176 
THE FLORIST. 
Mr. T. exhibiting this flower, yet he carried all before him. The growth 
of these plants was also very wonderful—one dense mass of bloom, and 
not a leaf to be seen. 
Cinerarias were declining, of course, but there were two which I 
think are destined to take and hold the lead for some time—Perfection 
and Wonderful, the former especially; it has every requisite for a 
Cineraria, round in shape, well defined in colours, and excellent in 
habit. 
Auriculas were nearly over, but still there were some very fine 
blooms of Ne Plus Ultra, Conqueror of Europe, Colonel Taylor, 
Metropolitan, &c., but more of these anon; altogether, I left the place 
perfectly satisfied that Mr. Turner is the king of florists, and that we 
small gardeners are very small indeed. 
Some of the beds of bedding plants were already filled ; but as I 
hope before the summer is over to get another peep at the nursery, I 
shall then be able to report as to whether the new things in this line 
deserve the high encomiums passed on them. There is one flower 
which, I am sorry to see, has baffled even Mr. T.—the Pansy; his 
whole stock appears to have gone, but some good seedlings are on their 
way, if he can keep them. Such a summer as last in these southern 
latitudes was too severe upon this flower, and it may be a melancholy 
satisfaction to some who, like myself, lost nearly their all, to know that 
even so accomplished a florist as Mr. T. was baffled. 
The note sounds lound and shrill, my reverend brethren are putting 
on their armour, getting their longest and sharpest thorns ready for the 
joust on the 1st of July. We used to say in Ireland— 
“ July the first, in Oldbridge town 
There was a grievous battle.” 
But the encounter in St. James’s Hall will be not a grievous but a 
friendly contest; champions of the Queen of Flowers are preparing to 
come from all parts of the kingdom; and I can only add, as I think of 
the rich treat in store, “ May I be there to see.” 
Deal, May 24. D. 
THE LATE MR. M'EWEN. 
Many of our readers will have seen the announcement of the decease 
of Mr. George McEwen, for the last fourteen months Superintendent of 
the Horticultural Society’s Garden at Chiswick. Mr. McEwen had 
been in a delicate state of health for some time past, and no doubt the 
anxieties and cares of his new situation helped to aggravate the disease 
to which he finally succumbed at the early age of 38. As a practical 
and scientific gardener Mr. McEwen’s merits were very great, and had 
his life been spared, his talents and energies would have found a suitable 
field for exertion in the important situation he so ably filled, of which 
we may judge by the great improvements he had effected in every 
department of the garden, during the few months it had been placed 
under his management. 
O 
