May 0, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
349 
6 
th 
Royal Society at 4.S0 r m. Linnean Society at 8 P M. 
7 
p 
8 
s 
Royal Botanic Society at 3.45 p.m. 
9 
SUN 
2nd Sunday after Easter. 
10 
M 
11 
TU 
Royal Horticultural Society—Committee Meetings at 11 a.m. 
12 
W 
Birmingham Exhibition of Orchids. 
THE COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION. 
^ HREE great annual Exhibitions have been 
held at South Kensington, and have attracted 
some millions of visitors to London each year; 
but as it is obviously impossible to provide an 
indefinite series on so large a scale and suffi¬ 
ciently diversified to maintain the public interest, 
it appears very probable that the one announced 
for 1886 will conclude a gigantic and successful 
experiment. The Colonial and Indian Exhibi¬ 
tion, which was formally opened by Her Majesty the Queen 
on Tuesday last, the 4th inst., was planned as an admirable 
successor to the “Fisheries,” “Healtheries,” and “Inven¬ 
tories,” and one that by its scope and importance will create 
considerable interest throughout the British Empire. So 
vast an extent of the globe is covered by our Colonies and 
dependencies, such a variety of climate is represented, that 
a really characteristic display of their productions may be 
taken as an epitome of the world’s industry. Anglo-Saxon 
energy and commercial aptitude have had a wide field for 
exercise and development, and visitors to the Indian and 
Colonial Exhibition will have an opportunity of judging 
some of the results. 
A department with which our readers are most concerned 
—the vegetable products—is necessarily of leading import¬ 
ance at this Exhibition. The food imports to Great Britain 
are enormous, and as the home population increased so 
rapidly,'it became necessary to encourage the cultivation of 
many useful plants in portions of the Empire where the 
climate is suitable, so that we should be less dependant upon 
the supplies of other countries. This course has been con¬ 
sistently pursued for many years, and with satisfactory 
results to the Colonies and the home country. A good pro¬ 
portion of the food products imported to this country now 
come from some of our dependencies, and the trade is rapidly 
increasing in many directions. Examples are afforded by 
Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar, Rice, and many others, the cultiva¬ 
tion of which gives employment to millions of people in the 
East and West Indies, and which are shipped to England in 
vast quantities. In countries like India, where a great mass 
of the population is dependant upon agriculture for a living, 
the importance of a remunerative market for the produce 
cannot be over-estimated. For instance, it has been esti¬ 
mated that of the 130,000 000 male inhabitants of the 
country named 51,000,000 are dependant upon agricultural 
pursuits, and although the home consumption there is very 
great, in ordinary seasous there is also an abundant surplus 
for exportation. Some are also specially cultivated for 
sending out of the country, such as Opium, of which so 
much is purchased by the Chinese, but of the Indian vege¬ 
table products sent to this country one of the principal is Tea, 
something like 70,000,000 lbs., or a third of the entire 
supply, being received from the Indian plantations. Ceylon 
Coffee is another important production, an average of about 
500,000 lbs. of berries being received here from that island. 
These are only examples, for many more might be cited with 
No. 306. -You. XII., Third Series, 
reference to the West Indies, Australia, and other countries, 
but further particulars concerning them may be reserved to 
another occasion. 
The Exhibition at South Kensington occupies the same 
buildings as the one last year, with a few minor alterations, 
but they have been rendered far more ornate, and in general 
appearance it will be the most attractive of the series. The 
galleries near the main entrance are devoted to East Indian 
products of all kinds, the central galleries are occupied with 
the Australian and other Colonial exhibits, the long gallery 
next to the gardens being appropriated to Canada. In con¬ 
nection with some of these an excellent idea has been carried 
out—namely, providing living representatives of the plants 
peculiar to the respective districts. For their reception 
spacious glass houses have been erected by Messrs. Dash- 
wood & Co., Wimbledon, and Mr. S. Deards, Harlow, Essex, 
and they are being stocked with plants supplied by the 
principal London nurserymen and from the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society’s Garden at Chiswick, where large numbers of 
Ferns have been received and grown for the purpose. In 
one or two of the trade collections, however, it is regretable 
that plants have been introduced not strictly characteristic 
of the countries they are supposed to represent, and it seems 
as if the object has been to show all that succeed there in 
gardens, whether natives or not. This must be an over¬ 
sight, and is certainly not due to any lack of typical plants, 
for most of the Colonial floras are exceptionally rich in 
species. Take the Cape of Good Hope for example; in a 
comparatively small district about 9000 specif s have been 
collected, including some of the most beautiful flowering 
plants that adorn our greenhouses—the Ericas, innumerable 
choice bulbs of the Ixia, Sparaxis, Gladiolus types, the pretty 
but neglected Mesembryanthemums, the useful Pelargoniums, 
from which we have obtained such an extensive group of 
decorative plants, and innumerable others. In Australia we 
have some very distinct forms of plant life. The Acacias are 
in strong force, the Eucalyptuses, the Epacrises, members of 
the Protea family, and hundreds of plants which are known 
in gardens as “ hardwooded,” somewhat delicate under 
culture, but the majority beautiful. From New Zealand, 
with a moister climate, we obtain many Ferns, but like some 
other islands widely separated from the mainland, the 
number of plants peculiar to it is proportionately great; 
thus of about 900 flowering plants discovered in New Zealand 
over 600 are confined to that country, 200 are Australian, 
and the remainder American. The total number of plants 
found and described in Australia and New Zealand together 
has been estimated at nearly 8000, and a good number of 
these have been introduced. The East and West Indian 
floras are especially rich in the most handsome of tropical 
plants, but except the Orchids these are not represented at 
the Exhibition by living specimens. 
As at previous exhibitions an avenue runs at right angles 
with the gallery at the main entrance, connecting it with the 
Canadian Court at the upper part of the ground. It passes 
“ Old London,” facing which is now a great Indian Palace, 
affording a curious and interesting contrast; then a short 
distance beyond are two large glass houses, the one on the 
right devoted to plants from New South Wales, furnished by 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, and the other occupied 
with Victorian plants from Chiswick. The latter is in a more 
forward state of preparation than any others in the Show, the 
Tree Ferns, Todeas, Xanthorhseas, and others having been 
very tastefully arranged by Mr. A. F. Barron. The fine 
Dicksonias received at Chiswick some time since have made 
excellent growth; the huge plants of Todea barbara, some of 
which are said to weigh 3000 lbs., are similarly healthy, and 
a series of little valleys and nooks have been formed that 
have a most refreshing appearance. In the New South 
Wales house are Palms, such as Corypha australis, Areca 
Baueri, numerous Acacias, Araucarias, Eucalyptus, Banksias, 
Cordylines, Alsophilas, Gleichenias, Dammaras, and Cycads, 
No. 1962.—Yon. LXX1V., Old Series. 
