THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 23. 
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its ears and grows vigorously, give it a shift into a 
larger pot, as it requires it, and according to the 
size you wish it to attain. If to be large, you will 
require to stop it in April, that you may double 
or treble your number of shoots. As, when grow- 
! ing, it is a regular drinker, you may humour it by 
: setting the pot in a saucer seldom destitute of water. 
By the middle of June, unless the plant stands in 
l a roomy, open, light greenhouse, you may plunge 
your pot in the open garden, shading the plant for a 
few days at first, mulching it with well-decayed dung, 
supplying with plenty of water, and twisting the pot I 
round, once a week or so, to prevent the plant freely 
rooting through. By the end of August, water should 
, be gradually withheld, so as to assist the hardening of 
, the shoots and the ripening of the buds. By the end of 
September, the less rain that falls on the plant the 
better. By the end of October, house in a cold pit, or 
beneath the stage in a cool greenhouse. Where there 
is a hotbed, or a hothouse, the plant may be excited 
into growth any time after Christmas ; of course, with 
a greenhouse alone, you must wait until the sun gains 
strength. A key-note to the culture, will, at once, he 
apparent, if it is recollected, that it should be pruned, 
thinned, and grown similar to a Vine; the flowers on 
the points of the shoots this season, coming from well- 
ripened buds, formed on the shoots of the preceding | 
year, a fact which generally renders the best appear¬ 
ances in pots to be produced from plants comparatively 
young. When growing and blooming, they dearly | 
relish almost everything in the shape of manure-water. 
Growing rapidly, maturing thoroughly, and resting 
quietly, are the secrets for obtaining immense heads 
of bloom, in the future, from a little excitement and 
nourishment. 
A friend lately complained that he had some young 1 
plants from a blue flowering kind, and he thought he 
was done for, because his plants all came pink. Nothing 
of the kind. The colour of this plant cannot be pro¬ 
pagated. It depends on circumstances, such as soil, &c. 
I have failed, with all my scheming, at one time, to get 
a pink flower. I have equally failed at others to get a 
blue one. Frequently, I have had several shades of 
both on the same plant. Iron filings, mixed with the 
soil, and watering with a weak solution of alum, will 
frequently yield a beautiful blue, but not always. The 
loams of Hampstead Heath, and Wimbledon Common, 
generally produce this result, as do several peat earths 
found near Edinburgh, Berlin, and St. Petersburgh. 
An oxide of iron, or the presence of alum, is generally 
supposed to be the cause; but I think there is great 
uncertainty in working out, at all times, such a result. 1 
I have not, however, experimented for some years, and I 
shall be glad to know if recent experiments have been 
more decided in tlieir result. R. Fish. 
( To be continued.') 
HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION IN THE 
REGENT’S PARK. 
The Royal Botanic Society held their second meeting 
for this year on Wednesday, the 8th of June. A 
finer day could not possibly be. The grounds were in 
beautiful order; the Lilacs, Laburnums, Snowball-trees, 
and numerous other shrubs that in this month more 
especially adorn our pleasure-grounds everywhere were 
in full flower, and as fresh and sweet as possible. 
Standing upon the mount in the grounds, and looking 
down upon the beautifully laid-out garden, filled with 
flowers, and a numerous company dressed in all the 
richest colours, the scene was truly animating and 
joyous. 
The subjects exhibited were, upon the whole, very 
satisfactory; but as many of them were shewn at the 
previous meeting, my notices will necessarily be brief. 
Our readers must imagine them present besides those 
that I shall present to their notice. One exception there 
was, and one of some extent—Mrs. Lawrence, of Ealing 
Park, did not send her large collection of her well-known 
fine, large, stove anti greenhouso plants. Various 
rumours were afloat as to the reason, but the most 
probable one was the approach of the Chiswick Show, 
which took place the following Saturday. Be that as it 
may, the rest of the contributors sent plants sufficient, 
and in good order, to fill up the vacant space. 
New and Rare Plants. — Dipladenia crassinoda, var. 
superba. —This is a decided improvement upon the old 
species, fine though it be. The flowers are fully two inches 
more in diameter, and the colour much richer and 
deeper, and the foliage, too, is larger. It stood, when I 
saw it, close beside a well-grown plant of the original 
species, and the difference was striking and remarkable 
even to the most superficial observer. 
Messrs. Veitch sent a new Saccolabinm with a broad, 
deep, purple lip. The whole flower was larger than any 
other Saccalabium I know. I suspect, however, it is 
nearly allied to S. Blumei major. 
There was, also, a new and beautiful Huntleya, sent 
by Mr Carson, gardener to W. Farmer, Esq., of Non¬ 
such Park, Cheam. The sepals and petals were not 
particularly showy; but the lip was of the richest 
dark purple, large, and handsome. Decidedly an ac¬ 
quisition, even to the beautiful tribe it belongs to. 
From Mr. Woolley, gardener to H. B. Kerr, Esq., of 
Cheslmnt, there was a new Dendrobium of considerable 
beauty; the whole flower was of a bright orange colour. 
The plant had been imported lately, and had only one 
spike of flowers upon it, but when better cultivated, 
and more fully bloomed, it will he very desirable. I 
propose naming it Dendrobium aurantium concolor. 
Sarcliocldlus calceolus came from the same place, an 
orchid, with cream-coloured flowers, rather small, but 
produced numerously from the axils of the leaves. 
That noble plant, the Lilium giganteum, was shown in 
flower, by Messrs. Veitch. The leaves were a foot long, 
and nine inches broad; the stem was very stout, nearly 
as thick at the base as a man’s wrist, rising to the 
height of six feet, crowned with eight large tubular 
flowers of a white colour, spotted on the inside edges 
with crimson. This was truly a noble plant, and the 
most remarkable one in the whole exhibition. Whether 
it had any perfume, I had no opportunity of ascertain¬ 
ing, because the blooms were six feet high from the pot, 
elevated upon a stage three feet high. 
Mr. Woolley sent a well-bloomed pot-full of Cypri- 
pedium humile, a hardy orchid, from North America, with 
seven flowers. This is a rarely-seen plant, and never 
seen in finer condition. 
New varieties of Florists Flowers were not numerous. 
The most remarkable was an Azalea, named Striata 
formosissima, a great improvement upon the striped 
varieties. It had clear, bright red stripes, upon a 
white ground, very much more distinct than Azalea 
vittata. The foliage is small, and the plant of a dense 
bushy habit. 
Mr. Hoyle, of Reading, had a stand of new Pelar¬ 
goniums of superior merit. One, named Regalia, ob¬ 
tained a prize, as the nearest approach to scarlet in this 
class. It stood near to Magnet, the star of last year, 
and is superior to it in colour, as a scarlet and a bell- 
form. Chino is a rosy-purple; upper petals dark 
maroon, edged with carmine; form excellent. Governor 
General, an improvement upon Governor, m form and 
colour; rose lower petals, and purple upper petals; a 
free bloomer. Nonpariel, very much like the Zaria of 
last year. Majestic, a dark rose with white eye. These 
