THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES.] SEPTEMBER, 1872. 



EXHIBITIONS. 



All the great Metropolitan Exhibitions are now over, and 

 the period of Country Shows is at hand. With regard to 

 the former, we believe them, on the whole, to have been 

 eminently successful. It is manifest that the zeal of 

 horticulturists is in no way diminishing; that the rage 

 for novelties increases; and that no great change can be 

 made in the method of conducting our Exhibitions. Two 

 days' shows have been held, but we do not think they 

 will answer. We visited the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's great June Show on the second day, and the 

 attendance of visitors was very small, while growers of 

 orchids and stove plants do not care to give them the 

 exposure involved in so long an absence from their 

 quarters. Amongst the most noticeable exhibits which 

 have been brought forward during the month was the 

 collection of variegated Pelargoniums on August 7th, but 

 a great mistake is made in iixing so late a period for 

 them ; they ought not to be exhibited later than May, 

 when the young growth, which is the most highly 

 coloured, covers the plant ; later on the colours are not 

 nearly so brilliant. Some new varieties were brought 

 forward, but, with rare exceptions, there is but little 

 novelty in them, and the same coloured leaves might be 

 easily gathered from plants of the older varieties. The 

 collection of Phloxes exhibited on the same occasion by 

 Messrs. Downie, Laird, and Laing was very beautiful, 

 and showed how much they were capable of as pot 

 plants. They had suffered a little by the severe storms 

 which have been so prevalent. The surprise and admi- 

 ration expressed by many of the visitors showed how 

 very little this beautiful tribe is cultivated in comparison 

 with its merits. 



The Exhibition on the 20th August brought together 

 some fine collections of Gladiolus, those of Messrs. Kelway 

 and Son, and Mr. Douglas being especially noteworthy ; 

 both of these growers had some fine seedlings of their 

 own raising, while amongst the older flowers, Meyerbeer, 

 Norma, Adolphe Brongniart, Virgile, Rosa Bonheur, 

 Orphee, were conspicuous for their beauty. Amongst 

 those of the present season, Jupiter is a fine rich flower 

 of very high colour ; Antiope, a beautifully marked 

 one, somewhat in the style of De Candolle; Celimene, 

 a richly marked orange-scarlet variety. On the mag- 

 nificent exhibition of this splendid flower at the Metro- 

 politan Floral Society's show, and on the new flowers, 

 we shall have further remarks to make next month. 



[No. 9. 



At Taunton, on August 8th, we had a good opportunity 

 of seeing how earnest the people of the west are in their 

 flower-shows. The Exhibition itself was most creditable ; 

 the plants were, many of them, quite equal to those 

 around the metropolis, while the display of roses and 

 gladioli was excellent. But it was not so much the Ex- 

 hibition itself that attracted our attention as the manner 

 in which it was taken up by the inhabitants and gentry 

 around. Had it been a royal visit the town could not have 

 been more profusely decorated, while by all the families 

 around it was evidently considered the one day in the 

 year which they ought to endeavour to make a success. 

 The day was remarkably fine, and thus financially it 

 was as successful as it was in other respects. We wish 

 all parts of England would take a lesson from the 

 Somersetshire horticulturists, for we should not then have 

 to deplore such very ineffective and struggling exhibi- 

 tions as we have. It is of little use people professing a 

 desire to forward them, unless they work as the Secretary 

 and Committee of the Taunton Deane Horticultural 

 Society worked. 



GARDEN ECONOMICS. 



CHAPMAN'S PATENT PLANT CASE. 



Mb. W. F. Chapman, the inventor of the cut-flower 

 transmission case, which has proved so great a boon to 

 exhibitors, is determined to leave no stone unturned to 

 make his invention as widely useful as possible. Thus 

 the difficulty of bringing plants to an Exhibition for 

 table decorations has led him to invent a new case, in 

 which he has endeavoured to meet this want. The pots 

 are fixed in their places by pieces of wood which run in 

 parallel grooves, one piece catching the pot near the 

 bottom, the other holding it fast at the rim ; it is thus 

 impossible to cause any injury to them ; in fact, we saw 

 Mr. Chapman turn the box completely over, and the pot 

 remained immovable. We think that it may be made 

 specially useful for the conveyance of Auriculas, Pansies, 

 Polyanthus, and such like plants, which are exhibited in 

 pots, but which often suffer from the rough manner in 

 which railway porters treat all such things. 



