THE FLORAL MAGAZINE 
NEW SERIES.] NOVEMBER, 1877. [No. 71. 
HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS. 
The usual Autumn Exhibition of Flowers and Fruit 
took place at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on Sep¬ 
tember 21st and 22nd; and on this occasion First- 
Class Certificates were awarded to the following new 
Dahlias : —Charles Lidgard and Lady Golightly, de¬ 
scribed in the October number of the Floral Magazine, 
from Mr. C. Turner, Slough. To Dictator, bright 
orange-red, good build, substance, and petal, and high 
centre. Marian, very delicate pinkish lilac, in the 
way of Bessie Ford, but deeper in colour; fine form, 
petal, and substance. Emulator, bright cerise, with a 
flush of red on the points of the petals ; very fine build, 
substance, and centre. And Robert Burns, a fancy 
variety, bright rose, flushed with claret and striped 
with maroon, good form and substance : all from Mr. 
John Keynes, Salisbury. To James Willing, in fine 
condition, from Messrs. Rawlings, Bros., Romford. 
Also to Rosy Circle, pale crimson, flushed and edged 
with bright violet, goodpetal, outline, and a high centre; 
this promises to be a good useful Dahlia ; from the 
Executors of the late Mr. John Harrison, Darlington. 
The same award was made to a charming quilled aster, 
named Novelty, white centre, with ray florets of a 
lively rosy mauve colour, a charmingly soft flower : 
from Mr. J. Belteridge, Chipping Norton. Also to 
the following beautiful varieties of Gladioli, from 
Messrs. Kelway and Son, Langport : —Marcianus, 
brilliant orange scarlet, with a deeper tint on the 
edges of the segments ; very fine and effective. John 
Laing, purple ground tinted with pink, and flushed 
with carmine ; remarkably fine. Venuleus, brilliant 
orange-scarlet with splashes of a deeper colour on the 
edges, and white throat, very fine and effective. Rich¬ 
ard Dean, bright salmon-pink, feathered with car¬ 
mine and purple ; a remarkably pleasing variety. And 
Servenus, white ground, feathered with rosy purple 
and yellow lip; distinct and good. The following 
varieties, in Messrs. Kelway and Son’s stand, were also 
very fine : —Duchess of Edinburgh, Nymas, Themis- 
tocles, Nesterus, Aurelius, Pitho, Tullia, Actmon, 
Laceta, Tydens, and Sergulus. 
The meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
October 2nd was one of more than usual interest, and 
the Council-chamber may be said to have overflowed 
with subjects as varied as they were valuable. What 
a great pity it is these meetings cannot be utilized in 
the way of making them interesting and instructive 
to the Fellows ? At 3 p.m. on the meeting days the 
Society holds what it terms a general meeting, at 
which one of the Vice-Presidents or some member of 
the Council takes the chair, supported by other mem¬ 
bers of the governing body. The Council is supposed 
to be composed of men eminent for their scientific and 
practical knowledge of horticulture; and though a 
dozen or so of the members of the Council were pre¬ 
sent at this meeting, not one was found equal to the 
task of laying before the Fellows some information 
relative to the subjects which so richly furnished the 
Council-chamber. An attempt was made, but the 
failure was so complete as to make the proceedings a 
miserable farce. What wonder is it that so few of the 
Fellows of the Society attend these meetings ? There 
was a time when the Council-chamber has been 
crowded to overflowing to hear Mr. James Bateman 
lecture on some rare plant of especial beauty; and 
seeing that the Council of the Society is, if anything, 
over-weighted with scientific attainment, there is no 
reason why the meetings of the Society should not be 
made as entertaining and popular as they formerly 
were. 
At the meeting on the 2nd of October, by far the 
most valuable and most striking contribution was a 
magnificent group of Nepenthes, Sarracenias, and a 
basket of the curious insectivorous plants from Messrs. 
James Veitch and Sons. The former included several 
fine new Hybrids; and First-Class Certificates were 
awarded to the following :—Nepenthes rubro maculata, 
a hybrid between an unnamed species and N. hybrida. 
N. Courtii, a hybrid between a Bornean species and 
N. Domini, with very large dark green club-shaped 
pitchers, spotted with dark brown; and N. hybrida 
maculata elongata, a hybrid also obtained from N. 
Domini and an unnamed species, bearing distinct- 
looking long narrow pitchers. This fine collection in¬ 
cluded some two dozen admirably grand specimens, 
besides the group of miniature insectivorous plants. 
First-Class Certificates of merit were also awarded 
to Gladiolus Rhamnes, very rich crimson, flushed 
with orange-scarlet, the throat handsomely flamed 
