iSyi.] ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 89 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A SEVERE bail-storm with thunder and lightning on Monday, a wet day Tuesday, 

 with the appearance of more on the 18th, led me to fear there would be but a 

 poor show. I was agreeably disappointed ; there never was a better meeting in 

 January. At the farther end of the council-room, occupying nearly the whole 

 stage, were collections of Orchids from Messrs J. Veitch & Sons, of the Koyal 

 Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea, and from the gardens of Lord Londesborough, Grim- 

 ston Park, Tadcaster, to each of which a special certificate was awarded. The 

 collection of Messrs Veitch was relieved and much improved by the judiciovis 

 introduction of a few elegant Palms. In Lord Londesborough's collection was 

 (amongst other fine things) a plant with three fine spikes of the beautiful winter- 

 flowering Saccolabium giganteum. 



Mr B, S. Williams, Victoria Nurseries, Holloway, exhibited a miscellaneous 

 collection, comprising a number of fine plants of his useful Solanum hybridum 

 compactum, a fine plant of Genetyllis Hookerii in flower, and a handsome speci- 

 men of Yucca filamentosa variegata ; a special certificate was awarded. Mr Charles 

 Turner, of the Ptoyal Nurseries, Slough, received a special certificate for a very 

 fine collection of green-leaved and variegated Aucubas, neat little plants trained 

 in the form of dwarf standards in small pots, bearing as many as from 200 to 

 300 berries in large handsome clusters. A collection of Orchids from the 

 Society's gardens, in which was a very fine plant of Lycaste Skinnerii, and numer- 

 ous collections of Chinese Primulas and Cyclamens showed how useful and 

 eflFective they are for winter decoration. From J. Lowe, Esq., Highfield House, 

 Nottingham, came a collection of very interesting new forms of Scolopendrium 

 vulgare, and several other varieties of our native Ferns. First-class certificates 

 were awarded to Adiantum capillas-veneris, var. Admirable, one of the most 

 distinct and graceful forms ever exhibited ; to Scolopendrium vulgare, var. 

 consummatum, with thick rigid fronds curiously tasseled. Messrs Veitch re- 

 ceived a first-class certificate for Cypripedium vexillarum, a very interesting 

 and beautiful cross between Fairiecanum and barbatum ; and a second-class certi- 

 ficate for Mormodes Colossus, a singular and showy stove epiphyte with long 

 loose racemes of reddish buff flowers. A second-class certificate was also award- 

 ed to Messrs A. Henderson & Co., Pine-apple Place, Edgeware Road, for Ficus 

 lanceolata, with bold showy foliage. A special certificate was also deservedly 

 awarded to ]\tessrs Backhouse & Son, York, for a splendid variety of Loelia aut- 

 umnalis named grandiflora, and to Messrs J. Brooke & Co., Nurserymen, Fairfield, 

 Manchester, for the first branched spike of Odontoglossum Alexandree ever exhi- 

 bited. It was 2 feet 2 inches long, 1 feet 4 inches across, with flowers 2^ inches 

 in diameter. 



A collection of American garden-tools was exhibited by Mr Pobinson, of no 

 particular merit apparently ; the same exhibitor also sent a coarse - looking 

 Potato, resembling the Bovinia or cattle-feeder ; it was said to be much esteemed 

 by the Mormons. The best of the American Potatoes are not nearly so good as our 

 own proved English varieties ; most of them are only fit for cattle. There 

 were specimens of admirably preserved fruit, both in bottles and dried, some pop- 

 corn and a cornpopper, and also dried specimens of a new species of dwarf- 

 flowering alpine rock Shrub from the summit of the Rocky Mountains. All the 

 above, I believe, were brought by Mr Robinson from America. 



The following special certificates were awarded by the fruit committee : To Mr 

 J. Meredith, The Vineyard, Garston, for Muscat of Alexandria Grapes ; bunches 

 large, berries large and well coloured. To Mr W. Ewart, Apethrope Gardens, 



