318 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



prize, £4. It is required in every case that the name of the variety and the name 

 of the raiser should bo iittaclied to every plant. 



Crystal Palace FituiT and Gladioli Sh'jw. — The exhibition of Fruit and 

 Gladioli at the Crystal Palace, on September S and 9, was fairly successful, 

 although not equal in extent to similar cxhibiti ins of pievious years. Several 

 excellent collections of fruit were staged. Pine-apples were exceedingly good, as 

 were also the Muscat and black Grapes. Of the out-door fruits, including Peaches, 

 Nectarines, Plums, Cherries, Apples, and Pears, there was an abundance, and all 

 the prizes were exceedingly well contested. Gladioli were fairly shown by the 

 usual exhibitors, and made a capital display of themselves, although the flowers 

 appeared to be wanting in substance and the spikes in massiveness, as compared 

 with the finest examples exhibited in previous years. No prizes were offered, for 

 Dahlias, nevertheless Mr. C. Turner, of Slough, and ]\Ir. Coppin, of Shirley, near 

 Croydon, contributed several stands of magnificent bl loms in the miscellaneous 

 class. The Cottagers' prizes for vegetable were all warmly contested, and the 

 result was a capital display of Potatoes, Cabbages, Onions, and other esculents of 

 prime importance in cottagers' gardens. 



The Honev Fair and Exhibitiox of Bees and their Produce, held in 

 the Crystal Palace on the same dates as the Fruit and Gladioli Show, was in 

 every respect sati-factory and encouraging, and eminently creditable to all con- 

 cerned in its production. The bee-hives and minor appliances :i,nd the samples 

 of honey occupied a great space in the nave. Equally pleasing — and, in fact, 

 the matter of first importance in respect of the results desired — the visitors 

 manifested great interest in the apiarian portion of the exhiijition, the systems and 

 contrivances illustrated were carefully examined and criticised, and it was evident 

 from the first that this was not only a vindication of apiarian science, but a congress 

 also of apiarians. In addition to the exhibition in the nave, there was an experi- 

 mental demonstration in the north corridor, where, in a space enclosed with glass, 

 for the comfort and safety of the spectators, several experienced bee-masters 

 operated on bees, in order to explain various impoitunt processes belonging to the 

 higher departments of apiarian art. 



The Shiras Apricot is said by M. Carriere to be the best of all. It Is not a 

 handsome fruit, but the flesh is melting and sweet, and finely perfumed. 



Ibis Decola, which Mr. Bull has secured by means of steeds sent by Dr. Hance 

 from Whampoa, is a remarkably interesting plant, and will be greatly valued for 

 its large handsome iiowers of a pure marine blue colour, or lilac shaded with violet. 

 Old Apple Tret^s. — The New York Tribune remarks that the Secretary 

 of the Maine (U.S.A.) Board of Agriculture, in liis late report, mentions an Apple 

 Tree at York, that was brought from England 200 years ago in a tub, and was 

 still bearing fruit in 1870 ; another, near Wicasset Bay, that was an old tree in 

 1805, but is still fruitful ; another, in the town of Bristol, known to be over 200 

 years old, still bearing fruit, and other trees that yield occasionally from 2o to 65 

 bushels of fruit each. 



The Stems and Leaves of Coniferous Plvnts. — In the last number of the 

 Annates des Sciences M Bertrand publishes the first portion of a lengthy paper on 

 the comparative Anatomy of the Stems and Leaves of Coniferous Plants. M. 

 Bertrand points out the relation between the species and their eeographical distri- 

 bution, the parallelism existing between the floras of the Old World and those of 

 the New, as well as that between the floras of the Australian islands and of South 

 America, and enters into details with reference to the comparative anatomy of 

 the species in almost all the genera of the order. 



Table Decorations. — We cut the following from the entertaining " after 

 dinner " gossip of the Pictorial World : " Tabic decoi ation is receiving more and 

 more attention in society. Lord Porterhouse tells us of a novelty which I commend 

 to my lady readers. He says he dined the other evening at the house of a distin- 

 guished gentleman who has recently married a Russian lady. The table was 

 entirely covered with moss — the fern-liko moss wliich is plentiful in Covent Garden. 

 There was the usual white cloth, but the only evidpnce of it was seen in that portion 

 which hangs at the sides of the table. Flowers wi^re profusely introduced, and the 

 effect was altogether unique. His lordship says this is one of the most ordinary 

 kinds of table decoration in the aristocratic houses of Rutsia." 



