122 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 14, 1866. 



la-Reine, near Paris, prove this, as taking the two first prizes." 

 It might have also been added that, in this section they were 

 the only exhibitors, as " your own correspondent " ought to 

 know, having been one of the Judges. 



As to vegetables, there was the same indifference as in 

 France, and this although the Executive Committee had en- 

 deavoured to secure competition by a handsome list of prizes. 

 " We are not alone in deploring this resistance of a class to 

 whom these shows cannot but be beneficial." What says Covent 

 Garden ? Rhubarb, however, is cited as shown in the greatest 

 perfection ; a Cucumber, modestly called the " Invincible ; " 

 and the new Radish, very curious, but we wait to taste it be- 

 fore deciding. 



" Du reste," nothing remarkable in the implements and ma- 

 chines. Garden plans very inferior indeed. "Why did not 

 some French competitors come over and give a lesson on the 

 drawing and composition of gardens, and show that, if in 

 England the tradition of the fine old parks seems compro- 

 mised, it is to be found in France more in honour than ever?" 



Thus our critic ends as he began, by praising our great show 

 in every detail, but considers it wanting in that exquisite and 

 artistical grace which Parisians can alone contribute. Of course, 

 we have all much to learn, but we have hardly anything to 

 acquire in some important things, which is more than all 

 can say. 



The weather, as with us, lias been very unfavourable on the 

 continent. The warm and dry days of the end of June have 

 been succeeded by cold and wet in July. Vegetation has been 

 extremely perturbed. The Oidium, which it was hoped would 

 not re-appear, has become prevalent. Sulphur is still in 

 favour as a remedy. Numerous provincial horticultural ex- 

 hibitions are announced. At Troyes there will be one from 

 the 3rd to the 10th of September. A musical mass, a banquet 

 (to which ladies will be admitted), a Venetian fete in the 

 public gardens, are a part of the programme. At Limoges 

 another show will take place on the 13th of this month. The 

 Pomological Society of Fiance will hold its eleventh session at 

 Melun, on the 14th of September. Other exhibitions are at 

 Orleans on the 12th of August ; on the 15th at Bourg ; from 

 the 29th of September to the 3rd of October, at Paris.— T. C. 

 Bkehaut, Richmond House, Guernsey. 



ROYAL HORTICULTTP.AL SOCIETY. 

 August 7th. 



Floral Committee. — This meeting was one of the best of the 

 season, although, perhaps, the attendance of the Fellows was not so 

 numerous. The exhibition of plants and flowers was excellent. Mr. 

 C. Turner sent four seedling Nosegay Pelargoniums — viz., Lady Con- 

 stance Grosvenor, a bright scarlet, which was awarded a first-class 

 certificate ; Dnchess of Sutherland, a very showy variety, which had 

 been awarded a first-class ; International, and Countess of Sefton, 

 good in colour, but deficient in trass. Mr. Tirebnck had fifteen seed- 

 ling Zonalc Pelargoniums; out of them, a Nosegay called Felix, with 

 large pale pink trusses, was awarded a second-class certificate. Messrs. 

 F. & A. Smith, of Dulwich, exhibited thirteen Zonale Nosegay Pelar- 

 goniums, many of them of high character, but too much resembling 

 well-known varieties. Sunbeam, a bright orange scarlet, and King of 

 the Nosegays, were considered the best among them. From Messrs. 

 Smith came also a small collection of Balsams, hut not equal to those 

 which we have seen exhibited by this firm ; likewise Lomaria fluviatilis, 

 an old and well-known Fern. 



Mr. Parker, Tooting, exhibited some interesting plants. First-class 

 certificates were awarded for Pleopeltis inenrvata, a handsome Fcru 

 from Java ; Nothoehlauia cretacea, a pretty Silver Fein ; and Good- 

 vera pnhescens intermedia. A special certificate was awarded Mr. 

 Parker for his collection. Messrs. Veitch received first-class certifi- 

 cates for a curious and rare Orchid — Acineta species, Gvmnostadmim 

 species, Trichomanes concinnum, and second-class certificates for 

 Bolbophyllum reticulatum and Ionopsis panieulata. A special certi- 

 ficate was awarded for the collection, in which were the white Lapa- 

 geria, Rothmannia species, Notylia hicolor, a very small and minute- 

 flowering Orchid : Vanda Roxburghii var., a Mel. stoma, and a cut col- 

 lection of Gladioli, one box containing G. brenchleyeusis, and the 

 other named varieties. 



Mr. James Hedges, gardener to E. 'Wright, Esq., received a special 

 certificate for cut specimens of Renanthera Lowii and Vanda Batemanii. 

 Mr. Melville, Dalmeny Park, sent four seedling Tropaxdums, like 

 manvother seedlings which are raised every year ; and Mr. John Wills, 

 Huntroyde, nine seedling Zonale Pelargoniums, not sufficiently dis- 

 tinct, also a collectiou of his hybrid seedling Verbenas, which must 

 be seen planted out before their merits are decided upon. From Mr. 

 Bracher came eight seedling Verbenas of no merit, and from Mr. 

 Sberratt, gardener to James Bute-man, Esq., Ccelogyne corrngata, to 



which was awarded a second-class certificate, and Mr. Sherratt also 

 received a special certificate for a fine collection of cut Orchids. 



Mr. Bull obtained first-class certificates for Brownea princeps 

 (erecta?) and Brownea grandiceps, both plants with very handsome 

 foliage, and second-class certificates for Broussonetia papyrifera, a 

 beautifully variegated shrub, and Tradescantia vittata. Messrs. 

 Jackson, Kingston, were awarded a first-class certificate for Erica 

 Marnockiana, a very fine variety. Mr. Gulliford, Bedford Square, 

 exhibited a Cactus, covered with the cochineal insect ; and Mr. G. 

 Smith, Hornsey Road, two seedling Zonale Pelargoniums — Chancellor, 

 a bright scarlet, a good flower, but too like many others ; and Alex- 

 andra, white-variegated Zonale, not better than Mountain of Light 

 or Silver Chain. Messrs. Cuthnsh, Highgate, had a first-class certi- 

 ficate for Lilium auratum splendidum, one of the best varieties yet 

 seen hi this country ; the broad dull red in place of the usual orange 

 bands made the flower, which is of excellent form, very conspicuous. 



Mr. Cbater, Saffron Walden, exhibited eight seedling Hollyhocks, 

 two of which received first-class certificates — speciosa, a pale huff suf- 

 fused with crimson ; and Frederick Cbater, a pale yellow ; and a second- 

 class certificate was awarded for Edward Speed, the flower of a diffi- 

 cult colour to describe, a pale purplish grey. Messrs. Henderson, 

 Wellington Road, received a first-class certificate for Pelargonium 

 Christine Nosegay ; and a special certificate for their collection of 

 plants. Among them were tricolor Pelargonium Lady Harriet Bliss, 

 Hedychinm thyrsiforme variegatum ; Caladium pictum, Alphonse 

 Karr", paicile ; and Curcuma flava. Messrs. Carter sent tine plants of 

 variegated Maize, Lobelia Attraction, bine and white, very like 

 Paxtonii ; also, LoheUa Beauty of Ravensbonrne, dwarf compact plant, 

 with pale lilac flowers ; a second-class certificate was awarded it. Mr. 

 Henderson, Thornton Heath Nursery, sent a long shoot of the Climb- 

 ing Devoniensis Rose, with a fine terminal cluster of flowers. A first- 

 class certificate was awarded this beautiful Rose. Mr. Barron, Elvas- 

 ton, exhibited Abies Douglasii brevifolia, which was awarded a first- 

 class certificate ; also, Abies Douglasii variegata. W. W. Bnller, 

 Esq., received a special certificate for a collection of cut Orchids. 

 Mr. Eckford, Coleshill, Bucks, sent twelve seedling Verbenas, very 

 good flowers, but not differing from many others. From the Society's 

 gardens, Kensington, came Xanthosoma violaeea, in flower ; and from 

 Chiswick, a collection of plants, comprising, among others, that good 

 old plant Trachelium cserulenm, some named Petunias, and several 

 very promising seedlings. 



Fruit Committee. — Mr. Carmicbael, gardener to His Royal High- 

 ness the Prince of Wales, Sandringham, received a special certificate 

 for a remarkably handsome Enville Pine Apple weighing 73 lbs., 

 doubtless the forerunner of many other fine productions from the 

 same garden. J'rom Mr. Keynes, Salisbury, came two Grapes, the 

 one a pretty white seedling," and the other the Strawberry Grape, 

 having a stronglv marked Strawberry flavour; from Mr. Mathison, 

 Addington, a seedling Black Grape ; and from Mr. Cox, Madresfield 

 Court, Great Malvern, an oval-berried Black Grape, the result of a 

 cross between the Alicante and Muscat of Alexandria. This was 

 stated to possess a fine flavour, but neither to it nor the other seed- 

 lings was any award made. Mr. Ingram, Huntingdon Nurseries, 

 exhibited Easter Beunv Pears, much shrivelled ; Mr. Mcludoe, a 

 seedling Gooseberry called Goldfinder ; and Mr. Cooling, Bath, two 

 dishes of Apples, aiid a useful-looking white Potato. Edgcott Second 

 Early Kidney Potato, a very clean-skinned variety, was shown by Mr. 

 Neale, gardener to R. A. C.utwright, Esq., Edgcott House. This and 

 the other Potatoes were referred to Dr. Hogg for trial when cooked. 

 Mr. Melville, gardener to the Earl of Roseberry, Dalmeny Park, ex- 

 hibited the Long-podded Radish with large pods 3U inches or more in 

 length. These, like the pods of the common Radish, are said to be 

 very good when pickled. 



Fortniohtlv Meeting.— J. Bateman, Esq., F.E.S., in the chair. 

 The awards of the Committee having been announced, the Rev. M. 

 J. Berkeley proceeded to remark on the subjects exhibited. The 

 jEehinea shown at the last meeting by Mr. Wilsou Saunders, and 

 which differed in some respects from M . Mertensii, had been compared 

 with specimens in the herbarium at Kew, but the only species at all 

 approaching it was .E. pvramidalis, of which it was probably only a 

 variety In a collectiou of frnits from the garden of the Viceroy of 

 E"ypt, shown in the end of 1864, was the plant (Cannabis sativa), 

 from which is made the hashish used in the East as a narcotic, like 

 opium. From this Mr. Berkelev said he took twelve seeds ; hut all the 

 plants raised from these were eaten off by slugs, with the exception of 

 one which proved to be variegated. From it be bad this year suc- 

 ceeded in raising six plants, and as it is perfectly hardy and mora 

 dwarf and bushy than the common Hemp, he thought it would prove 

 a handsome plant for shrubbery-borders. Pleopeltis mcurvata and 

 Nothochlama cretacea next came under notice, and of the latter it 

 was remarked that the fronds were finely powdered with silvery dust. 

 Rhopalas were also noticed as being handsome plants for drawing- 

 room decoration. Attention was next directed to n Rothmannia, ex- 

 hibited by Messrs. Veitch ; to Jussia-a ligustrifoha, a marsh plant 

 nearly related to the Evening Primrose ; and to Brownea princeps 

 and grandiceps. Of the last, Mr. Bateman remarked that it is an 

 extremely handsome plant of the same natural order as the Jonesia 

 asoca and Amberstia nobdis, having large beads of flowers and long 

 gracefully drooping leaves. The finest specimen of it which he ever 



