154 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



may be no crowding of unnecessary wood. Shoots that run away with undue 

 vigour to be cut clean out to the base, unless in positions where muck needed, in 

 ■which case s\iorten them back. 



"WiNTEu Greens to be planted out in showery weather at every opportunity. 

 If only one row can be got out at a time, it is a benefit to the seed-bed in giving 

 the seedlings more room, and a benefit to the plants in preventing their getting 

 drawn. 



HOETICULTURAL AFFAIRS. 



OYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— At the meetings of the Floral 

 and Fruit Committees, held during the past month, several meritorious 

 novelties have been exhibited. Foremost amongst these are Croton 

 Disi-aeli, a distinct form, with three lobed leaves marked with yellow on 

 a green ground ; Drosera spathv.lata, an interesting sundew ; Hyacinth 

 Utna, a beautiful variety, with semi-double flowers of a bright rose-crimson colour ; 

 and Croton api}endicv.latum, one of the most remarkable of the forms j-et intro- 

 duced. The leaves are narrow, and four or five inches from the base of the leaf. The 

 midrib is continued in a thread like form for several inches, and at the end of this 

 is a leafy appendage ; and as the latter has the appearance of beinsr suspended by a 

 green thread, the effect is very remarkable. These were all exhibited by Messrs. 

 J. Veitch and Sons, of Chelsea. Mr. B. S. Williams, of the Victoria and Paradise 

 Nurseries, Upper Holloway, presented to public notice Geonoma gracilis and Mar- 

 tinezia erosa, two remarkably fine palms. The first-mentioned has rather small, 

 gracefully pinnate leaves, and is perhaps the most elegant palm in cultivation. It 

 is certainly one of the very best for the dinner table. Mr. W. Bull, of the King's 

 Road, Chelsea, exhibited Crinum brachyncma, a bold-habited plant, with pure white 

 firagrant flowers, requiring a stove temperature, and Dracaena Candida and D. 

 insignis, two welcome additions to this somewhat large family of fine foliage 

 plants, because of their adaptability for dinner tables and indoor decorations 

 generally. 



The Opening op Axexandba Palace and Pabk will be the great event of 

 May Day, 1875. Our readers are familiar with its history, and will be abundantly 

 informed of the proceedings on the opening day, which, we trust, will be auspicious 

 in every sense, both for the sake of the enterprise and the satisfaction of the public 

 mind, for the undertaking engages the sympathies and hopes of all classes. It is 

 needful here to record that horticulture, and the rest of the rural arts, will be libe- 

 rally vindicated and represented, while the recreations that are associated therewith 

 are to be plentifully provided for. The new Palace covers seven and a-half acres, 

 on the summit of a hill commanding the most magnificent scenery ; the more mag- 

 nificent, of course, because of the elevation of the spectator, and the distinct defi- 

 nition of scenes belonging to seven or eight counties. The park of 220 acres is sup- 

 plemented by a charming sylvan nook of 17 acres, called '■ The Grove," wherein are 

 some of the finest oaks, chesnuts, copper beeches, elms, and hollies to be found in 

 all England. A distinctive feature of the Palace is that it contains an enclosed 

 garden, to be appropriated to sub-tropical plants of noble aspect, this garden being 

 connected with a tropical conservatory, now finely filled with palms, tree ferns, and 

 cycads. Mr. A. M'Kenzie, the landscape gardener to the Companj% has constructed 

 a first-class nursery near the west end of the building, for supplying the park and 

 gardens with bedding-plants, and the Palace with nobler forms of vegetation, and a 

 series of exhibitions is arr.anged for, the first of which is to be a rose show held on 

 the 24th and 25th of June. Before the next issue of the Floral World appears, 

 we trust the greater world will ring with praises of the Alexandra Palace, and that 

 its success as a commercial undertaking may be satisfactorily assured. 



Hardt Primroses were exhibited by Mr. Richard Dean, at the meeting of the 

 Fiord Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society on the 7th ult, in splendid 

 condition. The plants of which the collection consisted were grown in pots, which 

 they well filled, and were densely furnished with flowers. The efl'ect produced by 

 them in conjunction with Polyanthuses, Forget-me-nots, and other hardy spring 

 flowers, was exceedingly beautiful, and they were, as they well deserved to be, much 



