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 

 withbrightviolet,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, Action, 

 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 



