10 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY S JULY EXHIBITION. 
sented in our plate. Sown in March, they come into flower by the end of May; and promise 
to continue a couple of months in bloom: our plants, though small, are still (July 10) quite 
fresh, and likely to remain in bloom at least a month longer. Seeds sown about June would 
probably produce plants to bloom throughout the autumn. 
Being small, and bearing a persistent somewhat deceptive leaf-like calyx, it will be necessary, 
in order to its perpetuation, to examine the plants closely, so as to gather, as they reach matu¬ 
rity, such of the follicular capsules as produce perfect seeds. 
The name Grammanthes is derived from the Greek gramma , writing, and anthos , a flower, 
in allusion to the letter-V-like spot at the base of the lobes of the corolla, sometimes conspicu¬ 
ous in the blossoms.—M. 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY'S JULY EXHIBITION. 
711HE last of these annual gatherings in the Garden of the Royal Botanic Society took place on 
A the third of July, and was very numerously and respectably attended. The morning was 
threatening, and at times the rain fell heavily; the wind also was very rough; but towards noon it 
abated, the clouds cleared off, and a more enjoyable or delightful afternoon could not have been 
desired for an out-door fete. In July, the Exhibition, with the exception of Roses and Fruit, is always 
expected to be an inferior one; but on this occasion it formed an exception, and was certainly one of 
the finest exemplifications of cultural skill which we have seen for a number of years. Of Fruit? 
nothing like it, either in quantity or quality, has been seen since July 1845, when, at Chiswick, there 
was a magnificent display; but even that was inferior to the exposition of Wednesday. From the 
gardens of the Dowager Duchess of Northumberland, at Syon, Mr Ivison again produced a collection 
of tropical fruits and spices; and Mr. Bray, gardener to E. Lousada, Esq., had a fine collection of 
the Citrus family, some kinds evincing very superior management. Pines were scarcely up to the 
mark, though some respectable productions were presented ; but even the advocates of the Meudon 
plan found it more convenient to produce eight pound Providences than Queens twelve pounds each, 
the standard set up for Queen Pine growing a year or two back by one of our weekly contemporaries. 
Black grapes were fine, but most of the White ones were very inferior, being very unripe; indeed, 
the only really ripe Muscats we have seen this season were the Muscats shown by Mr. Spencer, in 
May, and some people were so ill-natured as to say, which was not the case, that those had been kept 
over from last year. Some of the Peaches and Nectarines were splendid, both in size and colour; and 
a vast quantity of monstrous Strawberries, and abundance of gGod-looking Melons, were also there. 
We are glad to see this effort of the Fruit-growers to retrieve their lost laurels, and it is only for the 
Horticultural Society to hold out the same inducements that is held out by the Royal Botanic Society, 
and Fruit will soon regain its wonted position at Horticultural exhibitions. What can be more absurd 
than the present arrangements at Chiswick ? No prize is offered for a collection of Fruit, and con¬ 
sequently the Ingrams, Flemings, Spencers, MofFats, and a host of large market growers, are either 
driven from the exhibition altogether, or are compelled to enter the lists with small but not less 
meritorious growers, and hence, instead of several large collections, producing in themselves a magni¬ 
ficent display, the exhibition is frittered into separate dishes, many good enough certainly, but in no 
way bespeaking the pomological riches of some of the great gardens of this great country. The great 
growers of Fruit, like the great growers of Plants, must be encouraged, and if the Horticultural 
Society neglects the duty for which its “ Charter " was granted, the Council must not be surprised if 
the Royal Botanic Society does that for which its “ Charter” was not granted. We make these 
remarks at this season, because it is the last occasion upon which we shall have to write upon the 
subject, and with the hope that the Council of the Horticultural Society will place the arrange¬ 
ment of their schedule another season hi the hands of competent and disinterested individuals, who 
have neither private picque nor jealousy to prevent their doing that which they consider right to pro¬ 
mote the interests of the Society and horticulture generally. The officers of the Society brought the 
exhibitions, but a few years back, to “ a beggarly account of empty benches.” Again, florist’s flowers 
are almost excluded ; and if care be not taken, it is not improbable that other things will decrease in 
quantity. Liberal prizes judiciously awarded are the only things which can maintain the celebrity of 
the Chiswick fetes ; but let them once more be reduced to what they were a few years back, and they 
are gone for ever. 
To return to the exhibition:—The collections of stove and greenhouse plants were very rich, much 
more so than we could have expected to have seen them, after such parching weather as that which 
