August 7.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
287 
proportion. We wisli gardeners in general would pay- 
more attention to Balsams and Cockscombs; they show 
skill as much as any thing. 
Balsams will come single at first very frequently; and 
all those who wish to grow them in perfection will pick 
off all the early buds and flowers, for later ones come 
double. 
We have seen a bed this year composed of plants turned 
out from a large number because they were single, and now 
there is not a single one among them; six weeks out-of- 
doors, in rich beds, has changed their condition entirely. 
We feel convinced that when they are from a good stock 
they only want strength of growth to bring them very double. 
The last South London Floricultural Slioiv at the 
Surrey Gardens was the best ever held in that place of 
entertainment. The plants of Mrs. Lawrence and Mr. 
Collyer were as beautiful and as well grown as any 
they have shown, and formed a complete exhibition of 
themselves. 
Carnations and Picotees were in great abundance. They 
were properly judged off cards, and then all who were not 
too idle carded them; for it is a great protection in a hot 
tent. Cut flowers were exhibited in perfection; Messrs. 
Rollisson, in particular, had a stand of rare orchidaceous 
flowers, such as we have never before seen cut. Mr. Turner 
showed some seedling Picotees and Carnations, more particu¬ 
larly mentioned elsewhere. Honey formed no inconsider¬ 
able feature for those who take an interest in bees. Messrs. 
Paul and Son and Mr. Francis vied with each other in a 
display of Roses, which were splendid, particularly those of 
Mr. Francis. A better show of fruit than has ever been 
previously shown occupied one side of a tent, in which there 
were, also, seedling Antirrhinums, good for nothing, and 
Fuchias, of which one ( Ran/cs’s Leader ) is a pretty va¬ 
riety, previously mentioned by us under a number, and 
others already noticed. Some good Balsams, and others 
very bad, formed a row down one side of a tent. A collec¬ 
tion of British flowers and one of Grasses possessed great 
interest. Among the Petunias we noticed one as good as 
any, and called The Crimson King; but as we have a good 
deal to do wuth Petunias before they will please us, they 
must be got out of their flimsy habit, and be produced with 
thick petals. The proprietors of the Garden, notwithstand¬ 
ing the weather was enough to sicken them of flower shows, 
intend to celebrate the anniversary of opening the Garden 
with a show on the thirteenth of August, open to all England, 
and no entrance fees. It will beat all that has ever taken 
place where none but members compete without paying. 
Notwithstanding the extreme wet day, and the few persons 
present, Soutliby took advantage of a fine interval, and sent 
off as good a display of appropriate fireworks as we ever 
saw. The last, a magnificent tree, in which you saw flowers 
of all colours, half filled the air. 
The prospectuses of some Dahlia Shows invite the 
showing of new flowers let out the present year, and 
some of them have omitted to say whether fancy flowers 
are to be included. 
Those which have purposely excluded fancy flowers may 
have done so to prevent the difficulty of judging mixed 
I claims, and very properly. Who is to determine fairly be- 
! tween tbe merits of one stand with four show and two fancy, 
j and another with two show and four fancy, another all seifs, 
and another all fancy ? It is pretty nearly like judging 
dogs and sheep together, where half-a-dozen is to be made 
up without any distinct condition as to the number of each, 
i The schedules ought to be superseded, and others sent out. 
If fancy and other flowers are to be permitted together, the 
1 number of each should be defined, else there will be con¬ 
fusion and dissatisfaction. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Morell’s Showy Miltonia ( Miltonia sgicctahilis, var. 
Morelliana. — Gardeners' Magazine of Botany, ii. 41.— 
This is the third form which the researches of botanical 
collectors have furnished us with of this lovely Miltonia, 
a genus named by Dr. Lindley in compliment to tbe 
Earl Fitzwilliam, who shines forth among the foremost 
patrons of natural science in this country, and also 
among the oldest of our collectors of tropical orchids. 
This beautiful variety was procured from the Brazils by 
M. Morell, of Paris, after whom it was named on the 
continent, whence it was introduced to this country by 
the celebrated nurserymen, Messrs. Knight and Perry, 
of the Exotic Nursery, King’s Road, Loudon, and where 
it flowered for the first time last November, when a 
beautifully-executed coloured drawing of it was made 
and published, with a full description, in the last March 
number of the Gardeners' Magazine of Botany, a work 
which we have more than once had occasion to recom¬ 
mend to general notice. 
Mr. Henfrey (to whose name Dr. Lindley dedicated the 
genus Henfreya ), the gentleman who conducts tbe botanical 
department of this magazine with so much spirit and accu¬ 
racy, cannot determine any specific distinctions between 
Morcll’s Miltonia and Miltonia spectahilis ; but let us bear 
bis own just observations. “ There does not seem to be suf¬ 
ficient ground for separating it specifically from M. specta¬ 
hilis, of which we already know two such differently-coloured 
forms. In the original type of M. spectahilis the petals are 
almost white, and the lip much more deeply coloured. In 
the variety, purpureo ccerulea, figured by Sir W. J. Hooker, in 
the “ Botanical Magazine,” the sepals and petals are deep 
purple, while the lip is pale. In the present form the sepals 
and petals are also all uniformly dark, but the lip is of a 
different colour; and the veinings, so distinct in the type, 
are only well marked in the lower part; it is also without 
the yellow colour of the column, and of the lamellfe of the 
lip. The bracts appeal’ to be more green than in the other 
