THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



101 



weather, and quite free from weeds, 

 stirring the ground between the 

 plants occasionally until about the 

 first week in August, when it will re- 

 quire a good top-dressing of rotten 

 dung from an old hotbed, and then a 

 good soaking of water if the ground 

 appears at all dry. As soon as you 

 have given them the top-dressing, 

 procure some small stakes and tie 

 them up ; when the buds are suffici- 

 ently developed for you to see which 

 will make the best flowers, thin them 

 out, leaving three or four to each 

 plant. The flowers to be exhibited 

 must be protected from the wet and 

 from injury by the wind. 



Among the greatest enemies of 

 the aster may be reckoned slugs, 

 and in places infested by these pests 

 it is somewhat a difficult matter to 

 protect them. Lime is useful in dry 

 weather, but its efficacy is destroyed 

 by a shower, and so a more desirable 

 way is to trap them ; this may be 

 done by placing heaps of two or 

 three fresh cabbage-leaves on either 

 side of them, which will generally 

 attract the rascals ; but, perhaps, the 

 most effectual way is to take out a 

 lantern at night and search the plants 

 individually, when, with a little per- 

 severance, they may be soon got rid 

 of by this style of hand-picking. 



THE SPRING EXHIBITIONS. 



The second show of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society took place on Wed- 

 nesday, March 30th, and no one was 

 surprised to see a wet day, introduced 

 by a snow storm, because it is the 

 society's evil fortune to have bad 

 weather for their shows as a rule, the 

 fine days being quite the exception ; 

 even the presence of Her Majesty, 

 who had signified her intention of 

 being present, had no effect, and the 

 day remained dull throughout. The 

 exhibition was ostensibly a camellia 

 andrhododendron show, but there were 

 scarcely any of either in the exhibi- 

 tion, and those were not of first-class 

 merit. The only really fine camellias 

 were those belonging to the gardens, 

 among them being a grand tree of 

 tricolor, covered with blossoms. Mr. 

 W. Young took second prize for a 

 shabby collection. There was a nice 

 display of cut camellias from Mr. 

 Treen, of Rugby, which were deserv- 

 edly awarded a first prize. Of rhodo- 

 dendrons there was only one good lot, 

 and that was from Mr. Young, gar- 

 dener to R. Barclay, Esq., Highgate, 

 and beside these there were none 

 worthy of note. In spite of this, 

 however, the show was no mean 

 affair, but well repaid the visitor, as 

 there were magnificent displays of 

 roses, hyacinths, tulipsj azaleas, and 

 miscellaneous plants, which made up 



a really fine exhibition. It would be 

 impossible to produce finer collections 

 of cut roses than were contributed 

 respectively by Messrs. Paul and 

 Son, of Ctieshunt, and Mr. William 

 Paul, of Waltham Cross ; they were 

 bloomed just to the point of perfec- 

 tion, the colours were as brilliant as 

 is possible to imagine, and they were 

 put up with such exceeding good taste 

 and skill, that each bloom not only 

 appeared to the greatest advantage, 

 but enhanced the beauty of its im- 

 mediate neighbours. There were 

 staged some beautifully grown speci- 

 mens of roses in p'.ts, the best being 

 those from Messrs. Paul and Son, of 

 Cheshuut, and the next best from Mr. 

 Turner, of Slough. Hyacinths were 

 shown in large numbers, the principal 

 exhibitors being Messrs. Cutbush and 

 William Paul, who each sent a collec- 

 tion of 100, for which they were 

 awarded equal extra prizes, Messrs. 

 Barr and Sugden. Mr. Youug, and 

 Mr. Carr. A collection of azaleas 

 from Mr. Bull, of Chelsea, gave evi- 

 dence to the excellence of his mode of 

 cultivation and good taste in staging. 

 At the back stood a grand plant of 

 Triumphans, measuring five feet from 

 the rim of the pot to the top of the 

 pvramid, a mass of bloom ; in front 

 of that Queen Victoria, a perfect cone 

 and quite solid, with its charming 



