JULY. 
209 
leaved Euonymus, Osmanthus a.[uifolius (a nice looking Holly-lil:e 
plant), a very pretty variegated Box (which will be sought after for 
embroidery work in fancy patterns for parterres, as indeed wall all 
these variegated plants if hardy), variegated varieties of Thea, Camellia, 
Rhapis, Gardenia, and Daphne. This group of Japan plants shows us 
that the Japanese gardeners have paid quite as much attention to 
variegated plants as ourselves, and that they are equally as good culti¬ 
vators, judging by the specimens Mr. Fortune has sent, which bore a 
favourable comparison with British grown plants. 
The Messrs. Veitch had young plants of the grand Libocedrus 
tetragona; also a very distinct looking Abies from Vancouver’s Island, 
A dwarf Thuja (which will be useful in ornamental parterre work), a 
new variegated Euonymus, and the handsome Acer japonicum poly- 
morphum. The Messrs. Jackson exhibited a new Buxus from Nepal, 
a handsome-looking shrub; and a Juniper from Asia Minor, with 
elegant small leaves. 
The beauty of the Pelargoniums shown on this occasion has, we think, 
never been surpassed, and their numbers were unprecedentedly great. 
Those shown by Mr. Turner who, both for Fancies and ordinary kinds, 
took first prizes, were in all respects admirable examples of skilful 
cultivation, and the exhibitions from amateurs were also good. They 
occupied a position by themselves under one of the colonnade wings of 
the conservatory, and were, as they deserved to be, objects of universal 
admiration. 
The special prizes offered by Mr. Dilke, V.P. (whose active interest 
in everything which concerns the society is well known,) for fruit and 
flowers combined as decorative objects for the dinner table, brought 
forward a number of competitors, and, taken altogether, this part of the 
exhibition was perhaps the most interesting, as it was certainly the 
most novel, feature of the whole display. The groups consisted of 
three baskets or dishes, and the arrangement of these showed an 
immense disparity as regards the taste displayed. In some instances, 
the exhibitions were elegant and refined, to wit, those to which prizes 
were awarded; while others consisted of little more than a combina¬ 
tion of subjects, beautiful in themselves, but entirely destroyed, as 
regards effect, through bad arrangement, which in several instances 
descended to vulgarity. However this will in time be mended, and 
next year will doubtless show an advance in good, as well as the absence 
of such bad taste, as that of which we now complain. 
We learn that on the morning of the 24th ult.. Her Majesty the 
Queen planted a Wellingtonia, which was presented to the Society 
by Messrs. Veitch, in the new garden at South Kensington. It will 
therefore form a fit companion to that put in by H.R.H. the Prince 
Consort on the 5th ult. The Queen being still in mourning, the 
ceremony took place only in the presence of the members of Council 
and a few of their friends who had the privilege of being present on 
the occasion. 
VOL. XV., NO. CLXIir. 
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