166 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and was in every sense good and well attended. Mr. Whitbread, gardener 

 to H. Collyer, Esq., took the lead in the class for sixteen stove and green- 

 house plants, with large specimens in fine condition. Mr. May, gardener to 

 J. Spode, Esq., followed, with Mr. Rhodes to bring up the rear. Among 

 Mr. May's plants was Statice imbricata, a most beautiful conservatory plant, 

 which we recommend to cultivators. Messrs. Green, Baxendine, Carson, and 

 Kail competed in the class for ten stove and greenhouse plants. Amongst 

 the contributions were Stephanotis floribunda, admirably done, and Statice 

 Holfordi, covered with grand bunches of blue flowers, with here and there 

 in amongst them a few of a snowy white. The ornamental foliaged plants 

 were numerous and good, but there were no special novelties. Cape 

 heaths were in fine condition ; orchids plentiful and mostly well flowered. 

 Mr. Bullen, gardener to Dr. Butler, of Woolwich, deservedly took the first 

 prize. In the class for twelve orchids, Mr. Stone, gardener to J. Day, Esq., 

 of Tottenham, was first. Messrs. Veitch contributed, among new plants, 

 Caladium Veitchii and Wightii, Vaccinium rugosum, and two new gloxinias 

 named Apollo and Jupiter ; Mr. Standish sent a new Senecio, from New 

 Zealand ; Messrs. Parker and Williams sent Statice profusa, a charming 

 plant for conservatory decoration ; and Messrs. Henderson had G-azania 

 splendens, and Dianthus Heddewigi. There was a fine collection of cut 

 roses of the leading show kinds ; a charming box of cut ixias from Messrs. 

 Carter ; many interesting ferns from Mr. Day, of Tottenham, and Messrs. 

 Baillie, Binney, Woolley, and Jackson. Pelargoniums, calceolarias, and fuch- 

 sias were plentiful and good, and there was no lack of fine samples of the 

 fruits of the season. 



Grand National Eose Show, Crystal Palace, July 12th. — This was 

 unquestionably the best exhibition of roses ever held in this country — per- 

 haps the best ever held anywhere, at any time, and success attended it from 

 beginning to end. Fortunately the weather, on the day preceding the show, 

 was dull, and the flowers cut better and kept better than would have been the 

 case during scorching sunshine, though on the day of the show the heat was 

 almost equal to the season, and the large awning extended along the length 

 of the exhibition table was of real service as a protector. The flowers were 

 shown on a table two hundred feet long. In the centre was a row of pot 

 plants, miserably small, but in good condition, and well covered with bloom. 

 We should have liked to see, on such an occasion, such plants as were made 

 up into temporary beds with turf and gravel, in the days when Chiswick 

 was the " fortunate isle " to flower-growers. On each side of the table, and 

 extending its whole length, were boxes of cut flowers, and looking at the 

 exhibition lengthwise, it presented a charming spectacle, as the multitudinous 

 tints melted one into the other, and the general rosy hue which resulted from 

 their blending was softened by the fresh green groundwork of the moss with 

 which they were surrounded. The palace was crowded all day, and it was no 

 easy matter to get near the tables after twelve, at which hour, the judges 

 having performed their duty, the public were admitted, and no end of note- 

 books were in use, the holders of them marking down the names of the roses 

 which most attracted them, or which they were then determining to add to 

 their collections. We made most of our own notes before the judges came, 

 and while the stands were being made up, else we should have found it no 

 easy task to give an account of the unequalled collection. For the collection 

 of one hundred varieties, three trusses of each, Mr. Mitchell, of Piltdown 

 Nurseries, Maresfield, Sussex, took the first prize ; Messrs. Paul, of Cheshunt, 

 were second ; Mr. Hollamby, of Tunbridge Wells, third ; and Mr. Cranston, 

 of Hereford, fourth. For fifty varieties, three trusses of each, Mr. Cant, of 

 Colchester, was first ; Mr. Hollamby, second : Mr. Tilly, of Bath, third ; and 

 Mr. Turner, of Slough, fourth. The following were in Mr. Mitchell's lot, 

 and may serve as a list of the best show roses in cultivation : — 



Hybrid Perpetual*.— Abbe Feytal, deep rose, fine form ; Alexandrine Bachmeteff, 



