THE FLORAL WOSLD AND GARDEN auiDE. 239 



llie course we intend to adopt, but we will anticipate their objections by 

 frankly telling tiiem that, as a rule, we Iiavc derived no benefit commensurate 

 witli tlie trouble of reporting exkibitions held in distant places ; and the 

 •General bulk of our readers will, we feel assured, prefer summaries of results 

 to catalogues of names and prize lists that afford no useful information. 



The Temple G-aedens.' — Messrs. Broome and Dale have held their 

 annual levee, and some little harm has been done by storms of snow and 

 wind. Mr. Dale has been robbed of a large slice of his land for tlie 

 erection of that beautiful building at the south-west corner which has been 

 the subject of so ninch attraction lately ; and now that the decorations and 

 awnings are cleared away, the visitor who has seen nothing of the recent 

 fSte, may very fairly judge how admirably this little inclosed space is adapted 

 for a gathering a la Waiteau. An artistic deviser of out-door fetes could do 

 almost anything with that pretty plot of ground, viewing it as it now appears, 

 gay with well-bloomed beds of pompones, the grass in good keeping, and the 

 place altogether as clean and tidy as if it were secluded miles away from all 

 possibility of invasion and traffic. But the initiated visitor, who loiters about 

 admiring the flowers, and reckoning up the long and patient labours neces- 

 sary to the pi'oduclion of such an agreeable result, can form no adequate idea 

 of the difficulty of keeping the place in such trim from day to day, while the 

 public are admitted free!}'' ; and with the adjoining garden of the Inner 

 Temple, there is presented to the public, gratuitously, the best exhibition 

 accessible anywhere in London. We have always considered Mr. Dale to 

 hold a right pre-eminence in the display of his plants on the bedding system, 

 and to Mr. Broome we have awarded highest praise for his culture of speci- 

 men flowers. This season the distinction has not been so visible as in former 

 years. Mr. Dale had some beautiful specimens, and Mr. Broome some good 

 beds. But, perhaps, the difference heretofore visible was not so much the 

 result of any peculiar bent in the mind of either cultivator, but the conse- 

 quence of diverse circumstances. Mr. Dale's garden is admirably situated 

 for a display of pompones in beds — it is more sheltered than the other gar- 

 den; a]id, on the other hand, he has no good position for specimens, as 

 Mr. Bi'oome has in that splendid border on the north side of the garden, 

 where, "under canvas" his beauties now reign together in peaceful rivalry. 

 We certainly have never seen finer beds than those of Mr. Dale's. As the 

 frost has not utterly destroyed the flowers, the visitor may yet find on the 

 left hand side of the garden, at the lower end, a very charming collection of 

 specimen plants, including superb specimens of Queen, Themis, Trilby, Lady 

 Hardinge, Madame Poggi, J>iovelty, Dupont, Christine, Hermine, Alfred 

 Salter, and other favourites, old and wqy^. These are mostly well grown and 

 well shown; the colours true, and the flowers incurved, without the aid of 

 gouging tools and tweezers, with which so many of the cut flowers at chrysan- 

 themum shows are made to assume forms of fictitious excellence. Mr. 

 Broome's show was a greater and grander undertaking. It was never better 

 during the many years that the veteran was annually loaded with well- 

 deserved praises. His specimens form a long bank, fronting the well-swarded 

 lawn ; they are arranged with admirable symmetry : the tallest plants at the 

 back, on the full length of their legs ; the next row is dwarfed, by pegging 

 down ; and thus to the front, where there is a well-contrasted line of pom- 

 pones. Id. this border may be found nearly every good variety at present in 

 cultivation, and not one out of its place. Among special excellences, we 

 advise our readers to look out for Salter's Aimoe Ferriere, a lovely incurved 

 flower, silver-white, with rosy tips. Now, many a country gardener contents 

 himself to obtain from that variety a few ill-shaped flovvers of a confused 

 blush; but in the midst of London smoke, Mr. Broome gets it true, and of 

 great size and substance. So with Alfred Salter, we have seen it in four 

 different shades, in the same flower show ; but in comparing Mr. Broome's 

 specim,en3, we could not discover one false to its original and proper character. 



