152 



EECENT EXHIBITIONS. 



Royal Botanic Society, First 

 Geeat Show, Wednesday, May 2L. 

 — This exhibition wao favoured in 

 every way — Azaleas were at their 

 best ; pot Hoses were at least re- 

 spectable and effective, if their days 

 of decline were near at hand ; Orchids 

 were grand; Pelargoniums wonder- 

 ful; stove and greenhouse plants 

 abundant and fine, and most valuable 

 they were for purposes of grouping, 

 serving to break up the masses of 

 glowing colour, and afford the relief 

 of mountains of greenery, and various 

 sobering tints which afforded repose 

 to the eye. The grandest examples 

 of Azaleas came from Mr. Veitch and 

 Mr. Turner ; the first had a group of 

 eight, and the other of sis side by 

 side, the plants averaging five feet 

 high and four feet through, trained as 

 rather stiff pyramids, and solid with 

 colour. Mr. B. S. Williams, Messrs. 

 Lane and Son, Mr. John Fraser, 

 among trade exhibitors ; and Mr. 

 Carson, Mr. Wheeler, gardener to J. 

 Philpot, Esq., Mr. Wheeler, gardener 

 to Sir F. H. Goldsmid, Bart., and 

 Mr. Todman were the principal ex- 

 hibitors among amateurs. To single 

 out specimens or enumerate varieties 

 would be an endless task, and per- 

 haps on this occasion had best not be 

 attempted. Pot Hoses were shown 

 in the best style by Mr. W. Paul, 

 whose noble plants were still fresh 

 and in magnificent bloom. Messrs. 

 Lane and Son, Mr. Francis, and 

 Messrs. Paul and Son trod close on 

 his heels, and all the others were 

 stale, some few lamentably so, and no 

 wonder, after such weather as we 

 have had. One of the most beautiful 

 features was a collection of herba- 

 ceous Calceolarias from Mr. James, 

 comprising six named kinds, and a 

 batch of unnamed seedlings. Strange 

 that with such examples constantly 

 before them as Mr. James and Messrs. 

 Dobson present, the exhibiting cul- 

 tivators do not take in hand these 

 grand subjects, and do full justice to 

 them. 



Stove and Greenhouse Plants were 

 shown abundantly, and everywhere 



amongst them were signs that horti- 

 culture thrives with us in spite of the 

 millstone that hangs about its neck, 

 for plant-growing is assuredly one of 

 the best tests, both of the extent to 

 which the art is patronized by the 

 wealthy, and the skill and spirit that 

 animate the gardeners of the present 

 day. In the grand lot of sixteen from 

 Mr. Whitbread occurred Polygala 

 acuminata, a plant not often seen ; it 

 was a fine specimen, tied very hard, 

 and so recently, that the ties were as 

 conspicuous as the flowers. In a good 

 six from Mr. Kemp, gardener to Earl 

 Percy, occurred Allaruanda nerifolia, 

 a very nice speciea for specimen cul- 

 ture, with small tubular yellow 

 flowers. In a collection of ten from 

 Mr. A. Ingram occurred a noble 

 round-headed specimen of Erica coc- 

 cinea minor, completely covered with 

 its small wax-like tubes, one of the 

 gems of the exhibition. In Mr. Car- 

 son's ten, Azalea Lateritia, four feet 

 high, and the same through, as round 

 as a ball and solid with bloom. Very 

 near it were Mr. Whoeler's eight 

 Azaleas, with Heine des Beiges in the 

 midst of them, a great wall ot glorious 

 rose-pink flowers, with tufts of green 

 leaves peeping out all over. Mr. 

 Chilmau had in his ten Ciiorozema 

 varium nanum, finely grown and 

 bloomed. Mr. Wheeler had Boronia 

 serrulata well done, and Mr. Page 

 a superb Stephanotis floribunda. 

 Messrs. A. Henderson and Co. put 

 up one of their extra grand groups of 

 giants near one of the entrances to 

 the tent, including a huge Medinilla, 

 a Caladium bicolor, Vinca rosea, a 

 mighty Croton, and a few small 

 plants of (Jlianthus Dampieri, with 

 well-developed blooms. Messrs. Lee, 

 of Hammersmith, sent a very choice 

 group of fifteen. Here was a re- 

 markable example of the variegated- 

 leaved pine-apple, Ananassa sativa 

 variegata, with one fruit advancing, 

 and that fruit carrying seven crowns 

 of variegated leaves, a magnificent 

 object. Mr. O. lihodes, of Sydenham, 

 put up a fine ten, in which Ixora 

 coccinea, and the showy yellow- 



