M THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



London — Camden Town, Stoke Newington, Kingsland, Tower Hamlets, 

 Bow, Stratford, Woolwich, and Greenwich, Bermondsey, Peckham and 

 Hatcham, Brixton, Sydenham, Norwood, Kennington, Walworth, etc. — all 

 working well. 



They hold monthly meetings, read papers, have discussions on subjects 

 relating to horticulture and floriculture, give plants to each other, and part 

 by shaking hands all friendly and good-humouredly, like brethren who have 

 learned to " dwell together in unity." Of course, now and then, a refractory 

 member wants a little regidating, and has to submit to it, but not often. 

 You cannot expect all to be of one way of thinking, and there will be excep- 

 tions, no matter what is the social order of those who associate together. I 

 only wish I coidd spend all my time among them, and I should be happy, 

 as the majority are well-conducted, industrious men, and deserve every 

 encouragement ; and I trust the readers of the Floral Wobld will assist in 

 giving a helping hand. I am happy to say that, south of the Thames, the clergy 

 are taking up the cause with spirit, and I hope their example will be followed 

 everywhere. I consider it my duty to assist them to the full extent of my power, 

 feeling, as I do, it is a step in the right direction of improving the domestic 

 life of the working classes, and thereby helping to make them happy. 



Temple Gardens, April 16, 1860. Saml. Bkoome. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



Vatjxhall Nursery. — Exhibition op Camellias. — In no department 

 of horticulture has the backwardness of the present season been more strik- 

 ingly exemplified than in the blooming of camellias, which were just a month 

 later than usual, and then none the worse for having been retarded. Indeed 

 it was all the better for Messrs. Milne and Co., for when their plants were 

 in a fit state for the admission of the public, the weather improved, and we 

 had one bright touch of spring, which made the blood tingle afresh in the 

 veins of horticultural people, and so thousands flocked to Vauxhall, and the 

 show-house made a capital figure in the Illustrated London Neivs. Long 

 celebrated for its camellia-house, and for the origination of many of the best 

 varieties, as well as for the extensive propagation of camellias as nursery- 

 stock, this firm never sailed before public favour with so compelling and 

 prospering a breeze as this year, when the camellias came out better than 

 ever, and made a spectacle sucli as none who saw it will ever forget. The 

 show-house is a lean-to, 180 feet long, with a comfortable matted walk, on 

 one side of which the largest specimen plants are planted out at regular 

 distances, and the spaces filled in with specimens in pots ; and on the other, 

 next the front sashes, is a table running the whole length, and liberally 

 furnished with moderate sized plants in six-inch pots. The back wall is well 

 covered with trained plants, and thus, on entering, you have before you a 

 vista of camellias, admirably disposed for contrast of colour, and the abund- 

 ance of bloom well set off by the wealth of healthy foliage. Here were all 

 the good old kinds and all the good new ones ; among the latter, many con- 

 tinental varieties, which have flowered in England for the first time this 

 season. Among the larger specimens the following were particularly fine : — 

 Donckelaari, six feet high, well furnished from head to foot, and blazing with 

 its large, showy, mottled flowers. Chandleri, above ten feet high, and nearly 

 ten feet through, was loaded with crimson, red, and blotched-white flowers, 

 of immense size. Corallina, none the worse in such a collection for its opun- 

 tia-like character, was almost too heavily laden, and might have had a 

 peck or two of buds removed without hurt to the show. The petals of this 

 flower are as vividly coloured as if modelled of the best sealing-wax, and 

 the foliage indicated robust health and the most liberal treatment. The old 



