JULY. 157 



also of the same marked class ; we observed, however, a very narrow 

 feathered bloom ; doubt has been expressed if so much difference 

 could exist ; but as we have it in Triomphe Royal and Heroine, and 

 in the bloom noticed at Mr. Groom's as Aglaia, why not in this ? 

 'twas a fine flower. Ivanhoe was well done, as were Musidora and 

 Michael Angelo; Queen Charlotte, obtained from Mr. Wood of Not- 

 tingham, was beheaded and sent to the place from whence it came 

 for exhibition; although said to be the same as Superb en noir, it 

 was dissimilar here ; both were fine. Thalia did not entirely grow 

 out of the green; the contrary with Victoria Kegina (Groom) ; this 

 had done well, and by far surpassed the best of the many to be seen 

 in the collection of the raiser at Clapham ; Van Amburgh, so like 

 Pilot in form, is, we fear, for ever stained. 



We will now turn to the Rose class : of these Anastasia, is a 

 fourth-row flower and very respectable, while Astonishing, Aglaia, 

 Triomphe Royal, Lachesis, cum mult is aliis, were all more or less 

 dissimilar in some critical particular; Bijou seems to be a traitor, and 

 illustrates forcibly the error so often committed of blaming this or 

 that vendor for supplying spurious or inferior strains ; now the origi- 

 nal bulb in this collection we saw blooming in that fine condition in 

 which it was illustrated in the pages of an early volume of the Florist 

 and Garden Miscellany ; the same bulb has never since been free from 

 a thoroughly blue base, the state we noticed it in at our inspection. 

 Catalani, Cerise blanc, Ponceau tres blanc, and Dutch Ponceau, the 

 latter very dissimilar, are here each kept separate, although we must 

 confess to a striking resemblance; of Heroines and Bions, imported 

 bulbs from the north, there was a fine display ; of the former of not 

 less than a dozen superb specimens : Lady Stanley, a midland va- 

 riety, was bold, dissimilar, and valuable ; Magnificent was too full 

 of colour, but of this flower more anon. Bizarres next claim our at- 

 tention. We will commence with Pilot : great caution is needed in 

 getting in this flower from unknown or doubtful quarters ; that 

 there are three strains or sorts is certain; the Pilot has pure sta- 

 mens ; Aide-de-camp, an alias, by some, is taller and larger, but of 

 a duller shade, while Captain Sleigh has stained anthers, and is 

 taller than the true Pilot; the three sorts here (Hollo way) had all 

 been received from the midlanders as true Pilot ; Captain White was 

 good and bold, yet not free from the dingy base: is it ever so? Duke 

 of Devonshire had not done well ; Gold Cup, an imported stock, 

 had but one (!) flower out of eight in its known form ; Hamlet is 

 pretty in form, but without decision in marking ; Marshal Soult 

 lacks purity of stamens ; Priam (Wells), a good strain of the well- 

 known Polyphemus, was in excessively fine condition, the feather- 

 ing being little short of the black only claimed by Polyphemus 

 (Brown) ; PlatofFs, or Royal Sovereigns, were not of the truest 

 feathered strain, although we learnt that many bulbs were purchased 

 from the midlanders ; Garrick had done well, and much pleased the 

 Nottingham judges ; Vivid we thought good until we saw the bloom 

 in Mr. Hunt's stand at the Surrey show j this was indeed a superb 

 specimen. 



