EXHIBITIONS IN 1845. 273 



English variety. Other flowers of which new and 

 beautiful varieties were multiplying were the gladiolus, 

 fuchsia, tree and herbaceous pseonies, gloxinia, achi- 

 menes, and hardy rhododendrons and azaleas. J. M. 

 Thorburn & Co. exhibited a beautiful specimen of Steph- 

 anotis floribunda, " a very rare and elegant hothouse 

 climber." On the 21st of June thirty-three bouquets 

 were exhibited by eight contributors. September 27, 

 Messrs. Winship showed Arundo Donax striata, " a very 

 beautiful plant." Two tomatoes were shown weighing 

 three and a quarter pounds, and measuring twenty- three 

 and a half, and twenty-one inches in circumference. 

 At this time the improved varieties, of moderate size 

 and with smooth skins, which are now exclusively culti- 

 vated, were entirely unknown; the variety generally 

 grown being large, and deeply and irregularly wrinkled. 



The first annual exhibition of the Society in the new 

 hall was of a very different character from any of those 

 which preceded it. This was owing to two causes, 

 the increased amounts offered for floral designs, and 

 the tables admitting a greater display of large objects. 

 The show of pot plants was not as large as usual ; but 

 no effort was made to procure them, as the increased 

 quantity of fruit required more space than in previous 

 exhibitions. 



The entrance staircase was covered with a bower of 

 evergreen ; and near the opposite end of the hall stood 

 the floral temple of David Haggerston, which received 

 the prize for the best design. This was seven feet wide 

 and fifteen feet high, in the Grecian style, and consisted 

 of an hexagonal base, on which stood six columns sup- 

 porting an entablature and the ribs of a dome. The 

 columns were elegantly wreathed ; and the entablature 



