October 0. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
17 
here is, the exhibitor puts up a stand of a hundred 
if he likes; the judges to go about and mark the best, 
second, and third of each class. This is a task which 
we would refuse to undertake for anybody. The exhi¬ 
bitors ought to be compelled to put their own flowers up 
in classes, and not be allowed to put more than one 
flower of a sort up ; because the judges then go to a 
dozen scarlet, or purple, or white, or other flowers alto¬ 
gether, and can select the best with the greatest facility; 
whereas, having to w'alk about the room and fish out the 
different flowers that deserve prizes, and marking them 
as they stand, is more than any man can do properly, 
and more than they ought to be required to attempt. 
King was shown fine; the outcry against this, as it 
seems, was chiefly by those who have not got it, and ! 
want to get it cheap. We hope those who have got it 
will not think of its going out at less than half-a-crown. 
Many things were exhibited that may be worth notice ; 
another time. The meeting was called at twelve, the 
productions remained on the table till five—this is as it j 
should be. 
At the last Oxford Show, which was on the twenty- 
first anniversary of the society, the Dahlias were put up 
with great taste, and the majority of exhibitors had evi¬ 
dently conformed to the rules laid down in “ The Pro¬ 
perties of Flowers.” Some stands were spoiled by the 
introduction of new flowers, many of which are far 
behind the old ones; but there was scarcely an eye to 
be seen in any of the collections, nor did the largest 
flowers win. 
The cottagers’ productions were beyond all praise, and 
they excelled the gentlemen and their gardeners in all the 
useful vegetables. Fuchsias were shown well for the season; 
Cockscombs capital; cut flowers, rich, and abundant. Two 
leaves of the Victoria regia were communicated from the 
; Botanic garden, which is greatly improving in every respect: 
I the leaves were between five and six feet over. A sump- 
j tuous dinner at the Maidenhead Inn, where sixty or seventy 
I of the members and friends sat down, closed one of the 
most successful seasons. The people most behind in Oxford 
are the nurserymen, who want a spur. 
The worst thing a society can do is to give way to 
individual whims and fancies. 
Some men threaten to “ withdraw, and all their friends,” 
if a point be not conceded; others perpetually wrangle, if 
things are voted in a different way to that which they wish. 
The only straightforward way to carry on business is to 
discuss freely at full meetings; take the sense of the full 
meeting; and, the majority being divided, carry it through 
even at the loss of a member or two. Firmness in the 
executive is the only way to carry on business, and it is the 
bounden duty of the minority to give way. 
Wo are glad to find that the Gardeners’ Benevolent 
Institution, thanks for which are chiefly due to its inde¬ 
fatigable secretary, Mr. Cutler, is going on prosperously. 
The Queen and Prince Albert have consented to become 
its patrons, and Mr. Dickens will bo the chairman at 
the next anniversary dinner. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
IlJEIR PORTRAITS, BIOGRAPHIES, AND CULTURE. 
Star-like Osbeck (Osheclda stellata). — Gardeners’ Maga¬ 
zine of Botany, iii. 217.—This genus was named by the 
great Linnaeus, in honour of P. Osbeck, a Swedish 
clergyman and naturalist, and the present species was 
named, about thirty years ago, by Mr. Don, soon after 
its introduction from the hot valleys of Nepaul; and a 
coloured figure of it was given in Edward’s Botanical 
Register in 1820 ; but in those days the growth of stove 
plants was much less understood than it is now, and 
more particularly that of the whole order of Melasto- 
mads, of which Osbeckia heads one of the sections. The 
consequence was, that this fine plant, like many others, 
was soon lost, and had there not been a description ol 
it preserved at the time, we should now, very likely, hail 
it as a new plant, on its second appearance, when it was 
recently raised from fresh seeds, sent from India to the 
Glasnevin Botanic Garden, and through the well-known 
liberality of the curator, Mr. Moore, seeds of it were soon 
distributed to similar establishments ; and a beautifully- 
executed figure of it is in a late number of the Gardeners 
Magazine of Botany, from plants reared in the Apothe¬ 
cary Society’s Garden at Chelsea. The flowers are large 
and very beautiful, of a rosy lilac hue, and not unlike 
the flower of a moderately-sized Hibiscus. The plant 
does not grow very large, or if it does under our modern 
system, it may now be had of a small size, for flowering, 
from cuttings. The leaves are opposite, in pairs, like 
most of the Melastomads, and they are strongly marked 
with ribs, or costie, which run along from the footstalk 
to the point, another peculiarity of this order of plants. 
The opposite leaves, with prominent ribs from top to 
bottom, and the long-beaked anthers, are undeceivable 
marks of a true Melastomad. From these distinct cha¬ 
racters, Decandolle asserts that, “ although Melastomads 
are composed entirely of exotic plants, and the order 
established at a period when but few species were known, 
it is so well characterised that no one has ever thought 
of putting any part of it in any other group, or even 
introducing into it genera that do not rightly belong 
to it.” 
