74 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
CONCERNING NEW HYACINTHS. 
On Wednesday, March 9th, there came up for practical solution at the spring 
Show of the Royal Horticultural Society, at South Kensington, this much-debated 
question. Naturally enough, a great interest attached to this portion of the Exhi¬ 
bition. Four exhibitors staged twenty-three “new kinds,” one of them appearing 
in two collections. The Judges, considering that they had to decide only on the 
merits of the competing stands, irrespective of whether the flowers themselves 
were “acquisitions” as well as “novelties,” very naturally awarded the three 
S rizes offered in the schedule, in the order of merit as seen in the collections. 
fessrs. W. Cutbush & Son, of Highgate, were placed first with Schwarzwald, 
single, rich glossy purple with faint white centre, and medium spike ; Josephine, 
single, intense crimson, shaded with orange, very bright; Henrietta Elizabeth, 
single, lilac with purple stripes, very novel, but the spike only of medium size ; 
Die Jung Frau, single, pure white, with large waxy bells, spike medium ; Robert 
Fortune, single, mauve, with darker stripes, a really good addition to this limited 
shade of colour; and Queen of Denmark, striped bright red, with medium spike. 
Second, Mr. William Paul, Waltham Cross, with Lord Palmerston, single, lilac, 
with purple shading and light centre, novel and fine ; L’Or d’Australie, and Emma 
Livray, two single yellows of scarcely average quality ; King of the Blues, single, 
bright deep blue ; Sir Charles Napier, single, striped blue and white ; and Alba 
Nova, single, pure white. Third, Messrs. Barr & Sugden, King Street, Covent 
Garden, with King of the Blues, Lady Morgan, single, glowing deep red; 
Dr. Lindley, single, light lilac purple, one of the “mauve ” class ; Lord Shaftes¬ 
bury, semi-double, blush white, with coarse ill-shaped bells ; Queen of Beauty, 
single, pure white, in the way of Alba Maxima ; and Flag of Truce, single, striped 
bright brimson. In addition, Mr. Wm. Young, gardener to If. Barclay, Esq., 
Highgate, had Leonidas, a fine single light blue ; President, single, pale mauve 
and white ; Philomele, single, white, slightly striped and flushed with delicate 
pink ; Horace Yernet, single, in the way of Argus, but smaller in size of spike ; 
Bouquet Constante, single, pale striped red; and Mr. Gladstone, creamy white. 
The Floral Committee then passed in review the individual merits of each 
flower. Two were selected as worthy of first-class certificates—viz., Lord 
Palmerston from Mr. Paul’s group; and Robert Fortune from that of Mr. 
Cutbush. Two second-class certificates were also awarded to Henrietta Elizabeth 
and Josephine, from Messrs. Cutbush & Son; the first for its novelty of colour, 
the second for its brilliancy. Of the remainder, some three or four may possibly 
be brought into cultivation, the remainder will relapse into a deserved oblivion. 
How mean many of these looked by the sides of the groups of older kinds, can 
be easily conjectured, but is it not unwise to give prizes to flowers of inferior 
quality to those already in cultivation? Like all other seedling florist’s flowers, 
they should be first subjected to the criticism of the Floral Committee, and then 
the best of them could be shown as new kinds. I do not say that only the flowers 
that are certificated should be shown as new varieties, but the “cream” of the 
“newly introduced” might be carefully selected for that purpose. “New Hya¬ 
cinths ” should be improvements on existing kinds, and not apologies for them of 
a very questionable character. 
Turning to the older flowers, I have to record that at this Exhibition Mr. W. 
Paul, and Messrs. Cutbush & Son, were placed equal first after a very patient in¬ 
vestigation by the Judges of their respective claims to precedence. The former 
had Argus, Baron Yon Tuyll, General Havelock, Feruck Khan, Charles Dickens, 
Marie, King of the Blues, Mimosa, and Grand Lilas, shades of Blue ; Macaulay, 
Howard, Princess Clothilde, and Yon Schiller, Reds; Mirandoline, Queen of the 
Netherlands, and Snowball, Whites ; Ida and Due de Malakoff, Yellows. Mr. 
Cutbush had differing from these, Bleu Aimable, and Laurens Koster, Blue ; 
Gigantea, Florence Nightingale, and Duke of Wellington, Reds ; Seraphine, 
Mont Blanc, and Grandeur a Merveille, Whites ; and Haydn, Mauve. 
At the Regent’s Park, on March 19th, these two renowned growers again met, 
when Mr. Paul was placed first with twelve varieties, having splendid spikes of 
the following : Cavaignac and Yon Schiller, Reds ; Mont Blanc and Snowball, 
