166 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 3, 1863. 



was not allowed to be cut, and, therefore, it could not be ascer- 

 tained whether it was good or good for nothing. 



Mr. Park, of East Retford, also Bent dishes of d'Auch Pear, 

 Beurre de Eance, and Glou Morceau, all of which were, inferior 

 in flavour. 



C. W. Strickland, Esq., of Hildenley, exhibited a Yorkshire 

 kitchen Apple of good merits. 



Mr. B. R. Cant, of Colchester, sent a dish of Twining Pippin. 

 It is a small, round, dessert Apple, with tender and juicy flesh, 

 sweet, and with somewhat of the flavour of the old Golden 

 Pippin. In good condition for the season. 



A eeedling culinary Apple was received from Messrs. Wood 

 and Ingram, of Huntingdon, which was remitted to the Secre- 

 tary to be cooked and reported upon. 



Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, sent some of the Early Ten- 

 week Potatoes, and Messrs. Ivery & Son, of Dorking, exhibited 

 fruit of an excellent Cucumber, which they called Ivery's 

 Winter Champion, but which was not considered difl'erent from 

 some other first-rate sorts already in cultivation. 



The Royal Horticultural Society has done many bold things 

 in its day, but it never did a bolder one than when it essayed a 

 flower show in February ; and we should think the experiment is 

 not likely to be repeated, the result being just what one would 

 have anticipated. One was sure that the skill of our horticul- 

 turists would be put forth to produce something worth seeing, 

 while the earliness of the date would prevent much from bein" 

 sent, that the company would be sparse, and that shivering 

 would be the order of the day. Unfortunately, too, for the 

 Society, the Prince of Wales's levee was fixed for the same day ; 

 but, fortunately for it, the wind had shilted from its cold quarter, 

 and, under the influence of a south-west wind, warmth was to be 

 obtained by moving briskly about. What it could have been in 

 that cold corridor with a north-easter we were happily only left to 

 conjecture. But even the brilliancy of the Hyacinths and the 

 fragrance of the Lilies of the Yalley could not beguile one into 

 the notion that February and a flower show are a well-matched 

 pair. March is even early enough, but three weeks make a 

 serious difference both to flowers and visitors at this season of 

 the year. 



One side of the corridor (whieh formed a part of M. Yeillard's 

 unfortunate share of the refreshment department of the Great 

 Exhibition) was filled with plants contributed by Messrs. Yeitch, 

 Cutbush, Smith, and Butt, besides a not-very-interesting-looking 

 — though doubtless they were bo — collection of Ilex by Mr. W. 

 Paul; the other half by Hyacinths, Crocuses, Primulas, and 

 Tulips, of which the finest collections were sent by Messrs. 

 Cutbush & Son, of Highgate, and Mr. Paul, of Walth'am Cross, 

 the contributions sent to the Floral Committee being at one end 

 and a very handsome collection of Hyacinths at the other, 

 forming two groups, sent by Messrs. Cutbush & Paul. 



Many of the plants were old and well-known ones, grown with 

 a considerable amount of care, but bearing, many of tbem, clear 

 evidence of being strongly forced to meet the requirements of 

 the early date named for the Show. In Mr. Bull's collection 

 were some fine plants of novelties, the grand Fern Cibotium 

 princeps being conspicuous for its fine fronds. He had also 

 good plants of Cord} line indivisa and Agave filifera. Why this 

 collection was awarded a second prize I could not quite under- 

 stand, for it seemed for this time of the year to have merited a 

 first, and there was no other in competition with it. 



In Mr. Veitch's collection there were some nicely-bloomed 

 plants, and the same may be said of Mr. Cutbush's ; but leaving 

 these to be dealt with by other and abler hands — though I 

 regretted mnch to observe the absence, from illness, of Mr. D. 

 Beaton, to whose graphic pen we have all been indebted for 

 reports of these shows — I pass on to those flowers about which 

 I profess to know a little. Hyacinths were, considering the 

 early date, most wonderful, and were fine for any season, Mr. Cut- 

 bush maintaining the position which he has ably held for many 

 years, though evidently great exertions had been made by Mr. 

 Paul to outstrip him ; but there was a refinement and evenness 

 about his flowers very dear to the eyes of a florist, which the 

 others lacked, and which doubtless gained the day for him. 

 Their growth and vigour were something surprising. Of Whites 

 he had Mont Blanc, 3 fine spike, with large bells closely arranged ; 

 Grandeur a ilerveille, blush white, with very large spike ; Miran- 

 doline, moderate-sized bells; Snowball, one of the finest of 

 Hyacinths, the bells are beautifully circular and closely arranged. 



In Reds there were Yon Schiller, a deep salmon pink, large 

 bells, very close, and an immense spike ; Princesse Clothilde, 

 delicate pink, striped with carmine ; Macaulay, a noble spike, 

 crimson, large bells, and closely arranged. In Blues there were 

 Baron von Tuyll, a useful and well-known flower ; General 

 Havelock, very dark purple, one of the finest of Hyacinths — the 

 bells are large and closely arranged; Garrick (double), dark 

 blue, with large bells. In Yellows, Ida, a deep-coloured flower 

 and very attractive. 



In Mr. Paul's 12 there were, besides some of those already 

 named, Howard, a salmon erimson, with stripes of deeper 

 colour, bells close and spike good ; Grand Lilks, a fine and 

 useful azure blue flower ; Queen of the Netherlands, a good 

 pure white ; Solfaterre, a brilliant orange scarlet, large bells and 

 spike ; Charles Dickens, a good greyish-blue with an excellent 

 spike ; Lord Wellington, Marie, and Mimosa. 



Of the prizes offered by Mr. James Cutbush, about which the 

 Society behaved so oddly, altering the conditions on which they 

 were offered, the first was taken by Mr. A Carr, gardener to 

 G. W. B. Noakes, Esq., Higbgate, with a dozen distinct 

 varieties of good growth, and very similar to those with which 

 Mr. Cutbush obtained his first prize, having amongst them 

 also well-grown plants of La Dame du Lac, a useful rosy pink ; 

 and Alba Maxima, a fine white, with large bells closely arranged. 



The Tulips exhibited by Mr. Cutbush were excellent. Amongst 

 them were Fabiola, rosy violet and white ; Rouge Luisante, fine 

 rose ; Eeizerkroon, golden yellow and red ; Couleur Cardinal, 

 scarlet; Vermilion Brilliant, glowing scarlet ; and Proserpine, rich 

 silky rose. In the large collections of Hyacinths, I noticed in Mr. 

 Cutbush's collection, in Whites, fine spikes of Paix de l'Europe, 

 Grandeur a Merveille, Mont Blanc, Miss Burdett Coutts, a 

 splendid flower. In Reds, Solfaterre, very fine ; Howard ; La 

 Dame du Lac ; Reine des Jacinthes, bright crimson, good bells ; 

 Madame Hodgson, very fine pale pink ; Princess Charlotte, 

 delicate rosy pink, excellent ; Mrs. Beecher Stowe, deep rosy 

 pink ; Victoria Alexandrina, intense crimson. In Blues, Oron- 

 date=, an old but very fine flower ; Regulus, pale blue; Argus, a 

 bright blue with very distinct white eye ; La Nuit, very dark, 

 nearly black ; Mimosa, deep purple, very nearly black. 



In Mr. Paul's, which were placed equal first, there were some 

 fine trusses. Peineman, an extraordinarily large flower with 

 immense bella, but somewhat loose, of a light greyish-blue 

 colour; Madame Hodgson, Tubiflora, a fine blush white j Argus, 

 very good, &c. 



Several interesting subjects were brought before the Floral 

 Committee. Of Orchids, Cypripedium Dayi, a very beautiful 

 variety of Ladies' Slipper, received a first-class award ; as did 

 also Barkeria Skinneri superba, exhibited by Messrs. Yeitch and 

 Son. Limatodes rosea alba, exhibited by Messrs. Low & Son, of 

 Clapton, was awarded a first-class certificate. Mr. Bull sent a 

 verv beautiful Yucca lineata lutea, with rich golden stripes, to 

 which a first-class certificate was awarded. Trichomanes Prieuri, 

 a very beautiful Fern from the West Indies, also fir3t-class ; and 

 Ancectochilus argyrseus, which was also given a first-class. Mr. 

 Veitch exhibited a good plant of Azalea President Claeys, of 

 the style of Etoile de Gand; and Due d'Aremberg, in good 

 bloom, although bearing evident marks of having been strongly 

 pinched to get it into flower. It promises to be a useful and 

 handsome variety. 



Several Cinerarias were exhibited. The one that struck me as 

 the best there was Sunbeam, exhibited by the Messrs. Smith, cf 

 Dulwich — a very brilliant crimson-edged variety, unlike, so far 

 as I remember, anything we have, moreover well shaped, with 

 the white and scarlet about evenly balanced. They had also 

 a charming little greenhouse plant, Monochietum sericeum mul- 

 tiflorum, with beautiful crimson mauve flowers, making a lovely 

 object for a basket or pan at this season of the year. 



Some branches of the beautiful Bougainvilkea speciosa, with 

 its brilliant manve-coloured bracts, were exhibited by W. C. 

 Thornhill, Esq., Kettering near Northampton, and were as usual 

 the admired of all admirers. 



Might one ask whether nothing can be done at these spring 

 shows to give a little warmth to the place where the exhibitions 

 take place ? It is possible with great coats, and the ample ap- 

 pliances that the fairer part of creation can make use of to keep 

 oneself from being chilled, though I confess to having gone into 

 the Exhibition building in order to get a good long stretch of a 

 walk. But the poor plants have nothing of the kind, and 

 brought, as many of them are, out of a temperature so high, to 

 one at this season of the year some 40° less, perhaps, I should 



