186 THE FLORIST. 



a gentleman present as " a fountain of flowers." Messrs. Veitch also 

 had a nice group ; as had also Mr. Warner and Mr. Blandy of Head- 

 ing. Passing Mr. Schroder's and other collections, we come to the 

 exhibition of Orchids from Messrs. Loddige^', the gem of which was 

 a lilac-flowered Cattleya, with a trumpet-shaped, velvety, deep crim- 

 son lip. It was apparently the scarce C. marginata. 



We are now in the large tent, and opposite the beautiful collec- 

 tion of thirty stove and greenhouse plants from Mr. Cole, gardener 

 to H. Collyer, Esq., of Dartford, which was second; and, passing a 

 magnificent purple-flowered, yellow-eyed Aphelexis, or Cape Ever- 

 lasting, and a Pimelea Hendersoni, from the same grower, also Mr. 

 Rucker's and Mrs. Lawrence's Heaths, we reach the noble collec- 

 tion of thirty stove and greenhouse plants from Ealing Park, which 

 gained the certificate of honour, the highest award the Society 

 offers. 



Continuing our course westward, past the long and beautiful 

 bank of Cape Heaths, which occupied the north side of tent No. 2, 

 some stove and greenhouse plants, Achimenes, and Statices, we dis- 

 cover nice groups of Calceolarias, from Messrs. Gaines and Hender- 

 son ; then some Pitcher plants, from Mrs. Lawrence ; and, finally, 

 beautiful collections of Ranunculuses, from our contributors Mr. Tyso, 

 and from Mr. Costar of Benson, Oxon. The former had two stands 

 of 50 blooms each ; among which, as might be expected from so 

 eminent a cultivator, were many fine specimens, although some were 

 hardly sufficiently blown. Mr. Costar shewed 48 blooms. To Mr. 

 Tyso was awarded a silver Banksian medal ; and to Mr. Costar a 

 certificate, although no prizes are offered expressly for such exhi- 

 bitions. 



Thus ends our sketchy and somewhat imperfect account of one of 

 the best June shows which has ever taken place in the Society's Gar- 

 dens, — a statement which we are pleased to make ; because it shews 

 that horticulture is on the ascendant, instead of going back, as some 

 would have us believe ; and that the same spirit which induced our 

 ancestors of the fifteenth century to trim their Rose-bushes and culti- 

 vate their Lilies, Sunflowers, Violets, and Poppies, continues to dw^ell 

 in us of the nineteenth century, not only with equal but with greatly 

 increased vigour. That it may long continue so, is our hearty 

 wish. 



And now, having gone through all the tents, and admired the 

 beauty there gathered together, we are glad to withdraw from the 

 crowd with which they are filled ; and taking the arm of a friend, who 

 always treats us on these occasions, we make our way to a resj>ectable- 

 looking person sitting at his ease, with a box of cards and change 

 before him, and a board with " Refreshment" in large black letters on 

 a white ground above his head. Here, in exchange for current coin, 

 we receive two tickets marked ice, and two others marked biscuit ; 

 and passing through an opening in a distant line of shrubs, at once 

 find ourselves in a spacious cool recess furnished with a few seats, 

 whilst behind a table eighty feet long, covered with white cloths and 

 furnished with plates, stand a dozen respectably dressed persons, to 



