292 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
JuLT 20. 
solutely essential, however, to select healthy wood, fully ! 
exposed to the sun’s rays, and the more Iruittul the 
! tree, in its own character, the better. Old trees, if 
! healthy, should, I think, have the preference. 
R. Errington. 
EXHIBITION A'f THE ROYAL BOTANIC 
GARDEN, REGENT’S PARK.— July 5th. 
“ Too much ” has been the exception, not the rule, of 
the adage this week. We had two exhibition of two of 
the greatest and most influential societies for such j 
things in the world, but by no means too much of a 
good thing. The royal palm has been cast into the 
waters of Marah at last, and at the last of the two 
meetings. The Queen heard of the great loss sustained 
by the Horticultural Society through the launch in May 
aud the opening of the Crystal Palace in June. Her 
Majesty heard, also, that the Scottish portion, at least, 
i of the gardeners who contributed to the tables at Chis¬ 
wick were sadly cast down at not seeing the Queen 
there but once for the last ten years; and, also, that 
serious talk about the days of “Culloden,” were heard 
round the potting-boards, far and near. A sad change 
for them in these troublesome times. Surely, then, we 
had not too many shows this week, seeing, now, that all 
this is rectified, most graciously on the one hand, and 
most loyally on the other. No sooner did Her Majesty 
learn the slate of things at the Horticultural, than she 
made known to the authorities her gracious intention of 
paying a state visit, as it were, to the gardens, on the 
afternoon of the show day, that all might see her. This 
is the first time in our history that royalty mixed with 
show folks in these or any other gardens, and the effect 
on the show, and on the number of visitors of the first 
class, was most remarkable, as 1 shall show presently; 
but the crowning part of the story is this—the royal 
wish that all the principal exhibitors should be in readi¬ 
ness to attend the royal party and procession in the 
tents, and a lot of as spruce fellows as ever you saw 
they turned out certainly, some of them with their 
loyalty oozing out in great heavy drops; but I lost the 
usual garden gossip in the afternoon by all this loyalty, 
for they had to go home for an extra shave, and got 
their best things on, and would not speak to a body 
after that. 
REGENT'S PARK. 
There was an excellent show of plants, fruits, and cut- 
flowers here on Wednesday the 5th, but, with the ex¬ 
ception of one collection from the Messrs. Standish and 
Noble, of Bagshot, there was not much novelty in the 
way of new plants ; there were no Roses in pots, but 
enormous quantities of cut Roses; the Fuchsias were 
even better than they were here in June; the stove and 
greenhouse plants much about the samo as in J line; 
the Pelargoniums, on the whole, were a shade better 
| than they were in Juno, and the fancy Geraniums were 
! far better. The Orchids were visibly on the decline, 
but not much ; Heaths were as varied, I believe, as the 
season of the year, and this large family could warrant 
us to expect, and the size, training, and healthy appear¬ 
ance of the plants could not possibly be found fault 
with, even by an angry critic; there were eight collec¬ 
tions of Ferns, not at all judiciously selected for a 
: popular exhibition, but sent rather to sustain the name 
of the garden, Royal Botanic, and yet the royal Fern 
| (Osmunda reyalis) was not there. There was not a singlo 
Cineraria shown here or at Chiswick this season ; a fact 
which 1 have all along predicted, since the florists took 
them in hand. When tin's war is over, I would vote for 
the transportation of all the British florists, in one 
j lump, to the Crimea. Dahlias, Calceolarias, Fuchsias, 
and Cinerarias might then be not only tolerated, but 
even brought up again to general favour, and now that 
the Queen has gone to Chiswick, we could do very well 
without florists at all, and altogether. 
Fruit. —I never saw such quantities of the best des¬ 
cription of fruit brought together. The Duke of Norfolk 
had the first gold prize for a collection. The Duchess 
of Sutherland being next, and the Marquis of Lans- 
downe third best, but he had enough fruit there to make 
a suitable dessert for eighty peers. I once helped to 
lay the dessert for 400, at a dinner of the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society, in Edinburgh, when we had fully 
as many Peaches, Nectarines, and Grapes, as were at 
the Regent’s Park this day, but not nearly so many 
Pine-apples. 
Stove and Greenhouse Plants. —These were ex¬ 
hibited in sixteen plants as the first collection, of which 
were three, the first prize to Mr. May, gardener to H. 
Colyer, Esq., Hartford; the second to Mr. Speed, of 
Edmonton; and the third to Mr. Green, gardener to Sir 
E. Antrobus, Bart. I could tell all the plants in these 
three collections without crossing the Thames that day, 
beginning with Allamanda cathartica, neruifolia, and 
Schotti, Grassula or Kalosanthes, coccinea, miniata and 
superha, Glcrodendron fallax, squaniatum, and Kcempferi, 
Sti'phanotis floribunda, Ixora coccinea, crocata, javanica, 
and salicifolia, of which there were two varieties at the 
show. Two good and one bad Roelia ciliata, an old 
and difficult plant to grow. Teivaiheca verticillata, 
Polygala cordi folia, aud ojipositifolia, Rondeletia speciosa, 
Dipladcnia splendens, and crassinoda, with Echites atro- 
purpurea, all three supposed to be difficult to grow a 
few years back, but now they are in every collection of 
ten plants and upwards. Pimelea Iiendersonii, and 
decussata, Dracocephalum gracile, alias Sphenotoma, 
Vinca rosea, and alba, Pleroma elegans, Phcenocoma 
proUferum (old Elichrysurn), another old difficult one. 
: Lcschenaultia formosa, two everlastings (Aphelexis), 
I Staiice Holdfordii, and the following Heaths, Ohlata, 
i which was also in seven collections. A large, white 
flower, in terminal heads. Massonii, green, yellow, aud 
red ditto, and a difficult one. Parmcnticra, splendid, and 
the colour, lateritia, as in the Azalea so called. Savilla, 
like the flowers of the pale cincrea. ( G. carnea), on Chob- 
ham Common, and literally covered in them. Gaven- 
dishii, best yellow ; depressa, second best ditto ; and one 
magnificent metulcrjlora, of three shades. All these 
were in the three large collections of sixteens, and no 
more. The next collections were in twelves, of which 
were three by nurserymen only—the Messrs. Rollinson, 
of Tooting, Mr. Fraser, of Lea Bridge, and Mr. 
: Tamplin, of Hornsey, I think. The next were in tens, 
and there were six exhibitors. 'The next and last were 
in sixes, and there were five of them, besides collections 
of Crassulas, Heaths, and Ixoras, and in all these 
I different collections the following are the only additions 
to the stove and greenhouse plants:— Rhyncospennum 
jasminoides, an excellent pot-plant, and summer out¬ 
door climber; Sollyea linearis, hctcrophylla, and salici¬ 
folia, which was new to me. It was in a collection of 
ten, by Mr. Reed, gardener to Mrs. Tieadwcll, St. John’s 
Lodge, Norwood, Surrey. It is only an improved variety 
of heterophylla, with larger flowers, and of a lighter 
blue. Mirhclia dilatata, a pink, pea-flowered, greenhouse 
plant, with the looks of a new Acacia, in a ten group, by 
Mr. Clark, gardener to Mrs. Webb, of Hoddeston ; this 
was the only plant out of the common run. Pentas 
carnea, Cyrtoceras rejlexa, Boronia serrulata, Epaoris 
mineata, Xanthosia rotumlifolia ; a very old one up 
again ; blue Leschenaultia, aud L. Baxteri, Tabertut- 
montana coronaria, Hoya bella, Azalea varieyaia, Mi- 
traria coccinea. Let the reader count or arrange tlie 
above for himself, in so many groups, and he will judge 
the richness of so many of the best summer plants all 
put together, and every one of them ip the best cop- 
