THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 23. 
218 
land I contend, but the principle—the present and 
ultimate economy. Sea-kale stands classed in my rota¬ 
tion book as a “ Preparer." Such a division, or classifi- 
! cation of cultural matters is of immense importance; 
would that all our young aspirants for horticultural 
fame would condescend to study such genuine utilitarian 
matters; but the floral taste rules, I fear, supreme. 
R. Eriungton. 
(7'o be continued.) 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’S EXHIBITION.— 
June 11, 1853. 
I had more cause to be well-pleased on this occasion 
than generally falls to my lot on show days. I had a 
privileged pass from the Society to go in and out when 
I chose, so that I had it all to myself until the public 
were admitted; the judges had enough to do without 
gossiping; and I never knew any of our aristocracy, 
who are admitted, with distinguished foreigners, to view 
the exhibition before mid-day, to intrude on the time of 
the judges or reporters by asking this, that, or the other, 
about the plants, and so forth; but the moment the 
gates are opened, and the tide rolls in, one-half of the 
gardening world seem to think that the other half have 
nothing else to do but stand about and idle their time 
away, as if no leading articles or reports had to be pre¬ 
pared. I was more free from this annoyance that day 
than I ever remember. 
In the Seedling tent there was one White Fuchsia, 
called Charmer; a good scarlet Rhododendron, called 
Ponticum coccineum; several Calceolarias , of which 
Reubens, Masterpiece, and Charmer, were the best among 
the dark ones; and of the spotted ones, Hillingdon, 
Bertha, Constantine, Pygmalion, and Liliputian, were 
the best for distinctness of coloured marking; and there 
was one seedling Calceolaria, called Enchantress, as 
near to scarlet as could be about the throat and front, 
but the bottom was yellow. Not one of these seedlings, 
however, were nearly so good as those I had myself, 
and saw with Mr. Wilmore, near Birmingham, in 
1835 and 1836. 
In Geraniums, Boule de Neige was there again ; it is 
the best white that has been yet exhibited of the horse¬ 
shoe kinds, and will make a rich bed or edging. I have 
a seedling, which flowered this week, with a better white, 
and as large a truss, as the Snowball, but the shape of 
my flower is not nearly so good: a cross between the two 
will establish the long-wished-for “ White-scarlet Gera¬ 
nium” in perfection. Qlaucum grandiflorum interme¬ 
dium, a most stupid, rigmarole of a name, was a very, 
very pretty-habited flower-bed Geranium, of the wild 
African class, with small, clear white blossoms, and 
only a little speck of black at the back. If it flowers to 
the end of the season it will be valuable in the tlower- 
garden ; and if it seeds, it will be still more so; but the 
name is enough to frighten any lady from having it, 
and 1 heard so much from good judges of such things 
that day. 
Of the Fancies, Constance is my favourite ; it belongs 
to the same section of them as the Hero of Surrey; 
these are all black and white. Lady Hume Campbell, a 
deep crimson all round, with a white edge, was the best 
of that class. The following were the next best— Rosa¬ 
lind, Loveliness, Hebe, Jeanette, Illuminata, Cupid, and 
Bird of Paradise. 1 may as well tell, that ladies cannot 
bear to look at such flowers as Madonna and Fairy, the 
next two best seedlings; they have a faint lilac blotch 
on a sickly white ground. I once burned my fingers 
with a better flower than either of these, which I pro¬ 
posed to name after an honourable lady. It is now 
called Countess, and a seedling between it and Glaucum 
grandiflorum intermedium would make the best pure 
white fancy Geranium, for a bed, of all that I can sug¬ 
gest. I know Countess will seed and carries pollen. 
Roses. —I had a full view of the Roses to-day without 
hindrance; they were splendid, but not nearly so much 
so as in May. Paul’s Queen Victoria I now saw in per¬ 
fection for the first time; it ranks in the largest class of 
Roses, is pure white in the outward petals, with a blush 
towards the centre. I do not know or caro how the 
florists like it, but it is a first class Rose for a lady. 
The best yellow is the Tea Viscountess de Gazes, but is 
not a good pot Rose by any means, as it seldom comes 
in a good form from a pot; I have seen it perfect on a 
west wall. Eliza Sauvage, with a paler yellow, and a 
flower three times the size, was the next best yellow; 
and Pactole, a still paler yellow, the third best, but 
neither of these are of such rich yellow as the Persian 
Briar, of which there were only cut flowers, as no one 
can depend on it in a pot. The best white Roses were 
Niphetos (Tea), Lamark (Noisette), and Madam Legras 
(Summer Rose), and Madam Plantier, which, however, 
was not worth looking at among so many good ones, 
being all but gone. Miss Glegg, a dwarf Noisette, which 
I do not recollect seeing in a pot before, was very fine, 
as showing what a good bedding Rose it is, for which I 
often recommended it—as many as forty Roses in one 
bunch or head, and only three, four, or five of them 
open at the same time—the best character for a bedding 
Rose. A bed of it, with a border of Aimee Vibert round 
it, would be the best white of the whole family. The 
largest Roses were, Paid Perras, La. Reine, Barron Pre- 
vost, Chenedole, Mailmaison Rose, and Magna Rosea, a 
blush hybrid China. The most conspicuous Roses at a 
little distance were, Chenedole, Great Western, Eliza 
Mercceur, a hybrid Bourbon ; Duchess of Sutherland, 
Celine, a lilacy rose; Colonel Coombes, dark purple; and 
Juno, a hybrid China, a fine blush Rose in the way of 
the flower of Blairii, and the two very best Roses were 
certainly Coupe de Hebe and Blairii, No. 2. Among 
the cut Roses were the Cloth of Gold, Sofrano, not often 
seen, and two new curious Roses, one a blush, with the 
edges frilled or plaited, as if done by the laundrymaid ; 
the other a crimson, mottled all over with dark spots 
and streaks, named, to the memory of the late Queen of 
the Belgians, Souvenir de la Reine des Beiges, which will, 
no doubt, be translated here, Queen of the Belgians, as 
the Souvenir de la Mailmaison is now, by universal con¬ 
sent, called the Mailmaison Rose. 
I would here hint to the council of the Society, that 
their alteration of the tent in which the Roses and large 
Geraniums were exhibited is very much against the 
Roses, in particular. There is a glass top, or ridge, to 
this tent, letting down perpendicular light. This light 
is then shadowed by the dark roof of the tent, with a 
| cross light entering behind the spectator. One of the 
large gold medals could not bring out a better method 
to destroy any shade, from deep rose to clear white, and 
even the scarlet colour of Chenedole was subdued to a 
pale pink by the fan light from above. A young lady 
would not sit, in company, under a light from a low 
ceiling for all the world, because all the world would 
believe she was going to faint the moment they saw her. 
Geraniums. —The Fancies were arranged in a different 
tent from where the great Pelargoniums were shown—a 
most judicious arrangement; for when the two classes 
are placed in the same tent no one looks at the old 
ones ; and even the Fancies do not seem so very pretty 
as they really are when the two sets are seen at once. 
Magnet was the best that was there of the fiery crimson 
cast, and Prince of Orange the very best of the orange- 
scarlet class; and this class is the most telling after 
all, and by far the scarcest in good varieties. If we 
could but get these beautiful flowers out of the grasp 
of the mad florists, and hand them over to a com¬ 
mittee of ladies for selection and crossing, they would 
