THE ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY. 
369 
descriptions given. The Petunia always 
grows best in a pot, and in pots ought seed- 
lings to be shown ; but, in choosing the best, 
regard ought always to be had to the uses of the 
flower, and it must be admitted that they are 
mostly required for bedding out. This should 
direct us to pick out such as have shrubby 
habits, and abundant bloom ; nor can we 
be too particular in choosing flowers suf- 
ficiently firm in substance to hold their forms. 
Very large flowers will not do this; they double 
over, or fall out of shape, look flabby, and 
droop in the sun, instead of standing boldly 
open, and in proper form. The colours must 
have a good deal to do with our choice for 
seeding from, but we may do right in saving 
many that we should do wrong in naming to 
send out. Any one thorough good quality 
might induce us to preserve a sort, for the 
purpose of assisting us in future seedlings ; 
but a single good point would not justify us 
in sending out a flower ; and we should re- 
commend the raisers of seedlings to confine 
those they send out to such as shall be de- 
cided, by competent authority, to be worthy ; 
and not, if they send twenty for judgment, 
and get favourable opinions of half a dozen, 
to send out a dozen ; better charge the price 
of a dozen for the half dozen than annoy 
the buyer with the bad, when he would only 
have to throw them away. As, at this 
moment, the quality we have to wish for 
most is thickness or substance, this one pro- 
perty ought to save an ugly one ; for, of 
all the faults in this, or any other flower, 
flimsiness is the worst, and with this flower 
it is the prevailing and most difficult fault to 
eradicate. 
takes an interest in floral curiosities, for it is 
beautiful as well as curious. We have not 
heard whether the Rose has been sold out yet. 
We again remind our readers, that the sketch 
NEW ROSE. 
• .GENERAL TOM THUMB. 
This diminutive plant is one of the curiosi- 
ties of Floriculture, for the accompanying 
sketch is the exact size of a plant sent us by 
Mr. Willison of Leeds, and the artist has been 
exact with the form of the flower, the foliage, 
and the plant. It will be observed that the 
flower is not of a first-rate form; it is rather 
semi-double, and the petals are pointed, but 
the habit of the plant is beautiful. The plant 
consists of the old bush of ripened wood, and 
two suckers of the present year; the bloom 
is on one of these suckers, and shows at once 
that even the most vigorous portion of the 
plant does not grow an inch-and-a-half before 
it blooms; nothing shows better the dwarf habit 
of the plant. The fairy roses, and the smallest 
we ever saw of any kind, was a monster com- 
pared with this Liliputian. It has every ap - 
pearance of a healthy, free-growing plant, and 
certainly deserves a place with everybody who 
-<"V=S* 
is the exact size of the plant and pot, which 
stand together about three inches and a quarter. 
Mr. Willison has raised some curious Roses 
of the crested moss kinds, one or two of which 
may be given hereafter. 
THE ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY. 
Third Exhibition for 1845. 
This, the last Exhibition for the present 
season of the Royal Botanic Society, took 
place on the 2d of July, and was remarkable 
for the excellence of the plants, flowers, and 
fruit brought for competition, as well as for 
the unfavourableness of the weather. 
With the grand and leading features of the 
Exhibition we are not about to deal, though 
these were all that could be desired, and would 
furnish subject matter for a much longer 
notice than our space will admit. We may 
just allude to the richly-coloured Cleroden- 
drons, which, with their panicles of scarlet 
blossoms, and ample foliage, imparted quite a 
gorgeous character to the present show, which 
the former ones lacked. The Ixoras, too, 
with bunches of orange red flowers ; the 
Aphelexes, with pink everlastings ; and the 
Stephanotis, with bunches of pure white 
fragrant flowers, and broad shining leaves 
K E 
