THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 221 



good service: Rosebud, Ganymede, Hebe, Golden Drop, Mrs. Keynes, Bacchus 

 and Frederic Boshell. 



Among the subjects likely to be most useful to amateurs, we note down the 

 following : — Leptodactylon Californicum, shown by Mr. Peed — a finely-grown 

 plant, well trained out, and covered with its pretty phlox-like flowers. This 

 is very apt to get leggy and lose its lower foliage. The bedding geraniums 

 included Magnum Bonuin, Cerise Unique, more useful as a pot plant ; General 

 Pellissier, in the style of Commander, with very fine truss; Trentham Scarlet, 

 Le Titian, Brilliante, Punch, Kingsbury Pet, better for pot culture ; Shrub- 

 land, dwarf ; Little David, more dwarf, and a shade better colour than Tom 

 Thumb ; Scarlet Perfection, and Tom Thumb, four feet across. Among 

 Fuchsias, the following were the best — Duchess of Lancaster, Venus de Medici, 

 Pearl of England, Marquis of Bristol, Inaccessible, Nil Desperandum, General 

 Williams, Prince Albert, Clio, Autocrat, Volcano de Aqua, Snowball, Christa- 

 bella (yellowish), Charlemagne, Conqueror, Venus, and Wonderful. Balsams 

 were extremely good in some cases, and disgracefully bad in others. Mr. 

 Green, gardener to Sir E. Antrobus, Bart., sent the best lot, and they were, 

 indeed, worthy of a first place. Cockscombs were numerous and fine ; Mr. 

 Savage, of Edmonton, had some measuring 18 inches along the comb, 7 or 8 

 inches wide, and 15 inches high, with very healthy foliage. China Asters were 

 good, but the French tasselled sorts outstripped the German quilled strain in 

 numbers : they are equally beautiful, but the French are novel, and a large 

 number of well-selected blooms was a striking effect. The colours in both 

 classes are admirably clear and decisive. For French Asters, Mr. Sandford, 

 gardener to T. Thomasset, Esq., of Walhamstow, was first ; Mr. Monk, of 

 Tottenham, second. Among the miscellaneous plants was a collection of 

 Gladioli, from Mr. Standish, of Bagshot. Mr. Standish is a rival of the 

 Emperor's gardener, in the culture and raising of these showy summer flowers. 

 When the Queen visited the Emperor, she saw thousands of the choicest green- 

 house varieties blazing among the shrubberries, and dotting the borders and 

 parterres ; and, as a good judge of what may and what may not be done in 

 gardening, the Queen marvelled at this new feature. It was but a trick — the 

 flowers were cut from thousands of plants under glass, and stuck in the 

 ground, just as the folks at Ilford decorated the cemetery with chry- 

 santhemums, on the occasion of the Bishop going to open it. The Bishop 

 was delighted with the profusion of flowers, but a day or two after there 

 was not one to be seen. Mr. Standish's flowers were in three long rows, 

 of about twenty bunches in a row, and they were mostly of a new breed, 

 between psittacinus, the old parrot gladiolus, and oppositiflorus, in securing 

 good strains of which Mr. Standish has laboured for many years, and with as 

 great success as has attended his crossing of azaleas and rhododendrons. As 

 shown on this occasion, we may fairly give Mr. Standish the first place in the 

 three kingdoms, as a breeder of gladioli; the old forms of ramosus and 

 gandavensis, fine as they are, having been distanced immeasurably, and 

 altogether put in the shade. The fruit was in great variety, but there were 

 not many novelties. Of pears, Marie Louise, Chaumontelle, Bon Chretien, 

 Gansel's Bergamot, Beurre Ranee, Duchess d'Angouleme, and Catillac, were 

 the leading kinds. Apples were, mostly, of the best old sorts. Mr Snow's 

 Hamburgh muscat grape, was shown in three ways, as grown and ripened in a 

 peach house, in a vinery, and in a pot, and all the bunches were ripe two 

 months previously ; so, to its other good qualities, we may add that it will 

 hang well. Messrs. Lane and Lee had some pretty collections of orchard 

 house trees in pots. The Shanghai peach, in Mr. Lane's lot, is a curious fruit, 

 large, with a deep furrow all round it, and the colour a soft buff. 



The National Dahlia Show, which took place at St. James's Hall on the 23rd, 

 in no way disappointed those who had formed bright anticipations. The King 

 of Flowers kept court in befitting dignity and grandeur, and to the display of 

 colours of every shade from pure white, to the nearest approach we have yet 



