March 2-1, 1863.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



219 



species ; Hedaroma tulipiferum and fuchsioides, Oncidium 

 alnssimun with two fine spikes of flowers, and other plants. 



Messrs. "\ eirch hud also a fine collection, which included hand- 

 some plants of Cborozema ilicifolia, Eriostemon densifoliurn and 

 nenifolium, and a beautiful specimen of the white-flowered Rho- 

 do.iendron jasminifiorutn, Azalea Extranei, which was a splendid 

 pyramid of crimson bloorr., numerous varieties of Lycaste 

 Skinneri, and other plants. 



Of other objects, three boxes of cut Roses were shown by 

 Pvt' & Son, of Cheshnnt ; cut Camellias by Messrs. Lee, of Him- 

 -. i -r-mith, and ill", ~W. Pnulj of Waltham. Cross; Bougainvillaea 

 hy Mr. Daniels, gardener to the R.-v. C. R. Keene, Henley ; col- 

 ins of stove and greenhouse plants by Messrs. IT. & A. 

 Smith, of Dulwicb, who also again exhibited their variegated 

 Hrnjerocallis elegans, for which they had an extra prize. Tiiey 

 had besides several Az ilea*, one of which, a double white, 

 oalle.l Flag of Truce, received a special certificate from the 

 Fiorut Committee. ' From the same firm there were also several 

 seedling Cinerarias, the merits of which as well as of several 

 other obj :;ts which were brought forward, we will leave to the 

 pen of our talented contributor "D." of Deal, to describe. 



Of tree Mignonettes, for which special prizes were offered, 

 there were none to compare with the immense plants shown by 

 Mr, Richards, girdener to Lord Londesborough, Tadcaster. 

 TliLse stood 5 feet in height and had fine, dense, pvramidal 

 heads, which were covered with flowers. Pandanus elegantissimus, 

 from Messrs. Yeiteh, and from Mr. Bull, of Chelsea, had a first- 

 class certificate, Xriehomanes spieatum, of a pellucid olive green, 

 a dwarf and handsome species, came from Mr. Bull ; as well as 

 Nephelaphylluni cordatum, a terrestrial Orchid, forming a nice 

 companion to the Anreetochils, the leaves of a very light green 

 dotted and veined with olive green ; and Funkia univittata with 

 a broad white stripe up the centre of the leaf. From the same 

 exhibitor also came Vucca Stokesii, Begonia Secretaire Morren, 

 with very handsome silvery leaves, and t* o seedling Geraniums, 

 Beauty and Auricula, the former orange scarlet with white eve, 

 the latter sslmo.i with a white eye. 



Rhododendron Romain de Smet, pink and much spotted, was 

 shown both by Messrs. Teitch and Messrs. Lee, and in both 

 instances was commended. Skimmia j iponica vera, from Mr. 

 Standish, was awarded a first-class certificate; and last, but not 

 least in importance, was the male Aucuba japonica in flower, the 

 stamens and pollen being plainly visible in its small dusky 

 flo.vers. Moreover, this was the first plant of the kiud ever 

 seen in flower in Europe, and its importance was, therefore, not 

 overrated when it received a special certif cate — a medal it 

 should rather have been, as there can now be no doubt that we 

 shall soon see the scarlet fruit of the female plants in abundance. 

 The green-leaved Aucuba, or the original from which the varie- 

 gated race has sprung, was also shown. 



WHEi" the dense yellow fog settled down on the west end of 

 London on the morning of Wednesday last, after the promise of 

 p. bright and clear day, not a few said, "Ah 1 the old luck! If 

 it does not rain, there must be fog when we have a show." 

 Some there were more hopeful, who looked for a brighter after- 

 noon, when the fires in London grates burnt bright, and the 

 dense volumes of smoke had time to rise — and these latter were 

 right, A beautiful day for the season of the year enticed out the 

 gay and brilliant butterflies, and the gardens were well filled by a 

 large number of Fellows and lovers of flowers. Several members 

 of the Danish Royal family were present, and seemed much 

 interested; -while the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess 

 Ma-y, who are as regular attendants at the gardens as they are 

 interested in the productions exhibited at the shows, were there 

 also. The Royal party was conducted round the Exhibition 

 and through the gardens by Sir Charles Dilke, the Rev. J. Dix, 

 and Mr. G. Ejles. 



Never was it more apparent, as observed by one of the corre- 

 spondents of The Jot/eotae or Hoeticultcee last week, how 

 much the strength of these Exhibitions rests with the nursery- 

 men. Had the productions of Messrs. Faul, Cutbush, Veitch, 

 Lee, Smith, and Bull been taken away, verily there could have 

 been little left ; but the zeal and energy of these various firms 

 contributed to make altogether a gay and brilliant assemblage. 

 We could not but regret that the place again selected was the re- 

 freshment gallery. "We saw some plants exhibited for the approval 

 of the Floral Committee, which we should think would never 

 recover the draught they experienced from the open door near 

 which they were placed. 



Although called the Camellia Show, it was the Hvacinths that 

 formed the main feature of the Exhibition, and nothing could 

 exceed the beauty of the long Hue of them exhibited. 



Mr. Win, Paul occupied the place hitherto held by Messrs. 

 Cutbush & Son, who came second in the three classes, Mr. Paul 

 standing first. 



In the collection of six new and distinct varieties Mr. Paul 

 had some very magnificent blooms, Koh-i-Noor being quite a 

 model. There were in it besides, Dae de Malakoff, Ha 

 Florence Nightingale, Snowball, and Mocauiay. A stili newer 

 lot was shown by Mr. Cutbush, consisting of Rouge Eclatante, 

 red, semi-double; Fair Maid of Denmark, large, white,; San 

 Francisco, a very fine semi-double, deeper in colour than Ida ; 

 Prince of Orange, pink, striped with carmine ; Fcruk Khan, 

 dark blue ; and Maria Theresa, pink, dark stripe. These were 

 all novelties of 1S63, but were not, perhaps, quite so large and 

 fine in the bloom as Mr. Paul's. 



In the class for eighteeas, both ilr. Paul and Messrs. Cutbush 

 had some very fine trusses. Amongst the former were Haydn, 

 very large; Koh-i-Xoor, a splendid spike ; Macaulay, very fine; 

 Solfaterre, large and good, novel, too, in colour— a sort of, orange 

 red. Mr. Cutbush had amongst his eighteen fine spikes of 

 Victoria Alexandrina, white ; La Prophete, pink-striped; Ida, 

 fine yellow; Florence Nightingale, pink, with red stripe; and 

 Garrick, fine blue, with a darker stripe of same colour. Amongst 

 the 100 varieties contributed by each firm were some really 

 magnificent blooms. Mr. Cutbush had Tan Humboldt, dark 

 red; Johanna Christina, light pink, carmine stripe; Sir Bulwer 

 Lytton, white, large, and se.ni-double ; Due de Malakoff, orange, 

 with red stripe ; La Nuit, very dark ; Mammoth, fine white ; 

 Aurora, orange yellow ; Madame Van der Hoop, white ; Piene- 

 man, a large blue bell, but the bells are too far apart; Heine 

 des Jacinthes, very fine; Q.u, en of, the Netherlands, good white; 

 Princess Clothilde, dark pink ; and General Huvelock, very fine, 

 dark. Amongst Mr. Paul's were Aurora rutilans, dork red ; 

 Grand Lilas, fine blue ; Aleda Jacoba, yellow ; Cosmos, late, 

 and the spike somewhat too open ; Couronne de Cede, blue, 

 something like Grand Lilas : and Mrs. Beecher Stowe, pink, 

 striped. 



Messrs. Carstairs sent a nice lot of eighteen from Edinburgh, 

 grown in small pots, for which, a third prize was awarded. 



In Tulips, Messrs. Cutbush was first with a very nice lot, of 

 which the^ best were R iuge Luisante, Vermilion Brilliant, and 

 Thomas Moore. The most favoured spot in the Exhibition was, 

 however, that where the two boxes of Roses exhibited by the 

 Messrs. Paul were placed, and an opportunity was afforded of 

 seeing some of the new Roses of last sea;on, especially in the 

 box of Mr. William Paul. Eugene Lebrun was good, but 

 eclipsed by Olivier Delhomme and Charles Lefebvre, two very 

 bright and well-shaped flowers. La Brillante fully sustained its 

 character for brightness, and Robert Fortune seems to be a 

 " topper," very globular and lively in colour ; but as far as 

 fulness and size were concerned, they were all eclipsed by John 

 Hopper, our new English Rose. We can testify to tho'se who 

 have not seen it (and the purchasers of it must comprise an 

 extensive number, inasmuch as Mr. Ward had, up to the 1st of 

 January, sold 2500 plants!) that it bids fair to realise all that 

 I and others have said on its behalf. Mr. G. Paul had amongst 

 his a fine bloom of a good dark Prince Camille de Rohan, 

 Clement Marot, and a by-no-means-ugly b'.oom of Reine des 

 Violettes, caught just at the right moment. 



The tree Mignonettes deserved a prize for ugliness. Perhaps, 

 like a Skye Terrier, it is in that their beauty consists ; but 

 never did we see a finer example of labour uselessly spent than 

 in these. We would far rather have a sixpenny or ninepenny 

 pot of this fragrant weed, such as one can purchase in Covent 

 Garden, than the biggest and ugliest, of the great plants. 



There was a fine collection of Amaryllis from Messrs. Cutbush, 

 of Highgate. The bulbs were as fine as could be well imagined, 

 but the flowers were deficient in breadth of petal, giving them 

 an open and loose appearance. Eclatante and Howard were 

 amongst the best. 



The Camellias disappointed me. The season had, I know, been 

 a bad one — wood had not ripened last summer; but, notwith- 

 standing, I had hoped that the prize of £10 would hare brought 

 together something better. The best flowers there were two of 

 Mr. Standish's, not entered for competition — Sarah Frost and 

 Duchesse de Berri. The largest were Mr. Veitch's, which obtained 

 the prize. AmongBt seedling flowers, there were some promising 

 yearling Cinerarias from Messrs. Dobson, of Isleworth, and 



