306 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 28, 1870. 



lengthen this report by inserting a long list of botanical names, 

 but the Conncil feel proud at being able to instance the famous 

 Sourya (theTulip Tree of India), of which a considerable number 

 are growing at the park, and the glorious Poinciana regia, also 

 being raised in hundreds. This is the more gratifying at a time 

 when the question (and want) of shade trees is again being diB- 

 cnased. Among other new plants introduced, the value of 

 which to the colony has yet to be ascertained, is the plant from 

 whioh the pith hats, well known here and in other tropical 

 countries, are made. For this importation the Society is in- 

 debted to Dr. F. Von Mueller, who, after years of endeavours, 

 succeeded iu procuring the seed, and in the true spirit of soienoe 

 lost no time in placing some at the disposal of this Society, that 

 the plant might be permanently secured to Australia, in case 

 the climate of Queensland should be better adapted to it than 

 that of Victoria." 



ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S SECOND SPRING 

 SHOW. 



This was opened yesterday, and will be continued to-day. It is 

 altogether an excellent display for the period of the year, but the pot 

 Roses constitute its greatest charm. These are not only numerous, 

 but in beautiful bloom, and we expect nothing less from such exhibi- 

 tors as Messrs. Paul & Son and Messrs. Lane. 



Collections of twelve greenhouse 'plants in flower came from Mr. 

 Wright, gardener to C. H. Compton Roberts, Esq., Avenue Road, 

 Regent's Park; and Mr. Wheeler, gardener to Sir F. H. Goldsmid, 

 Bart., Regent's Park. Mr. Wright had two line pyramidal Azaleas — 

 viz., Coronata and Alba ; a large plant, in excellent bloom, of Gene- 

 tyllis fuchsioides, Arlenandra fragrans, Erica eleganB, and a good 

 specimen of Erica Hartnelli superba. Mr. Wheeler had very good 

 specimens of Azalea Stella, Tetratheca ericiefolia, Aphelexis, Erica 

 Spenceri, and a well-flowered Dracopkylluui gracile. 



Collections of twelve forced hardy herbaceous plants came next. Of 

 these Mr. Ware, of Tottenham, furnished examples of Primula eor- 

 tuBoides amoena, looking beautifully fresh and bright, the white- 

 flowered and a small pink-flowered variety of the same ; Trillium 

 grandiflorum, Dielytra spectabilis, Dictamnus Fraxinella alba, a 

 double yellow Wallflower, Smilacina bifolia, and others. Mr. Wheeler 

 sent two nice pots of Aubrietia purpurea, Dielytra, Hoteia japonica, 

 Arabis albida, &c. 



Collections of twelve Rhododendrons came from Messrs. Lane and 

 Son, Mr. Wheeler, and Mr. Wright. In that from Messrs. Lane, 

 Mrs. John Waterer, Sir Isaac Newton, Ne plus Ultra, Imperatriee, 

 Fastuosum flore-pleno, and Lord John Russell, formed splendid 

 masses of bloom, while Minnie, as a light kind, maintained its 

 character as one of the best. 



Of Roses in pots, Messrs. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt, had a splendid 

 nine, eveiy one of which was good, but Victor Verdier, Princess Mary 

 of Cambridge, Charles Lawson, and Senateur Vaisse were magnificent ; 

 •while Souvenir d'un Ami and Beauty of Waltham were very fine, 

 but the first three were the stars. In the amateurs' class for Roses 

 Mr. Wright and Mr. Wheeler were the only exhibitors. The former 

 also sent six Azaleas, four of which were very well bloomed ; and 

 Messrs. Lane and Mr. Wheeler exhibited a like number. 



The best six Dielytras came from Messrs. Reeves Brothers, Notting 

 Hill; and the only exhibitor of Amaryllis was Mr. Baxter, gardener 

 to C. Kieser, Esq., Broxbonrne, who, in addition to Bending six for 

 competition, sent a collection of twenty-one seedlings in the miscella- 

 neous class. Duke of Edinburgh and Kieseri were two rich blood red 

 varieties ; and Albertine, Olga, and Mdlle. Tietjens the finest of the 

 light-Btriped kinds. 



Deutzias in good bloom came from Messrs. Lane, Reeves Brothers, 

 and Mr. Wheeler ; also from Mr. Wilkie, Oak Lodge, Kensington. 



Among miscellaneous subjects were several excellent exhibitions, 

 Mr. Wheeler sending a remarkably good collection of fine-foliaged and 

 flowering plants, including a fine pot of Paujcnm variegatum. Messrs. 

 Paul & Son had a large collection of beautiful pot RoseB, also a box 

 of cut blooms of Marechal Niel ; Mr. Wright, a collection in which 

 were magnificent specimens of Pbcenicophorium secbellarum and Gene 

 tyllis tnlipifera, Orchids, and Ferns ; and Messrs. Rollisson, Dendro? 

 bium densiflornni, Vandai, and otln r Orchids, Dicborizandras, Heaths, 

 Azaleas, and Ferns. Mr. Osman had cut blooms of Roses ; Mr. Bragg. 

 Pansies ; Messrs. A. Henderson & Co. and Messrs, Lucking Brother.-!, 

 bouquets ; Messrs. Carter & Co., Tricolor and Golden-leaved Pelar- 

 goniums, and Ecbeveria metallica glanea ; Mr. W. Paul, Princess 

 Christian Rose, Tricolor Pelargoniums, and Primroses — several, as 

 Waltham Magenta, Waltham White, and Waltham Yellow, very 

 showy ; and Mr. Stevens, Ealing, had a first-class certificate for his 

 Ealing Rival Tricolor Pelargonium. From Mr. Chambers, gardener 

 to J. Lawrence, Esq., Beddiugton, came an object of special attraction 

 in a number of the magnificent white flowers of Beaumontia grandi- 

 flora, which are delightfully scented. For theBe a special prize was 

 awarded. 



Messrs. Lane & Son contributed a most beantifnl and varied collec- 

 tion of Roses in 6 and 10-inch pot;, together with Rhododendrons and 



Azaleas. Mr. Wilkie, Oak Lodge, Kensington, Mr. Wheeler, and 

 Mr. Wright also sent miscellaneous collections, while among nursery- 

 men Mr. Williams, of Holloway, had numerous fine specimens of 

 Azaleas, Ferns, Heaths, a remarkably fine plant of Tetratheca erica- 

 folia hirsnta, besides other plants. Messrs. A. Henderson & Co., of 

 the Pine Apple Place Nursery, sent a collection of Azaleas in excel- 

 lent bloom ; Mr. Ware, of Tottenham, a numerous collection of 

 hardy spring -flowering plantB ; and Me3srs. Reeves excellent pots oi 

 Mignonette. 



First-class certificates were given for the following: — To Mr. 

 Williams for Agave Verschaffelti and A. Yerscbaffelti glauca, two fine 

 dwarf American AloeB ; to Mr. Kennedy, Covent Garden, for Macro- 

 zamia magnifica, a North Australian plant, of which the roots are 

 used by the natives as food ; to Messrs. Rollisson for Ecbeveria aga- 

 voides, Erica tnbseformis, Rhododendron fragrantissimum, and Pteris 

 stramiuca attenuata ; to Mr. James, Highgate, for Silver Tricolor 

 Pelargonium Mrs. Colonel Wilkinson : to Mr. Hooper, of Widcombe 

 Hill, Bath, for Pansies Mrs. Shirley Hibberd, Mrs. Felton. and Sun- 

 shine : to Messrs. Paul & Son. of Cheshunt, for Tea Rose Celine 

 Noirey ; and to Mr. William Paul, of Waltham Cross, for Pelargo- 

 nium Waltham Bride, and Waltham Yellow Wallflower, a new dwarf, 

 richly-coloured kind. 



It may be interesting to add that a plant of Fonrcroya longaava is 

 now flowering in the conservatory, where one of the same species 

 flowered for the first time in Europe in 1865, and was figured in the 

 *• Botanical Magazine " of that year. 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS 



at the royal horticultural society's show. 

 April *20th. 

 Acriculas. — As I anticipated, the great backwardness of the season 

 made the display of these of a very limited character, there being only 

 two exhibitors — Mr. Charles Turner, of Slouch, and Mr. James, gar- 

 dener to Mr. Watson, of Isleworth. Mr. Turner's Auriculas were 

 good ; bnt as an old grower, full, of course, of all sorts of narrow- 

 minded prejudices, I must protest against what seems to be the modern 

 notion of showing Auriculas, and one which judges seem to favour — 

 —viz., that the larger the truss the better the flower. Now, the espe- 

 cial beauty of the Auricula is the refinement of its bloom, and very 

 rarely can these large trusses be obtained without the sacrifice of this 

 quality. I do not agree with the northern growers, who consider that 

 three pips constitute a truss ; but I do acree with those old-fashioned 

 growers who in former days made the Auricula their special hobby, 

 and who maintained that seven pips were a sufficient number. I 

 have taken the trouble to carefully examine many of these large-trussed 

 flowers, and I can see that this style of growth deteriorates the ground 

 colour and makes it run into the edge. This would not have been 

 tolerated in former days. I had hoped that the National Auricula 

 Show would have somewhat altered the taste, but I see no signs of it ; 

 and so I suppose, as we must have everything " big " now-a-days, we 

 must put up with " big " trusses of Auriculas. 



Mr. Turner's plants were very fine, and comprised pome seedlings of 

 his own as well as some older varieties. They were — Sims'B Eliza ; 

 Turner's Exhibitor ; Turner's Colonel Champneys, a large-eyed 

 flower, apparently a seedling from Sophia, brilliant ground colour, but 

 with too light-coloured paste ; Turner's Galatea ; Turner's Bishop of 

 Lichfield, very dark ; Turner's Buckstone, style of Stretch's Alexander, 

 and, like it, inclined to be foxy in colour; Turner's Master Hole, very 

 dark self ; Lightbody's Admiral Napier, a small plant, but the flower 

 with a beautiful green edge ; Headley's Stapleford Hero (not Turner's 

 as labelled), very like Waterhouse's Conqueror of Europe ; Turner's 

 Earl of Shaftesbury, good, grey edge ; Turner's Crown Prince, purple 

 self. Mr. James took the second prize, and also the first iu the class 

 for amateurs, but his flowers had a good deal of roughness about 

 them, and there was a deficiency of green-edged flowers. 



Of Alpine Auriculas Mr. Turner had an excellent lot ; and although 

 in the eyes of old florists they can bear no sort of comparison with the 

 show varieties, yet they are very striking and pretty. There were not, 

 however, in the class any flowers that seemed in advance of those 

 before exhibited by Mr. Turner. . 



Passies in Pots. — It is imnossible to praise too highly the admir- 

 able collection of these exhibited by Mr. James. Some of them were 

 the perfection of growth, and Mr. James would confer a favour on the 

 lovers of this pretty flower If he would give to the world an account of 

 his method of growing them. Sunset, yello-v ; Novgorod (misspelt on 

 label), Rev. H. Dombrain, Isa Craig, and Princess Helena were espe- 

 cially good. The collection of bedding Pansies was very poor, and, 

 indeed, some had no right to the name. A bedding Pansy ought to be 

 one-coloured, and of a good sturdy habit. Some of them did not fulfil 

 these conditions. — D., Deal. 



Flowers in Paeis.— The first Lilacs of the season have just 

 made their appearance in the Paris flower markets, mostly 

 brought from the neighbouring districts of Pantin, Montfermeil, 

 and Romainville. The expenditure in Paris for flowers is cal- 



