THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April St. 
I 
38 
“ Cock-a-leary-doo; ” while the next as resolutely held | 
forth, “ Coek-a-leary-do’nt.” I followed the latter advice, 
and did not buy, but was off to the Horticultural, to see 
the tilings before the meeting. New orchids, new fruit, 
new Geraniums, new ways of keeping fruit in bottles 
without sugar, and new receipts for doing so—one from 
a cook, and one from a butler—not unequally matched, 
certainly. A new and most beautiful way of making 
skeletons—I mean natural skeletons—of leaves, flowers, 
and the coverings or seed-pods of many kinds of plants, 
with other new and old things, of which we shall hear ! 
more particularly as we go on. 
On entering the room, the first plants that met the 
eye were new forcing Geraniums, high-coloured ones, 
which were sent by Mr. Gill, a florist at Bayswater, 
the raiser of the Queen of February, which I described 
in the report of the last meeting, when I complained of 
not having had its history. There were several plants j 
of it here to day, and this history was now supplied. 
The Queen of February is to be “ sent out,” and it is 
a regular forcing variety. It was forced this winter in a 
temperature of from 50° to 75°, and on the 2lith of 
February, flowers were cut from one of the plants now 
exhibited, showing that it keeps in bloom at this season 
more than six weeks, as there are several flowers yet to 
open on it. All this we ought to have known when we 
first heard of it. The other seedling is called Wellington, 
and without pretending to a deep knowledge as to how 
the strains run in this race of Geraniums, I should say 
at once that this was a seedling from the Queen of 
Hoses by the pollen of a high-coloured variety; the j 
habit and the leaf of the Queen are manifest, and the 
father has improved the colour, therefore, this will prove 
a very strong and useful kind. Another forcing Gera¬ 
nium I must strongly recommend to everyone who takes 
an interest in this class, and to country gardeners in | 
particular, for Covent Garden market is now in a blaze j 
with it, in bouquets, in large bunches of cut-flowers, j 
and in pot-plants; this is no other than Gauntlet. It j 
comes near the colour of Rising Sun, and is among the , 
best, if not the very best, of all the forcers. Alba mul- ) 
ti/lora does not seem to be a great favourite in this 
market. 
The next plants in succession were a large collection 
of the very best Hyacinths for flowering in pots, and 
they were certainly very finely-bloomed by the Messrs. 
Henderson, of the Pine-Apple Place Nursery. They 
are in the habit of treating us every spring with a like 
display, and on this occasion the lecturer had little need 
to draw the attention of the ladies particularly to this 
group, for they crowded round them like bees, and were 
as busy as bees taking down the names. I took the 
names last year, and the best of them I told of at the 
time. Prince Albert is still the best dark. The best 
scarlets are Fire Ball, and Sir Charles Napier, so 
famous for firing balls and bullets. The best blues were 
Laurens Roster, Barron Von Thull, Prince of Sax 
Weimer, Keizer Ferdinand, Movant, and Richard Cceur 
de Lion. Of salmon-colour, perhaps Maria Theresa, ' 
and Sultans Favourite, were as good as any; but, like i 
the blues, this and the next section are a numerous ! 
class, and individual taste in shades of colour is of very 
little use. In flesh-colour, Lord Wellington, Prince of 
Wales, Lord Grey, and Tubiflora, are as good as any. 
Meruielle and Virgo, were the best blush, and Prince of 
Waterloo the best white. I shall not vouch for all 
these names being rightly spelt, for I never studied the 
heavy Dutch. 
in going round the room, a collection of plants from 
the garden of the Society comes next, and here I must 
pause to make a remark or two. These meetings are 
composed of Fellows of the Society, and practical men, 
who bring up garden products for competition. It is 
thought not essential to explain to practicals what they ! 
see right before; and it would be thought a kind of 
boasting to praise up the plants of the Society, as if 
judges were allowed to judge their own plants or fowls. 
Now, I have been a judge on plants for as many years 
as 1 have fingers and toes; I have been an exhibitor 
too, and won laurels, both in this very room and in the 
garden of the Society. I have also called in as a lounger 
to sec the lions of the day, and I have been an earnest 
reporter. I know the stimulating effects of public praise, 
and the value of adverse criticism when rightly applied ; 
and I know how to be abused as well as any man who 
ever planted a cabbage ; and yet I do not know how we 
should be so sensitive about our own merits as not to 
praise our own plants, as much as they deserve to be 
praised, as well as those of other people, whom we 
stimulate to exertion by out example and our awards. 
Tt is on this principle I report on the “ plants sent from 
the garden of the Society,” of which scarcely a notice is 
taken by the lecturer, because he thinks it of too delicate 
a nature to do so, which I do not, and 1 am quite sure it 
would not be received in that light by the Fellows of 
the Society ; of this we had a good proof at this meeting, 
in that part of the lecture which referred to a Forsythia 
viridissima, which was sent by somebody who grew it 
“ somehow,” or let it grow as it could in this climate. 
Now this Forsythia, like the Jasmine called nudiflora, 
and the Camellia, all from China, arc perfectly hardy in 
England as far as the plants are concerned, but coming 
so early into flower, our climate is too cold and damp 
for their flowers, and unless we guard them from the 
cold and damp we can never have their flowers in per¬ 
fection. Hence it is, that in the garden of the Society, 
Forsythia being as much protected while it is in blossom 
as if it were a Camellia, their plant of it is brought up 
year by year in better condition and bloom than from 
any other quarter whatever; and I have no doubt but 
many of the Fellows went away pleased with the hint, 
and hoping to profit by it. This would be a good time 
to pot a pair or two of good-sized plants of it, and all 
the care they would need would be to plunge the pots in 
a border near the pump ; to keep them constantly moist 
at the roots from May to September; to take them up 
next Christmas, and get them under protection for a 
while, and almost any place would do, as then, they 
having no leaves, very little light will bring them into 
bloom, or they might be slightly forced, and as soon as 
the first flowers begin to open, a staircase, a lobby, a 
front hall, or a show-room, is warm enough for them, 
and they would keep longer in flower in any of such 
places than in a warm comfortable conservatory. The 
very self-same kind of treatment will suit the old Coro- 
nilla glauca better than any other way. A plant of it, a 
yard in diameter, has been in flower all this winter, and 
I saw it in bloom last February, out in the open bed, 
with Mr. Sturgeon, when I went down to get into the 
fashion about the new fowls, and he told me it stood 
there for the last four or five years without any pro 
tection whatever. Therefore, I hold that it is right and 
proper to point out, at these meetings, every mode by 
which such and such plants are managed and brought 
forward in our own garden. 
Another variety of Rhododendron ciliare was on the 
table from the Society’s collection, with Habrothamnus 
elegans in excellent condition; and, as far as I could 
see, this is the w r ay it was treated. After flowering, 
towards the end of April they cut it down close—that 
is, close to the old wood ; and, having begun on that 
system, the old wood is very low and near the pot. 
Before the end of May the plant was repotted, alter 
shaking off the soil; and towards the end of Juno it was 
in the open air, or in some cold pit, where the lights 
were kept off at night, and from the end of September 
it was kept rather dry to Christmas, when the flower- 
buds showed. From that time they began to water it 
