EXHIBITION OF AMERICAN PLANTS IN THE GARDEN OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY. 
F the many sights about Town which have been claiming the attention of 
the public, that of the American plants in the Garden of the Royal Botanic 
Society was not the least attractive. With the following summary of what was there to be 
seen, we have also much pleasure in presenting our readers with a sketch, showing to some 
extent the arrangement and grouping of the plants. A more gorgeous floral feast it would 
be almost impossible to conceive in a space so limited, unless with Dr. Wallich we picture 
to ourselves the Rhododendrons of the Himalayas, the effect of which he compares, when 
viewed at a distance, to that of regiments of soldiers, in scarlet uniforms, in the full sun. There, 
however, the Rhododendrons are nearly all scarlet; here, unfortunately, the paler colours, as purples, 
1 lilacs, and lighter hues prevail, and hence the effect is quiet and very much less glittering. Thanks, 
however, to the industry of the Bagshot nurserymen, and some few private individuals, the race of 
hardy Rhododendrons is fast improving, and varieties nearly as bright in colour as their parents 
of the eastern hemisphere are fast coming into cultivation; so that, in a few years, those who go 
with the times, and add the novelties as they appear to their collections, will entirely change the 
character and appearance of their American gardens, while for single specimens upon lawns 
these high-coloured varieties will be invaluable. It is not only in colour that Rhododendrons 
are improving; in form and substance also they are making way. They are losing the flimsy frilly 
character, and gaining in size of truss and of individual flower, also thickness and rotundity, and the 
cup-like form, which alone can make them what florists desire they should be. One which we have 
seen this season, and which we hope shortly to figure, called Towardii, raised by Messrs. Standish and 
Noble, is nearly perfect in that respect, and Rembrandt, Murillo, and Guido, in the collection of 
VOL. II. B 
