140 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 26 . 
[ Store plants not numerous either, except orchids. 
1 Greenhouse plants, chiefly from Australia. Indian or 
Chinese Azaleas, and Roses, were never more numerous, 
nor nearly so fine. 
The newest plants of the day, or, at least, the lions, 
were two from the north of India—one a Sikkim Rho- 
I dodendron, called Edgworthii ; the other the old Gigantic 
I Lily of India, of which a peck of seeds, at least, had 
| been sent home within the last fifteen years, but no 
I gardener or nurseryman could get them to vegetate, 
except once, with the Messrs. Loddiges. Of them 1 
cannot trac -my farther. The plant here to day is an 
imported bn n by Mr. Veitch, now of the King’s Road, 
Chelsea, as well as of Exeter. Many say this Lily is 
not quite hardy; I think it is quite so, from what Lord 
Harclinge told me about it shortly after he returned 
from India. He sent large quantities of the seeds home, 
and Sir William Middleton had some of them, and 1 
had mine thirty months in a pot without the least 
change, although they are as thin almost as this paper. 
Mr. Veitch’s plant stood six feet high above the pot, 
and had twelve large white flowers hanging down from 
the top part of the stalk. Each flower is of exactly the 
same size, colour, and marking, as that of the old llip- 
peastrum vittatum major, —a soft, creamy-white, with six 
purple stripes inside each flower, four or five inches 
long, and from three to four inches across the opening; 
the leaf and flower-stem have not the slightest resem¬ 
blance to those of a true Lily. The stem is thicker than 
a man’s wrist down at the bulb, and it tapers all the 
way up, and is hardly balf-an-incli through where the 
flowers come ; it is also clothed with leaves all the way 
up to the flower. At the bottom, the leaves are as 
broad as a full-grown cabbage-leaf, on long footstalks, 
' but of the shape of an Arum-leaf; the size of the leaves, 
and the length of the leafstalks, diminish all the way 
up, till at last there is no stalk to the leaf, and only an 
apology of a leaf to speak of. Altogether it is a noble 
plant for a cold conservatory, or front hall in a large 
j mansion; but out-of-doors, let it be ever so hardy, it 
! ought to be planted in a shallow place, else the high 
! winds will tear these large, soft leaves to ribbons. A 
| peat bed, or border, will be the best for it. It seems to 
I be of the same habit in the flowering as the American 
Aloe, never flowering but once from the same root-stock, 
but making side suckers to keep up the succession; and 
it struck me on the spot, to advise people to flower it 
rather in groups of these suckers in one pot than on 
j single stems, and I engage this is the real and true way 
I to make the most of it. Then it will be on a different 
! plan from the Hippeasters, which flower on side bulbs, 
- find on the old one in the middle at the same time, as 
I T shall explain more fully in my next paper on bulbs, 
j in which the Hippeasters will be described. 
The Rhododendron Edgworthii is one of the new 
j seedlings from the Sikkim Himalaya. The leaves are 
| from two to four inches long, and much wrinkled. It is 
j a very superb shrub, with large white flowers, nearly 
; four inches across, and overcast with a slight tinge of 
roseate hue. This will be as tender as the old Arborea 
very likely, as it does not live more than 9000 feet 
above the sea, and is from the very dampest forests of 
j the very dampest parts of the whole Himalayan range, 
j Our November fogs are nothing to those damps for nine 
months in the year: a perpetual hot current may be 
said to blow against the Sikkim bills across the plain 
from Calcutta, discharging a perpetual shower, as it 
cools, on reaching the hills, causing many of these Rho¬ 
dodendrons to group up on other trees, like air plants, 
as Mr. Low found them in Borneo, 
j Another novelty that was never before exhibited at 
! these shows, is a half-hardy bulb-like plant, called Tri- 
\ toma Rooperii, in the way of Tritoma media, but not 
quite so fine when grown in a pot. Coleus Blumei is 
another new plant, interesting for the dark-purple 
blotches on the light-green leaves. 1 mentioned this 
plant last October from Mr. Low’s nursery, at Clapton. 
Another little new plant, called Friesia peduncularis, 
from Van Dieman’s Land, by Mr. Lee, looked like a 
young Elceugnus cyaneus, with white Andromeda-like 
flowers ; and the new Tetratheca ericifolia, with lilac 
flowers, which I mentioned as a first-rate greenhouse 
plant, at one of the late meetings in Regent Street. 
Sireptocarpus UJlorus, from Mr. Veitch, was only shown 
once before in this garden. It is superior to the old, 
single-flowered one, and is well-worth having. 
Of all the Pansies, flower-gardeners look only at the 
self-coloured ones. The best yellow of them at this 
show (and it is an old one) is called Ophir, an excellent 
thing for a bed. The best white is called Royal White; j 
the best plum-coloured is Mrs. Hamilton ; and the best 1 
dark are Sambo and Flower of the Day. All these are 
very rich indeed, and suitable for bedding. 
Of bedding Geraniums there was a new white one called 
Boule de Neige (or ball of snow); it is a well-marked 
horseshoe, and has a good truss of good-shaped, whitish 
flowers, but the white not so good as in Sweet’s Zonale 
albiffora and the seedlings got from it. Still, it is an 
excellent improvement on that race; and through it and 
them we shall soon have varieties of the scarlet breeds, 
with trusses as free as in Tom Thumb. 
The best high-coloured among the new Pelargoniums 
is one called Governor - General. Salamander, Celia, 
Basilisk, and Magnet are also of the same fiery orange- 
scarlet, and all of them come in well to heighten the 
glow, and vary the sameness which a long stage of these 
great prize Geraniums always present; while such as 
Mont Blanc and the Virgin Queen relieve them with 
their pearly-white blossoms; but we must put off a real 
examination of these flowers till June, when all the 
varieties are shown together, after having the benefit of 
a brighter sun. Ajax, Incomparable, Gulielma, Rosa¬ 
mond, Arethusa, Rosalind, Marquis of Stafford, and 
Flying Dutchman were the most conspicuous to me 
among the vast number of Pelargoniums, but I only 
go by the distinctness of the kinds looking at them a 
short way off. 1 have not the least knowledge of them, 
or the least desire to know them by their “ properties ” 
with the eyes of a florist. I look upon them all as ladies 
do ; and those who look upon them with stronger eyes, 
must follow Mr. Appleby; besides, their “properties” j 
are his property, and, therefore, he is the most proper 
person I know to consult about them. 
Of Cinerarias, I yield to no man about them ; and I ! 
saw by this show that my disciples are multiplying, and 
I shall never cease hammering down the weeds from 
them, while we have any that are not worth the pots 
they are growing in. There were no first-rate new 
Cinerarias at this show; and I miss Prince Arthur 
altogether—the best one last year. Amy Robsart was 
the best self shown to day, and a kind of purple. Exqui- 
sita, white centre and crimson edges, is a very gay 
flower. Mrs. Sydney Herbert, another in the same way, 
but not so bright as the last. Mrs. Beecher Stowe, a 
white, with lilac edges, is a very delicate and modest- 
looking flower, which will have a great sale all over the 
country, if it were only for the name. Symmetry, very 
light, and only laced with faint purple, 1 admire; and 
also Lady Hume Campbell, another light one, with a 
mere shade of blue along the top of the petals, but that 
is as far as I can go in light flowers, unless the shades, 
whatever they be, are perfectly distinct, as in Lady 
Hume Campbell. Cerito, which is said to be among the 
best, is quite nasty to me, in fact, a muddle, and nothing 
else. Forget-me-not is not a bad purplish-red one ; and 
Pohjanthijlora is very well-named, and worth having, as 
exhibiting a slight difference in the style of flowering. 
The most novel way of growing plants, as seen at 
