March 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Just consider, for one moment, this simple and single 
fact. The Horticultural Society introduced this Primrose 
from China thirty years since; the gardeners about 
London are the best gardeners in the world; the 
Horticultural Society have roused the spirit of emulation 
with medals of gold and medals of silver, and by hard 
cash down “ on the nail,” for these thirty years, but all 
this practice, emulation, and these awards, have not been 
so effectual in raising the character of this Primrose, 
round London, during thirty years, as the bantering of 
one old gardener against his fellows did in the space of 
three short years. It would have been just the same if 
any other old gardener in the country were in my shoes 
(and could fill them as well!), that is, not spare the rod, 
and never use it unfairly. With respect to the Chinese 
Primrose seeds mentioned by Mr. Wild, at page 438, I 
accept the explanation so far. The reason why I said 
a Mr. Wild is this, that I did not suppose there could 
be a person in Ipswich, during my time at Shrubland 
Park, who did not know how I should act against “ tricks 
on travellers.” 
RHODODENDRON JASMINIFLORUM. 
The newest and most lady-like plant at this meeting, 
and therefore the best, or premier plant of the day, was 
an exquisitely beautiful dwarf Rhododendron, called 
Jasminiflorum. It came from Mr. Veitch. The way I 
judge new plants is this, and L am seldom wrong: I 
suppose a houseful of plants in bloom, and a queen, 
with two maids of honour, are to pick out the first plant 
which strikes them most; that is my choice, without 
considering whether it has this or that point for a 
florist, or for trade, for the propagator, or for the 
exhibition tables. This is a dwarf-habited plant, with 
thick, roundish leaves, not larger than those of Escal- 
lonia macrantha, and something of that look; there 
were fourteen or fifteen heads of bloom on it, and ten 
flowers, on the average, in each head; but they did not 
look at all like Rhododendron flowers; they stood nearly 
upright, with long tubes, just like a bunch of some 
large honeysuckle, and the opening or limb of each is 
as like the face of a large Jasmine as anything you ever 
saw. The whole flower is purity itself for whiteness, 
hut there is a blush on the face of it in the sun, from 
the reflection of the anthers, which are scarlet, or nearly 
so. It will require as much protection, I should think, 
as a Chinese Azalea, if not more ; and I must tell why, 
as I found all the gardeners there were deceived as to 
the place it came from. Some said it was from the 
Andes of Peru; some, from farther south, in Chili; and 
some, still farther on, in northern Patagonia; but having 
never seen a plant of that very cast from those parts, 
and seeing Mr. Veitch’s head in the crowd, I made a 
push to him, and had just enough of breath to ask him 
“ Where is your new Rhododendron from?” “From 
Mount Ophir, in the Straits of Mallacca, by Mr. Thomas 
Lobb.” “What is the price?” I asked. "21s. if you 
want one;” but he would give it to any one of you just 
as soon. 
THYRSACANTHUS RUTILANS. 
The next best plant for gardeners was from the 
Society’s collection, and called Thyrsacanthus rutilans, a 
stove-plant of the very first order, which comes from 
cuttings as easily as Tom Thumb, grows as freely as a 
Mallow, never takes an insect of any kind, nor a blight, 
and holds on in flower a long time, from January to 
April; and such flowers! whole bunches of crimson- 
scarlet tubular blooms, hanging down on long strings, as 
it were. If there was a large box, or a border in front 
of a stove to grow this Justicia-Yike plant, then to train 
up the branches to a rafter like a Grape-vine, it would 
make the finest stove-climber in the world, after a few 
years. It could be spurred-in like a Red Currant bush ; 
449 
the more the better; and in a few years, the plant so 
treated would reach the top of a long rafter; and when 
the whole was in bloom, I cannot conceive anything 
more rich than the hanging continued clusters of bright 
crimson flowers; but as a pot-plant, nothing of the kind 
can exceed' it in beauty. 
ORCHIDS. 
The Messrs. Rollinson, of Tooting, sent a collection of 
six Orchids, large plants, beautifully grown and bloomed, 
consisting ol P halanopsis amah ills, Cymbulium eburneum, 
with two handsome, large, white flowers, having a 
blotch or tinge of yellow on the lip; a fine thing; a very 
large plant of Dendrobium speciosum, having sixteen or 
eighteen spikes of straw-white flowers. This is a New 
Holland Orchid, which will grow out-of-doors in England 
all the summer, as well as any other New Holland plant. 
A gentleman told me in the room, that he plunged a 
pot-plant of it in coal-ashes, under a south wall, last 
summer, and left it out till November; that it was 
covered with a frosty rime on the 20th or 27th of October 
without harm, and that it improved much in appearance 
during the time; that he kept it with Camellias in a cool 
pit all this winter; and that he put it lately into the 
stove, but will have it out-of-doors next summer, to get 
it on sooner into a flowering size. 
Odontoylossurn nebnlosum, a beautiful name for such a 
plant. This was a small plant, with only one large, 
white flower, having the inside barred with brown. 
Schomburghia viola, the first time I have seen it in 
bloom, and I prefer it to 3. tibicinis, though the flowers 
are not quite so large. The lip is purplish-violet, and 
the outside sepals and petals, so to speak, are crumpled, 
and of a rich reddish-brown ; the flower stands on a 
transparent, long {footstalk, fifteen of them forming a 
handsome head “ nearer home ” than in tibicinis. A 
beautiful large-flowered variety of Dendrobium nobile, 
called pulcherrimum. A Maxillaria aromatica. A largo 
Vanda tricolor, with many flowers. 
One of the largest plants of Dendrobium nobile ever 
sent to an exhibition came from Mr. Hammerton, 
gardener to J. Livick, Esq.; and a largo Pliaius grandi- 
florus, with fourteen flower-spikes, from Mr. Forsyth, 
gardener to Baron Rothschild. 
There was a plant of Cypripedium villosum, with two 
brown, hairy blooms, from Mr. Veitch ; and cut flowers 
of two kinds of Vanda tricolor, and Mormodes igneum, 
a rare thing, from Mr. Pass, gardener to T. Brocklehurst, 
Esq. of the Fence, near Macclesfield. One of these 
Vandas was very rich, with a deep purplish-voilet lip. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Mr. Veitch sent two kinds of Franciscea confertiflora, 
a fine conical plant, a yard high, and of good bloom, and 
fine foliage; and F. eximea, in good bloom also, but with 
burnt leaves, so this eximea must be a ticklish thing. 
A splendid specimen plant of Posoqueria longiflora, 
and a collection of Epacrises, consisting of Devonia, a 
large crimson; Comosa superba, Coccinea floribunda, 
Gem, Vivid, a fine crimson, and Hyacinthijlora, all fine, 
large, very well-grown plants. 
The Messrs Lee, of Hammersmith, sent Eriostemon 
buxifolium in fine bloom ; Styphelia tubiflora, as bushy 
as a Heath, and as freely in bloom; yet this is a very 
bad plant to manage well. This was the best managed 
sample of it I have seen. Epacris hyacinthiflora alba; 
a new Camellia, called Brilliante, a white variety; and 
the new bulb-like plant, Imatophyllum miniatum, of 
Hooker, looking as strong as the strongest Agapanthus, 
and very much like it in growth, with more than a 
dozen flowers, of which six were full open and five half¬ 
way, others coming up in succession. This is the most 
valuable plant for the flower beds of that tribe ; it will 
grow out-of-doors and bloom as freely as Agapanthus, 
