1877. ] 
THE AURICULA.-CHAPTER XTV. 
275 
Page’s Champion, raised by a butcher of that name, is an old winner—a 
kind of “ Butcher’s Broom ” that has often swept up prizes ! It was good with 
me last season, but it is a pity that the plum-red body-colour does not live 
long enough to support the rich green edge and other parts of the flower. 
Prince of Greens had not time to get well out; and both my friend Simonite and 
myself spoiled some blooms of it in trying to get it down for the Crystal Palace 
Show. It is not a long-lived sort, owing to the weakness of the tube, both in 
colour and texture, and it is apt to come thin in the paste. However, Prince of 
Greens, in his youth and beauty, is a superb black-bodied green-edge, much to 
be coveted as a strong point in “ pan ” or “ class.’’ The pips are usually thrown 
out very remarkably on long footstalks, which do not droop with the pip. Some¬ 
one likened them to the awkward legs of a lanky spider, but we had been com¬ 
paring them with the brilliant way in which a rocket throws out its stars. 
Among the great grey-edges here was a flower little known yet. It once peeped 
out at the head of this strong class at Manchester, but it is not in force enough 
yet to appear much in public. When it does, it will not discredit the dear and 
valued name it bears—Samuel Barlow. I think it will be a double first, because 
of its power to bloom either as a magnificent green-edge from a winter-formed 
truss, or as a decided grey from one sent up in the spring heart. It is a large, 
refined, kindly flower, with any amount of staying powers and great force of 
character, which, by the way, a new flower in the greys must now possess to hold 
any position of note among them. 
In the white-edges, none bore the palm from lovely Smiling Beauty, though 
she has usually been in more clever character. She was not dressed in that full 
bridal white which is her charm, and in some instances her edge was insufficient. 
But those who know her know that this variation is accidental, and that Smiling 
Beauty is sure to be herself again. There is no lovelier plant in all the family ; 
the wavy frosted silver foliage, and the head of flowers high above it, veiled 
all but their golden tubes and jet-black rings, in the snowiest meal, form a picture 
that can only be realised b}?" the eye. 
Walker’s remarkable white-edge, John Simonite, was also not in best char¬ 
acter this year, the edge not being so dense as it properly is. It was, however, 
much noticed at the Show, and at its best it is a grand flower, but would be 
improved if the stamens were more bold. 
Among the Selfs, valuable both for their own inherent beauty and the re¬ 
freshing contrasts that their quiet colours make among the richer edged flowers, 
none, I think, beat Pizarro. How nobly he raised his large soft brown balls of 
heads, as high as Prince of Greens ! What life in each great round pip, with its 
dense white paste, broader and rounder than in any other of the class ! The 
plant is clothed most heavily in meal that hangs upon the foliage, and its edges 
like feathered hoar-frost crystallized upon the twigs of trees. If I had to grow 
but one Self, it should be Peter Campbell’s Pizarro. There are other good ones 
