June 10.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
173 
higher than the average temperature of each month; 
that is, if the lowest temperature of the month is 10°, 
and the highest 70°, the average is 55°, and if we add 5° 
to that, we shall have 60° as the bottom heat for that 
month. If the average maximum temperature of the air 
only be known, let the bottom heat be less by 10° than 
the maximum temperature of the air.” 
We have stated the general rule as to the temperature 
of water for the roots of plants, but there are exceptions. 
For instance, the Calceolaria, being a native of high 
mountain ranges, in South America, and accustomed to 
be watered by their cold moistures, succeeds best when 
treated with water of a lower temperature than that of 
the soil. 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
The Plants in the Great Exhibition do not improve, 
and we were not a little astonished to see on Messrs. 
Paul’s stand plants with the Roses on them dead and 
brown, as if they had been placed there and forgotten. 
Knight and Perry’s stand are rich in Conifers, and some 
very pretty exotics. Loddige’s, of Hackney, have noble 
Palms there, which look none the worse for their sojourn 
among the wonders; but the stand which caps them all 
is Messrs. Lane and Sons. The noble Azaleas, Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, Roses, and other flowering plants are as fresh 
as in their own nursery. 
The Exhibition owes much of its effect to the numerous 
groups of plants, which, however, require to be kept up 
well by fresh supplies, or they become worse than a vacant 
space. 
There is some talk of a Sale of the Dry Roots of the 
Tulip at taking up time. Several growers who have 
scarce flowers to make up twenty or thirty lots, each to 
be delivered at the time of sale with a guarantee. 
There are many good flowers scarce among the growers, 
and it was considered that a sale, which took place some | 
years ago, when Baron, Delaforce, Wilmer, Lawrence, and 
some others, put good flowers up for competition, encouraged j 
young cultivators to come out well, and improved many beds. 
If it takes place, the time will be early in June. 
Mr. Lawrences bed of Tulips (sold Friday, the 30th), 
although only consisting of a hundred and forty rows, 
produced between three and four hundred pounds. They 
were divided into one hundred and ninety-nine lots, and 
occupied the auctioneer a little over three hours; about 
a lot a minute. 
Every lot but one sold. The exception was a lot not bid 
for, and the auctioneer passed it; nor would he go back 
again. This rather spurred the bidders on to the rest of the 
sale. 
Is the Cineraria to lose the notch at the ends of the 
petals l Assuredly there are hundreds of seedlings that 
coino without it, but they have other faults; still it 
shows there is hope that we may obtain better forms 
with the same desirable point attained. One of the 
brightest varieties (Lady Hume Campbell) has the notch 
very bad. The brilliant colours and close petals save it; 
but the notch is exceedingly conspicuous. It must be 
remarked, too, that for the most part those which are 
perfectly free from the notch, have as bad, or nearly as 
bad, a fault; the petals are more or less pointed; and for 
the flower to be round and rich they should be broad 
and obtuse. 
There is scarcely any thing more trying than to be obliged 
to reject seedling after seedling, which has been done times 
out of number at the Society for the Encouragement of 
Floriculture. When we consider with what anxiety a man 
sows and watches his seedlings up to blooming, and then 
how aggravating it is to have things just upon the verge of 
useful, but no better, it requires some firmness to extin¬ 
guish his hopes ; but the man who cannot do this to the 
best man in the world should not be a judge; and to the 
election of persons who can do this the Society owes the 
confidence reposed in its decisions. Flower after flower 
which has been rejected by such judgment, has been taken 
to other Societies, and received first-class certificates; many 
of them bought, grown, and thrown away, while the very few 
to which certificates have been granted by the Society are 
retained to the present day among the best in cultivation. 
Although the Society has not been long enough in existence 
to claim many flowers as their pets, the judges elected by the 
body can claim to have given the proper character to many 
tliathave sustained their places for years, although at the time 
their fiat has been disputed. The Princess Radzville Dahlia 
is among the best twelve now; Scarlet Gem, Yellow Standard, 
Standard of Perfection, Marchioness Cornwallis, Queen of the 
East, Duke of Wellinyton, and other favourites, obtained their 
first distinctions through the awards of those new judges at 
the Society elected upon the strength of their former accu¬ 
racy; and no Society will he really useful until it elects 
censors from the floral world without any qualification but 
their own judgment, and that by the votes of the whole 
members. The country members by proxy, not handed over 
in blank to persons on the spot to be used for whom they 
like, but written in full, for such as each separate member 
deems to be most competent. But we are wandering from 
the point a little. The Cineraria is to be obtained without 
the notch, but it can only be done by seeding from a very 
few of the very best, retaining from among the produce those 
which approach the standard nearest. Those who grow a 
collection may raise many thousands without obtaining one 
in advance, while others, who save from the only half-dozen 
they grow, and these good ones, may, perchance, get one in 
twenty; and this applies not only to Cinerarias but to every 
j flower that is raised from seed. On this account purchased 
| seed is useless. A flower in advance of all the rest is worth 
| five, ten, twenty, or fifty pounds, as the case may be. What 
j florist will sell seed likely to produce such ? It is not in 
human nature to sell chances of this kind. We have tried, 
quite against our own opinion, seed warranted by A. B. or C. 
of Primula Sinensis, Calceolaria, Polyanthus, Mimulus, Pink, 
and many other subjects, and never procured a move in 
advance; and our advice is now to save your own, but 
save from the best only, and where none but the few you select 
for the purpose grow. We confess that when wo have had 
seed given to us as a great favour we have been no forwarder. 
The great cause why nurserymen and large growers rarely 
raise good new flowers is their being obliged to grow general 
collections for sale, and, consequently, having great difficulty 
in saving seed that has not been contaminated by the coarser 
varieties; while amateurs will often, from a single pod of 
good seed, obtain a decided advance, and the nurseryman 
becomes a purchaser. 
The Horticultural Society's Show at Chiswick, on the 
7th, was remarkable for one of those great collections 
which now and then come down upon us, as a surprise, 
from Exeter. Messrs. Veitch and Son, who have, doubt¬ 
less, been quietly acquiring them for years, produced 
the most superb assemblage of Pitcher Plants, Nepenthes 
and Sarraccnia, in the world, comprising a vast number 
of varieties, of the most extraordinary forms, sizes, and 
colours. 
Description, however elaborate, could not do justice to 
thorn ; but as they were the chief objects at the show, so have 
they been the chief object of conversation since. Messrs. 
Veitch had a gold medal awarded for them. 
