Sfei^J^: 
EOYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S MAT EXHIBITION. 
835 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S MAY EXHIBITION. 
fHE first of tlie annual series of exMbitions under the auspices of this Society took place on Wed- 
nesday May Sth, in theii- gardens — the Inner Cii-cle, Regent's Park ; and, though the display for the 
season was a remarkably good one, the elements waged war against it ; and, ushered in by sometliing 
Hke forty-eight hour's' continuous rain, which scarcely ever ceased thi'oughout the day, but very few 
of the thousands of pati'ous of horticultui'e dared venture to see it. I^Iore, however, than could have been 
expected, were present, and among them v>c noticed some of the leading patrons of gardening. The 
garden was in beautiful order, clean and neat, and the conservatory was gay with a number of baskets 
of flowers and specimen plants, the former very tastefully ai-ranged and looking remarkably well. In 
the arrangements a very appropriate alteration had been made in the tent near the American garden. 
The sm-face of the ground in that part is slightly undulating, and advantage had been taken of that, to 
attempt something- like a natm-al and at the same time artistic arrangement of the plants. Instead of 
the usual stages covered with green baize, the interior of f he tent has been laid out in cii-cles and seg- 
ments of circles, and upon each a mound of earth has been raised, and then cut into graduated terraces, 
with neatly tmfed banks, and sanded 
borders for the plants to stand upon. 
Thus much of the artificial appeai-ance of 
the ordinary tent is got rid of, and the 
efiect of the arrangement is cool, qmet, 
natui-al, and intei-esting. 
Upon the centre bed in this tent the 
large coUeclions of stove and greenhouse 
plants were placed ; one fi'om the garden 
of Mi-s. Lawrence at Ealing Park, and a 
second fi'om JMi-. Colyer's garden at Dart- 
ford. Mrs. Lawrence's plants were,^ja?- 
excellence, gems of the first water — such 
a group was never before brought to- 
gether — so fine, that language is inade- 
quate to do justice to them ; — they must 
be seen to be appreciated, and sach a 
sight is worth a journey from the anti- 
podes to behold. Each plant was a spe- 
cimen, perfect of its kind, and some of 
them of such huge dimensions for the 
kinds, as almost to subject one to a 
charge of exaggeration in attempting to 
specify them. Annexed is an engra^dng 
of a very lovely plant of Gompholobium 
barbigcrum, not so remarkable for size, 
as for the very admirable manner in which it has been induced, under the eai'e of Mr. May, 
to produce its chaste, clear yellow, pea-like flowei-s. '^^Tien introduced a few years back, 
this plant was considered rmworthy of cultivation ; but here we have a specimen which shows 
that the plant, though the flowers unfoitunately are of a rather ephemeral character, is of first-rate 
excellence. The noble plants of Eriostemon buxifohum, Epacris grandiflora, Polygala acuminata, 
Podolobium stam'ophyllum, and chorozemifolium, LeschenauJtia formosa, and biloba major were 
skilful exemplifications of fu-st-class cidtivation, as were also two specimens of Pimelea speeta- 
bUis. These, with the huge single specimen of the Pimelea, which we shall represent on a future 
occasion, and a collection of ten Indian Azaleas, aU fi-om Mi's. Lawrence's, were the gems of the 
exhibition ; and we may safely assert, forty such plants were never before produced fi'om one 
garden, and it is doubtful if the combined efibrts of the whole of the exhibitors could have pro- 
duced an equal, not to say a superior lot. We make this remark without any wish to disparage the 
productions of other exhibitors, but Mrs. Lawi'ence devotes her whole attention to one subject — exhi- 
bition plants ; — her gardeners have superior facilities for producing them, and she has a right to hold the 
position she now occupies. The most remarkable plants in Mr. Cole's group were a very admirably 
GOMPHOLOBIUM BARBiGEauM : Gxliibitecl by Mrs. Lawrence. 
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