262 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGHST. 
[ November, 
- £The International Potato Exhibition , held at the Alexandra Palace, on 
September 30, and which was organised for the encouragement of the best methods 
of culture, and the introduction of improved varieties, was both unique of its 
kind and a remarkable success. The competition in nearly every class was astonishing fora 
first attempt, and of the 1,860 odd dishes staged there were not many that an ordinary house¬ 
keeper would object to. Indeed, it may be taken for granted that but few of the visitors ever 
saw so much beauty in Potatos before. The collection of 24 dishes shown by Mr. R. Dean, 
and the 12 dishes contributed by Mr. Donaldson, in competition for Messrs. Sutton and Sons’ 
prizes, were respectively of wonderful quality, and a great source of attraction. 
- £|mong Edging Plants suitable for either flower or kitchen-garden, are 
the fine-leaved forms of Festuca , one of which has been introduced under the 
name of Festuca viridis. This slender-leaved grass makes a remarkably fine and at 
the same time dense growth, and the leaves are of a bright olive-green colour. It will bear 
clipping during the summer, and it is so hardy that it will stand through the severest weather 
without injury. Selected forms of Festuca ovina have for many years been used for edging pur¬ 
poses in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, and when young are very neat and pretty, but they 
should not remain over the second year without replanting. The plants split up readily, and 
may be either dibbled in, or planted in the same way as box-edging. 
- & useful little book, entitled Handy Book of Ornamental Conifers , 
and of Ehododendrons and other American-flowering Shrubs, by Hugh Fraser 
(Blackwood and Sons), has just been published. It is a reprint of papers pub¬ 
lished in the Gardener , and is exceedingly well adapted for the use of amateurs as an aid 
in the selection of choice hardy trees and shrubs, specially those of the two groups indicated, 
for the decoration of their gardens. The hints on cultivation, though brief, are such as 
would be likely to bo appreciated by those who were seeking for information. 
- 2bHE Royal Aquarium and Summer and Winter Garden now approaching 
completion at Westminster has afforded Mr. Eendle a favourable opportunity for 
showing off his patent system of glazing, of which the Hon. E. C. Curzon re¬ 
marked, at a meeting held to view the progress of the work, that “ in this edifice there was 
ample scope for inventive genius, and he had been much struck with the system upon which 
the glazing of the roof was carried out. The roof was circular, and in the glazing of it the 
glass was not put in with the usual adjuncts; no putty was used, but the glass was simply 
slid into the grooves of the frames made to receive it.” The glass, in fact, covers in the wood 
and ironwork, which is thus relieved from the destructive action of the London atmosphere, 
while externally only a narrow strip of zinc is seen. 
- ®he advantage of the new style of Planting Pyramid and Bush Trees 
over the old method of wholly planting standard trees finds a good illustration 
in Mr. Dancer’s market-garden grounds at Little Sutton. One large portion is 
planted with lines of bush trees of Small’s Admirable Apple, the trees 8 ft. apart each way, 
and they were literally borne down to the ground with the great weight of the fruit. Pyra¬ 
midal trees of Cox’s Orange Pippin Apple, planted in close lines, bore heavy crops of beautiful 
fruit, large in size, and brilliantly coloured. On instituting a comparison between these and 
the large standard trees planted years ago, it is found that the latter cover large spaces of 
ground, that their crops are not particularly abundant or fine, and that they interfere with 
the circulation of air among and the incidence of light on the smaller trees about them. The 
space occupied by one standard tree would equal that occupied by six or more of the 
bush trees, while the roots must have spread proportionately in the soil beneath. Gathering 
becomes an easier and quicker process; ladders are not required, and the handling of ladders 
among trees sometimes does them injury. Not one of the least of the considerations to be 
put forward in favour of bush over standard trees is, that a finer quality of fruit is obtained. 
- ®e have received from Mr. Grainger, of Buckley Hall Gardens, 
Asliton-under-Lyne, a photograph of a fine specimen of Lilium auratum. It is 
growing in a No. 2 pot. In 1872, on one flat stem it bore 25 flowers, and on 
