July 4, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



In the amateurs' class tlie prizes went to Messrs. Stoddart, 

 Hollingworth, and May ; in the nurserymen's class to Messrs. 

 Paul, Cant, and Keynes. In the open class for six, Mr. Cant was 

 second and Mr. Walker third. 



The next class was for six Roses (Tea and Noisette excluded), 

 good of their kind, to he judged for their perfume. La France, 

 ■very fine, from Mr. Keynes was first. For six Tea or Noisette 

 Roses, to be judged for their perfume, the same exhibitor was 

 also first with Devouiensis. 



For twelve single blooms of distinct varieties, Mr. Keynes and 

 Mr. Turner were the prizetakers ; Madame Rothschild, Mar- 

 quise de Castellane, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Marie Baumann, 

 Louis Van Houtte, Pierre Notting, and Alfred Colomb were 

 large and excellent. Mr. Cant was third, Marie Rady being a 

 star of the first magnitude, and Horace Vernet as well as several 

 others very fine. 



Of Roses in 8-inch pots Messrs. Paul & Son produced one of the 

 finest collections ever seen at this season of the year, or, indeed, 

 at any other. They were models of good culture, healthy, com- 

 pact, evenly-matched, and their blooms magnificent. Paul 

 ~N6ron had flowers 6 inches in diameter, and among the others, 

 Louis Van Houtte and Madame Alfred de Rougemont, one of 

 ■the few white Hybrid Perpetuals, were worthy of the highest 

 upraise. 



Among miscellaneous subjects we noted a collection of Palms 

 and fine-foliaged plants from M. Dalliere, of Ghent; an excel- 

 lent stand of Pyrethrums from Messrs. Kelway, Langport ; 

 Ranunculuses from the same; fine Carnations andPicotees from 

 Mr. Turner, Slough. Messrs. E. G. Henderson sent a group of 

 'Tricolor and. Spotted Pelargoniums ; and Messrs. Downie, Laird, 

 and Laing one of Tricolors and Bronze, the latter very fine 

 indeed. From Messrs. Standish & Co. came a basket of the 

 pure white Bouvardia Vrelandii, not fully out, but evidently a 

 'most desirable variety. 



Feuit Committee. — G. F. Wilson, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair 

 "Messrs. Kelway & Son, of Langport, sent fine examples of their 

 seedling Potato Pearly White, a cross between Ashleaf Kidney 

 and Prince of Wales. It was referred to the experiments at 

 Chiswick. Messrs. Wheeler, of Gloucester, sent Kingsholme 

 ■Cos Lettuce, which is considered a very fine selected stock of 

 Paris White Cos. Mr. Richard Dean, of Ealing, sent a collection 

 of Lettuce, consisting of Kingsholme Cos, Acme White Cos, 

 Alexandra Cos, Crystal Cos, and Victoria White, all of which 

 are good selections of the true Paris White Cos slightly varying 

 in character. Sugarloaf Bath Cos and Squire's Wiltshire' Cos 

 •are synonymous. Mr. Evershed, Munsted Gardens, Godalming, 

 sent samples of Early Prolific Marrow, which has been proved 

 at Chiswick to be a good selection of Alliance. 



Mr. Charles Turner, of Slough, sent fruit of a seedling Straw- 

 berry raised at Frogmore, called Aromatic. The fruit is of good 

 size, quite conical, and regular in shape. Seeds large, and deeply 

 embedded. Skin deep red. Flesh tinged with red, firm anil 

 solid, with a fine brisk aromatic flavour. Mr. Turner also ex- 

 hibited fruit of James Veitch Strawberry, a large, showy, 

 Toundish-conical fruit of a bright red colour, but the flesh is 

 very tender and woolly, and with little flavour. Mr. Laxton, of 

 Stamford, sent a seedling Strawberry called Traveller, a hybrid 

 ^between La Constante and Sir Charles Napier. It is of medium 

 size, conical, and occasionally slightly cockscomb-shaped. The 

 skin is very dark red, and when quite ripe, approaching dark 

 mahogany. The seeds are large and prominent ; the flesh very 

 firm and solid, with a brisk and rich flavour similar to the 

 Hautbois. Mr. G. Johnson, gardener to W. C. C. Thornhill, 

 Esq., Ickenham, Uxbridge, sent very fine dishes of Dr. Hogg 

 and Sir Joseph Paxton Strawberries, which received a cultural 

 commendation. Mr. J.Evans, gardener to Col. Penny, Somerton 

 Erleigh, Somerset, sent a fine green-fleshed Melon of the Egyp- 

 tian class. It was delicious in flavour, and was highly com- 

 mended by the Committee. Mr. Mackay, The Gardens, Darn- 

 Tiall, Wansford, sent Mackay's Hybrid Melon, which was not 

 equal in flavour to the preceding. 



Messrs. Osborn & Son, of Fulham, exhibited fruit of the Gam- 

 "boge (Xanthochymus pictorius), which is very rarely produced 

 in this country, and received a cultural commendation. Mr. 

 Piccirillo, of 43, Wigmore Street, sent a quantity of New Queen 

 Onion, a silver-sHnned Onion like Nocera. 



Flobai Committee. — Dr. Denny in the chair. The number 

 of subjects exhibited was very limited. Cultural commenda- 

 tions were given to Mr. Burnett, gardenertoW. Terry,Esq., for a 

 remarkably well-grown group of Anasctochilus Lowii ; and to Mr. 

 McLaren for a collection of seedling Delphiniums. First-class 

 certificates were granted to Mr. Fowler, Castle Kennedy, for 

 Abies Douglasii Stairii, noticed in another page ; to Mr. Bull 

 for Maorozamia corallipes, Echeveria scapaphylla, and Lilium 

 Humboldtii; to Messrs. Stacey & Son, Dunmow, for Verbena 

 Lady of Lome, blush tinged with lilac peach, large in pip, and 

 with very large trusses ; and to Mr. G. Smith, Hornsey Road, 

 for Ivy-leaf Pelargonium Argus, with, for its class, large flowers 

 znagenta rose with a scarlet flush at the base of the petals. 



From Mr. W. Paul came Golden Tricolor Pelargonium Countess 

 of Flanders, Silver Tricolor Lady D. Nevill, and cut blooms of 

 Dr. Denny's fine new varieties. Mr. C. Noble, nurseryman, 

 Sunningdale, sent cut flowers of the beautiful Spiraea palruata. 



Mr. C. Kirnberley, Coventry, had first-class certificates for 

 Golden Tricolor Pelargoniums Gem of Tricolors and Empress, 

 two splendid-coloured sorts ; and Mr. R. Dean, seedsman, 

 Ealing, had a like award for Mauve Queen Stock, a very fine va- 

 riety which has been before exhibited, and then reported of most 

 favourably. He also sent cut blooms of a shrubby Calceolaria 

 called Coronet, which appears to be a very desirable kind, but 

 plants of which cut blooms only are exhibited are not eligible 

 for an award. From Mr. Dean came also a very promising hardy 

 Tropjeolum. 



G. F. Wilson, Esq., Weybridge Heath, contributed some lovely 

 Lilies, of which Lilium Martagon dalmaticum, deep purple, and 

 L. Humboldtii had first-class certificates. A cultural certificate 

 was given to Mr. J. W. Lawrence for MaxiUaria venusta. Mr. 

 Green, gardener to W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., sent a collection 

 including Stenorrhynchus Ortgiesii ; and Mr. Wilson, gardener 

 to W. Marshall, Esq., Enfield, a yellow-flowered Cattleya, and 

 young plants of Platycerium grande in pots. From Messrs. 

 Waite, BurneU, & Co. came two varieties of Canterbury Bells 

 the one with white, the other with blue flowers, very large, and 

 being to all intents double, from the calices being coloured. 



GARDENERS' EOTAL BENEVOLENT 

 INSTITUTION. 



The twenty-ninth Anniversary Festival of the Gardeners' 

 Royal Benevolent Institution was held on Tuesday at the 

 London Tavern, under the presidency of the Rev. S. Reynolds 

 Hole. Amongst the general company were Sir J. Bennett, 

 Sheriff ; Sir W. Mitchell, Major Harding, Mr. Tom Hood, Mr. 

 E. L. Blanchard, Mr. Edmund Yates, Mr. H. Huggins, Mr. John 

 Lee, Mr. W. Hurst, Mr. G. F. Wilson, Mr. Charles Walton, Mr. J. 

 Messent, Mr. H. J. Adams, Mr. H. J. Veitch, Mr. Charles Turner, 

 Mr. James Gray, Mr. Thomas Moore, Mr. Robert Marnock, Mr. 

 E. J. Beale, Mr. C. Shaw, Mr. Peter Berlyn, Mr. John A. Gilbert, 

 Mr. G. Paul, Mr. J. Crisp, Captain Styan, Mr. A. Watson, Mr. J. 

 T. Burnell, Mr. H. J. Huggins, Mr. A. E. Huggins, Mr. A. 

 Percival, the Mayor of Cambridge, &c. Thatportion of the room 

 which lay immediately behind the chair looked like the first 

 view one gets when entering a magnificent conservatory. 

 Clusters of the rarest exotics tapered gracefully to the ceiling of 

 the noble room, forming, as it were, a shady alcove, in which the 

 Chairman's seat rested. At the further end* of the room a similar 

 though smaller display of exotics was seen, and the tables were 

 covered with a profusion of exquisite flowers and Ferns, placed 

 in vases alternately with Pine Apples, Melons, Grapes, and Straw- 

 berries. These were the beautiful contributions to the enjoy- 

 ment of the evening by the gardeners, and they were certainly 

 as appreciable as the excellent repast laid for the guests upon 

 the table. The gallery was filled with ladies. About 200 sat 

 down to dinner, and when the cloth was removed, 



The Chaibkan, who, on rising, was received with loud and 

 prolonged cheers, said : Ladies and gentlemen, it is my first 

 duty, as it is most assuredly my first desire, to propose to you 

 the health of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen- [cheers]. 

 Coming here as a gardener, with gardeners in my head and gar- 

 deners in my heart, I had almost said that Her Most Gracious 

 Majesty was the Queen of Spades [laughter] ; and I am prepared 

 to defend that designation as something more than a mere lapse 

 of tongue — first, because Queen Victoria has been the Royal 

 patroness of this Institution for the last twenty years [cheers], 

 and again, because florists, as lovers of peace and order, have had 

 the blessing of living under a monarchial institution not only as 

 citizens but as florists, because the monarch of our gardens is a 

 Rose [loud cheers] . And again, I say this because the Queen of 

 Spades reminds me that Queen Victoria holds the same superi- 

 ority over all of the femenine monarchs as the Queen of Spades 

 now does in that popular and fashionable game with which you are 

 all acquainted — Besique [laughter and cheers] . But, ladies and 

 gentlemen, in this latter respect I must beg of you to notice a 

 great dissimilarity. The Queen of Spades does not well succeed, 

 without the companionship of the Knave of Diamonds, but the 

 Queen of England lives with her own goodness alone, and the 

 only knaves she knows are her foes. To 



"Frustrate their knavish tricks," 

 shall ever be the prayer of Her Majesty's people, and therefore I 

 am honoured in giving you the toast of "Her Majesty the 

 Queen." 



The toast was honoured with the utmost enthusiasm, and 

 the National Anthem sung. 



The Chairman again rose and said: Ladies and gentlemen, 

 the next toast I have to propose to you is that of " Their Royal 

 Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales and the rest of 

 the Royal Family." [Cheers.] We are told by those who cannot 

 be mistaken that the Prince of Wales inherits from his Roya 



