274 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April % isea 



to be in every f^arilen. We saw notbing etriHng in new Caladiume. 

 Of the new Azaleas and CamelUan we will speak presently. 



A long and spacions room was devoted to Af»avee, Amaryllis, 

 bouquets, table decoratioiiF, &c. Agavee, Yuccas, <fec., many of them 

 of great size and valne, and nnmbering some three to fonr hundred 

 plants, were exhibited. These are mneh esteemed on the Continent, 

 but are little valued in Enpland. 



What a glorious display of Amaryllis ! — over four hundred plants, 

 and such variety of colour ! Some of the seedlings were grand, and 

 M. Van Houtte has the tinest strains. All were grown in small pots 

 and were admirably bloomed, and they must become more popular in 

 England. They can be hybridised to any extent, so as to get per- 

 fection in form and colouring. Mr. Charles Turner drew our attention 

 to a small flower, a seedling rich in colour and of exquisite form, but 

 passed over by the Judges. In his hands this and a half dozen others 

 we could have picked out would soon have given birth to some grand- 

 children ! 



The Azaleas, which, as in our own shows, were the most attractive 

 of colour objects, were smaller than our own, but no less dazzling. 

 Three seedlings, however, appeared very desirable in point of colour, 

 surpassing evei^thing which approached them in brilliancy — namely, 

 Jloi d'HoUande, a valuable variety of a rich vermilion, spotted on the 

 upper segments, and remarkable for smoothness and substance ; James 

 Veitch, a most brilliant tint of majjenta rose ; and Colons nova, a rich 

 glowing crimson, quite distinct and very fine. 



New Azaleas were, however, so numerous and fine that it is some- 

 what difficult to tell which were really the best. We especially noticed 

 —La Victoire, bright red, with spotted petals ; La Vestale, shaded 

 lilac pink, fine substance, size, and form ; Thisbe, bright salmon red, 

 extra fine form; Meteor, shaded lilac red, fine form ; liaphael, a very 

 fine double white ; La Superbe, intense rich dark orange scarlet, smooth 

 and fine ; Madame Leon Maonhaut, a peculiar shade of red, with rich 

 violet-spotted top petals ; BIndame S'an der Cruisa, a very large semi- 

 double rose ; Rachel Von Varahagcn, an extra fine single rose ; Gloire 

 Avant tout, white, and occasionally striped with pink ; Bayard, a light 

 scarlet, with rosy carmine spots, very fine ; La Di'esse, pale rosy 

 ealmon, margined with white, extra tine ; La Paix, light ro.sy purple, 

 jine form ; James ^'eitch, warm rosy vermilion, extra fine ; M. Thibaut, 

 rich pale scarlet, fine form; Beaute Supreme, pale rose, bordered with 

 ■white ; Ferdinand Kegeljan, light orange red. densely spotted in the 

 top petals, extra fine ; Eclatant, intense dark reddish scarlet, extra 

 fine; Charmer (Bull), rich rosy pink, very fine indeed; Antoinette 

 Theliman, rich double scarlet, extra fine ; Koi des Blancs, an extra 

 fine white : Charles Albert, a fine double white ; Frederick II., light 

 orange scarlet, extra fine ; Unica, intense rich glossy crimson ; Heine 

 Marie Heiirjette, pale pink, shaded and margined with white, richly 

 spotted in the top petals; and several other fine sorts. A verv fine 

 unnamed seedling, double striped white, from M. A'an Houtte, is a 

 great advance. A large number of other very fine sorts were shown, 

 such ag Belle Gantoise, Madame Cannart d'Hamale, Louis Napoleon, 

 Cedo Nulli. Madame Ambroise Verschaffelt, Due de Nassau, Rubens, 

 and a large mimbcr of other Continteiital and English raised varieties. 

 The pyramidial form of Azaleas, adopted by the Knglish growers 

 (as remarked in our last number), is altogether ignored here, and a 

 more globular foi-m is aimed at. In fact, it may be said that the half 

 of a globe indicates the form of almost all the plants exhibited. The 

 large number of plants exhibited gave, as already stated, a brilliant 

 effect to the Exhibition. 



Of the Camellias we cannot speak too highly, for almost all were 

 wonderfully fine. The practice adopted here of grafting yoUng plants 

 on to old plants, literally placing young heads on old shoulders, has 

 fceen the means of showing us the great results which arise from this 

 practice. Symmetrically trained plants of a pyramidal form, close- 

 growLng from the bottom upwards, in luxuriant health, and covered 

 with blossoms, were to be seen by the hundred. Many of these were 

 monster specimens, but the freshness of health waseveiywhere visible. 

 A large number of seedlings was shown, and in one gioup, exhibited by 

 M. Camilla Van der Bosch, were two very line things, viz: — Prince 

 Royal, of beautiful form, light pink colour, irregularly blotched with 

 white, and Etendard de Flandre, of exquisitely cupped form and 

 substance, light veined pink, irregularly striped; this is a very 

 beautiful variety. Amongst the best Camellias were Frost's Perfection, 

 beautiful pinky blush, shaded with white ; Charmante, one of Vervaene's 

 seedlings, shaded pink, of fine form ; Comtesse de Flandre, jtale lilac, 

 faintly streaked with pink, fine fonn ; Vittoria Emmanuel II., blush, 

 striped with pink ; Angelo Cocchi, much lighter than Lavinia Maggi ; 

 Madame Ambroise Verschaffelt, a very fine light striped kind ; Reine 

 des Beautes, beautiful shaded pink and blush, fine form ; Leon 

 Leguay, Leopold I., a superb rich dark crimson; La Reine, Jenny 

 Lind, Countess of Orkney, Jubilee, Imperatrice Eugenie, Mathotiana 

 alba, and many others. Nowhere else could such plants be brought 

 together. 



A greenhouse was devoted entirely to Melocacti, Hyacinths, and 

 Tulips ; of the former there were four exoollent collections. Of 

 Hyacinths, there was a vei-y fine display. These were all grown in 

 small pots, and although not equal in size of spike and growth to 

 those exhibited by Mi*. Cutbush, Mr. Paul, and otliers in London and 

 Liverpool, they were a remarkable collection, and there were a large 

 number of fine spikes. Some of the Haarlem cultivators exhibited 

 collections of from 100 to 150 varietieSj and all were very creditable. 



These collections were \exy prettily arranged in banks on each side 

 of the greenhouse and looked well. A colled ion of 1'25 Hyacinths 

 grown in glasses elicited unbounded admiration. They had really 

 been grown in the glusses, and each was n jerfect specimen. The 

 Jury evidently thought so, by awarding the first prize to those in 

 glasses. Amongst these we noticed as eapeciallv fine— Double Rede: 

 Lord Wellingtcm, Milton, Jenny Lind, Noble pa'r Mcrite, and Regina 

 Victoria. Single Reds : La Dame da Lac, Agnes. Princess Clotilde, 

 Dabatsch Sabalskanksy, Von Schiller, Su.sanua Maria. Cavaignac, 

 Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Josephine, Amphion, and Macnulay. Doubb 

 ^Tiites : La Tour d'Auvergne. Jenny liind, Prince of Waterloo, Lord 

 A.nson, and Virgo. Single Whites: Pucelle d'Orleans, Ka^nig Vcn 

 Nederlanden, Hercules, La Candeur, Koine d'Hollande, Mont Blanc, 

 Cleopatra, Allm Maxima, Madame Vanderhoof, Alba supcrbissimi, 

 Nina, Grandeur .i Mervcille. Double Blues: General Antenk, Garrick> 

 Bloksberg, Van Speyk, and Laurens Koster. Single Blues : Leo- 

 pold II,. Argu?. L'ucle Tom, Charles Dickens. Couronne de CeUe, 

 Prince Albert, Nimrod, William I., Grand Lilas. and Sir C. Napitr. 

 We have named all these, as some may be glad to know whatsorte do 

 well in water, but the whole collection was gooil. So this proves tiat 

 it is not necessary to have only certain sorts. One exhibitor S£nt 

 sixteen pans of Hyacinths, each containing a dozen bulbs, and they 

 had a veiy effective appearance. A veiT large number of new anj 

 little-k-nown Hyacinths was exhibited. Among3t these were Prima 

 Donna, not a new one, but most superbly coloured and gi-own ; Jose- 

 phine, rather thin but most brilliant in colour, rich orange and acailet ; 

 Goliah, blush striped with pale pink, and very- showy ; Grand Duchess 

 Olga, a very pretty pale rosy pink, good spike — all Reds. In Whites : 

 Paganini, Teneriffe. Baroness Swander Die. all fine ; Nectar, a very 

 fair creamy white with large finely-formed bell and close spike ; La 

 Franchise and Miss Aiken, fine. In Blues : Zriny is fine, dark velvety 

 blue purple, fine close spike ; Emperor Alexander, a peciiliar shade of 

 blue, fine bell and spike ; Julius Cassar. shaded blue purple, tine close 

 spike: Prince Alexander, a very tine dark purple; Marie Antoinette, 

 fine ; Prince Bragation, very fine and distinct : Czar Peter. La Mar- 

 tine, Leonidas. Pieueman. De Candolle, Louis Philippe, double ; 

 Tollens or Prince of Wales, Arnold's Prince, Darwin, Tomb of 

 Napoleon, King of the Blues, and Hereditary Prince of Sweden were 

 all very fine. There was not much new in Yellows. Siberia is a very 

 fine creamy yellow, and Lord Seymour is also very fine, and Lord 

 Australia is good. Chateaubriand is a very distinct yellow, and" 

 Alphonse Karr is a pale lemon colour and good. Hvacinths were 

 shoM-n in collections of 100 and 150. The display of Tulips was 

 also good, and several new and little knoivn kinds were shown. 

 Among the mo.'it striking of these were Leonardo da Vinci. Lac Cavaig- 

 nac, Lac Van Haarlem, Rose d'Amour. Due d'Angoulcme, Due de 

 Bordeaux, Jeanne d'Arc, Murillo, and La Citrodelle, In Singles : 

 Rosa Mundi. La Poitrin blanc, Grande Blanche, Alba regalis, Due de 

 Wiemar, Grand Due or Crown Imperial, Archiduc d'Antriche, Prince 

 d'Autriche, Paul Morcelise, Duchesse de Parma panachee, Cramoisie 

 pourpre, Prince de Joinville, Mavrocoidato, and Joost ^'an Vondel are 

 all veiy fine. 



In a large building in the grounds, a quantity of Rhododendrons 

 was displayed, and they formed huge banks of colour, but there was a 

 great deficiency of those grand rich scarlets, crimsons, and fine 

 Avhites which we see at the Rhododendron displays in London. Empe- 

 reur de Mexique, conspicuously spotted alike in each petal, truss 

 rather loose and not good in form, is a good variety to cross from. 

 Baronne Osy is another singularly-spotted light variety, not to be 

 confounded with Baron Osy, a heavily-spotted white variety. In this 

 building were gi-oups of hardy Azaleas, and what beautiful things 

 they arein pots! forced hardy shrubs, hardy variegated plants in 

 quantity, liiew Conifers, a collection of Apples and Pears, and a verj 

 interesting exhibition of various forms of giafting and budding. 



Some forced fruits and vegetables were shown in another depart- 

 ment. The Grapes were very poor. Pine-apples good. Strawberries 

 in pots, onlv middling, and these appeared to have been potted shortl}' 

 before forcing, for a pencil could easily be pushed to the bottom of 

 the pot. Chicoiy seemed to be the most striking thing in forced vege- 

 tables. The Peas and Beans in pots could be beaten in hundreds of 

 English gardens, and early Potatoes were nowhered compared with 

 English growth. 



They grow Mignonette well. Vigorous plants of the large-leaved 

 kind — and in another month or so what plants they will be ! — but only 

 one plant ij a pot. Then there were collections of Violets, hardy 

 Primulas in species and varieties, Cyclamens, fancy Pansies. but 

 very inferior to English raised kinds, Chinese Primulas, extremely 

 poor iu quality, and Variegated Zonal Geraniums, all English kinds, 

 and badly coloured. These seem to be grown in a close house. 

 I noticed a plant or two of Lady Cullum in M. Ambroise Verschaf- 

 felt's nursery, which were beautifully coloured. 



And now for the bouquets and groups of flowers for table decoration. 

 The bouquets are onormoasiy large generally, although I have at 

 different times seen many beautiful medium-sized bouquets in the 

 Brussels market, but all that were exhibited were very large — too 

 large, I have always thought; but after fcceing Her Majesty and the 

 Comtesse de Flandre cariying bouquets of the same size, I begin to 

 think we make them rather too small. There were several bridal 

 bouquets, one of which was composed entirely of orange buds, not 

 blossoms, each separately wired. The wires are veiy neatly covered 



