JUNE. 177 



on a spike six inches long, but unfortunately it experienced one frosty 

 night, which destroyed the whole, but in the same summer, at the 

 Bishop of Exeter's favourite and beautiful grounds, at Bishopstow, 

 rear Torquay, a plant bloomed most proiusely, from which specimens 

 were forwarded to tlie conductors of the Botanical I\Iagazine, in which it is 

 most splendidly figured, Tab. 4666. " The flowers," his Lordship writes, 

 " are produced in terminal clusters, and the odour is of a delicate violet-like 

 character." He states that the effect to the eye is rather disappointing, 

 for the bloom precedes the leaves, which were not then half out. His 

 Lordship's statement concerning the structure of the flower exactly 

 corresponds with what I have myself perceived. Great difficulty has been 

 experienced in propagating the Paulovnia, as the robust shoots which 

 our English summers seldom ever half ripen, will not strike, though 

 it has been in many instances rooted firom layers ; but the most successful 

 method of effecting propagation is by taking the roots in the autumn 

 and cutting them into parts about one inch and a half long, and inserting 

 one half of the subterraneous cutting into some good sandy soil, and 

 leaving the other half exposed to the light ; let the soil be pressed rather 

 firm, and kept rather moist ; then let the pot be plunged into a medium 

 bottom heat, and a handglass placed over the whole. 



The soil which is best adapted for this plant is that of a dry sandy 

 naUire, and the situation in which it should be planted ought to be 

 exposed to the powerful rays of the sun ; by these means the abundant 

 flow of sap in moist weather Avould become checked ; the plant would 

 form its bloom at a much earlier period, and be more likely to expand its 

 flowers, before the inclemency of the weather would injure them. This 

 plant, as well as a great many other semi-hardy plants, would form 

 ornamental objects in the Crystal Palace. The whole beauty of many 

 of these plants we have not discovered, and particularly those of New 

 Zealand, because they cannot withstand the various temperatures to 

 which our island is so subject. 



G. G. 



HORTICULTaR/VL SOCIETY'S EXHIBITION. 



The first show of this Society took place on Wednesday, May 16, in 

 the grounds belonging to Gore House, Kensington, which, as many of 

 our readers are aware, are now in possession of the Commissioners of 

 the great industrial Exhibition of 1851, having been purchased with the 

 surplus fund remaining on hand on the breaking up of that establish- 

 ment, aided by a parliamentary grant. This block of ground includes 

 more than 80 acres, and will hereafter be converted, by the erection of 

 suitable buildings, &c., into a great national school for obtaining a 

 practical knowledge of the various details in M\ connected with the 

 development of industrial, decorative, and scientific art. The Royal 

 Commissioners having very kindly placed part of these grounds belonging 

 to Gore House at the disposal of the Cuuncil of the Horticultural Society 

 for their first exhibition, it was at once decided to accept the offer, more 

 particularly as the distance to Chiswick at this early season has formerly 



NEW SERIES, VOL. V. NO. LIV. N 



