THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— September 10,1856. 429 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day or 
Month. 
1 Day of 
J Week. 
SEPTEMBER 10—22, 1856. 
Weather near London in 
1855. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
16 
Tu 
The brick Moth. 
30.133-29-954 
68—54 
W. 
.04 
39 a 5 
11 a 6 
6 
57 
17 
5 
21 
260 
17 
w 
Ember Week. 
30.026—29.944 
62—55 
E. 
.Oti 
40 
9 
7 
13 
18 
5 
42 
261 
18 
Th 
The frosted Orange Moth. 
29.952-29.941 
69—54 
s.w. 
_ 
42 
6 
7 
35 
19 
6 
3 
262 
19 
F 
The red-line Quaker Moth. 
30.042—29.905 
68—47 
N.E. 
43 
4 
8 
2 
20 
0 
25 
26.3 
20 
s 
^St. Matthew. 
30.130—30.112 
75—44 
S.W. 
_ 
45 
2 
8 
46 
21 
6 
46 
264 
21 
Sun 
18 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.256—30.242 
74—45 
s.w. 
— 
47 
V 
0 
41 
C 
7 
7 
265 
22 
M 
Sun’s declination, 0° 9' n. 
30.274—30.237 
75—41 
E. 
— 
48 
57 
10 
49 
23 
7 
27 
266 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 67 .1°, and 46.0°, respectively. The greatest heat, 84°, occurred on the 17th,in 1843; and the lowest cold, 2y°, on 
the l/th, in 1840. During the period 100 days were fine, and on 00 rain fell. 
GRAND HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. 
CRYSTAL PALACE.—Sept. 10th. 
This was the first general Exhibition for gardeners 
and garden amateurs that was ever held in September 
near London, and it “ came off” most triumphantly. 
The number of plants was immense, particularly of 
Ferns and Lycopoils. Japan Lilies were magnificently 
in bloom. Stove and greenhouse plants in bloom were 
numerous; but, with one or two exceptions, not much 
to boast of. Variegated plants, and plants with beau¬ 
tiful foliage, were uncommonly fine. Orchids, not nu¬ 
merous; Pelargoniums, none; Scarlet Geraniums, tole¬ 
rable, and no more ; Balsams, not worth looking at, 
except two lots; Cockscombs, poor: Verbenas in pots, some 
not amiss, and some most execrable ; Gloxinias, none to 
, speak of; Acliimenes, pretty fair, but only fifth-rate as 
I compared to what yon see down in the country at this 
! season; Fuchsias, numerous, and not amiss, or not 
much to boast of, except two or three lots; Heaths, 
j very few indeed, and only in mixed collections; Nose¬ 
gay Geraniums, not one, and not one gardener out of 
I ten among all the exhibitors knows what, a Nosegay 
Geranium means. Three guineas are offered for the 
best Nosegays, but they must go to Shrubland Park or 
| to Trentham to learn about Nosegays before they can 
! exhibit them. Hybrid Perpetual Geraniums, as Unique, 
j Sidonia, &c., for which tlnee guineas were ottered, are 
; hardly known among Londou exhibitors. The truth 
j is, as 1 have insisted on for the last ten years, the 
“Loudon season” Exhibitions have done just as much 
j damage to gardening, and more so, than all the good 
' they have done. Go into the country, and see the 
i drawing-rooms and conservatories, and you must turn 
i up your nose at the best efforts of these Londoners. 
But wait a while, and Sir Joseph Paxton will change 
the best tune which was played that morning by the 
bands ; it went to these words :— 
** The dogs like milk, 
And the cats like brue, 
The lasses like the lads. 
And the lads the lasses too ; 
And we are all noddin, nid, nid, noddin;** 
but monthly Shows, all the year round, or even Sep¬ 
tember gatherings like this, will make yon “ all nod ” a 
very different nine ere long. Yon were certainly caught 
“ noddin ” this time. I only wish the “ great country 
party” were there to see it, who go about telling their 
gardeners the wonders of London cultivation. Why, 
these Londoners do not even know the names of a tenth 
part of the plants which country gardeners go through 
with ; talk about. Varna, Eupatoria, Balaclava, and the 
London season Shows in the same breath, until they 
get over the panic, and then for the Redan and Malakoff 
m grand style, as the Londoners alone can “ do it.” 
The florists, on the other hand, appeared much better 
than with their Pelargoniums. Their Dahlias and Holly¬ 
hocks were beyond magnificent in manners, in style of 
getting up. and in richness and brill,uuioy of colours; 
and the fruit growers the same; but recollect these 
were chiefly from the country, where the dessert-tables 
are now crowded with the best things in season for the 
comfort and enjoyment of keen sportsmen, who are out 
from morn to dusk with dogs and bags and “ splatter¬ 
dashes,” and who would as soon shoot the ducks on 
the Aquarium, alias the horse-pond, as be seen with 
battuers. 
There were CO yards of Dahlias in three rows, stand¬ 
ing as near to each oilier as they ought, and no more ; 
20 yards of China Asters in boxes, like Dahlias; 50 ( 
yards of Cut Hoses in boxes bolding four or five rows 
across; 10 yards of Hollyhocks in spikes and in cut j 
blooms placed like Dahlias; 25 yards of cottagers' fruit, 
flowers, aud vegetables; and no less than 150 yards j 
of fruit, ] lacked quite close together. More than a 
duplicate of these many yards were on the east side of i 
the great transept, loaded with plants, besides heaps of i 
side stands and a large table for fruit-trees in pots, with ; 
every spare angle and comer about the Peace momi- j 
meets ; but the central space in the great transept was 
comparatively free. 
Mr. Sim, of the Foot's Cray Nursery, in Kent, took 
up his old position under the clock tower (Bennett’s), 
with the largest number of kinds of Ferns ever ex¬ 
hibited by one man at oue time. The country must ; 
certainly be mad about Ferns, when yon must not only 
grow them to perfection itself, but exhibit them on the 
steps of a clock tower, as if to keep time for all this 
madness. 
In collections of twelve stove and greenhouse plants, 
the first prize was won by Mr. Taylor, gardener to J 
Coster, Esq., Streathain. His plants showed that he has [ 
not been “ noddin ” these nmnv years past. He had a i 
fine Vinca, ovidata, the white one, with the red eye; a ; 
splendid AHamanda cathartica; a beautifully-grown 
Ixora coccinea; a Pleroma tlegans in good style; an , 
AHamanda grandiflora, Dipladenia crassinoda, Ixora \ 
1 rosea, Cgrtoceras reflexum; and a “garden seedling” j 
| Heath. 
Mr. Peed followed, taking the second prize with a 
very good Stephanotis floribunda, Ixora. coccinea and 
alba, Pleroma eleguns, Echites, Diplntlenia, Cgrtoceras, 
Rnndeletia speciosa, a large Erica Irbyana, another fine 
Heath, misnamed Uriana for Eweriutut, and Allamanda 
; Hchottii. 
Mr. Htunp was third best with Ixora. Javanioa and 
j coccinea., Statice Holdfordi, JEsdignanthus spiendens, 
Erica, retnrta, Tctralheca verticiUata, Cgrtoceras reflexum, 
Clerodendron fallax, Dipladenia spiendens, Vinca rose,a, 
! and Erica Eweriana,. one of the best fiower-gai den 
| Heaths that ever came from the Cape, and requiring no 
more cave than a Rhododendron of the enine degree of 
hardiness; and Mr. Hamp was fourth with similar 
plants; and several others tried their luck in twelves j 
without much difference in the kinds of plums, except | 
Mr -Cuthiish. nursarvman, Barnet, who had a good 
plant of Polygrda Dalmatiuna, showing it may he had 
from March lo September. 1 often named it Ir.mi a, 
March meeting in Regent Street. A good Nerium, and j 
No. gCCOiVl, Yofi. XVI. 
