130 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
of Cerasus ilicifolia, which is quite killed, as are also Ceanothus papillosus 
and C. azureus, each about 10 feet high. Lonicera flexuosa is dead to the 
ground, hut will break again. Three fine plants of Desfontainea spinosa 
are killed; also a nice plant of Ligustrum japonicum; and a Stauntonia 
latifolia, which had grown and flourished well for five years in the open air. 
A few gems have, however, come out uninjured, and amongst them none 
are more deserving of prominent mention than Azalea amoena, some beauti¬ 
ful dwarf bushes of which are now a mass of bloom, and are very charming. 
This plant ought to he more extensively used, as it is very tractable and easily 
propagated. Another beautiful thing which I think cannot he sufficiently 
appreciated is the Skimmia japonica. Some plants at this place have been 
quite a feature for the last eight months; and during the frost the branches 
covered with bright scarlet berries, protruded above the snow, and seemed to 
defy the frost, looking quite cheering in the midst of the desolation by which 
they were surrounded. I raised my plants from seed. They are about 
sixteen years old, and several of them 2 feet high and 2 feet through. The 
berries for the forthcoming year are already set in great abundance. The 
plants are certainly slow-growing, hut will well repay waiting for, as they 
want no attention, but simply to be let alone when once they are planted out. 
I sowed my seed in a pan which was placed in a cold pit, where it remained 
for twelve months. The young plants were then potted off, and still kept 
in the cold pit for another year. They were then planted in a bed of peat 
and loam in rather a damp situation, and remained there about three years, 
when they were finally transplanted into an American border among some 
Azaleas and Kalmias, where they have flourished so well as to have become 
objects of great interest during the dreary months of the year. The birds do 
not touch the berries, and they are so persistent as to keep up their bright 
scarlet appearance for at least eight months. The same cannot be said of 
the beautiful Hollies at this place, which are generally stripped of their 
berries in a week, on the approach of hard weather. 
Bedlectf . John Cox. 
NEW PLANTS. 
Under this heading we propose to take a glance at the subjects shown at 
South Kensington on the occasion of the New Plant Show of the 7th ult., a 
show which, combining the interest of the special groups of novelties with 
the brilliant display of other well-selected objects which had been invited to 
support them, produced a scene of beauty and of horticultural interest far 
beyond that which is ordinarily yielded by one of the minor shows. 
The best six New Plants sent out in 1865 or 1866 came first on the list 
of invitations. Here Messrs. Veitch & Sons, Mr. Bull, and Mr. Williams com¬ 
peted, the two medals offered going to the two former. Messrs. Yeitcli showed 
Maranta Veitchiana and M. roseo-picta, Dieffenbachia Weirii, Begonia 
Pearcei, Verschaffeltia splendida, and the beautiful hardy Primula cortu- 
soides amcena, which seems to gain in beauty each succeeding season. 
Mr. Bull showed Verschaffeltia splendida, Fittonia argyroneura, Bertolonia 
guttata, Anthurium regale, Zamia villosa, and Maranta roseo-picta. The 
more important subjects in Mr. Williams’s group were Maranta Lindeniana, 
Pliormium tenax variegata, Dracaena sanguinea, and Dieffenbachia Weirii. 
The medals for the best six New Plants sent out in 1867 were contended for 
by Messrs. Veitch and Mr. Bull, the first place being assigned to the former, 
