1852.] THE PHILA DELPHIA F LORIST. 135 



i^'Nevv York Crystal Palace — I gave the prize to (who got it I can- w; 

 \o not tell), the collection of eight sorts, consisting of Madam .Rosalie, 

 Delicata^ Queen Victoria, Magnific, Hero of Surrey, Empress, Queen of 

 France, and Prince Galizin — the specimens were from two to four 

 feet across, and about two feet high, one mass of bloom and evidently 

 arranged in regard to color by a master hand or the eye of a painter 

 — Heaths, to see their beauty, visit a London Show or Edinburgh 

 Botanic Garden, the plants were from two to five feet high, and from 

 six to twelve feet in circumference, one uniform picture of bloom, 

 and verdure from the pot to the tip. Mr. Smith, of Norwood, ob- 

 tained the Gold Medal for the following sorts : Irbyana, tubata, tri- 

 color, retorta, Cavendishii (yellow,) ampullacea, Bergiana, tricolor 

 elegans, Rollisonii, mutabilis, metuliflora and tricolor rosea. The 

 prize hothouse plants were specimens of equal merit with any of the 

 preceding, they contained Dipladena crassinoda, Franciscea augusta, 

 Kalosanthes (Crassula) coccinea ; Ixora javanica and coccinea, Cath- 

 aranthus (vinca) rosea, Sollya linearis, Leschenaultia biloba (blue) 

 superbly grown and in full bloom plant full two feet wide and high, 

 Indigofera decoia, Allamanda cathartica and Schottii, Epiphyllum 

 grandiflorum and hybridum; amongst %ese you will observe five of 

 our most common plants, grown to a very great size in pots of from 

 ten to fourteen inches in diameter. Orchids or air plants formed a 

 very important item in the display and as many of them as would 

 have filled the lower saloon of the Chinese Museum, in Philadelphia, 

 the specimens of great magnificence, many of them valued as report 

 says at fifty guineas each; the following twelve were strikingly elegant 

 in the colors and profusion of bloom; without flowers the plants had 

 no particular attraction to common observers, unless for their destitu- 

 tion of grace and oddity of form, iErides odorata, Oncidum lanceola- 

 tum, Dendrobium densiflorum, Calanthe veratrifolia, iErides affinis 

 and masculosa, Phajus albus, Saccolabium guttatum and prcemorsum 

 Cattleya Mossii, Phcslenopsis amabilis and grandifloius. The Fuch- 

 sias were in profusion and entirely too much alike, many specimens 

 from four to six feet high, and as wide, all densely clothed with 

 flowers ; 1 noted Pearl of England as the best light, and Kossuth as 

 the best dark variety. — The Rhododendrons were just past their 

 prime, but had evidently been one undulating wave of bloom of 

 every colour, from pearly white to the richest crimson, including the 

 golden yellow javanicum from the Himalaya mountains and perfectly 

 hardy. 



It was a late season with the Roses, a few of the new sorts 

 l exhibited the blooms rather imperfect and few competitors. At these 

 ^ monthly shows there are many competitors for every prize, all staging 

 A plants of unique character in regard to growth and bloom, so that a 

 S vei T g ran d array is brought together of all the talent in England 



" i*>. ^PC^; 



