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ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION OF AMERICAN PLANTS. 
Mr. H. Waterer, are remarkably fine things, which must be had by all who admire first-class flowers. 
“ But,” remarks some anti-florist, “ Everestianum, what a magnificent thing, how beautifully fringed, 
and what a lovely colour.” Granted: it is a lovely thing as seen in the collection of Mr. John Waterer, 
and we must confess that, much as we desire to see fine formed flowers, we are not sufficiently preju¬ 
diced and artificial in our taste to wish to see the form of this fine flower altered. It is distinct and 
beautiful, and as such let it remain; shining by contrast with more modern productions, and breaking 
that sameness of outline which alone can satisfy the longings of our thorough-going florists. 
The exhibition of American plants is held, as we have before stated, in the Garden of the Royal 
Botanic Society in the Regent’s Park, under a tent covering a considerable space of ground, which has 
been arranged, with an eye both to taste and utility, by the worthy curator of the garden, Mr. Marnock. 
Entering by the central and principal entrance, the ground slopes considerably, and advantage has been 
taken of this to raise mounds on each side, extending almost to the bottom of the tent, and divided into 
clumps edged with grass verges, in which the shrubs are planted. The open space between these 
principal clumps has a number of raised circular beds of various sizes, in the centre of which fine single 
specimens of tree Rhododendrons are placed, the remaining space being covered with dwarf and very 
choice varieties. In our engraving, which must only be considered a “ bird’s eye view,” the tent and its 
appurtenances of supports, &c., is left out, our object being to picture a pretty garden scene, which all 
who have the means may create for themselves; and that at no very formidable outlay, in any place 
between the Land’s End and John O’Groats, or the Giant’s Causeway and Cape Clear. 
Among the most absurd of vulgar errors is that of supposing that American plants will not grow 
almost in any situation, from the deep ravine to the mountain top, from the floating island, formed on 
some rude raft, to the driest peak which this or any other temperate country supplies. All that is 
necessary is cultivation, and, as a matter of course, preparation ; and every estate, every locality in the 
wide range before alluded to, will supply material as good as can be desired, if properly prepared and 
intermixed. In the place, in one of the midland counties, where the writer of this first saw the light, 
and where an estate of many thousands of acres does not yield a handful of peat earth, which many 
consider the only suitable soil for American plants, are some of the finest specimens of Rhododendrons 
in the world, growing in a sandy marly yellow loam, of some two feet in depth; some of the plants 
twenty years back being thirty feet in diameter, and proportionately high, and what they are at the 
present time, we hope shortly to have the means of showing. All that is required to grow American 
plants to perfection is, a soil deep and porous, and rich in vegetable matter, and whoever can command 
top-spit loam, with leaf mould or other decomposed vegetable matter, and some good gritty sand, 
may grow American plants as well as they grow at Bagshot, or in any other peaty locality. On this 
subject we shall have more to say when noticing “ Waterer’s system of growing Rhododendrons, &c.,” 
by Mr. W, B. M’Pherson, an attache of Mr. H. Waterer’s establishment, and Messrs. Standish and 
Noble’s Catalogue, which contains an excellent treatise on the culture of American plants. 
To return to the exhibition :—On entering, the ground to the right and left is occupied by plants 
from Messrs. Standish and Noble, of Bagshot; the bottom of the tent with a part of the side slips by 
Mr. H. Waterer of Knap-hill; the right side by Mr. John Waterer of Bagshot, and the left by Mr. G. 
Baker’s plants from the Windlesham Nursery, Bagshot. 
In these collections the most remarkable kinds, at the time of our visit, were the following :— 
Messrs. Standish & Noble. 
Rhododendron, Miss Agnes London, rose, tipped with 
salmon, tolerable form. 
R. Mrs. Loudon , pinkish salmon, nicely spotted, de¬ 
ficient in form, but conspicuous. 
R. Maid of Athens, delicate pink, nice form. 
R. Rulchellum , dark purple, tipped. 
LI. Rictum , white, with a dark spot, pretty. 
R. Roseum comp actum, a compact rose-coloured 
flower, of tolerable form. 
R. Erectum, deep rose, good. 
R. Candidmn, fine white, faintly tipped with lilac. 
R. Elegans , rose colour, distinct, and very dwarf. 
R. Sabrina, pale pink, delicately marked on the 
throat. 
Mr. John Waterer. 
R. Lyonense , pink, very pretty. 
R. Rrinceps , pinkish lilac. 
R. Everestianum , delicate pink, or French white ; 
the flowers fringed, and very abundant. 
R. Maculosum, white, tipped with pale lilac, greenish 
blotch. 
R. Nivaticum, the best of the whites as to colour, 
but deficient in form, free. 
R. Gloriosum, pale lilac, very large. 
R. Delicatissimum , white, tipped with lilac, first- 
rate. 
R. Vestitum coccineum, rosy scarlet, nicely marked, 
R. Hyacinthiflorum , rosy lilac, or purple, double, and 
very distinct. 
II Macranthum, bright rose, shaded to the edge. 
R. Roseum elegans, very profuse. 
It. Leopardii, very distinct and late, large and good, 
purple, with brown spots. 
R. Rlatteum, very large, the flowers being four 
inches across, distinct. 
