JUNE. 
175 
then, of this, I shall have a little bit of gossip about the private show 
at Slough. I was on my way to Oxford last week, and, wanting a few 
things from my good friend Mr. Turner, stopped at the Slough station, 
and wended my way to his nursery. The day was not propitious; 
heavy squalls of wind and rain occurred at frequent intervals; the 
roads were not in very good condition for walking, but a florist cares not 
for these things. When I arrived at the nursery I fjund everybody 
“ high busy,” preparing for the annual private show, so that I had an 
opportunity of seeing some of the flowers for which Mr. T. is so 
famous in their very best condition. The Tulips were not open 
sufficiently, and so on my way back from Oxford I spent another hour 
in the nursery, when the morning was fine and the bed in high perfec¬ 
tion. I did not, then, absolutely see the show; I cannot tell you of the 
throng of fashionables that attended ; I do not know whether Mr. T. 
put any restrictions on the extent of crinoline, or put over his Tulip 
shed—“ No hoops admitted here I am not able to enlighten any one 
on the airs played by the military band in attendance—but I can say 
that I had a better view of the flowers than if I had been there on the 
day. As to Tulips I confess I am a Goth ; I never was—and I fear 
never shall be—infected with a Tulipomania, and certainly Mr. Turner’s 
bed would have the effect of deterring me, for one could never hope to 
have such a one. And what’s the use of being tantalised ? You may 
grow a few good Geraniums, &c., and be not much behind your neigh¬ 
bours ; but when we see Tulips running up to five and ten guineas a 
root, and hear Mr. T. say, “ I gave £100 for the stock of that, last 
year,” you feel that “ discretion is the better part of valour,” and think 
“ hands off” the best direction for you. All I can say is, I saw a sight 
which makes all other Tulip beds—that it has been my lot to see— 
rubbish, and I have no doubt one suitably affected by them would 
think a walk from John o’Groat’s house by no means too long for such 
a sight. 
Geraniums were magnificent. When one looks back to the Chiswick 
shows of twenty years ago, and remembers the huge pots, ones and twos, 
in which they were then exhibited—the forest of stakes disfiguring the 
foliage—one can do justice to the marvellous improvement, both in the 
flowers themselves and their cultivation, which has taken place ; 8 and 
12-inch pots, and in them a plant 3 feet across, one mass of bloom, 
round as a crown piece many of them, and of the most glowing colours 
—rose, crimson, white, spotted and fancy—all were good, and really a 
marvel of good treatment. As people sometimes say of performers at a 
concert, “ where all was good, it would be invidious to particularise,” 
but I was glad to see some old flowers still holding their ground. 
Sanspareil is still the clearest and prettiest of spots ; Governor-General 
beautiful; while of those sent out last season Mazeppa and Etna 
deservedly hold a high place. Mr. T. had some promising seedlings: 
Lady Canning, a beautiful Governor-General style of flower, clean, and 
well shaped ; Ariel, a white, which, if I mistake not, will be extensively 
grown; and J ung Bahadoor, a very dark one. There were besides, 
unnamed, Nos. 20, 14, and 49. 
The Azaleas were very fine, and although this was the first year of 
