294 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 20. 
the north-east peak of the saddle of Carraccas, down, 
down, a sheer perpendicular, as Ion" as from here to 
Varna, and splash into the Lake of Maracaybo, when I 
awoke, all on the shake, and all through these green 
laced Petunias at tho Regent’s Park. Shmblanil Hose 
Petunia, and Rosy Circle, in the same way, were the only 
good Petunias here. 
Feuns. —Very numerous, and in collections of British 
species, some under large bell-glasses, and a rare one, 
from Killarney, in a Wardian case; this was Triolio- 
manes spedosa, a kind supposed, till recently, not to be 
a native of these isles. Perns are not good exhibition 
plants, unless it be such kinds as can be grown into 
dense large plants. 
Roses. —-Immense quantities of them in cut flowers 
all round the large conservatory inside; where also 
stood, I know not how many Pinks, Carnations, Pan¬ 
sies, Ranunculuses, Irises, Gladioluses, Sweet Williams, 
and other cut flowers. There was a box full of Geunt 
des Batailles, and another of Paul Ricaut, from Mr. 
Lane, splendid samples; and no less so in a box of a 
new hybrid perpetual Rose, called Duchess of Norfolk, 
from Mr. Wood, of Maresfield—this is a high-coloured 
perpetual Rose, with much the looks of that beautiful 
China Rose called Crcunoisic superieurc. But to write 
about cut Roses at an exhibition in London, one would 
need to begin on the first of January in each year. 
Gloxin+as ant) Achimenes.-— The latter have also dis¬ 
appeared this season, except a few new ones, and a large 
lot of newish Gloxinias from Messrs. Henderson and 
Son, of the Wellington Nursery. Black Prince, a dark 
purplish blue Gloxinia, and the best of the race of 
Violacca, which originated with me in 1834. Magnet, 
a light-red, and Leonie Van Haute, ditto ; Erecta mag- 
mfica, the best of that class of Gloxinias which turn 
up and look so much like a Foxglove inverted. This is 
a fine thing, certainly. Of the different Achimenes, 
a crimson one, called Sir Treclierne Thomas, was the 
best. But I must defer my accounts of “ new and rare,” 
or scarce plants, both here and at Chiswick, to another 
week, as no justice could be done to this important 
class in a running commentary like this; besides, I 
must make “ garden gossip,” and my own budget, bear 
on the novelties and varieties of the season, while they 
are fresh in the memory. The Orchids were more 
numerous, and much better seen at Chiswick; and 1 
shall mention them under that head. D. Beaton. 
EXHIBITION AT TIIE GARDEN OF THE 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— July 8. 
A vera' dull, wet morning; but on reaching Kingston, 
whence I go to Chiswick through Richmond, and asking 
the conductor of the omnibus about the weather, ho 
cheered up with “All right, sir; all right; the Queen is 
going to the Chiswick Garden this afternoon, and the 
weather is as safe as you would be if you were booked 
to the Bank.” I saw be had swallowed the Times with 
his coffee. The arrangement about the Queen’s visit was 
announced in the Times of that morning; the conductor 
was “ all right;” the weather did clear up to a “ Queen’s 
day,” and the Queen did come about half-past five, saw 
all that was to be seen, and was seen by all who could, 
except your humble servant. The fact is, or was, there 
, were large placards in blue letters in all places in and 
| about the garden, telling us the Queen was coming in 
! the afternoon, and hoping that we would all consent to 
i let the tents be cleared when her Majesty arrived ; but 
long before she left the palace the crowds “ cleared ” 
themselves out of all the tents, and took to the best 
places for seeing tho first royal horticultural procession 
; on record. Another scene like that of the Floet, the 
l Launch, and the opening of the Crystal Palace tvas 
nearly ripe, and who could help looking out for the best 
berths in time! The highest nobility in the land were 
just as eager in all this as the rest of us, as I can tell 
to my cost; for to tell the truth, I went to drink her 
Majesty’s health at the iron pump behind the hot-houses; 
and before I could get back again, every spot from which 
the Queen could be seen was occupied. Here I met two 
very loyal subjects no better off, so I went for a bench, 
we sat on it outside the great chain, and had an hour’s 
travel over California, Patagonia, New Caledonia, Java, 
Borneo, and so on to China, and back to the Indian 
ranges, then over to Ceylon, making our way back by 
Madagascar, Natal, the Cape, the Bight of Benin, and 
Sierra Leone, whence we struck across to New Orleans, 
and just as we were getting on the shores in the marshes 
of Carolina, after Saraoenias, Dionceas, and such like, 
the band, behind us, struck up the national anthem, and 
all were eyes and ears. We stood up on the bench, but 
could only see part of tbe procession crossing in front 
of the royal pavilion at the head of the tents. - The royal 
pavilion Avas surmounted by the British crown, with 
chairs, couches, and crimson cloth inside, more befiting 
an Indian chief or a Turkish pacha, than a Queen who 
never tires. When all was over, the royals and right 
royalists followed her Majesty down to the Duke of 
Devonshire’s beautiful villa gardens, and I returned 
through Richmond, talcing “maids of honour”* home 
with mo to supper as I did not see the Queen. 
I think the principal exhibitors must have known of 
the royal visit, as they mustered in great force and filled 
all the tents to overcrowding; and taking the show as a 
whole, I never saw a better; and I have been, in one 
way or another, at these exhibitions regularly for the 
last twenty years—all with whom I came in contact 
affirmed the same signs of prosperity. More than two- 
thirds of the stove and greenhouse plants which were at 
the Regent Park on the previous Wednesday were here 
to day, with a very large addition of bettor and more 
. valuable plants; and what is more to the mark, all these 
| came from the nurseries—from Mr. Veitch’s, the Messrs. 
1 Rollinsou, and the Messrs. Henderson, of the Wellington 
; and of the Pine Apple Nurseries. Each of these sent 
1 collections of upwards of seventy plants of tho most 
rare, the most curious, and the most valuable plants in 
< England, in addition to the usual share of the more 
popular plants. 
My share in tho work of the day was really enormous; 
but like “ more cost more honour,” the more the difficulty 
the greater the pleasure; for all the bother in this world 
of ours, nothing is more tiresome than to have to sit 
down, day after day, and night after night, to stale 
dishes and old stories, which you have seen, tasted, and 
tired of, a thousand times over and over again. If ever 
! I am on the reporting staff again, I wish, most earnestly, 
; that Her Majesty would intimate her “ gracious in¬ 
tention” a month beforehand, when she purposes to 
honour any of the shows with her royal presence. Then 
I should have to do what would be worth doing, judging 
from the spirit in which each and all came out on the 
present occasion. The fact is, there is no Queen like 
Queen Victoria; and wo of the horticultural world, at 
least, have the evidence of our senses, that we cannot 
get on in our improvements and designs without the 
royal aid and presence; we had both to day,Her Majesty 
competing in the highest class of “ new or very rare 
plants,” and was successful, as usual. Putting off my 
accounts of these new or rare plants for another week, 
let us enter the first tent as you go from the National 
School, or North Gate, and prepare your nerves for an 
electric shock. 
If “ J. S.,” our worthy friend at page 260, were to 
I enter by this rout, the first mass of bloom which he 
l encountered would drive the electricity of which he 
I * Sweet cakes, so called, for which Richmond is celebrated. 
