100 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTUEB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ August 2, 1877. 



John Keet (Whitehead), Mary Ann (Fletcher), Flora's Garland 

 (Brooks), and Lovely Ann (Ely), were the best. 



Picotees were remarkably well shown. In the class for red- 

 edged flowers the Picotee that gained the premium as being the 

 best flower in the Exhibition was fonnd in my stand of twenty- 

 four — viz., John Smith (Bowers). It is a heavy red, the edge 

 broad on a pnre white ground without bars ; when better known 

 this flower will be much sought after. Princess of Wales (Fel- 

 lowes) is a very fine heavy red, and is often equal to John Smith. 

 J. B. Bryant (Ingram) and Leonora (Fellowes) made the four 

 best heavy reds in the Exhibition. Light reds are a weak class, 

 and in the single blooms only one flower was staged, a very fine 

 specimen, however, from the collection of the Hon. Secretary — 

 Thomas William. Although the flower was small the petals 

 •were well formed, ground colour pure white, and the edge 

 without any feathering — a perfect wire. Mrs. Bowers (Bowers) 

 was well Bhown in my stands. The_ ground colour is not suffi- 

 ciently white, else it would be a very superior flower; the petals 

 are large, beautifully formed, and the edge well defined. 



In purple edges there were many flowers exhibited of the 

 most faultless character. I am inclined to place Ann Lord (Lord) 

 at the head of the list. The flowers shown were of the most 

 perfect character — the edge a light wire; petals without spot or 

 bar, and white, clear, and lustrous. This is a new flower sent 

 out in 1S74. Alice (Lord) is also very fine and will yet maintain 

 a high position ; similar in its style to the other. Zerlina (Lord), 

 a beautiful heavy purple, quite distinct ; the edge is not so broad 

 as in Norfolk Beauty, Alliance, and others of that type, but I 

 fancy it will hold a high position for many years. Minnie, 

 another of Mr. Lord's flowers, is at present very fine at Loxford, 

 and with it may be named Prima Donna and Sylvia, two of Mr. 

 Ben Simonite's flowers, which will take a long time to surpass 

 in light edges. Of older flowers in this class that were well 

 shown may be named Mary (Simonite), Mrs. Little (Hooper), 

 Mrs. May (Turner), Nymph (Lord), Picco (Jackson), Mrs. Sum- 

 mers (Simonite), and Cynthia (Turner). 



We now come to the laBt and most delicately beautiful class, 

 and many flowers were shown of the highest merit. There was 

 one new flower to which a first-class certificate was awarded, 

 named Lady Louisa ; it has a very bright medium rosy red edge 

 much in the way of Fanny Helen (Niven), but is altogether a 

 tetter flower than that ; the white is very pure indeed. It was 

 exhibited by Mr. Turner, but Dr. Abercrombie of Cheltenham, 

 who also exhibited a flower of it, is the raiser. Dr. Abercrombie 

 exhibited several fine seedlings, amongst them No. 170, a light 

 rose edge with a most beautiful clear white petil, in the way of 

 Mrs. Allcroft. 186, heavy rose, of the Edith Dombrain type, 

 has the material to make a first-class flower. Older sorts shown 

 in superb condition were Mrs. Allcroft (Turner), Ethel (Fellowes), 

 Miss Lee (Lord), Juliana (Turner), and Miss Woou (Wood). Mr. 

 Turner's new Clove Carnation Mrs. Matthews is a most valuable 

 acquisition. I do not know another flower of such properties 

 in cultivation; it is pure white, deliciously scented, and of the 

 most vigorous growth. It received a first-class certificate.— 

 J. Douglas. 



POBTKAITS of PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS 



Mesembbtanthehusi Sutheblandii. Nat. ord., Ficoideae. 

 Linn., Icosandria Di-Pentagynia. — Flowers pink. " Mesem- 

 ibryanthemnm Sutherlandii was sent to the Boyal Gardens by 

 Dr. Sutherland, Surveyor-General of the colony of Natal, in 

 1870, and has flowered annually in the summer months since 

 1872."— (Bot. Mag., t. 6299.) 



Salvia Sohimpebi. Nat ord., Labiata?. Linn., Diandria 

 Monogynia. — " The subject of the present plate is a robust 

 Sage, suited for the herbaceous ground, belonging to an 

 Oriental group of the genus, and closely allied to the fine 

 S. asperata of Kashmir. It was discovered by Schimper in 

 the mountains near Axum, in AbysBinia, at an elevation of 

 7000 to 8000 feet above the sea, flowering in October, and was 

 introduced by Mr. Bull, who sent the specimen here figured to 

 Kew in July, 1875."— (Ibid., t. 6300.) 



Aloe chlnensis. Nat. ord., Liliaeeae. Linn., Hexandria 

 Monogynia. — " Our present plant is clearly quite distinct 

 specifically from A. barbadenBis. The leaves are never more 

 than half the length of those of that species, and are spotted 

 more or less copiously both on back and fac9 after the fashion 

 ■of A. abysBinica : the raceme is very much laxer, and the 

 stamens are very much shorter. We have had it for a long 

 time in the Kew collection, and have received it from other 

 gardens, but never, so far as I know, with any definite in- 

 formation as to its native country. The drawing was made 

 from a plant that flowered at Kew this spring. The flowers 

 have a strong and decidedly unpleasant scent. ItB affinity is 

 with A. barbadensis, abyssinica, and consobrina." — (Ibid., 

 t. 6301.) 



Haplopappus spinulosus. Nat. ord., Composite. Linn., 



Syngeneaia superflua. — " A widely distributed native of the 

 prairies bordering the Bocky Mountains, from the boundary of 

 the British possessions as far Bouth as New Mexico, apparently 

 common about the source of the Saskatchewan, Platte, and 

 Colorado rivers. It forms a low corymbosely branched bush, 

 1 or 2 feet high, with innumerable branches from the root, 

 clothed with small leaves, and bearing masses of flower-heads. 

 One specimen from Mr. Veitch's garden, about 10 inches in 

 diameter, bears nearly a hundred golden heads an inch in 

 diameter, and I cannot doubt but that they will prove a most 

 ornamental hardy garden plant when fully established, pre- 

 ferring, no doubt, a rather dry soil and climate, and flowering, 

 like many other Composite, late in the year. The specimen 

 figured waB raised by Messrs. Veitch, who introduced it. It 

 flowered with them in August, 1874."— (Ibid., t. 6302.) 



Ltcaste Linguella. Nat. ord., Orehidacea?. Linn., Gynan- 

 dria Monandria. — " Lycaste Linguella is, according to Reiehen- 

 bach, supposed to be a native of Peru. It was imported by 

 MesBrs. Veitch, from whom it was received by the Boyal Gar- 

 dens, where it flowered in January, 1872. It was described in 

 1871 by Beichenbach, who states that it has a close affinity 

 with L. ciliata and L. lasipes." — (Ibid., t. 6303.) 



Tulipa pulchella. Nat. ord., Liliacea?. Linn., Hexandria 

 Monogynia. — " It is a native of the alpine region of the Cili- 

 cian Taurus, where it was discovered by Kotsehy in 1836, and 

 of course is perfectly hardy. It has only very lately been in- 

 troduced into cultivation in thia country. For the specimens 

 figured we are indebted to the Rev. H. Harpur-Crewe, who 

 flowered it at Drayton Beauchamp in the spring of this present 

 year, and exhibited it at one of the meetings of the Scientific 

 Committee of the Boyal Horticultural Society." — (Ibid., t. 6304.) 



NEGLECTED ROSES. 



The Old Monthly China Rose. — Very sorry am I to find 

 that Messrs. Veitch and Messrs. Wood are the only nursery- 

 men who still find space for this old favourite in their Rose 

 catalogue, and I congratulate them upon their courage in 

 retaining a good thing after it has ceased to be fashion- 

 able. Exhibition flowers have driven it not simply into the 

 background, but quite out of many gardens; and yet what 

 other sort, even among China RoBes, is at all equal to the 

 " old Monthly " in that most valuable property an abundant 

 and continuous production of flowers? Even when the full 

 charms of " Teas," " Noisettes," and " Perpetuals " are 

 before us, the eye wanders involuntarily to the large bushes 

 of the Rose — one cloud of blossom, most charming to the 

 lover of what is really beautiful in nature, but just so many 

 " horrors " to the rosarian who sees no beauty in any flower 

 that is not "large, full, and of fine form;" and in autumn, 

 when most other flowers have passed away and the exhibition 

 boxes are put by till another season of National and Palace 

 contests comes round again, there is still the " old Monthly " 

 as fresh and gay and certainly more conspicuous than ever, 

 imparting an air of brightness, life, and animation that is most 

 pleasing at that season of dullness and decay. 



L»t it not be thought that I am at all insensible to the high 

 merit of our best exhibition Roses ; but, while yielding to them 

 the praise and admiration of which they are so worthy, I hold 

 that they should not be planted to the exclusion of those sorts 

 which, however deficient in the excellencies of prize flowers, 

 possess attractions of no mean order as simple garden flowers. 



To have the " old Monthly " in full perfection the pruning 

 knife should never come near it except to restrict its growth 

 within due bounds. We do not look for fine flowers, but 

 rather for a mass of them, which is precisely what we have 

 when it is left to grow into a regular thioket. I have never 

 tried a hedge of it, but I have no doubt it would form an 

 admirable one in a short space of time, that might be kept in 

 good order by clipping in winter to a precise formal outline, the 

 stiffness of which would disappear in the new growth of spring. 



Belle de Bordeaux. — Woo has not tried to grow this Rose 

 and has not thrown it away in disgust ? Glad enough am I to 

 say I have tried, and, after failing to obtain a single good 

 bloom for four years, am this year well rewarded with dozens 

 of really magnificent blooms, every bud expanding into a per- 

 fect flower — large, full, and of fine form ; the abundant broad 

 recurved shell-like petals being of a rosy pink colour softening 

 to a more delicate tint at the edges, and the under sides of a 

 deep pink hue. The flowers attain an average size of 4 inches 

 in diameter, and the foliage is also very fine, some of the 

 leaves being 5 inches long by 3 broad, so that in both foliage 



