244 
THE FLORIST. 
THE TWO GRAND ROSE SHOWS. 
CRYSTAL PALACE, JULY 6th. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, JULY 10th. 
Presuming that the proud parent of these Siamese twins is too 
happily engaged to come down from his ethereal dwelling even to 
chronicle the success of the Queen of Flowers, I will again venture, as 
I have endeavoured each successive year, to give the readers of the 
Florist an account of the doings on Her Majesty’s gala day, to once 
more essay it. By the floral world in general, the twin character of 
this notice will be at once understood; from what was then considered 
a bold step, but which now seems to have been one of a very mode¬ 
rate character (the opening show at St. James’s Hall), four years ago, 
we have advanced by rapid strides—to Hanover Square Rooms, then 
to the Crystal Palace, and now two, yet not divided, it and South 
Kensington both house us. Well may the wwthy secretary (to whom I 
wdsh not only a recovery of all his lost beauties, but olive branches as 
numerous as the prizes he may win) rejoice at seeing to what his 
work has tended—well may he look back with pride at having taken 
such a step, and smothered in showers of Roses—like President Davis, 
he may well make his bow to those ardent cultivators who have so ably 
seconded his efforts. As we saw our favourite standards falling before 
that fell frost, as we heard coming up from all parts of the country 
piteous plaints of Roses killed by hundreds and thousands, as day after 
day, through an unpropitious spring, we saw those that had survived 
dropping off, we felt, alas! the Rose show must come short; but thanks 
to the consideration of the projectors of both exhibitions, and to the 
great extent to which the flower is grown, the number of stands was 
as great as ever, although the number of blooms fell far short of last 
year. In the nurserymen’s stand of 100 varieties, single trusses 
instead of triplicate ones were shown, and so with other stands; and 
indeed, it is an open question whether such an arrangement would not 
be the best for all future years. They look better, one sees more 
correctly the character of the flowers, and it gives a better opportunity 
to growers on a moderate scale to exhibit; and surely it would be 
better to have seven or eight stands of 100 varieties than three or four 
from only the very large growers for sale. A fair comparison of the 
two exhibitions, leads one to give somewhat of the preference to 
South Kensington. I speak not now of the company or the accessories 
of the place ; the difference between the two in the former respect was 
as striking as in the latter, the one being evidently of the very highest 
order, and the other the multitude. We shall, however, go to Sydenham 
to learn all about bedding out, for few, I conceive will be the imitators 
of Mr. Nesfield’s mosaic patterns ; and from what I heard, the con¬ 
servatory seems too warm a place for cut blooms, as towards the after¬ 
noon the greater portion of the Roses were said to be in a very drooping 
state. My main object is with them, and viewed as a whole I think 
tliey were in greater variety and freshness on the 10th than on the 6th; 
that nurserymen came out more strongly on the former day and amateurs 
on the latter, while at the same time it must in truth be said that 
