446 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 1, 1882. 
repay to be more extensively grown. 0. partipura has pure white 
flowers and very free. 0. articulata is one of the showiest of the 
group, producing trusses of large dark purple flowers. O. flori- 
bunda is one of the most attractive ; the flower stalks are nearly 
a foot long, and droop gracefully over the sides of the pot. 0. 
bonariensis is a very neat and pretty species ; the flower stalks are 
about a foot in length, surmounted with six or eight pinkish-white 
flowers. 
- The National Rose Society’s Exhibition at Bath 
will be held in the Sydney Gardens on Wednesday, June 2Stb, 
when a number of valuable prizes will be competed for—six silver 
cups, besides medals, pieces of plate, and the ordinary money 
prizes. In the nurserymen’s class for seventy-two single trusses 
the first prize consists of a silver cup, value ten guineas, presented 
by the Mayor of Bath, with £5 from the Society’s funds. In the 
amateurs’ class for thirty-six single trusses the corresponding prize 
will be a silver cup of the same value as the above, presented by 
the Floral Fete Committee, also with an additional £5 from the 
Society. The annual Exhibition in London will be held on Tuesday, 
July 4th, in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, South 
Kensington, and not at the Crystal Palace as in some previous 
years. The ordinary liberal provision is made for exhibitors. 
Silver challenge cups are offered in the chief nurserymen’s and 
amateurs’ classes. Several pieces of plate are also contributed in 
several, with a gold medal for the best three trusses of any new 
seedling Rose not in commerce. 
- Writing on herbaceous borders an experienced cul¬ 
tivator of them remarks :—“ It cannot be too quickly understood 
that collections of herbaceous plants in private gardens will seldom 
give satisfaction. What is wanted is a selection of sorts that will 
give an uninterrupted display of flowers from February or March 
to October or November. Our borders have been filled and gay 
for over three months past, and from the experience of past years 
I can state that they will continue so until the end of October at 
least. The only reason for such different results is to be found in 
growing good sorts alone and plenty of them, and turning kinds 
which do not come up to the standard of excellence out into the 
rubbish heap. Newness or rarity of a plant is all very well in 
its way, but so long as we have to produce a display of flowers 
either with herbaceous or bedding plants or both combined we 
must look at the quality of that display as a whole, and not at 
the newness or the rarity of the plants employed, or the her¬ 
baceous border will not give satisfaction.” 
- The last issue of “ L’lllustration Horticole ” contains 
coloured plates of Spathiphyllum hybridum and Kentia 
Luciani. The former is a fine Aroid, with lanceolate bright 
green leaves, and large white spathes 5 to 6 inches long and 2 to 
3 broad, the spadix being marked with green and white. It is 
said to be the result of a cross between S. Patini and S. cannte- 
folium. The Kentia is a graceful Palm, with fine curving pinnate 
leaves, the young leaves having a slightly reddish or bronze tint. 
It is from New Caledonia, seeds having been introduced in 1877, 
and it has been named in honour of M. Lucien Linden. 
- At the time the Reading Spring Show is held Messrs. 
Sutton & Sons’ Calceolarias are usually in their best con¬ 
dition, and few horticulturists visit the one exhibition without 
also inspecting the other, for these plants hold an important 
position in public favour, and their popularity appears to be 
increasing rapidly. The results of the long-continued careful 
selection practised by this firm become more evident each suc¬ 
ceeding year—an increased refinement of blooms is ensured, with 
greater diversity of brilliant colours, and a dwarf, compact, ex¬ 
tremely floriferous habit, admirably adapting the plants for deco¬ 
rative purposes generally. In the house devoted to the stock of 
plants for furnishing seed the display last week was brilliant in 
the extreme, the tints being so varied, clear, and rich, and the 
blooms so numerous, that the effect upon first entering the house 
was quite dazzling. Selfs from pure yellow to deep rose are 
represented by fine plants, one approaching in colour very nearly 
to scarlet, and the yellows merge into creamy whites. The 
parti-coloured flowers are especially varied, the ground tints 
ranging from rich gold to white, with heavy blotches, dots, or 
lacings of darker hues—rose, crimson, magenta, and maroon. 
In form the flowers are all that could be desired ; they are not 
large and coarse, but mostly of medium size, full and round, 
and where they attain unusual proportions the symmetry is still 
preserved. Such, in brief, is a few of the leading characters of an 
excellent strain, and for their assiduous efforts to improve these 
useful plants Messrs. Sutton and their manager deserve much 
credit. 
MANCHESTER WHITSUNTIDE SHOW. 
May 26th to June 2nd. 
The annual celebrated Exhibition of the Royal Botanical and Hor¬ 
ticultural Society of Manchester was commenced on Friday last in 
the gardens at Old Trafford, and will terminate to-morrow—a rather 
prolonged period for plants to remain at one Show. But this ap¬ 
parently had no deterrent effect upon the exhibitors, who mustered in 
strong force, and rendered the display both varied and extensive. The 
three structures usually devoted to the entries at this Show were fully 
occupied. The magnificent Exhibition building contained a grand 
array of groups, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Clematises, with stove and 
greenhouse plants constituting the most imposing features, the bank of 
Clematises at the higher end of the building forming a unique and 
handsome mass of colour. The heated glass structure was chiefly 
occupied with Orchids, new and fine-foliage plants, the first-named 
being alone an exhibition of such extent and beauty that, finely as 
Orchids are invariably shown at Manchester, those at this Show 
have scarcely been surpassed, and in some respects they have not 
been equalled. The third portion of the exhibits was placed in a long 
marquee near the glass building, and comprised the Ferns, table 
decorations, fruits, hardy plants, and miscellaneous groups from nur¬ 
serymen, among which the large collection of greenhouse Rhododen¬ 
drons from Handsworth was a prominent feature. 
In the afternoon of the opening day the weather proved favourable, 
though the morning was so wet that grave doubts were at one time 
entertained as to the prospects of the Show. With occasional, but 
not long continued, interruptions the sun shone during the latter por¬ 
tion of the day, adding greatly to the brightness of the display, and 
attracting visitors in large numbers. 
Orchids .—Seven classes were devoted to these, and the collections 
staged in competition formed two grand banks of plants, one on 
each side of the central bed in the glass show house, and presenting 
a mass of rich, delicate, and varied tints such as no other plants 
could produce. Although what are termed “ made-up specimens ” 
were largely represented, yet single examples of considerable size 
and merit were by no means scarce ; all were characterised by most 
satisfactory health, and in the leading collections by an unusual 
profuseness of flowers. Perhaps at no horticultural exhibition held in 
this country are Orchids so largely and well shown as at Manchester, 
and these classes invariably form one of the leading features inter¬ 
esting both to the horticulturist and the general public. It is 
certain, however, that while Orchids form such an important feature 
in the Show, it would be greatly to the disadvantage of the Society 
to discourage “ the made-up specimens,” which, though unsatis¬ 
factory in a practical gardener’s point of view, are far more admired 
by the numerous untechnical visitors. At this Show it was the 
general opinion of experienced Judges that a more beautiful or larger 
display of Orchids has not been held in England—a sufficient indi¬ 
cation of the merit of this part of the Exhibition. 
The amateurs’ section was well provided for and largely repre¬ 
sented, the chief class being that for fifteen specimens. Mr. J. Hill, 
gardener to G. Hardy, Esq., Pickering Lodge, Timperley, was most 
worthily awarded the leading prize for specimens of great size and 
finely flowered. Dendrobium Wardianum with thirty to forty 
growths, some of which had two dozen flowers each, was magnificent; 
C'attleya Mossiae 4 feet across with forty to fifty blooms ; Dendrobium 
densiflorum with thirty racemes ; Anguloa Clowesi with two dozen 
blooms ; Odontoglossum vexillarium, 4 feet or more in diameter, 
loaded with flowers ; O. crispum had three spikes of flowers 4 inches 
in diameter, the two best having a dozen blooms ; the bright yellow 
Dendrobium clavatum, D. Jamesianum, Cypripedium Lawrencianum, 
Masdevallia Harryana, and Cattleya Mendeli were the most note- 
