255 



a glorious plant of the Alocasia. We should miss 

 Mr. Eastman's collection from our exhibition. 



Next to these stood Ad. Blumenschein's plants, 

 a Florist, hence we must not expect such immense 

 masses as from private gardens. But for well- 

 grown plants Mr. B. is noted, and his table on the 

 whole, was very effective. We notice, as especially 

 worthy of merit, the rare Tropseolum tricolorum ; 

 very good specimens of the Silver Fern ; some capi- 

 tal Begonias— particularly one called Marj^ — with a 

 silvery leaf ; another, Argentea punctata, quite 

 zonal in character, as was Duchess of Brabant ; 

 while others were noticeable for very delicate shades 

 of green and white. 



Mr. B. is noted for Roses, and on this occa^^ion 

 had some of the largest flowers in the hall, one 

 marked Mad. Cambaceres very large. His Pansies 

 were certainly first-class, one a black, particularly 

 striking. Mr. B. has a variegated seedling that 

 seems to be quite an acquisition — of a golden yel- 

 low fohage, and seems to stand well. His cut 

 flowers, a basket and hand bouquet, were as might 

 be expected, well arranged. 



Starting again from the entrance door, on our 

 left comes Robert Pouley — we believe his maiden 

 attempt at our exhibitions, — and he certainly had a 

 noble display. The most conspicuous plant, per- 

 haps, was an Aralia digitata, a very singular and 

 beautifully foliaged plant, each leaf or set of leaves, 

 is held on a long foot-stalk, springing from which, 

 at its extremity, is a whorl of leaves, not unlike 

 those of the well-known India-rubber tree, except 

 those when expanded look like a parasol. His 

 Azaleas were capitally done ; one called Victoria, 

 a white with the most delicate stripe of pink, and 

 Reine de Pavier, somewhat more heavily striped, 

 were splendid, showy objects, as was the old Ardens 

 with its rich red flowers, Mr. P. seems noted for 

 ferns and mosses, a class of plants much too seldom 

 met with ; his Pteris argyrea was the best in the 

 room. On his table too we noticed for the first time 

 at our exhibition tables, the tri-colored geranium, 

 Mrs. Pollock ; it is evidently one of the very best 

 of the tri-colored section. Another called the 

 Golden Nugget is a strange color for a geranium 

 leaf, but effective from contrast. The Begonias on 

 this table were good also ; so was the Pilea muscosa 

 — a plant with the singular property of opening its 

 diminutive flowers with a cracking noise and emit- 

 ting quite a smoke with its discharged pollen. 



The table next to this is a notable one, not for 

 fine foliage, nor for curious plants, but for mam- 

 moth examples of the old winter flowering Fuchsia 

 speciosa — and one or two others. These are from 



<rr — "^^j — " — ~ — 



E. Newsome, A. Sturges, gardener, and perhaps 

 no plants in the room attracted more general atten- 

 tion than did these perfect tree-like plants, com- 

 pletely loaded with flowers. Mr. N., seems to have 

 a penchant for something grand as his zonal gera- 

 niums were of immense proportions. 



On the next table to these, stai.d Mr. R. Forsyth's 

 gardener's contributioH, quite noticeable for plants 

 of the Aloe family ; some very excellent Hyacinths ; 

 a great old plant of that curiosity the Philodendron 

 Pertuosum, and a neat little one of the Palm called 

 Chamserops huniilis. 



Near by stand the plants of Samuel Muir, a 

 florist of this city. He had undoubtedly the best 

 Calceolarias in the room, and the best made bou- 

 quet—so thought the judges, although we believe 

 Mr. Reissig differed some from that opinion ; but 

 the fact is, his arranging of flowers is not what is 

 generally considered first-class, by florists of stand- 

 ing. His flowers, however, are always choice, and 

 this time his Brides' bouquets had an abundance of 

 natural orange blossoms, and very costly papers on 

 them. 



Mr. Reissig had some plants also, but his cJiefd' 

 wiivre was a huge basket of flowers containing, he 

 stated, 150 different kinds of flowers. This, when 

 first brought in, looked grand and elicited pretty 

 general commendation. 



Sulzer Brothers' table was particularly rich in 

 well-flowered Azaleas, perhaps the best among 

 which were Duke de Malakoff— an elegant rich red 

 — a fine Criterion and some very good roses. 



Edgar Sanders was not generally considered to 

 be well represented and did not enter his plants for 

 competition. He had some good Zonale geraniums, 

 the new Achyranthes, neat little Coleus, and his 

 new giant, or Tree Mignonette, on his table. 



Mr. Phillips had a collection of soft-wooded 

 plants near by. 



The patriarch of Florists of our city, Mr. Brooks, 

 of course had some things on exhibition ; we never 

 knew him absent. 



John Ross exhibited an ornamental, self-acting 

 Fountain. 



Mr. Hovey, a large quantity of rustic adornments, 

 and a lady — name not given — had some preserved 

 flowers, so neatly arranged and dried that they 

 looked all but natural. 



In conclusion we wish we could say the citizens 

 had done their part, moderately as well as did the 

 gardeners — then the latter would not have the 

 mortification of knowing that their receipts would 

 not cover their expenses, while, as they thought, 

 to be sure and do that much, they would vote no 



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