THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES.] 



FEBRUARY, 1 881. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



Happily for the Royal Horticultural Society, the first 

 meeting in 1881 was fixed on the Tuesday in the week 

 previous to that Tuesday, January 18th, when London 

 was visited with the terrible snowstorm, which will 

 make that day famous for years to come. Though the 

 meeting took place in mid-winter, yet some interesting 

 novelties came to the fore, descriptions of which we will 

 now endeavour to furnish. Foremost among these 

 was Vanda Lamellata Boxallii, a new variety, discovered 

 by Mr. Boxall, in the Phillippine Islands, while 

 collecting for Mr. Low. It is described by The Garden 

 as "A handsome variety of an inconspicuous species. 

 Its chief characteristics are the bright amethyst tint of 

 the lip and the dull, purple-tipped petals, which render 

 it attractive. The^flowers are borne in loose, pyramidal, 

 erect spikes, about six inches long. It is a free- 

 flowering orchid, producing from one to three flower- 

 spikes from each break." This came from C. J. Salter, 

 Esq., Selborne, Streatham, and was awarded a First- 

 class Certificate of Merit. The same award was made 

 to Carnation Andalusia, from Mr. Hill, gardener to 

 Sir Nathaniel M. de Rothschild, Bart., M.P., Tring 

 Park. It is a yellow-flowered Self of a pleasing 

 primrose shade ; the flowers large and well shaped, 

 and bearing finely fringed petals. It is said to be a 

 good winter-flowering variety, which much enhances 

 its value. Mr. C. Turner, of Slough, has raised during 

 the last few years some very fine yellow Carnations 

 and Picotees, but it would appear they are not so much 

 winter, as summer and autumn-flowering types. A 

 yellow-flowered Carnation that will bloom at Christmas 

 is therefore an acquisition, and this was, no doubt, the 

 view of it taken by the Floral Committee when 

 awarding the First-class Certificate of Merit. From 

 a yellow Carnation we turn to a new white Zonal 

 Pelargonium, named Eureka — said to be the purest 

 white-flowered variety yet raised — a very free bloomer, 

 and most persistent in holding its petals, on which 

 account it will be most useful to market growers and 

 decorators. There is not a trace of blush in the petals, 

 and the plant is of vigorous habit, and a good grower. 

 It was awarded a First-class Certificate of Merit, and 

 came from Mr. H. Cannell, Nurseryman, Swanley, 

 who had a similar award for Primula Sinensis Delicata, 

 a variety of the fern-leaved section, producing large 



[No. 110. 



clusters of flowers well above the foliage. The 

 blossoms are of the size of a penny-piece, finely fringed, 

 and of a pleasing, clear, rosy-pink hue, with a greenish- 

 yellow centre. It is quite a new tint of a very desirable 

 colour, especially for contrast with others. So much, 

 then, for the certificated novelties. 



As usual, a very interesting collection of Orchid3 

 was furnished by Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, 

 King's Road, Chelsea. The group included nineteen 

 species and varieties of Odontoglossums; a fine mass 

 of Leptotes bicolor ; and the new Cypripedium tessel- 

 latum porphyreum, a cross, it is supposed, between 

 C. Sedeni and C. Harrisianum, having sepals of a 

 light yellowish olive-green, with brownish-purple 

 nerves ; the lip is nearly as in the glorious C. Sedeni; 

 the leaves considerably shorter and narrower than in 

 the latter. In addition there were half-a-dozen well- 

 flowering, small standard specimens of the pure white- 

 flowered variety of Laurustinus grown on the Con- 

 tinent—a good and useful plant. Mr. B. S. Williams, 

 Victoria Nursery, Holloway, also had a group of 

 Orchids, including the sweet-scented Saccolabium 

 Guttatum, with half-a-dozen spikes of flower; Den- 

 drobium heterocarpum, also very sweet; Barkeria 

 Lindleyana, invaluable for its high colour at this season 

 of the year; Cypripedium Halfnaldianum and C. 

 Boxalii ; the richly coloured Calanthe Veitchii ; the 

 white Masdevallia tovarensis, and the singular little M. 

 Wagneriana. Messrs. William Paul and Son, Nursery- 

 men, Waltham Cross, had a very fine display of cut 

 blooms of Camellias and Tea Roses ; the latter included 

 Safrano, Madame Falcot, Niphetos, and Isabella 

 Sprunt ; of the Camellias, Alba plena amongst whites, 

 and Marchioness of Exeter amongst reds, were in the 

 greatest force. Messrs. James Carter and Co., Seed 

 Merchants, High Holborn, W.C., had plants of their 

 purple-flowered Primula Sinensis Holborn Gem, which 

 is a very distinct variety ; but as the Gardener's Chro- 

 nicle truly remarks, the peculiar hue was "simply killed" 

 in the light of the Council Chamber, which is a very 

 bad place for showing flowers in their best character. 



CHRISTMAS ROSES. 



A discussion is being carried on in the columns of 

 the Gardener's Chronicle, concerning the difficulty of 



