276 THE FLORIST. 



to construction, the fourth side arranged with seats, afforded good 

 room for productions and visitors. A tent, with tables in the middle, 

 served to display a very pretty collection of fruit ; and a recess was 

 appropriated to some very creditable cottagers' productions of the 

 usual character. The articles were of a very miscellaneous charac- 

 ter — Orchids, stove and greenhouse plants, cut flowers, Dahlias, 

 Liliums, Fuchsias ; in fact, something of every thing that is in season, 

 and some things that are not so at present, such as Pansies, which 

 were very small. One thing w T e were delighted to see, viz. Cloth-of- 

 Gold Rose every thing in colour that Mr. Rivers describes it to be 

 when at its best. It was beautiful. There was present also a most 

 elaborate design for a flower-garden, in which the artist had intro- 

 duced not only the usual beds furnished with flowers, but the man- 

 sion itself, fountains, and a couple of temples, in one of which the 

 proprietor was sitting with his lady ; and if there was no expression 

 of satisfaction seen in their faces, we presume it was owing to the 

 hat and bonnet, which hid their features. We observe the artist, 

 with great judgment, had introduced neither dogs nor children — those 

 enemies to order in the flower-garden. i8§T 



SAFFRON WALDEN, ESSEX. 

 AN ACRE OF HOLLYHOCKS. 



Till within these last few years this flower was used as an ornament 

 in the plantation or shrubbery border only ; but it is now becoming 

 an especial favourite with the professional and amateur florist, and 

 bids fair successfully to rival, if not to outvie the Dahlia. The par- 

 ticular sorts selected for this purpose are of a character and family 

 entirely different to those formerly grown. Instead of the bell- 

 shaped blossom, shewing a large eye, the new and superior varieties 

 have a semi- spherical flower exceedingly double, with closely serried 

 petals, and a flat regular guard-leaf; the blossoms are so thickly 

 packed around the stem, that the green leaf can scarcely peep be- 

 tween them, and in the best-grown plants it is almost entirely hid. 

 These properties have, in the present season, been obtained in great 

 perfection by Mr. Chater, of Saffron Walden, in whose nursery- 

 grounds, consisting of about six acres, more than one-sixth is entirely 

 devoted to Hollyhocks, 6000 of which are now in splendid bloom ; 

 and Saffron Walden may well be proud of such an extensive exhi- 

 bition. But it is not only in the vast number and variety of colours, 

 but in individual excellence, as has been acknowledged by the gentry 

 and florists who have inspected his collection within the last fort- 

 night, that Mr. C. may fairly challenge the world to compete with 

 him. The size and beauty of colour displayed in his seedling Comet, 

 which is a fine ruby red, one would think, at first sight, could 

 scarcely be surpassed. Equally beautiful in their several different 

 characters and colours are his seedlings, — Enchantress, deep rose ; 



