FLORAL EXHIBITIONS. 171 
following spring, either on a slight hot-bed, or in the open air in pans 
or boxes, in a light sandy soil. The seed should be covered about a 
quarter of an inch deep; and the seedlings protected during winter as 
above recommended. ‘The second year after sowing they may be 
pricked out into pots, one inch apart; or they may be separated into 
small balls, and these balls may be allowed to remain in pots until they 
are large enough for planting out. In about three or four years from 
the time of sowing, the plants may be expected to flower, when they 
will amply repay all the care and attention which have been bestowed 
upon them. 
P.S. Since sending the preceding communication to the Society, I 
have found, in Mrs. Loudon’s “ Gardening for Ladies,” an extract 
from a work by the late Hon. and Rev. William Herbert on the 
Amaryllidaceze, in which that eminent person recommends the grow- 
ing of the Gladiolus, and similar bulbs, in tufts. He observes, “‘ They 
succeed best when grown into a thick tuft, in which state the pro- 
fusion of blossom is admirable ; the cluster of bulbs, and the old skins 
of the decayed bulbs, permitting the wet to drain away, and prevent- 
ing the earth from lying too close and heavy on the bulbs in autumn 
and winter.” 
FLORAL EXHIBITIONS. 
HorricuLnTuRAL Society Rooms. 
From the garden of Mrs. Lawrence, of Ealing Park, came a nice 
collection of stove and greenhouse plants, consisting of Chorozema 
Lawrenceanum, Henfreya scandens, Erica triumphans, a some- 
what scarce Rosemary-leaved sort, with flowers resembling those of 
physodes, but larger; fine plants of Begonia nitida and coccinea ; well- 
cultivated bushes of Boronia pinnata and B. serrulata, A2schyanthus 
pulcher, Cyrtoceras reflexum, Pimelia spectabilis, &c. A Knightian 
medal was awarded for these. - 
A collection of greenhouse plants was exhibited by Mr. Rivers, 
gardener to R. W. Eyles, Esq. Besides seven finely-flowered Azaleas, 
this group contained Weigela rosea, which is found to force well; two 
Correas, Indigofera australis, Tropzolum tricolorum, and the pretty 
Zichya inophylly. A Banksian medal was awarded for these. 
A similar award was also made to Mr. Bunney, of Stratford, for a 
handsome brown and yellow-ffowered Oncidium, apparently new to 
gardens. 
Mr. Iveson, gardener to the Duchess Dowager of Northumberland, 
at Syon, sent a Gaultheria from Santa Martha, distinct from but re- 
sembling Gaultheria Shallon; a hardy hybrid Rhododendron, with 
large compact heads of handsome white flowers; Salvia gesneriflora, a 
brilliant scarlet-flowered Sage, very different to the old S. cardinalis ; 
a flower of the Sierra Leone Gardenia malleifera; and ripe pods of 
the Vanilla (V. planifolia), which is found to produce excellent fruit, 
provided the flowers are set. It was mentioned that this latter opera- 
tion was necessary ; for, owing to the peculiar structure of the flower, 
