1866.| The International Horticultural Exhibition. 447 
goniums in full dress, their stems and flowers tied to rmgs and 
hoops like a lady’s crinoline—certainly a method of perverting the 
natural growth of the plant, which will be one day abandoned— 
Calceolarias and Cape Ericas in astonishing perfection, Roses of every 
hue, and Coniferous evergreens,—here and there a tall and noble 
tree-fern (Cyathea medullaris), towering aloft with its gracefully 
drooping fronds, Bananas, Palms, Draceenas, Pandani, Cycadacee, 
and other tropical evergreens—the whole scene was one from fairy- 
land. 
It was, however, in the Orchid tent that the main horticultural 
attractions were centred. This department, separated from the 
rest of the pavilion by a canvas screen, 500 feet in length and 
40 feet in width, was heated throughout by iron pipes, furnished 
gratuitously by Mr. Henry Ormson, the horticultural engineer. A 
broad, central, gravel walk, with sloping grass-covered terraced 
banks on either side, traversed its entire extent. On the eastern 
side the chief attractions were variegated-leaved plants, Caladiums, 
Marantas, Begonias, Lycopodiacex, Cypripediums, Japan Lilies, and 
ferns ; on the western side, a space of about 400 feet of the bank was 
allotted to the Orchids, some of them of the very rarest kinds and of 
almost fabulous value. These gorgeous epiphytes of the tropical forest, 
which take the place of moss and lichen on the stems of the trees of 
the temperate zones, were here exhibited in all their beauty and fra- 
grance, Vandas, Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Onycidiums, Epidendrons, 
Odontoglossa, and Phaleenopsis being the most conspicuous genera. 
We noticed also, on the same bank, the beautiful Cypripedium bar- 
batum, and very fine samples of the Sarracenia purpurea, or North 
American pitcher-plant Beneath the bank of Orchids, on the same 
side of the tent, there was an interesting collection of economical 
and medicinal plants exhibited by Mr. Linden, of Brussels, includ- 
ing the tea, coffee, and cocoa shrubs, the spice plants, gamboge, maho- 
gany, lignum vite, nux-vomica, gutta percha (Isonandra guttata), 
and India-rubber trees (Ficus elastica) ; and at the southern end of 
the tent were to be seen some most superb specimens of the pitcher- 
plant of the East Indies (Nepenthes). 
Amongst the vegetable rarities on exhibition we noticed the 
Ouvirandra fenestralis, or lattice-plant of Madagascar ; the Rapha- 
nus caudatus, or rat-tailed radish, first introduced into England 
from India by Mr. Bull. It is a straggling plant, about two feet in 
