TIIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 20. 
speaks right through the marrow of his bones. Hard 
•upon a thousand blooms of Mrs. Jerdon’s Balsam, 
Impatiens Jerdonice, and no Balsam ever yet heard of a 
quarter so handsome. You could hear little all day, 
but about tho Queen and that Balsam. To say that 
you were transfixed, or transloosed, by this or that agency, 
is a mere nothing to the universal sensation created by 
that plant among so many thousands. There were six 
plants of this Balsam at tho very first corner of the 
tent, one of which was full thirty inches across, and 
not more than six inches high, one mass ol gold and 
crimson-scarlet; one or two of the smaller plants which 
1 were tried with more heat, probably, were ten or twelve 
i inches high; but quite as lull ot bloom as the rest. I 
did not see Mr. Veitch, who furnished this great treat. 
I suppose he had the royal command to be iu readiness 
to tell Her Majesty how he grew the Balsam, and other 
things, and I must wait my turn. 
Below the Balsam stood above seventy new or rare 
plants from Mr. Veitch, together with another collection 
of far-fetched things, all of which will stand over for 
another week, except the H ellingtonia gigantea. There 
were six seedling plants of this most valuable evergreen 
tree, iu 32-pots, and iu Mr. Veitab’s best style of nursery 
cultivation, and for all the world they look just like 
so many young plants of the Leschenaultia J'ormosa, 
only a little stouter iu all the parts. 1 bad wished to 
have some of those German and other continental 
philosophers who raised an outcry against Ur. Bindley 
about the name of this tree, alleging that it was a 
Sequoia, the Sequoia gigantea ot Endliclier. The six 
plants before me were backed with two seed cones ol 
Wellingtonia, which would have silenced any botanical 
misgivings whatever. Then, there was another piece ot 
the wood and another piece of the bark of IF ellingtonia, 
those I told of, from Regent Street in the, spring, and if 
the large drawing of tho tree had been up behind the 
specimens, the whole would have been complete, as was 
remarked to me by a lady who came up at the time. 
Variegated Plants. — Here the Messrs. Veitch, 
B.ollinson, and Henderson, ot the Pine-Apple and 
Wellington Nurseries, competed in great strength; and 
here are some of the most remarkable plants from each. 
In a large collection of Aruectochilus, from Mr. Veitch, 
| and without glasses over them, I noted the following 
two varieties of stricta, one of picta, one of Lobbii, 
\ three intermedins, five Low'd, splendid large plants, with 
large leaves, in a purple velvet dress, marked with gold ; 
two setacea, in a lighter purple, but full ol gold lines; 
j Xantliophylla, gold and brown velvet; cordata, the 
same, and a new species from Borneo, with some Phi- 
surus, of which argenteus was the most striking; two 
j varieties of Sonerila maculata, which have, perhaps, 
the very handsomest spotted leaves of all plants we 
know, and they take very little room. E Antes nutans, 
a stove-climber with purple leaves, netted with crimson 
veins iu all directions, is extremely beautiful whilst in a 
young state; Begonia xanthina has large, strong leaves, 
blotched in shades of brown; Begonia Tkwecitsii is more 
slender in the leaves, and is variously marked. These 
two are of recent introduction, and from Ceylon, I 
believe; EUcodendron indicant, with its large Magnolia¬ 
looking leaves, is very striking; Aphelandra squarrosa, 
with citron-yellow flowers, and zebra-like marked leaves; 
and a stronger variety of it called Leopoldi, are two of 
the first water for country gardeners, as they hold on so 
' long iu flower, besides their well marked leaves ; Gesnera 
zebrina splcndida, the very dark purple-leaved kind, was 
rich in the extreme; but i must pass over many more of 
such, to recommend two hardy variegated plants for the 
flow r er-garden in the same collection; these were the 
Greek Valerian (Polemoninm ccerulemn), half white and 
half green in tho leaf, and as pretty, for that kind of 
edging, as the Golden-chain Geranium, aud as hardy as 
293 ; 
a nut. The second is not so bright; the variegated 
A raids pr<ccox, a spring flower. 
Mr. Veitch had also largo specimens ol Philesia buxi- 
folia, three feet through and thirty inches high; Veronica 
variegata, as big as a bush, and as full of flowers as any 
plant ever was; and a Pleroma elegans nearly as large. 
After these ho had thirty-two Rhododendrons of the new 
Sikkim breed, of which Falconeri had tho largest leaf, 
argenteum next, and Hodsonii third, of plants with “fine 
foliage.” Mr. Veitch also had Stenocarpus Gunning- 1 
liamii, one of the handsome Froteads allied to the 
Waratch of Australia (Zelopca) with leaves branched, 
so to speak, like a stag's horn; it was niue feet high. 
Araucaria, Cook'd, as green as a leek, and much after 
the looks of the Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria ex- 
celsa) ; Calamus viminalis, one of the Cune Palms, with 
long prickly stems and stalks. Dicksohia antartica, or 
the gigantic Eern-tree of St. Helena, subdued down to a 
root-stock by antarctic climate, but with wide-spreading 
fronds worthy of the family name. Cupania dunning- 
hamia, one of the Akee fruit-trees, looking like a 
Spathodea from tho Gold Coast. Tho great Nepaul 
Berbcris ('Nepalensis), and Berber is Leschenaultia, also | 
from Nepaul, and a magnificent example of Philodendron ■ 
perlusum, with many openings through the leaves, toge 
ther with some score of Pitcher plants; with cut flowers ! 
of a new Dipladenia, in the way of Crassinoda, besides 
collections of terns, and Lycopods, and many new plants, 
which I leave out for another week. Mr. Robinson and I 
the Messrs. Henderson had also many of the above [ 
sorts, aud some more, as the following, from the Tooting 
emporium : out of seventy kinds these are most valuable, 
aud chiefly store plants. Beginning with Ferns, we 
have Gynmogramma Massonii, powdered with gold dust. 
Pteris trernnla, with long footstalks, and, as it were, 
holding up the most elegant leaves trembling at the 
breath of a fly. Platgcerum grande, from Morton Bay, 
and grand, indeed, it was, embracing its own support by 
the natural spreading of its own web-footed Ironds. 
Nephrolepis darcallioides, remarkable lor Inviting all 
round the crenulations, or ups-and-downs, round the 
edges of the leaves. Blechnum corcoradensis, from 
beyond the town of liio, and looking, for all the world, 
like some of our own Lastrea Ferns. Didymochlana 
sinuosa, four upright strong fronds, four feet high. 
Dromaria corcoradensis, like the Scythian Lamb Fern. 
Different Saracenias, and Pitcher Plants, of which 
Hookerii was different from what I read of the descrip¬ 
tion, if I reeollect rightly. 
A new Pitcher Plant has recently been found as far 
south as New Caledonia, a most curious fact in geo¬ 
graphical botany, which is not the question here by- 
the-by, but the rest of these noble looking plants 
from the Messrs. Robinson—bother the Pitcher, 1 
lost my mark — but here it is, Ropala, or, more pro¬ 
perly, Rhopala niagnifica, another example of the 
happy name given to Proteads, for where on the 
face of the whole earth can you find a match for all 
this diversity of aspect in one natural family. You , 
cannot even guess at the appearance ot one Protead, 1 
from a knowledge of the very next plant to it in a 
natural arrangement, or any arrangement yon choose to 
make of them. These magnificent Rhopalas present | 
the purple down peculiar to tho Stag-horn Sumach on 
most of their young parts; their leaves ot different 
forms are arranged in pinnated order; the plants are ot 
free growth, and look web with or without flowers. 
Rhopala elegans, more slender than niagnifica, and others 
of them, with several Jacarandas. Another set of iiuo- 
leavod, strong plants, Dacrydium cupressinum, with the 
brown tint peculiar to that family. A fine new species 
of Jonesia, next in beauty to Amhcrstia. Udea pinna- 
tifida, a fine climber. Xanthochymus oblongus, one of 
tiie Gamboge-trees of India, with iarge Magnolia-looking 
