and invaluable aid of Mr Bruce Findlay, at their disposal, but they were rejected. Perhaps, for a place like Manchester, there might have been too much of standing on its dignity shown by the Council. Governing bodies of such a character are too often deeply tainted with this infirmity. A generous man, who understood better the men with whom he was treating, might have effected an equitable arrangement that would have set aside many causes of complaint and heart-burnings, and in all probability have changed a comparative failure into a splendid success.

The considerations constituted the dark side of the Manchester gathering - the heavy shadows obscuring to some extent a bright prospect behind them.

There were lesser shadows as well hanging about this gathering. Such a big show as this should never open on a Monday. It must entail a great amount of Sunday work, and there are men who might have, but who did not exhibit in consequence of this. To some, considerations for the religious sanctity attached to the character of the day kept them from exhibiting; others, valuing it chiefly as a day of respite from forced labour, would not make an exception to their invariable practice. Then to those to whom neither of these considerations came with much weight, there was to be met all the inconveniences and disadvantages of Sunday-travelling - no rapid express trains or quick journeys, and in some cases no trains at all., Then, naturally enough, the Monday morning trains were crowded from all parts, and very late in consequence; and those who had to make a journey of 60 or 100 miles found themselves on the ground some hour and a-half too late. This was vexatious enough in itself, but to be told afterwards that they could not have their exhibition cards because they were so late, was enough to call forth the ire of the most placid temperament; and under such circumstances small exhibitors fare badly.

A little more courtesy on the part of Mr Elye's subordinates might be attempted another year with the best possible results.

It is always a matter for great regret that the judging cannot be commenced earlier at these large exhibitions; but it is perhaps unavoidable. Two things invariably happen: first, that a great many of the cut-flowers become scorched up ere they can be examined by the judges; and, secondly, the company throng the tents, to the great inconvenience of the judges.

The luncheon to the judges and exhibitors went the way of many other things at the meeting - cold, lifeless, and uninteresting. If it is to be taken as representative of the "less pretentious dinner" advocated by the Gardeners' Chronicle, by all means let us have in the future the warmth, life, and vivacity of the meeting at Leicester last year. Not the best chairman that could have been selected from the Council presided; and excepting that there was something to eat and drink, the whole affair was a miserable abortion. The chairman made an attempt to propose a toast; scarcely any one knew the natui'e of it, and no one the purport of the few hurried words in which he introduced it. Such a gathering as that might have been turned to practical account by the Council, but the members of that body present appeared to treat it as a bore. They displayed no generous sympathies towards the important body of horticulturists there met together. The meeting divided into small coteries, and the members of the Council soon disappeared.

In the evening there was a gathering in the same tent, under the presidency of W. B. S. Williams, and it would have been well if some of the members of the Council could have been present to hear what was thought of and expressed regarding the proceedings of that day. The chairman struck a keynote that gave harmony to the utterances of each speaker when he asserted that the experience of that day proved most conclusively that the Royal Horticultural Society should no longer link itself to the Agricultural Society in its visits to the provinces, but go into them independently, and stand or fall by its own merits. No one regarded the Agricultural Society as the enemy of the Horticultural Society, but simply that on these occasions it was completely overshadowed by it, and pushed into a remote corner. The Agricultural Society did not require the companionship of the Horticultural Society; in fact, would rather be without it. Let the Horticultural Society be courageous, and go to the provinces on a purely independent footing; and if that were necessary, go in an entirely opposite direction to that taken by the Agriculturists, and he (the Chairman) prophesied that it would meet with abundant success, be much more warmly received by undivided sympathies, and be generously supported.

That no official of the Royal Horticultural Society was present was severely commented on, as it was considered that hopes had been held out by the Society that its hospitalities should have been more decisively expressed. Concurrently with this, its neglect of the Chiswick gardens was vehemently reprehended, as in its present condition it affords few inducements to practical horticulturists from the country to visit it when in London.

It may be that the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society cares but little for such opinions as these. That they are extensively held is beyond doubt. No one thinks that that body cares for practical horticulture as such; they see and care only for the show and tinsel they can gather about it, and the aristocratic prestige resulting therefrom. But outside this charmed circle are hundreds of earnest able men who are hourly realising the conclusion, that shows and not realities are inevitable corollaries of such a state of things. It is devoutly to be hoped that something nobler and better will be presently inaugurated in place of the mere outside show too much presented to the Horticultural world at the present day. We may be nearer to this, however, than some wot of: this is certain, that we will do our utmost to aid this revolution; and when it bursts upon us, if only partially at first, give it our earnest support.