10 



THE FLORIST AND TOMOLOGIST. 



the varieties of which it is composed renders its members very desirable 

 additions to our collections. Monitor is of a lighter, Landse er of a deeper car- 

 mine rose, and Caliban is a sort of blush lilac, very heavily marked with 

 maroon. 



Some very pretty light-coloured flowers have made their appearance, and 

 we hope to see these and the whites receive still further accessions, as they are 

 much wanted to impart variety to our collections. The best of them, Eurydice, 

 from Mr. Beck, is not, we believe, to be let out this season ; but Esperance, 

 Ophelia, Nymph, and Oriana, all more or less resemble it in character — that is 

 to say, they have blush or whitish lower petals, and very heavily-clouded, dark- 

 coloured upper ones. 



Among the decided whites with small feathered markings on the upper 

 petals, Dobson's Queen of Whites is the best we have seen, and is a very hand- 

 some and chaste-looking flower. 



As a smaller selection from these materials, all of which are good, and 

 which by no means exhaust the supply of the season, we strongly recommend 

 the following : — 



Hose. — Prince Albert, Regina formosa, Spotted. — Monitor, Landseer. 



Canopus. Subspotted. — Belle of the Ball, Eoyalty. 



Crimson. — Conflagration, Vesuvius. Light. — Oriana. 



Purple. — Lord Palmerston. White— Queen of "Whites. 



NEW versus OLD GRAPES. 



It will be remembered that during the exciting and interesting discussion 

 that took place between Mr. Tillery, of Welbeck, and Mr. Thomson, of Dalkeith 

 Park, in our pages last year upon the relative merits of old and new Grapes, 

 Mr. Tillery advocated the superiority of the old against the new ; and Mr. 

 Thomson as stoutly maintained that the new were better than the old. These 

 gentlemen might have gone on writing till now, and neither would have suc- 

 ceeded in convincing the other ; while the public, who are really the parties 

 having the greatest interest in the result, would have been none the wiser after 

 all that had been written. To bring the subject into something like a tangible 

 shape, Mr. Thomson, at page 70 of our last year's Volume, wrote thus : — 

 " Now, if Mr. Tillery has no objection, and we are spared till the time, I will 

 send newly-ripened Black Hamburghs to any of the January or February 

 Meetings of the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, and he 

 can send his best Black Grapes, for Hamburghs and Muscats could not well be 

 compared in point of flavour, and let the Committee decide which are the best 

 Grapes in point of flavour." 



The trial came off on Wednesday, the 21st of January, when there was a 

 strong muster of the Fruit Committee at Kensington. Mr. Thomson sent three 

 fine bunches of new Black Hamburghs, which have been hanging ripe since 

 Christmas-day ; and Mr. Tillery sent a bunch of Black Hamburghs, one of 

 Welbeck Tripoli (Frankenthal), and one of West's St. Peter's. After the 

 Committee had examined the bunches separately, and decided that in appear- 

 ance the new had the advantage of the old, they proceeded to judge of the real 

 point at issue — viz., flavour. The West's St. Peter's was found inferior in 

 flavour to the new Hamburghs, and the competition, therefore, rested between 

 the latter, and Hamburghs, and Frankenthal. After a very careful com- 

 parison it was decided by a majority that the old was richer in flavour, and 

 contained more sugar than the new. That being the opinion as regarded 

 flavour alone, the Committee, desirous of informing the public on the question 



