This meeting was looked forward to with high expectations. It has come and gone, and Horticulturists have every reason to be satisfied with the result. The Council of the Manchester Botanical Society framed a schedule of unprecedented liberality. Exhibitors responded heartily, and under the able and unassuming management of their excellent Curator, Mr Bruce Findlay, the arrangements were carried out with the most complete success. The Society, the exhibitors, the judges, and the public have every reason to he satisfied with the success and good feeling which pervaded the whole. The Banquet, under the presidency of the Earl of Derby, came off with great eclat, and the Rev. Reynolds Hole made, as he always does, a speech which will long be remembered for pith, point, and humour.

The Fruit and Vegetables were the great features of the Show. Never before was such a large and superlative lot of vegetables brought together at one Show. Turning to the Fruit there were several very remarkable productions. And we think the most conspicuously so was the Queen Pine-apple from Mr Sandford, gardener to the Earl of Bective, "Westmoreland. This is, as far as we are aware, the most handsome and huge Queen Pine ever produced in this country. It weighed 8 lb. 4 oz., and was of most perfect symmetry. The number of Pines exhibited was below what might have been looked for, and, with the exception of the Queen named and two Envilles from Mr Miles, gardener to Lord Carrington, their quality was not remarkable. These Envilles weighed, the one 9 lb- 14 oz., and the other 9 lb. 9 oz. Mr Miller, Worksop Manor, had two very pretty Queens weighing about 5 lb. each. Mr Hunter, Lambton Castle, showed three plants in fruit of the Lambton Castle Seedling as examples of this fine pine in various stages of growth - one on a mere sucker, which, when fully swollen, must be over 6 lb. weight; and fruit on larger plants that will swell to 10 or 11 lb. We have tasted this rune when ripe, and found it one of the finest flavoured and most juicy pines known.

It was awarded a first prize.

There were some very remarkable exhibitions of Grapes, probably the most splendid ever shown before. At the same time there were a great many very inferior, and not many of the White Grapes could be said to be high coloured, while many were positively green and unripe. Mr Hunter, gardener to Earl Durham, held the post of honour with great ease in all the chief classes for Grapes, and Mr Johnston of Glamis the second place, in the collection of ten. It is generally admitted that both in the collection of ten and in that of five varieties, the clusters Mr Hunter exhibited were never surpassed, if indeed equalled, at any previous exhibition. They were of gigantic size and splendid finish; and the perfect manner in which they had been carried and staged was most creditable. Mr Hill of Keele Hall, one of our oldest and most successful exhibitors, showed in capital style for the collection of ten. In the collection of five, Mr Bruce, gardener to James Field, Esq., made an excellent second, though his bunches were considerably less than Mr Hunter's. In the collection of Grapes not included in the other classes, Mr Hunter was again first with fourteen varieties, all of excellent quality.

There was a very spirited competition for the three bunches of Black Hamburg, and Mr Coleman, Eastnor Castle, won the place of honour with ease, having three bunches absolutely perfect in finish, as well as large in bunch and berry. Mr Temple of Blenheim took the second place with moderate sized but beautifully finished bunches, and Mi-Bruce was third with three very pretty bunches. For three bunches of Muscats there was also great competition, and Mr Hunter took the lead in this class also, but was closely pressed by Mr Roberts, gardener to the Earl of Charleville, Ireland. Mr Roberts' berries were larger, but they had been rather too severely thinned, and showed here and there too much of the stalks of the berries. Mr Hunter's were less in berry, heavier in bunch, and compact and highly finished. Mr Meads of Farnborough was third with three very handsome bunches. For the three best bunches of any other White Grapes, Mr Hunter again took the lead with three fine bunches of the well-abused Golden Champion. Mr Hill, Keele Hall, was second with splendid examples of Foster's White Seedling, a very handsome grape; Mr Goodacre of Elvaston Castle being third with three fine bunches of Cannon Hall Muscat, scarcely ripe.

In the class for the Heaviest White, Mr Dickson of Arkland Lodge, Dumfries, keeps up his reputation for monster bunches, although a little below his usual mark with a fine bunch 16 lb. 6 oz. Mr Hunter is first for the Heaviest Black with the heaviest bunch of Black Hamburg ever recorded, a perfect monster, weighing no less than 13 lb. 4 oz.

The collections of fruit were not so numerous, nor, with a few exceptions, so fine in quality as the liberal prizes offered for them ought to have called out. Mr Johnston of Glamis staged a very fine collection of twenty dishes, and took the first prize, leaving room for three or four more collections between his and the others. The second prize collection came from Her Majesty's Gardens, Frog-more, and was very weak in most of its points, Grapes and Pines being especially deficient.

In the collection of fifteen dishes, Mr Simpson of "Wortley Hall and Mr Upjohn, Worsely Hall, were almost a tie, and had to be carefully decided by points, when it was found Mr Simpson marked highest. His Grapes were scarcely so good as Mr Upjohn's, but his Stone-fruits, Melons, and Pines were better.

In the collection often kinds of Fruit, exclusive of Pines, Mr Miles, gardener to Lord Carrington, was placed first; Mr James, gardener to Sir C. R. Broughton, Bart, and Mr Bannerman, Bagot Park, were respectively second and third. The fruit in these collections were very creditable.

The prize for Fruiterers' Collections was easily won by Mr Mason, fruiterer, Bolton, and it was a very splendid table of fruit, and most effectively arranged. For a pair of bunches of new Grapes three years in commerce, Mr Meredith was first with beautiful examples of Madresfield Court. And a first prize was awarded to Mr Thomson, Tweed Vineyard, for his Duke of Buccleuch grape.

The exhibition of out-door Stone-fruits, such as Apricots, Plums, Peaches, Sec, was meagre, and the same may be said of Apples and Pears; and, considering the liberal prizes offered for them, their deficiency is no doubt accounted for by the cold and ungenial season. Melons were numerous, but with the exception of the first prize specimen - a Queen Emma, which was excellent - they were very inferior.

The exhibition of flowering-plants in pots, as might be expected, was not extensive; but Messrs Cole of Manchester staged a large bank of finely managed plants. Of cut-flowers there was a fine display, especially in Hollyhocks, Dahlias, Gladiolus, and miscellaneous hardy flowers and Asters. Mr Kelway staged no less than 300 spikes of Gladioli, which, on a moss-covered sloping bank, had a fine effect.

The Vegetables were in great quantity and splendid quality, filling the whole of an immense tent; and of Potatoes there was probably the largest collection of splendid tubers ever before collected in one tent.

Hothouses, Garden Implements, Boilers, etc, were well and numerously represented; but we cannot enter into particulars of these any more than of the other departments of the Show, for it would more than fill the whole of our pages. Mr Cowan had his Limekiln Heating Apparatus at work, and, judging from the intense heat of the pipes, under very adverse circumstances, and the very little attention required from the stoker, this system must be reckoned a success wherever limestone can be easily procured.

Calender.