2I 4 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
quiet but rich geometrical designs, which require 
little care beyond weeding. They do not increase 
perceptibly in size during one summer. The group 
in the engraving is made up by the kind permission 
of Mr. Blanc from his cuts. 
Pelecyphora is monotypic and a native of Mex- 
ico. It varies in the colors of its flowers. 
Leuchtenbergia principis is also a monotypic 
Mexican plant. 
Trenton, N. J. James MacPherson. 
FLOWER SHOW OF THE NEW YORK GARDENERS’ 
SOCIETY. 
The exhibition given in the ballroom of the 
Hotel Astoria, New York, on the 12th, 13th and 
14th of November, was the grandest in its ensemble 
that has ever been seen in America. Quality and 
careful arrangement were the prevailing features, 
and the splendid room, with its rich red-crimson 
carpet, its flood of soft light and splendid propor- 
tions and decorations, formed a setting for the 
fortunate Gardeners, such as has rarely been ac- 
corded a “flower show” anywhere. 
At one end of the ballroom is a raised dais the 
full width, and this was the leading site of the three 
leading groups of “stove and greenhouse plants,’’ 
each occupying 100 square feet. 
Mrs. E. R. Ladew of Glen Cove, Long Island, 
carried away the first honors, and Mr. Richard 
Brett, gardener to J. B. Colgate of Yonkers, N. Y., 
was placed second, probably from a desire on the 
part of the judges to distribute the awards some- 
what, for every gardener with whom I spoke in- 
sisted the second-prize group, and even those which 
received no prize, were better plants and better ar- 
ranged. Be this as it may, the Kentia or Howea 
in the Colgate group was very fine, as, indeed, was 
every plant exhibited by Mr. Brett, who carried 
the honors in the other classes. The gardeners 
make a mistake to let commercial florists do their 
judging. They are sure to be controlled by some 
phase of the commercial instinct, and their sphere 
of experience as plantsmen is too narrow. The 
ends of the room and the floor were occupied in 
just the proper proportions with similar but smaller 
groups of the superb plants of the tropics, and it 
was difficult to say whether the room enhanced the 
magnificence of the plants, or the plants fully fin- 
ished the room. The color scheme was as near per- 
fection as it well could be, and the detail merely 
lacked a few dozen palms to hide out the “15- 
cent” silkaline used to c^ver the stands for the 
specimen plants on the floor. It was not in con- 
sonance with the carpet. Mrs. Ladew had a speci- 
men of the rare Araucaria Rulei introduced some 
years ago from the Papuan Islands, and it received 
a special prize, as did also a very good piece of 
Strelitzia Reginas from the same lady. Fine exam- 
ples of Nepenthes Mastersii, Cycas, Phcenix recli- 
nata, Arecas and a superb Howea Belmoreana 
were conspicuous, while around the sides of the 
room and in its ante-rooms and annexes were ar- 
ranged examples of painstaking cultivation pro- 
duced by the often able men who garden for the 
wealthy with less greedy crowding than the com- 
mercial man finds necessary. Perhaps the most 
notable exhibit among the flowers was the Chry- 
santhemums shown by Mr. Peter Duff, gardener to 
J. Crosby Brown, Esq., of South Orange, N. J. 
They were perfect cauliflowers of chrysanthemums, 
of a size that it was freely asserted had never been 
equalled in Japan or anywhere. Mr. Duff is a young 
Perthshire Highlandman, which is perhaps suffi- 
cient of explanation. He also took first prizes for 
specimen plants in such classes as he exhibited. The 
best three Codiaeums were shown by Mrs. J. Hood 
Wright of Fort Washington, N. Y. It was curious 
to find these plants labeled both Codiaeum and 
Croton, and it must have puzzled visitors. A mag- 
nificent mass of Cattleya labiata was put up by 
Mr. Herrington, gardener to Mackay Twombly of 
Madison, N. J., said to have nearly 150 flowers in 
several well-marked varieties. The general collec- 
tions of Orchids were mostly small plants con- 
tributed by Mr. Twombly, C. G. Roebling, Mr. 
Manda and one other whose name escaped me. 
The albino variety of Cypripedium insigni in the 
Roebling collection attracted much attention, be- 
cause it was valued at $1,500. The many varieties 
of Dendrobium Phalaenopsis were, however, in- 
trinsically more beautiful; so also was SErides San- 
deriana. There was some dissatisfaction expressed 
as to the judging in Orchid “groups,” mainly be- 
cause the first prize group in one of the classes con- 
tained fewer varieties than the second. The flow- 
ers used by florists were shown in the annex and 
ante-room. Mr. Manda had groups of Caladiums 
in fine variety; also Pandanus and Orchids. C. W. 
Ward of Cottage Gardens, Queens, L. I., had su- 
perb carnations. J. M. Hunter had Gardenias in 
good condition. J. Shultheis had a quantity of 
Ericas in three or four species. There were superb 
Cyclamens by C. Trauth of Flatbush, L. I., and 
others, with roses, mignonnettes and many other 
things too numerous to mention in anything but a 
schedule 01 prize-winners. 
Hothouse grapes were there, too, the Barbarossas 
from Mr. Wm. Scott, gardener to J. C. Eastman of 
Tarrytown, N. Y., being the finest. A bunch of 
Muscat Hamburghs were perfectly red , but they got 
a prize! Altogether this effort of the gentlemen’s 
gardeners was a particularly brilliant one, and I 
