THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 349 



May 3, June 7 and 8, July 19 and 20, November 15. The May, June, and July 

 exhibiiions will be held in the great tent. 



The Chiswick Trial gf Onions has proved completely successful, and the 

 results will be of especial service to the seed trade. Over a. hundred named kinds 

 Were grown, and careful comparison has reduced them to less than a score. In 

 this respect it is a repetition of the celery trial. T'jc followina: prove to be dis- 

 tinct : Denver's Yellow, Yellow Globe, Silver-Skin, "White Spanish, Blood Red, 

 "White Tripoli, Red Tripoli, and James's Pear-shaped. 



Messrs. Stuart and Meix, of Kelso, have favoured us with samples of Chilian 

 beet, notable for immense variety and richness of colour. Although the gigantic 

 size of tills beet limits its use to gardens of a certain class, its colours have no 

 parallel, and the samples from Kelso are the richest we have seen. The broad leaf 

 stalks are in some instances of a clear ivory-white, in others intense orange, and 

 thence pass through all shades of red, carmine, and crimson, the glossy surface con- 

 siderably augmenting the effect. 



Messrs. James Carter and Co. have been awarded by the jurors of the 

 Cologne Exhibition a silver medal for the excellency of their grass seeds supplied 

 to the Committee-General for laying down a portion of the Exhibition grounds. 



M. Eugene Verdier's Seedling Roses constitute an important feature in his 

 horticultural undertakings, as he flowers on an average 30,000 every year. 



The Royal Aquarium at "Westminster is rapidly approacliing C')mpletion, 

 and bids fair to prove the grandest thing in the aqaarium way ever attempted. It 

 is ft great undertaking, and an immense amount of talent has been brought to bear 

 upon it by the combined energies of architects, engineers, and naturalists, all of 

 them being well backed up by spirited business men commanding an ample capital. 

 It will be, in its way, a macrocosm of inventions. The glass roof is being fixed by 

 Mr. Rendle, and admirably represents his patent process, while the glass employed 

 has been toughened by De la Baslie's process. T(ie show tanks, 31 in number, two 

 of which contain 40,000 gallons of water each, will require 2000 square feet of 

 glass one inch thick, and 500 feet half an inch thick, all of which will be similarly 

 toughened. Everywhere the utmost precautions are taken to prevent contamina- 

 tion of the water by contact -ni'.h metals or cements — vulcanite, asphalte, slate, and 

 stone being chiefly used for aqueducts and holders, both of fresh and salt water, 

 while every pipe is accessible on all sides, so that, in case of leakage, repairs may 

 be accomplished without difficulty. The beautiful new building in Tothill Street, 

 "Westminster, will not only contain aquaria, and present a marvellous exhibition of 

 marine and river life, but it will combine the attractions of a winter garden, a pic- 

 ture gallery, and a concert room, and there will be added the occasional excitement 

 of a flower show. 



Ficus REPENS, a charming plant, so generally employed for covering walls of 

 plant stoves, appears to be much hardier than is supposed to be the case. A writer 

 in the Monatschrift (Berlin) records a proof of its hardiness. Having occasion, be 

 says, to pass through Mingrelia in the autumn of 1873, he visited the ruins of a fine 

 garden at Sugdidi, which was overrun by Omar Pasha in 1853. Among other re- 

 markable things were the north and end walks of what had been a magnificent 

 orangery. These were literally covered with a luxuriant profusion of climbing 

 rose?, wisteria, rubus, tecoma, passiflora, etc. : but most noteworthy was a large 

 mass of Ficus repens. In the gardens around dahlias were cut to the ground, and 

 the tips of the shoots of tea roses were already nipped by frost, but the Ficus was 

 nnscathed, and had resisted the cold of twenty winters. Although Sugdidi is 

 favourably situatei, the writer estimates that the thermometer must fall at least as 

 low as 14" Fahr. This pretty creeper would therefore succeed in the warmer parts 

 of the United Kingdom, and may probably be flourishing out-of-doors in some 

 places at the present time. 



AoAVE Victoria Regin^. — A splendid new species shown by M. L. de Smet 

 at Cologne, and which gained a gold medal there, has passed into the bunds of Mr. 

 Peacock, who is exhibiting (me of the plants at the Alexandra Palace. It is one of 

 the most distinct Agaves in cultivation, having triangular leaves, marked with 

 white on the margins, and devoid of spines, excepting one black curved one on the 

 top of the leaven. 



Miniature Apple Orchards. — The advantage of the new style of planting 

 pyramid and bush trees over the old method of wholly planting standard trees, finds 

 November- 



