July 24. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
289 
it takes me to write about it. To liave the dessert on 
the dinner-table during the dinner is exactly like 
cooking a dinner, and then sitting down to eat it, and 
nothing else. Resides, it looks mean in the extreme, just 
as if you were at a Highland shooting, and twenty miles 
from the cellar and larder, and was glad to your heart’s 
content to have the dessert to “ fill up,” for want of 
substantialities. I have placed, and helped to place, 
mauy a good dinner on a camp-table in a shooting- 
tent, and from that to the first dining-rooms and first 
company, up to Prince Albert himself. I was a “ man 
cook,” too, and confectioner to boot; and whether I am 
wrong or right in my fruit and dessert notes, is of less 
consequence than of being able to impress them deeply 
on the minds of young housekeepers and young gar¬ 
deners, for the old ones will have their own way to the 
end of the chapter. 
Grapes. —The best coloured Black Hambro’ Grapes 
were three large bunches from Mr. Street, gardener 
to W. Herbert, Esq., Clapham Common. The next 
best coloured, but larger berries, were from Mr. Flem¬ 
ing, of Trentham, who had also the finest fruit of 
the Mill Hill Hambro’ that ever was exhibited. 
The berries of this variety were regularly dotted with 
reddish spots, as if on the inside of the skin; and 
there was a large basket of very beautiful Black 
Plambros’, from Mr. Harrison, Oatlands Palace; and the 
best-coloured Muscats were from Mr. Clarke, of Hodder- 
stone; and the next best from Mr. John Strachan, 
market-gardener, of Beach Hall, near Chester. Mr. 
Turner, gardener to J. Hill, Esq., of Streatham, showed 
three excellently-coloured bunches of the true Black 
Prince,—a good Grape, which is much confused with 
others in cultivation. Many others had Grapes, black 
and white, nearly as good as the above; but I must 
pass them to notice a fine, new White Grape, which was 
shown by Mr. Busby, gardener to J. Crawley, Esq., of 
Stockwood Park, Luton. I noticed this fine seedling 
twice, in the end of 1853, from specimens of it which 
were shown in Regent Street. I have grown every 
white Grape worthy of the name, from the Pitmaston 
White Cluster and Verdello, the two smallest whites, to 
the Nice, Trebiana, and Salamana, the three largest of 
all the white Grapes in cultivation. I reckon the White 
Frontignan as the very best, when well grown, and this 
new seedling as the next best; but the White Frontignan 
is very difficult to get in prime order, while this is as 
easy as the Black Hambro’, from which it is a seedling, 
by the pollen of the Sweetwater. The taste, the flavour, 
the flesh, and the juice, seem exactly as intermediate 
between the two points, and every one of the best fruit¬ 
growers agreed with me in my estimation of it, and what 
every body says must be true. 
Pine Apples were numerous. The heaviest was a 
Providence, 12ft>. 3oz., from Mr. Jones, of Dowlais. 
Mr. Fleming, Mr. Dods, Mr. Davis, and many other 
well known Pine-growers, came out strongly in this fruit. 
Mr. Turnbull, gardener to the Duke of Marlborough, 
had the first prize for a Cayenne Pine, weighing 4fb. 
l2oz.; and for Queens, the first prize was given to Mr. 
Gostling, gardener to Mrs. Deacon, — this was a 
4rt>. 15oz. fruit, and was considered to be of first-rate 
flavour. 
Peaches and Nectarines were far above the usual 
run, and very numerous. Mr. Judd, gardener to Earl 
Spencer, had the first prize for Peaches, but Mr. Turnbul, 
and Mr. Mitchel, of Brighton, were little behind the 
best. But passing over the rest of the better-known 
gardeners, I shall only mention Mr. Hay, gardener to 
the Bishop of London, and Mr. McQuilter, gardener 
to Col. Challoner, as having had prizes for Peaches, or 
Peaches and Nectarines. 
Melons were plentiful as Turnips, and of all sizes 
and weights; but Mr. Fleming is at the top of this 
tree with his own hybrids, which nobody seems to grow 
so well as himself. 
Cherries from about Brentford and Ealing carried 
the day among the market-gardeners, but, to my taste, 
they gather them too soon. I have seen a few waggon 
loads of Cherries put in a heap in a large room to ripen 
them for the Gloucester market, and ever since I have 
been shy with “ripe Cherries” which I did not gather, 
or see gathered myself. 
Strawberries. —The best collection of them was from 
Mr. Lydiard, of Bath; his fruit were very large and 
well-coloured, and Mr. Smith, of Twickenham, had the 
largest,— Sir Charles Napier. The White Bicton Pine 
Strawberry and the White Alpine were very fine; but I 
missed the very dark one we had last year from 
Birmingham. 
There was only one dish of Raspberries, and that from 
Mr. Lydiard. Mr. Ingram, of the Royal Gardens, sent 
some fine Washington Plums, also Greengages, and the 
Goliah Plum. Mr. McEwen sent Peaches and Necta¬ 
rines, in pots, ready for table ; and Mr. Lane, the great 
Rose-man, sent a large collection of Peaches, Nectarines, 
Plums, and Gooseberries not ripe, and full-ripe Cherries, 
all in pots, on the Orchard-house plan; and for odds 
and ends we had Vanilla, Nutmeg, and Banana fruit 
from Sion House. 
ORCHIDS. 
Mr. Veitcli was the only nurseryman who showed 
Orchids, but Mr. Wooly, Mr. Carson, Mr. Gidney, Mr. 
Ivison, and others, showed very good plants in fine 
bloom, which escaped the heavy pelting rain of that 
eventful morning. Here, and elsewhere, among the col¬ 
lections of plants, the system of placing them for best 
effect was visible and unmistakeable, so that the Crystal 
Palace Show has begun to tell already. 
Mr. Veitch began his collection or ten in the 
centre of the space allotted for him on this wise—a 
Sohralia macrantlia for a centre at the back, which was 
flanked on either side by two large Aerides of equal 
size, A. odorata, and odorata major, a fine Dendroihium 
chrysanthum, and Cypripedium barbatum major, Sacco- 
lahium guttatum, and Acrhles Lobbii, well matched; this 
Aerides had twelve branched spikes of bloom, large, 
rosy flowers, in the way of affine, but much finer. 
Phalccnopsis grandiflora, and Aerides affine, and, as “a 
bird alone,” Dendrochilum filiforme; this is the most 
simple, and, at the same time, the most elegant thing 
among air plants. 
Mr. Wooly, gardener to IT. B. Ker, Esq., had the 
first gold Bauksian Medal for his ten. He, too, put his 
Sohralia macrantlia in the middle; Phaius albas and 
Calanthe veratrifolia, on either side of it; then Cattleya 
violacea, Sarcopodium Lobbii, Lcelia cinnabarina, Odon- 
toglossum Laureneeanum, Epidendrum radiatum, On¬ 
cidium lanceanum, and Aerides odoratum major. 
In the collection or sixes, Mr. Wooly had Cattleya 
Harrisonice, Epidendrum rhizopliorum, Vanda tricolor, 
Saccolabium furcatum and guttatum, and Aerides affine. 
Mr. Gidney, gardener to Mrs. Ellis, of Hoddesdon, 
had two fine Phalccnopsis grandiflora, Oncidium Lan¬ 
ceanum and pxdvinatum, Epidendrum verrucosum and 
vitellinum, Saccolabium furcatum, Aerides quinquevid- 
nerum, Calanthe masuca, and Phaius cilbus. 
Mr. Carson exhibited in the sixes, Cypripedium 
barbatum, Miltonia spectabilis, Dendrochilum Jiliforme, 
Cattleya superba, and Saccolabium Blumei. 
Mr. Iveson had Oncidium ampliatum major, Aerides 
odoratum, Oncidium luridum, Cattleya Mossicc, Epiden¬ 
drum macrochilum, and a large Cattleya cdba of the 
Mossicc breed. 
Mr. Dunsford, from Chingford, Essex, had Stanhopea 
oculata, Saccolabium guttatum, Cyrtochilum maculatum, 
