104 



liOYAL HOKTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



Points. 



7. Gratefulness of odour in leaves or flowers 10 



8. Distinctness of character 5 



9. Size of flower 5 



10. Novelty of a decided kind 5 



Glaring defects amongst ornamental flowering plants would be 

 presented by the undermentioned peculiarites, eacli of which, 

 should reduce the award by 10 : — 



Straggling habit. 

 Flimsy flowers. 



Muddled or dingy or fleeting colours. 

 Fetid odour. 



II. Foliage Plants. 



The most desirable features to be sought after, in plants 

 grown for the sake of their foliage — in many points the same 

 as those in flowering plants — appear to come under the following 

 beads : — 



1. Free and Symmetrical Habit of Growth. — This feature is even 

 more essential here than in the case of flowering plants, as great 

 part of the beauty of the specimen depends on its presence. 



2. Healthy JLeaf development. — The foregoing remark is equally 

 applicable under this head. 



3. Gracefulness or Nobility of Aspect. — Most of the plants 

 grown for foliage alone are prized on account of one or other of 

 of these peculiarities of aspect. Hence a common-looking plant 

 which does not possess either, and does not yield showy flowers, 

 as a compensation, must be held to possess little merit from the 

 floricultural point of view, however curious or interesting it may 

 be in other respects. 



4. Endurance of Foliage. — When the beauty of the plant de- 

 pends on the appearance presented by the foliage, it is obvious that 

 the more enduring the character of the foliage, the longer will the 

 plant retain its beauty. Hence endurance in the foliage becomes 

 a very important quality. A deciduous plant is on this ground 

 less valuable per se than an evergreen, although it may be good in 

 its way, or in its season. But, then, evergreens and deciduous 

 plants, as already intimated, are not strictly comparable. 



5. Distinctness. — When the beauty of a plant has to be sought 

 in its leafage alone, there is much less scope for variety than when 

 flowers are superadded ; but it becomes all the more essential to 



