NINETEENTH CENTURY 
28 7 
to all. The Botanical Society of London was incorporated 
in 1839. That part of the grounds devoted to the illustration 
of the Natural Orders was arranged by James de Carle Sowerby 
(son of the author of the fine work on English Botany), then 
Secretary to the Society, assisted by Dr. Frederick Farre and 
others. The ornamental part, designed by Marnoch, became a 
fashionable resort in the sixties. The first show for spring 
flowers was held there in 1862, and for many years this Society’s 
“ Floral Fetes ” were extremely popular. 
The names given to florists’ varieties are often justly com¬ 
plained of. Although “ a rose with any other name would 
smell as sweet,” it is not poetical to have to refer to one of 
the most charming of the tribe as “ William Allen Richard¬ 
son.” Yet the names are in themselves very often a kind 
of history. No one will deny that the finder of a new species 
should be remembered, even though it involves such a combina¬ 
tion as Lilium Maximowiczi, so it is only just that the producer 
of a florists’ flower, whether an amateur, a firm, or a head- 
gardener, should be privileged to have their triumphs com¬ 
memorated. Thus such names for roses as “ Dean Hole ” 
or “ Paul’s carmine pillar,” Gladiolus Brenchleyensis , 1 or 
“ Gilbert’s green flesh melon,” must be tolerated. Nursery¬ 
men who for a number of years have been devoted to the 
improvement of a particular flower, have played such a part 
in that plant’s history that their names deserve record. More 
Rhododendrons, for instance, are due to the firm of Waterer 
than to anyone else, and they will be kept in remembrance 
by one of their own hybrids, “ Anthony Waterer.” Barr, in 
the same way, who has done much to improve daffodils, will 
not be forgotten where Narcissus Barrii is planted, and so on. 
The names of celebrities of the day attached to a flower will 
often serve to date its appearance. The “Jenny Lind” 
picotee and the “ Cerito ” cineraria came out in 1848 ; the 
Henry Irving Daffodil and the “ Lord Roberts ” geranium, 
it is obvious, must have appeared about fifty years later. 
In the early days of showing plants and bringing out of florists’ 
varieties much difficulty was often experienced by growers 
1 Gladiolus Brenchleyensis, a cross between Psittacinus flovihundus, 
raised by Mr. Hooker, Brenchley, Kent (Midland Florist, 1848). 
