The William F. Cody Archive: Documenting the life and times of Buffalo Bill

THE INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION, EARL'S COURT.

We have a veritable series of gardens fitted for the gods, and certainly nothing of its kind has ever equalled this last exotic entertainment. It is the very thing London wants, and it is just what all London will flock to see. It is 26 years since a horticultural exhibition, open to foreign competitors, gave freshness and gaiety to the metropolis.

The exhibition is admirably planned, and it is impossible to conceive a finer exposition derived from a conspiracy of nature and art. What a vision of beauty, especially the Northern Gardens, which are prolonged by a perfectly-devised great picture of the Long Walk at Windsor, whose vista reaches into the dim distance, and leaves the spectator captivated by an illusion so perfect that he asks where Nature ends and Art begins. The long roof of the main building is festooned with artificial roses and leaves so true to life, that the perfumes of the real ones seem to be a part of the fragrance of the counterfeits.

The Exhibition is simply a fairy land. At the West Brompton entrance are marvellous creations in carnations, with a colossal fountain standing hard by. Opposite the steps near Earl's Court Station is another magnificent water arrangement, decorated with tropical plants. We get floral emblems of the four seasons. Then we have for our delectation and delight in the western section imitations of the styles in vogue from Tudor to Georgian times, gardens of Rome and Modern Italy. There are, too, a Japanese garden and an Indian tea garden. Wherever we wander we are feasted with flowers in rich abundance.

The Exhibition is divided into sixteen groups, and then again into sixty-four classes, in all of which will be awarded prizes of money and medals of gold, silver, and bronze, with certificates of honour. It would occupy pages to tell of all the ravishing sights of this infinitely attractive show. We see such a bewitching concord of sweetness, fragrance, plants, flowers, and foliage, set off with cunning artifice, and a taste so consummate, that we are led captive and enthralled as we were never enthralled before by the beauty of Nature. Nature never looked more rare and radiant than on Saturday, decked as she was with jewels, which, though perishable, we are comforted by knowing renew themselves for ever. The Exhibition, which, thank the gods, has no bazaar element, is organised by a syndicate whose risk is all its own, and whose profits will be generously distributed amongst horticultural and gardening charities.

The show of the Wild West is no less attractive than it was. Now General, no longer Colonel, Cody is as brisk and as brilliant as ever. Buffalo Bill has added attractions which were highly appreciated by the many thousands who filled the Arena on Saturday. All the old sights are to be seen, and those retainers and Indian chiefs who have passed into the happy hunting-grounds are replaced by other warriors who have "a time and oft" spilt their blood in conflict with the troops of the United States. The Red Indians look as fresh and daring as ever. The cowboys are more numerous, so are the buck-jumpers. The Wild West Show evidences improvement in all directions. Now pilgrims to the Exhibition at one cost to see not only Buffalo Bill, but the afore-mentioned gardens. We anticipate all London will flock to both. Probably the night at Earl's Court offers more attraction than the day. Both morning and evening the bands are unceasing in discoursing sweet sounds. But the night adds a grace and glamour by the aid of the electric light and the confusion of falling waters, while the flowers whisper poetry the while the senses being ravished as they have seldom been ravished before. Everyone paying a visit to the International Exhibition and to the Wild West sees, remember, two kinds of flowers to perfection, those of the prairie and those cultivated by art.