Jannary 27, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE ANT) COTTAGE GARDENER. 
61 
27 
Tn 
R^yal Society at 4.80 p m. 
28 
P 
Quekett Cinb at 8 P.M. 
29 
s 
E*<sfx Field Club Annual Meeting. 
30 
SUN 
4th Sunday after Epiphany. 
31 
M 
.National Chr; eanthemum Society’s Annual Meit ! ng. 
1 
Tc 
2 
w 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
CERTIFICATED PLANTS OF 1886. 
OVELTIES of extraordinary merit have not 
been quite so numerous in the past year as in 
some preceding seasons, but ample evidence has 
been afforded of the untiring energy of im¬ 
porters and home growers in adding to the 
lists of cultivated plants. At the metropolitan 
exhibitions or meetings alone a total of about 
300 certificates have been awarded for plants 
that have made their appearance in Britain for the first 
time, for others that have resulted from the skill of the 
hybridist, and for a few former favourites which have 
been rescued from the obscurity of neglect and again 
placed in the front rank. The Floral Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, the Judges at the Royal 
Botanic Society’s and the Crystal Palace Shows, with the 
Floral Committee of the National Chrysanthemum Society 
have been chiefly entrusted with the duty of passing 
judgment upon the numerous claimants for honours. The 
task lias been an arduous one, for the additions annually 
made to the more popular genera of plants are so abun¬ 
dant that much care is required to avoid mistakes, and it 
is satisfactory that so few are made. As a rule the 
award of a certificate by any of these metropolitan 
bodies carries considerable weight, as the members of the 
Committees have opportunities that few others possess of 
seeing the majority of home and foreign novelties, and of 
testing their merits with large collections, the only way 
that an accurate judgment can be formed in the matter. 
It is customary at some provincial shows to award certifi¬ 
cates for p’ants of a novel or striking character, but their 
value is usually lessened by the fact that, instead of con¬ 
fining this honour to new varieties or introductions, it is 
conferred in an indiscriminate manner simply as a com - 
plimentai’y recognition of non-competing exhibits. At 
the leading provincial shows, like Manchester, Liverpool, 
and York, where the Judges selected are men of con¬ 
siderable experience, the award of certificates is conducted 
rather more strictly. Too great a liberality in the 
bestowal of such honours is unwise and really injurious 
to horticulture, for the more careful and critical are the 
judges the greater weight will their decrees possess. This 
is being duly recognised now, and the tendency is rather 
to decrease the number of certificates than otherwise 
A glance at the lists of plants distinguished in 1886 
will show the relat ve popularity of the various genera or 
families, and again we have to place the Orchids at the 
head, over sixty having been certificated in the year. 
More than half of these are Cattleyas and Odonto- 
glossums, and these, too, arc nearly all varieties, distinct 
forms of well-known species, indicating the demand that 
exists for improvements in species, the merits of which 
No. 344.—Vol. XIV., Third Series. 
are determined, and which possess a capacity for varia¬ 
tion. Cattleyas Mossise and Trianse, with Odonto- 
glossums crispum, Pescatorei, and vexillarium, for 
example, supplied the majority of the varieties last 
year, perhaps the most remarkable of all being the 
yellow (). Pescatorei, denominated Knox's variety. This 
plant was shown at South Kensington on April 13th 
by Mr. Brownlow D. Knox, Caversham, Reading, 
and it was then regarded as a probable hybrid between 
0. Pescatorei and another unknown species. The 
flowers were nearly 3 inches in diameter, with broad 
rounded sepals, and petals of bright clear yellow spotted 
at the base with crimson, the lip being rather lighter in 
colour, but similarly spotted. It can be readily imagined 
what a charming companion this would make for the 
purple-spotted 0. Pescatorei Veitchi, and it is not sur¬ 
prising that when put up for sale at Mr. Stevens’ rooms 
on the following day it realised £165. Cattleya Law- 
renciana has been awarded several certificates in the past 
year, and fresh introductions have placed so many plants 
in the market that it is becoming quite a moderate-priced 
Orchid. It is undoubtedly a useful one, being very flori- 
ferous, of good habit, and easily grown—recommendations 
of some importance. An illustration of this Cattleya 
appeared in this Journal, page 295, April 15th, 1886, 
and shows the general character of the flowers very faith¬ 
fully. The species varies considerably in size and colour 
of the flowers, but the sepals and petals are usually of a 
soft purplish crimson tint, the lip almost tubular, in¬ 
tensely rich crimson at the tip and lighter in the throat. 
It has been not inaptly compared to C. Skinneri in its 
floriferous habit. 
In the Cypripediums, the most noteworthy is C. 
Sanderianum. which has long, broad, drooping petals, and 
is very distinct in its reddish brown colour; but of all 
the Orchids brought nto notice during the year, one of 
the most striking was Catasetum Bungerothi, which, how¬ 
ever, was not certificated, as it flowered too late for 
the December meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
This also has been illustrated in this Journal (p. 563, 
December 23rd), and as the description appeared so 
recently it is not necessary to repeat it, beyond remark¬ 
ing that the plant is one of the few Catasetums that 
possess any horticultural value, and the price of 
50 guineas paid for the largest specimen by a firm of 
nurserymen will indicate the appreciation in which it was 
held. 
Next in numbers to the Orchids come the Dahlias, 
but there is a great difference in the totals—namely, 
twenty-six of the latter compared with sixty of the 
former; but this number shows that the Dahlia is very 
popular, especially the decorative, Pompon, and single 
varieties, for it is in these sections that the certificates 
were chiefly awarded. Amaryllises follow with fifteen 
varieties, great advances having been made in these. The 
size and shape of the flowers have been improved, the 
colours enriched and varied, and they have taken a pro¬ 
minent place amongst the best of ornamental plants. 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons have contributed most of these, 
but Mr. B S. Williams has also added to the list some 
beautiful varieties, especially in the autumn-flowering 
section, of which we recently figured a group (page 433, 
November 11th). 
Paeonies came to the front in unusual numbers last 
year, about fourteen varieties being certificated, many of 
them forms of Paeonia Moutan, the Tree Paeony. They 
can now be had in such varied tints, so fragrant and 
No. 2003.—Yoi,. LXXYL, Oi.d Series. 
