SEPTEJIBEPw 261 
they can see at no other place growing together, as all the nurserymen 
contribute to the stock. By this time the Floral Committee will have 
met and examined the comparative merits of each plant in all the 
sections; and we shall get their report in due time. This, in my 
opinion, however, does not lessen the necessity of country florists and 
gardeners seeing and judging for themselves. Many ladies and their 
gardeners are now looking out for some new shade in a Verbena or 
Geranium to match something they already have or want; and no where 
could they so readily see what they require, if at all procurable. A 
personal introduction, or order from a Fellow, is all that is required to 
procure admission, provided the parties are not F.R.H.S. themselves. 
A long pit is filled with a very interesting collection of pot Grapes, also 
for trial; a second pit was filled with Cucumbers for a similar object; 
and altogether the experimental department is specially worth a visit. 
The Grapes in the large conservatory have not been cropped so heavily 
as last year, but the produce is fine, and they bid fair to cover the 
roof this s^'ason with wood; and when this is the case, and the Vines 
are in fruit, it will be a splendid exhibition of itself. 
LAPAGERIA ROSEA AND ITS ALLIES. 
All climbing plants are beautiful. Though there be many which are 
difficult to manage, we cannot make them flower in a small state, yet 
even then they are beautiful, and they are universal favourites. If any 
friend sends you home a package of foreign seeds, you may, before 
opening them, be certain tliat more than half of them will be the seeds 
of climbing plants. Even our own hedgerows owe the greater part of 
their beauty to the wreaths of Convolvulus or wild Bryony with which 
they are decked ; and when travellers visit the tropics the first thing 
with which they are struck is the luxuriance and beauty of the climbers. 
Many of the most beautiful of our cultivated plants are climbers too; 
what could we do without our Ipomoeas, Passionflowers, Stephanotis, 
Hexacentris, and a score of others? But there is not one which can 
rival Lapageria rosea for general use ; and yet it is not so often met 
with in gardens as it deserves to be. And although its cultivation is so 
simple, yet when we do see it, it is not so luxuriant as it might be. 
The Lapageria strongly objects to close soil; it should be potted in 
the very roughest peat, from which the fine soil should be sifted. The 
peat should be broken into pieces the size of one’s fist, and some silver 
sand sprinkled in as the pieces are arranged about the roots. In potting 
a very large plant, it will be well to throw in, here and there, a handful 
of crocks, or better still, some pieces of broken charcoal. Nothing keeps 
the soil open so well as this; they should not be mixed with the soil, 
but thrown in clusters. The roots of the Lapageria are very wiry and 
brittle, so that they should not be shifted oftener than is necessary, and 
if they could be planted out so much the better, such soil as we recom¬ 
mend would not easily become sour if well drained below. With such 
