THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 9, 1857. 
occasions, was done away with, and the Crystal Palace 
is thus, alter all, the very best place to see everything to 
the best advantage. If the canvass over the plants in 
the nave had been three feet higher from them, and m 
the form of a span-roof, as in the transept, nothing could 
have been more complete. D. Beaton. 
MANCHESTER BOTANICAL AND HORTI¬ 
CULTURAL SOCIETY’S SHOW. 
The above Society held a grand Floral Fete on Tuesday 
and Wednesday, the 25th and 26th of May last, in their 
beautiful gardens at Old Trafford, adjoining the site of the 
world-famed collection of Art Treasures now exhibiting. 
I had the pleasure of visiting this Floral Fete, and was 
so delighted with the fine display of plants, flowers, and 
fruits, that I spent both days taking notes, and I only trust 
our readers will be a tithe as well pleased with my endeavours 
to describe them as I was in seeing them. 
The subjects were admirably arranged in a large, hand¬ 
some, glass-covered building, erected by the Society pur¬ 
posely for such exhibitions ; and though it is so large, 
covering a quarter of an acre, they were obliged to put up 
three large additional canvass-covered marquees to hold the 
remainder of objects that were brought from various parts 
of the kingdom for exhibition. 
The principal exhibitors were Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, 
and Co., of Exeter, and to their immense collections 
my attention was first directed. To attempt to describe 
every specimen in this vast assemblage would occupy 
space enough to fill an entire number of The Cottage 
Gardener ; therefore I must condense my notes, however 
reluctantly, and merely state that they sent upwards of thirty 
Orchids in full bloom, chiefly consisting of twenty-six plants 
of Cuttleya Mossice of various shades of colour; a good 
plant of the rare Caltleya superba, with four of its rich- 
coloured blossoms; the beautiful Lcelia cinnabarina, with 
twelve spikes of flowers; the Epidendrum macrochilum, with 
four spikes of its sweet-scented blossom; a large Saccolabium 
guttatum ; and several others of less note. Of stove plants 
they sent a magnificent plant of Medinilla magnified. In 
greenhouse plants they had eighteen Azalea Indica, splendid 
plants, averaging five feet in height by four feet in width, 
most admirably grown, and covered with bloom; also four 
Erica depressa, profusely covered with golden blossoms, three 
feet by three feet; two Erica Cavendishii , five feet by five 
feet, equally well bloomed; seven Pimeleas of various species, 
well bloomed; also Boronias , Eriostemons , and various other 
tribes; an extraordinary standard plant, with a large head 
well bloomed, of Acacia hispidissima, very like the one known 
in the trade as Acacia grandis. This was a most striking 
and effective plant. At each corner of the collection stood 
two lofty plants of Arundo donax variegata : these had a 
good effect. A new plant to me was amongst them, named 
Callitris virgata, with white starry flowers, very neat and 
pleasing on account of its drooping, graceful habit. There 
was also a noble plant of Francisco. a confertifolia , with scores 
of heads of bloom on it. 
On a grass plot near the great Exhibition building Messrs. 
Lucombe and Co. displayed more than a hundred of the best 
Coniferse, many of them very rare and very fine specimens. 
I may just mention a few of the most remarkable. Arthro- 
taxis selaginioides, from Tasmania, eight feet high. This 
plant is valued at 100 guineas. Dacrydium Franklandii, from 
the same country, six feet high. This is like a drooping 
Willow in habit, and is very curious and interesting. Picea 
Nordmanniana, two plants, four feet high by five feet wide, 
well feathered to the ground; a pair of Araucarias , in large 
boxes, eight feet high; two good specimens of the wonder¬ 
ful Wellingtonia gigantea; and a good specimen of the rare 
Thujiopsis borealis, from Hudson’s Bay, handsome, a 
Lycopod ; Picea nobilis , four feet; P. amabilis, &c. 
How Mr. Pince managed to get this immense collection 
conveyed safely and in such perfection from Exeter to Man¬ 
chester is almost miraculous : scarcely a blossom was crushed 
or even injured. I was informed the whole were sent not for 
competition. A more spirited, disinterested, and patriotic 
act to advance the knowledge of horticulture never was ex¬ 
hibited by any nurseryman. Great praise is due to Messrs. 
Lucombe, Pince, and Co. for their liberality. 
Sir Joseph Paxton also sent a large collection of plants 
not for competition, consisting of a dozen Orchids, of which 
I may name A'erides virens , with twelve spikes ; Phalcenopsis 
| grandfiora, seven spikes ; the rare Lcelia pur pur at a, with 
four large beautiful flowers; Oncidium ampliatum major, 
j three immense spikes; Vanda Roxburglm, several plants of 
both the red-lipped and blue-lipped varieties; also six large, 
well-bloomed Azaleas, and an extraordinary specimen of 
Sarracenia purpurea, two feet across. 
There were in new plants the following:— 
A good specimen of Oenetyllis tulipifera from Messrs. 
Lucombe and Co. This was a dense bush, two feet by two 
feet, covered most closely with its Tulip-like blossoms. The 
blooms were the most highly coloured of any I ever saw. 
Lcelia Brysiana , an Orchid, from T. Brocklehurst, Esq., 
of the Fence, near Macclesfield, resembling L. purpurata , 
but the sepals and petals are different in form, and of the 
purest white colour; the lip longer, and the purple spots 
broader and more dense in hue. Obtained the first prize. 
Cattleya Lawrenciana .— Sepals and petals a delicate peach 
colour; the lip rosy purple; approaches nearest in general 
habit to C. crispa. Exhibited by R. S. Yates, Esq., of Stret¬ 
ford, in Manchester. This is a distinct and beautiful variety. 
Ouvirandra fenestralis (The Lattice plant).—A good speci¬ 
men of this elegant and curious under-water plant came 
from T. Ashton, Esq., of Hyde, near Manchester. The 
roots were in gravel at the bottom of the vessel, and the 
plant formed a curious-looking herbaceous skeleton, growing 
in, not floating on, the surface of the water. Received an 
extra prize. 
COLLECTIONS.—NURSERYMEN. 
twelve stove and greenhouse plants. 
The great prize of the day, competed for by Mr. Cole, Man¬ 
chester, first; and Mr. Cutbush, of Barnet, near London, 
second; both collections exceedingly creditable. Mr. Cole’s 
best were Aphelexis macrantha purpurea, Leschenaultia inter¬ 
media, Azalea Conqueror , Erica perspicua nana , E. campanu- 
lata, Allamanda cathartica , and Polygala Dalmatiana, all 
excellent, doing credit to Mr. Cole, who was formerly gar¬ 
dener to H. Collyer, at Dartford, Kent. Mr. Cutbush is, 
comparatively speaking, a young grower, but his collection 
was very fine. The best were Azalea Trotteriana and two 
others, Erica Cavendishii , Glerodendrum fctllax, Allamanda 
neriifolia, Leschenaultia formosa, Dillwynia rudis, and Cho- 
rozema varia nana. Mr. Cole had a third prize adjudged 
to him for twelve plants similar in kind, but much smaller. 
COLLECTIONS OP EIGHT STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS, 
ALSO TO NURSERYMEN, OP SIMILAR KINDS. 
The candidates for these prizes ty ere the same, and they 
stood in the same relative, position, namely, Mr. Cole first, 
Mr. Cutbush second, and Mr. Cole third. Amongst the 
first was a beautiful specimen of that difficult-to-grow plant, 
the Acrophyllum venosum, and a good Pimelea Hendersoni. 
In the second ;I‘ noted Oenetyllis Hookeriana , a rare plant, 
with dull crimson, drooping flowers; and a good Eriostemon 
pulchellum. 
COLLECTIONS OF TEN VARIEGATED AND ORNAMENTAL PLANTS. 
Of these highly ornamental fashionable plants the nursery¬ 
men produced three collections. Mr. Cutbush was first; 
Mr. Fisher Godwin, of Sheffield, second; and Mr. Cole third. 
Mr. Cole had good plants of Philodendron retusum ; the 
striped Hydrangea, very fine; Croton pictum, Caladium 
pictum , C. bicolor splendens, and Ananassa sativa variegata. 
Mr. Godwin sent a fine Aralia trifoliata , Pandanus utilis 
variegata , Bopala magnfica , and Dracaena terminalis; and 
Mr. Cole had Caladium hamcestigma, Croton discolor , and the 
beautiful Sonerila margaritacca. 
COLLECTIONS OF SIX ORCHIDS. 
Mr. K. Yates sent two collections in good order, and w r as 
awarded the first and second prizes for Dendrobium Devoni- 
anum , a good specimen, well bloomed; Oncidium luridum 
guttatum , with three long spikes ; Dendrobium albo-san- 
guineum , well bloomed; Calanthe veratrifolia ; Cattleya 
Mossice; Dendrobium clavatum, rare; Saccolabium guttatum; 
