THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES.] AUGUST, 1872. [No. 8. 



EXHIBITIONS. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S GREAT 

 PROVINCIAL SHOW, Birmingham, June 21-29. 



We have had a long and general experience of Horti- 

 cultural Exhibitions, both at home and abroad ; we 

 have a vivid recollection of our Great International one 

 held in London ; we have seen them at Paris, where 

 all these things were supposed to be so much better 

 done than with us, and we do not hesitate to pronounce 

 the Exhibition held at Birmingham, under the auspices 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society, to have been the 

 most complete one that we have ever seen. Others 

 may have had features of more striking aspects : we 

 missed, for example, the grand masses of Azaleas and 

 Pelargoniums that made so marked a feature at the 

 International ; but then it had features of its own 

 which none of the others had — the Table Decorations, 

 the large show of cut flowers, the fruit and vegetables, 

 the vast collection of horticultural appliances of all kinds, 

 from greenhouses to garden-knives, a!l combined to form 

 a most complete show. Only one element was needed to 

 insure complete success, and alas ! that element was 

 wanting for the two first days of the show. The 

 weather was most wretched ; the rain descended in 

 torrents. As the walks were freshly gravelled, anything 

 more deplorable than the state of the ground cannot be 

 imagined. In a show of such magnitude it would be 

 impossible for us to do more than merely chronicle the 

 event, and when we add that nearly all the Metropolitan 

 exhibitors of eminence, Messrs. Veitch, Williams, 

 Turner, J ackson, Rollison, Baines, &c., were there, that 

 a very large number also came from the neighbourhood 

 of Birmingham, Manchester, and the Midland counties 

 generally, and that in one class alone there were upwards 

 of fifty entries, it will be seen that it is no exaggeration 

 to describe it as the most complete Exhibition ever held. 

 A great deal of the success was due to the indefatigable 

 exertions of the Hon. Secretary at Birmingham, Mr. E. 

 W. Badger, whose energy, skill in organization, and 

 attention to minute details, and courtesy, were beyond 

 all praise. 



CRYSTAL PALACE ROSE SHOW, July 13th. 

 Owing to the very unfavourable nature of the weather in 

 May and the early part of June, it was determined 

 to postpone the Rose Show announced for June 22 to 



the above date, and it was feared by manythat, owing 

 to the hot weather we have lately experienced, it would 

 not be so successful as those of previous years. We 

 are glad to say that these fears were not realized, and 

 that, as far as the growers for sale are concerned, they 

 never came out in greater force, or exhibited finer roses. 

 It is curious to see how certain roses come out in 

 different years, as, par excellence, the roses of the 

 season ; last year La France and General Jacqueminot 

 were finer than we ever recollect seeing them. This 

 year Alford Colomb and Baroness Rothschild were 

 pre-eminently good, and of the prizes offered for the best 

 twelve blooms of any one rose, they carried off the 

 palm ; and moreover, in every stand in which they were 

 exhibited, they were to be seen in fine condition. We 

 noticed that several new roses of English origin were 

 exhibited, and amongst them some which we think are 

 likely to take a good position. One exhibited by Mr. 

 Curtis, of Torquay, and called Bessie Johnson,, is said 

 to be a sport from Abel Grand ; very light in colour, 

 almost white, and therefore we think likely to be an 

 acquisition. Another, a very dark rose, exhibited by 

 Messrs. Paul and Son, of Cheshunt, and called Rey- 

 nolds-Hole, seems to us to be a very fine dark variety. 

 Both of these received first-class certificates, and the 

 latter we hope to figure by-and-by. Besides the roses, 

 thei'e were, as usual, several miscellaneous collections, 

 and conspicuous amongst them some very beautiful cut 

 blooms of carnations and picotees, exhibited by Mr. 

 Charles Turner, of Slough. We are glad to hear that 

 these flowers are once again becoming popular, for they 

 are exceedingly beautiful, and a collection well grown 

 gives a vast deal of pleasure. There was a large dis- 

 play of table decorations, most of them in good taste, 

 although we think that the desire to be simple had led 

 to poverty of appearance. Altogether the Exhibition 

 was a very successful one, and was attended by a large 

 number of visitors. 



THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



Dr. Hooker and Mr. Ayrton. 



No one, however small their influence, who is connected 

 with the horticultural world, or who has any sense of 

 that which is just and becoming, ought to be silent 

 concerning the extraordinary treatment to which our 



