THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES.] SEPTEMBER, 1878. [No. 81. 



HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 



The London Exhibitions are now confined to the 

 meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society at South 

 Kensington, which are as usual held bi-monthly at 

 this season of the year. At the meeting on July 

 24th, some desirable novelties were produced, while 

 a most liberal contribution of good things came from 

 the Gardens of the Society at Chiswick. On this 

 occasion but one First-class Certificate of merit was 

 awarded to Mr. Turner's new H. P. Rose Harrison Weir, 

 figured in the present number. It is a rose generally 

 liked by cultivators, and it is believed it will make a 

 rare standard variety. Mr. J. R. Pearson, Chilwell 

 Nurseries, Nottingham, exhibited three striking new 

 varieties of the Pelargonium Echinatum breed, namely, 

 Beauty, Pixie, and Ariel, the gound colour in each 

 case rose, but varying in tint in the varieties, and all 

 effectually spotted with black. 



Of Orchids, Sir William Marriott, Down House, 

 Blandford, showed three pans of the dark-coloured 

 variety of Disa Grandiflora, named Superba, with 

 about thirty flower stems in all, ten flowers on each. 

 From Mr. Speed, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire 

 at Chatsworth, came a single specimen of Disa Grandi- 

 flora, with seven fully expanded flowers on a stem, and 

 two more to open. We are informed by the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle this particular form is identical with the 

 variety Barrellii sent out by Mr. William Bull, in 

 1874. Mr. H. James, Castle Nursery, Lower Norwood, 

 had an example of the rare Oncidium curtum, with a 

 spike of twenty-two flowers ; and Oncidium praatextum 

 superbum, bearing a fine branched spike of dark 

 brown and yellow blossoms. 



Among miscellaneous plants was a specimen of the 

 Swamp Lily of North America, Lilium superbum, fur- 

 nished with two strong stems eight feet long ; each 

 surmounted by from twelve to fifteen orange scarlet, 

 beautifully spotted blossoms. It was exhibited for the 

 purpose of showing to what perfection this kind can 

 be grown in pots. A fine crimson plumed strain 

 of Celosia pyramidalis, and also examples of the 

 yellow flowered Torenia Bailloni, (which we hope to 

 figure shortly), came from Messrs. Veitch and Sons, 

 Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea. From Mr. R. Parker, 



•Exotic Nursery, Tooting, came cut sprays of Rubus 

 fruticosus florepleno, the double flowered rosy-pink 

 bramble, which will make a pillar, or wild garden 

 plant of great beauty. Olearia Haastii, a dwarf dense 

 white flowering New Zealand Shrub, not half so much 

 known as it deserves to be, was also exhibited by 

 Messrs. James Veitch and Sons. 



The annual exhibition of the southern branch of the 

 National Carnation and Picotee Society took place at 

 the Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, 

 on July 23rd, and though the flowers shown were not 

 so good as those of last year, there was yet a most in- 

 teresting display of these charming subjects. First- 

 class Certificates of merit were awarded to the three 

 new Picotees of Mr. C. Turner's raising, figured in the 

 present number; also to heavy rose-edged Picotee Royal 

 Visit, (Abercrombie), a fine smooth petalled flower 

 of great promise ; to Eleanor, primrose yellow flaked 

 and striped with pale red, another of Mr. Turner's 

 yellow seedlings. To Ophir, a fine yellow Self Picotee, 

 from the same parentage ; and to Lothair, a heavy red- 

 edged picotee of fine form and substance. 



The first of the August meetings of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society took place on August 6th, and an- 

 other extremely interesting meeting resulted, enhanced 

 by the exhibition from the Chiswick Gardens of the 

 Society of a large collection of the new tubei'ous- 

 rooted Begonias, and by groups from Messrs. Veitch 

 and Sons, Messrs. J. Laing and Co., and Messrs. 

 Hooper and Co. Several varieties were selected for 

 First-class Certificates, among them Chiswick Blush, 

 a fine flesh tinted pink flower, of medium size, with 

 a rare free flowering habit, a somewhat dwarf growing 

 variety and well suited for pot culture ; from the 

 Society's Garden at Chiswick. The same award was 

 made to Begonia Mrs. Dr. Todd, rich lustrous crimson 

 in colour, with large and finely formed flowers display- 

 iner themselves well above the foliage. This came from 

 from Messrs. John Laing and Co., Stanstead Park 

 Nursery, Forest Hill. Other fine varieties from the 

 same exhibitors were Mrs. H. J. Elwes, a good white 

 of excellent shape; Thomas Bell, a kind of dingy 

 shade of yellow but of rare form ; Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, dark crimson ; Marquis of Salisbury, deep 

 rosy crimson ; and Viscountess Cranbrook, soft rose, a 

 very pleasing shade of colour. Some new varieties 



