AUGUST. 249 



first prize. There were but two competitors with twelve Verbenas in 

 pots ; the first prize was awarded to Mr. Wetherall, gardener to D. 

 JMcNeill, Esq., Hornsey Road, for plants grown on flat trellises, with 

 blooms of interior quality, and the second prize to Mr. Higgs, gardener 

 to Mrs. Barchard, Putney Heath, for plants grown much too freely and 

 badly flowered. We seldom meet with a well flowered collection of 

 specimen plants of this popular flower ; nothing can be more ugly than 

 plants twisted on trellises, and nothing more easy than to grow them as 

 liieraniums and other plants are grown, using a few neat sticks only ; but 

 the two collections above alluded to evinced anything but superior 

 cultivation. It was a poor display of florists' flowers ; indeed, had it 

 not been for the Pinks and Roses, florists' flowers would have been barely 

 represented. Mr. Gaines sent a miscellaneous collection of Geraniums, 

 among which we noticed as sorts we had not previously seen, Vesper 

 (not Cant's), a Rowena flower, of no value ; and why called Vesper, 

 unless to be confused with a variety of that name sent out last year ? 

 Also Gipsy Queen, something in the way of Conspicuum, wdth narrow 

 under petals ; Calypso, not so bright or so good as Governor General ; 

 Andover, a small dark variety, with narrow under petals ; and another 

 variety called Advance, which is considerably behind many other flowers 

 in quality. We also noticed tv/o fancy varieties new to us, one called 

 Odoratum magniflorum, a large coarse flowered variety ; and Clara No- 

 vello, a prettily marked flower, but loose and deficient in shape. Some 

 French Geraniums were also there, the best of which are Adolphe Odier, 

 bright salmon pink with dark blotches ; Solomon, a bright showy 

 variety ; Eugene Sue, blush, -with dark blotches, one of the best ; 

 Dr. Marjolin, something in the way of Sanspareil ; two other varieties, 

 Elise INIiellez and Dr. Andry, are not worth growing. Two new 

 Fuchsias were exhibited by IMessrs. E. G. Henderson and Son, of the 

 WelUngton Hoad ; one of these, Prince of Wales, is a fine darkreflexed 

 variety of great substance, and the other is a worthless white coroDa'd 

 variety named Princess Royal, which, as shown, is very inferior to 

 Mrs. Story. 



Of Orchids there were several very nice collections ; but there were 

 no stove or greenhouse plants, no prizes having been offered for them 

 at this show. Variegated plants were plentiful, but being mostly small 

 specimens they made Httle display. Ferns and Lycopods were not so 

 numerous as might have been expected ; but what were produced were 

 well grown, and some of the hothouse kinds especially were extremely 

 handsome. New plants were scarce ; IMessrs. Veitch sent Ixora flori- 

 bunda, a rich salmon kind, and apparently a very free flowerer ; Fenzlia 

 dianthiflora, whose flowers, owing to the dulness of the day, did not 

 open ; and Phygelius capensis, with long brown tubular blossoms. The 

 same firm also exhibited spikes of a Californian Lupin, a strong- 

 growing pinkish-flowered kind, and plants of their shrubby Californian 

 Phlox (Leptodactylon). I. Anderson, Esq., of INIaryfield, near Edin- 

 burgh, sent Salvia carduacea, a grey-leaved Thistle-like species with 

 lilac flowers, and two white-flowered Gilias. I\Ir. Carson had Orni- 

 tharium striatulum. Of new plants not in flower, Mr. Linden furnished 

 two kinds of Calanths, both with handsome leaves, and Calyptraria 



