June 12.j 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
As we must confine ourselves to topics of general interest, 
we will only particularise the following :—At the extremity 
of the garden, a Chinese pavilion was erected, sufficiently 
capacious to accommodate several hundred visitors. It was 
fitted up in perfect keeping with its character. At the 
extreme end, a well-designed view of the City of Canton was 
fixed; the river flowing in front, and the mountains in the 
distance; a fountain playing in the centre, added much to 
its picturesque appearance. Upwards of eighty Chinese 
lanterns, bond fide manufactured by Lime Shin;/, of Canton 
(purchased out of bond from the importer by Mr. Rendle), 
were suspended from the celling. On the sides were Chinese 
| paintings, obtained from the same source; and, fully to cany 
! out the design, a very splendid collection of Chinese plants 
in bloom—Rhododendrons and Azaleas, interspersed with 
choice heaths and other beautiful specimens of flowers and 
plants—were placed in the centre and by the sides of the 
pavilion; its appearance being truly beautiful, presenting a 
scene not easily to be forgotten. This was the chief attrac¬ 
tion of the day; it was crowded for hours, and all the visitors 
gave Mr. Rendle much praise for the taste he had displayed, 
and for the exertions he must have used, in the erection. 
Amongst the many objects which struck the attention of the 
visitor in this tent, we must mention the plants intended for 
her Majesty. These were four handsome specimens of 
Rhododendron Catawbiense in varieties. Mr. Rendle, when 
exhibiting a collection of his plants in the Crystal Palace, 
obtained the favour of being allowed to present a group to 
her Majesty, being the only nurseryman from the count>/ 
who had the privilege of displaying plants, on the auspicious 
opening of the Exposition. 
The largest sale of first class Tulips that has taken 
place for years—that of Mr. Lawrence’s at Hampton— 
was tolerably good evidence that the fancy is not on the 
decline. 
Pandoras, Strong’s King, Glenny’s Duke of Northumber¬ 
land, Brown’s Polyphemus, Brown’s Ulysses, Salvata Rosa, 
Musidora, Apelles, Marcellus, Sanders’s Vivid, Camoise de 
, Croix, Beterall’s Brulente eccletante, and other choice kinds, 
created very spirited competition, and many brought prices 
very nearly approaching the demands made in the cata¬ 
logues. There was an excellent muster of old growers, and 
not a few enthusiastic young ones. The flowers were in the 
finest possible condition. 
At the Oxford Tulip Show, Mr. Glenny, who was 
judge, put back every stand that contained a tulip with 
a stained base, and marked every flower that was faulty, 
that the growers’ attention might be at once directed to 
the faults which condemned the stand, or that caused it 
to be placed lower; but it was considered by the growers 
a valuable practical lesson. In Pansies he also lowered 
all the stands which had the eyes running into the 
margin, or which had two different shades of yellow in 
the lower petals, and marked these flowers also. In fact, 
he carried out to the full the standards laid down in his 
“ Properties of Flowers.” 
Mr. Goldhatn, the father of the tulip fancy, has this 
year again a noble bloom of Tulips. His novelties, the 
result of many years devotion to the raising of seedlings, 
are beginning to reward him. Many have broken into 
splendid varieties, perfectly unique, and possessing many 
of the properties which give value to this splendid tribe 
of flowers. 
The peculiarity of the tulip, which forms a family of itself, 
is, that when they first bloom from seed, they for the most 
part come a self colour, except the base, which is white or 
yellow, and it may be many years before these seifs break 
into stripes. Mr. Goldham has some of the most promising 
we ever saw; and many that have broken into the most 
exquisite varieties, unlike anything we have, and fit to rank 
with the very best in cultivation. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
The Asoca (Jonesia Asoca).—Paxtons Flower Oar- 
den, ii. 164.—This is a small genus of East Indian trees, 
or, perhaps, made up of one tree only and one climbing 
plant besides. It was named by Dr. Roxburgh, in 
honour of Sir William Jones, the celebrated scholar and 
man of science. The specific name is that by which it 
is known among the natives. Burmann, a Dutch bota¬ 
nist, called it Saraca, also from its Indian name; and in 
Rhude’s Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, a good figure of it 
is given in the fifth volume. We believe, however, that 
Mr. Paxton’s is the first figure of it which has appeared 
in any English work. Nevertheless, the plant itself is 
not a stranger to the British gardener, although it must 
be either very difficult to grow, of not easily increased, 
for we see it put down in the priced lists of this season 
at the very figure which a friend of ours bought it at 
two-and-twenty years ago, as nearly as our memory 
serves us. Thus we see that a really good plant, either 
in the trade or in private cultivation, may, under certain 
circumstances, keep up its price for twenty years, even 
in England. Our own experience will not justify us to 
say pointedly that pieces of the roots, brought over from 
flowering trees of the Asoca, could be relied on to in¬ 
crease the tree that way, and thus to place flowering 
plants in our possession in two or three years; that, 
however, need not shake the faith or confidence of those 
who agree with us about the practicability of transmit¬ 
ting trees from one part of the world to another by 
means of root cuttings, nor that plants got up from such 
cuttings would not inherit the flowering stage or pro¬ 
perty of the tree from which the roots were taken. 
Jonesia belongs to a section, or sub-order, of Leguminous 
plants (Fabaceai), founded on the Dividivi, or Casalpinea 
Coriaria, whose seed-pods, by the way, are among the most 
astringent of known substances. The flowers of the plants 
in this division are not “ pea flowers,” but irregular with 
spreading petals, as in the Cassia, which, without the assist¬ 
ance of the legumes, or seed-pods, might, at first sight, ! 
puzzle the young student of the natural system of botany. 
To such of our gardeners as do not know Jonesia, perhaps it 
will be a sufficient guarantee for its merits, to assert that it 
1 is the nearest plant in affinity with the far-famed Amlierstia 
\ nobilis. In India, it forms a low spreading tree, with long 
