April 10. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
21 
Should the cut flowers of Begonias, therefore, be 
placed on green paper ? I think not; but T never tried 
the experiment. Natural green can never be exhibited 
by any art of painting. A natural common, with its 
natural accompaniment of bushes, banks, trees and 
leaves, grass, rushes, and all the rest of it, is all clothed 
in green, and yet two spots of it are not of the same 
green. Dark blue paper is that which would show off’ 
the principal tints of Begonia blossoms; therefore, and 
if that be true, the Queen’s Begonias were seen under 
great disadvantage ; but recollect, that dark blue paper 
is not best for all kinds of flowers—far from it. 
CROSSED BEGONIAS. 
Of the crosses among these Begonias, one called 
Nitida rosea will be the most generally useful, and 
Nitida rubra the next; but the latter name is not so 
appropriate as the first, because the flowers of rubra are 
not so large, or so much like those of the old Nitida as 
those of Rosea. Place a bunch of Nitida, another of 
Nitida rosea by the side of it, and a third bunch after 
them of Nitida rubra ; or if you do not happen to know 
Nitida, place three bunches of Geraniums in your mind’s 
eye, the first to be a very pale blush, the second, a light 
rose-coloured, and the third, a deep red [sanguined) 
coloured bunch, and you have the three Begonias, the 
last two being crosses from the first. For a Fairy 
Queen, I think one called Suaveolens rosea is the best. 
One called Ingramii is far superior to one or two which j 
go by that name—to wit, the Ingramii in the collection 
of the Horticultural Society was as inferior to the real 
thing as I am to the Prince himself. The true Ingramii 
is a deep rose-colour with a tinge of purple. Begonia 
coccinea is the most difficult to grow well of about thirty- 
two sorts which I have grown; and in talking on the j 
subject with a friend who has had very many of them 
under his thumb, he told me that the secret in “ doing ” 
coccinea, and two or three more shy ones, is to keep 
loam from them altogether; nothing but leaf-mould and 
sand, and under-potting would do for getting them to the 
highest order. I must here observe, that under-potting 
is to have a plant in a smaller pot than the size of the 
plant would suggest, and that in such cases, more than 
the usual quantity of water is generally given to make 
up the difference. 
ROSES. 
The pot Roses were just of that stamp which ought 
to be the aim of private growers. The plants were from 
eighteen to thirty inches in diameter, and not quite so 
high. They carried from eight to fifteen full blown 
Roses each, and many buds coming in succession. They 
were supplied by one grower, Mr. Francis, one ol the 
principal Rose-growers. The plants had only one year’s 
growth from the bud, and were all worked on the 
Manetti stock, and were pictures of real health. The 
kinds were— Niphetos, white Tea; Viscountess de Cazes, 
yellow Tea; Compte de Paris, blush Tea; Souvenir dun 
Ami, blush Tea ; Eliza Sauvage, the same, with seven¬ 
teen blooms; Madame de Bravy, a large white Tea; 
Auguste Mie, Hybrid Perpetual, a fine blush Rose ; 
Miss J. G. Meynotte, the same, a crimson; Geant des 
Battailles, the same; Jaques Laffitte, also Hybrid Per¬ 
petual, and some others. Mr. Francis sent also a large 
box of cut Roses, principally the same as the above. 
Mr. McEwen, gardener to the Duke of Norfolk, sent a 
basket of cut Roses, and two bouquets of Roses in 
water-glasses ; the Duchess of Norfolk, a deep crimson 
pillar Rose, and Moss Lanii, with other Moss Roses, 
were conspicuous in these groups. Mr. Paul, the great 
Rose-grower, of Cheshunt, sent a large box of mag¬ 
nificent cut blooms, which carried off the palm. Gloire 
de Dijon was the newest to me in this box. It is the best 
of all the yellowish Roses out, a kind of buff-yellow. 
This was also my first good opportunity of seeing La 
Quintine, the darkest purple of all the Bourbons—a 
magnificent Rose. Mr. Paul told me that this new Rose 
has the same delicate habit as Paul Joseph, Souchet, 
and such like Bourbons, and none of these will do to 
be worked on strong-growing stocks, according to my own 
experience. Barron Prevost, Madame de St. Joseph, 
Tea; a splendid buff: Narcisse, Tea, a canary-yellow; 
Souchet, General Jacqueminot, a very fine crimson; 
Niphetos, Auguste Mie, and several others, and all as 
fine and large as they will be next May. 
Has any one beard that Mr. Lane, with his Roses, is 
gone to Sebastopol, or where? We cannot afford to 
lose one of the giants of the battles, when we have 
such hard fighting in the heart of London. 
CAMELLIAS. 
The rest of the cut flowers was a large box of thirty- 
two kinds of Camellias, from Mr. Collins, gardener to 
E. H. Chapman, Esq., Harringay House. These were 
much admired for the large size and brilliant tints of 
the individual blooms. There was one small plant of 
Camellia, from Mr. Veitch, called the Countess of Orkney, 
a very large white flower, marked with flakes and 
blotches of pink or carmine, and a large plant of 
Doncklaari, from some one whose name I did not catch. 
CINERARIAS. 
Mr. Turner, of Slough, sent a full collection of them, 
and thirteen to the dozen ; they were the finest speci¬ 
mens of growth, bloom, size, and symmetry of all the 
Cinerarias I ever saw. Every one was a perfect model 
in itself; there will be some difference, to the end of 
time, as to the best of this or that fancy group, but 
among good judges there is scarcely ever a question as 
to the best-grown collection, or the best-bloomed either. 
The largest flower, and what nine out of ten would call 
the best flower, among the Cinerarias, was a specimen 
plant called Estella, one lately sent out by E. G. Hender¬ 
son and Son, of Wellington Road Nursery; a cupped 
bloom, of a purplish-crimson colour round a white eye. 
I am satisfied, however, that a lady of taste would pick 
out Esther before Estella. This Esther is one of Mr. 
Turner’s own seedlings, a bright, shining crimson, and 
a clear white eye. Another of his seedlings called Opti¬ 
mum, and sent as a new kind, is in the way of Esther, 
from the same father and mother; but, if I mistake not, 
the younger will be the greater favourite after pre¬ 
sentation at court. Loveliness, crimson, with a ring of 
white in the eye. Carminata is carmine all over and 
under as far as you can see it. Amy Robsart, light 
purple, and not at all the worso of being of a certain 
age. Kate Kearney, without a blush, is as white as a 
swan; Mary Laboucliere, also white; but the tips of 
the petals are of a lilac cast, making the flower look more 
modest-like than that of “ darlint Kate Kearney." Then 
comes Lord Stamford, all white except a ring of blue, 
formed by the stain on the tips all round. Mrs. Sidney 
Herbert, half white and half crimson ; and Labl-ache, 
the deepest and best blue. There is no class of flowers, 
for which we give prizes, more deserving of it than 
Cinerarias. Everybody thinks he can grow a Cineraria, 
but there is not a man in a score who even knows how 
to set about it; and let me tell you, for 1 know the fact, 
that there is more headwork, more eyework, and more 
fingerwork, required to bring out a long dozen of 
Cinerarias, as Mr. Turner has done, than in blooming 
twenty-four Denbrobiums; which brings us to the 
ORCHIDS. 
There were two collections of them; a regular field- 
