SOUTH LONDON FLORISTS' SOCIETY. 
381 
received prizes or not. We mention these 
facts to show that the Royal Metropolitan 
Society is drawing out a flower which has been 
hitherto trusted to the French, or to dealers; 
and it is no bad compliment to our articles on 
the subject of Roses, that the properties which 
have been published in this work have been 
the avowed guides of the judges who had to 
decide upon the merits of the strangers. No 
other Society can boast of having stirred up 
the Rose growers to show seedlings in such 
plenty; but we will engage to say, that if there 
be any official announcement of the flowers 
approved of by that Society, there will be a 
greater sale of those seven Roses than any 
Rose grower could command by the most ela- 
borate description. It is singular, too, that 
they belong to a person who has not dealt in 
Roses to any extent, unknown, and unnoticed. 
We take from other sources the numbers of 
the flowers and the name of the man, that 
those who seek to possess themselves of them, 
may know how to procure the set, for we pre- 
sume that will be the proper way to send them 
out. The raiser is Mr. Burgess of Alresford, 
near Colchester, and the numbers are 50, 7, 
37, 51, 54, 11, 12; they are each double and 
good. We trust the public will have the 
names, and that they may not be borrowed 
ones. 
THE SALVIA AS A BORDER FLOWER. 
This is a most extensive and showy genus, 
and if there be anything in popular descrip- 
tions of colour, the three primitive colours are 
among them. For instance, Salvia coccinea is 
a splendid scarlet ; Salvia patens is a magnifi- 
cent blue ; and we have a choice of several for 
yellows. Among those recorded are argentea, 
(or patula, pyramidalis,) aurita, ceratophylla, 
ceratophylloides, glutinosa, and nubicola. How 
far these will fill up the yellow we hardly 
know, but if they be yellow, then no family 
can produce the three primitive colours so 
beautifully. Of this genus there are no less 
than from a hundred to a hundred and ten 
species mentioned by Paxton. They comprise 
hardy, frame, green-house, and stove species ; 
and are variously introduced from Austria, 
Mexico, the Cape of Good Hope, Columbia, 
Crete, North America, Spain, Barbary, Russia, 
Turkey, South America, Greece, the Canaries, 
Armenia, Caucasus, Persia, Egypt, Syria, 
Peru, and many other places. Many species 
have had their names changed, and the list of 
synonymes in the Botanical Dictionary, com- 
prises no less than twenty-five whose names 
have been changed, and others substituted. 
The only ones we are to cultivate in the gar- 
dens are the best of the half-hardy ones ; and 
the common Sage is one to begin with, for its 
use as a culinary herb. Many of the species 
are not worth notice, but the Salvia patens 
and the old Salvia coccinea are the most bril- 
liant of our border flowers ; we cannot at any 
rate spare these. They are raised from seed, 
or by cuttings, or parting the roots. They 
require protection against hard winter frosts. 
They are called green-house and frame plants, 
but they have been grown some years out in 
gardens well drained and covered from the 
winter cold, and form pretty objects all through 
their blooming time. The best mode of treat- 
ing these useful and beautiful plants, is to pot 
them up out of the ground as soon as they are 
out of bloom ; and if they are carefully taken 
up they suffer nothing; but they should be cut 
down to the ground and kept dry all the 
winter, in frames, like Verbenas. Early in the 
spring they may be struck freely from the 
young shoots, and multiplied to any extent. 
They are tall enough for the middle rows of 
border flowers; require tying to stakes as they 
grow, and when they have attained the height 
of two feet or more, they begin to flower, and 
continue until the cold weather checks them. 
They are not adapted much for pot plants, 
though in conservatories we are glad of any- 
thing to help make a show in the autumn ; 
instead, therefore, of turning all out, pot some 
into pots, size twenty-four ; give them plenty 
of air and water; let the soil be loam and peat, 
and rotten dung; and when they begin to rise 
for flower, place a neat stick in the pot to sup- 
port them. The blue and scarlet are of great 
service among many dingy autumn flowers. 
THE SOUTH LONDON FLORISTS' SOCIETY. 
This Society has been the subject of some 
very angry discussions, in consequence of in- 
ternal arrangements, with which we never trou- 
ble ourselves, and, from the first, these shows 
being both scanty and poor in quality, we 
think it suffered considerably. The last, how- 
ever, fully evinced that a change had come 
over it in some shape or other, for the exhibi- 
tion of Carnations and Piccotees was the best 
ever seen in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, if 
not the best in the metropolis. Bad as the 
season has been, there were more flowers than 
are seen together often, and the winners were 
especially fortunate in deserving all they ob- 
tained. The first stand in Piccotees, to which 
the silver cup was awarded, was perhaps the 
best that has been seen for years, and, gene- 
rally speaking, the first, second, and third 
stands were beautiful. While looking around 
them, and examining the flowers individually, 
we saw that Calcot's Brutus was the finest 
Carnation in the tent, and Mrs. Barnard was 
by far the best Piccotee. There were no 
