THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Maectt 20, I860. 
at Highgate, and of Camellias at the British cradle of 
that family, the Vauxhall Nursery. This year we have 
resolved to send a commissioner to both places to report 
progress, and the lot fell upon your humble servant.. .He 
was there the first thing on the opening of the Exhibition, 
and found the progress" to have been much more remark¬ 
able than he expected. Nearly double the number of 
Hyacinths which were on show last year, a large assort¬ 
ment of new kinds, and a rapid stride in the success of 
forcing. By dividing the merit, as I do my seedlings, 
into good, better, and best, and then to select a couple of 
dozens from the best portion, for a competition trial, any¬ 
where between London and Edinburgh, and at both ends 
of the distance, I do not know any party who would be 
likely to come in more than second best at the trial, and 
it wrnuld not be a bad feather to be up to the third lower 
degree at such a contest. . 
The bulbs have all been covered with the mould m 
potting ; the leaves are as firm as from the open air, and i 
not much longer; the flower-stalks are not taller in the j 
open air, but they are quite as thick as from the open 1 
ground, and the spikes of flowers arc exactly as you 
would see them in a bed at the end of April. All the 
close-set ones are just as close as out of doors, and the , 
lax, the free, and the medium closeness the same. These i 
are the criterions, or the law, by which the Judges deter¬ 
mine the merit and success of forcing the Hyacinth, with- j 
out reference to individual sorts. But a second-rate ; 
Hyacinth which is forced in first-rate style will often 1 
look better than a first-rate one that is only of secon d- 
rate forcing ; and in judging the kinds for public use, the 
jury would need that degree of practical knowledge which 
could clearly define the difference of merit between first- 
rate by nature, and first-rate after an unnatural treat- , 
ment. Many years back I have seen selections of kinds 
made from forced flowers, not one-tenth of which were 
first-rate kinds by nature, only they looked best at the 
time, and neither the judge nor jury knew any difference. 
But the world is wiser now, and it is a hard matter, and a 
very responsible undertaking, to make up a list of se¬ 
lections from any class of plants, even for people far 
down in the country ; and a list at random is a great 
wickedness in the eyes of a clear conscience. With these 
convictions I began early in the day to make up my 
notions, and it was four in the afternoon before I closed 
the book. 
The best new kinds in their shades of colours are Koh- 
i-noor, a fine, large, dense spike of deep salmon colour. 
Susannah Maria, salmon rose. Lord Cowley, only re¬ 
markable for the colour of purplish-lilac, and being the 
first approach to a double flower of that rare colour. One- 
third or one-half of a purple lilac, and two-thirds or one- 
half violet blue, would make the true mauve colour, ac¬ 
cording to the brightness of the tints. Sir Coltn Camp- 
hell is the best new, double, light blue among the new 
ones. Belle Quirine, single, pale flesh, large bells, and 
a fine thick spike. Circe, single, red carmine; very 
fine. Desdernona, reddish crimson ; the same. Florence 
Nightingale, single blush with a deep stripe in each 
division; fine. Lina, very fine single crimson, and 
Quint in Durward th.e same, in a deeper shade of crimson ; 
both are in the way of Amy and J^ady Sale, the two best- 
known crimson reds. Prince Alfred, a very fine deep 
blue violet; this has been called mauve colour also, but 
it is nothing of the kind. Lord Clive, Honneur d' Ove- 
reen, and V Unique, are three shades of mauve, and these 
three shades, with the double dark violet of Prince 
Alfred, would make a perfect mauve colour. Prince of 
Wales being the only true mauve colour among all the 
Hyacinths ; but as this kind is so scarce yet, it will be 
some years before a mauve-coloured Hyacinth can be 
bought. Continental dealers are mad just now on mauve 
flowers, and neither treaty, free trade, nor protection, can 
save us from that malady, nor from being imposed on by 
false colours. 
One of the last experiments on colour has given a 
natural standard, so to speak, with which to learn, or 
compare, mauve colour. If a handful of common house¬ 
hold salt is scattered over a bright fire of Newcastle 
coals, or possibly any kind of coals, and a faint ray of 
sunlight is made to play on the flame, the most perfect 
mauve colour will be the result. On a dull day the 
colour will be too much violet, and with much sunlight 
it may be too purple. From a number of experiments 
I conclude we must have three distinct shades of mauve 
—a violet mauve, a purplish mauve, the nearest thing to 
lilac, and a lilac mauve itself. 
But to the newer Hyacinths. Just buy V Unique for 
Is., Lord Clyde for many shillings, or Honneur d'Overeen 
for as many, and you shall have the nearest to purplish 
mauve. The Verbena Lady Middleton will give you 
lilac mauve, and for the present Prince Alfred Hyacinth 
when half blown will be the nearest to violet mauve; 
but even then it is too much of the violet. In Cinerarias 
one might often pick up mauve in parts of the petals, 
or rays, in some part of the flower ; but no Cineraria 
flower that I have seen comes near to mauve all over the 
flower, and I expect mauve will be as scarce in Dahlias 
as blue itself; also in China Asters. But Geraniums and 
Verbenas will give the three degrees of mauve, and so 
may double Petunias and a few other flowers. 
Clear White New Hyacinths. — Gigantea, apeculiar- 
looking flower, the difference being in the extra length 
and reflex of all the lobes or divisions of the flower ; a 
fine thing. White Orondates, exactly like the original 
light blue Orondates ; a beauty. Seraphine, a very good 
single white, with the faintest blush. Snoioball, the best 
white, new or old, a splendid thick leathery substance, 
and pure ivory white. Blach Prince, ditto, is jet black ; 
very fine. Thus ends the newish and newest kinds. 
The Blues. —I took in degrees of good, better, and 
best, and two or three in each degree, as they are nume¬ 
rous. Darkest blue, and when fully open a perfect black, 
i General Havelock. Next deepest blue Baron von Tayll, 
the favourite blue in the Experimental Garden. Next 
shade Charles Diekens. The best of the last, or light 
! shade of blue is Sir Colin Campbell, a double flower; 
j the other blues above him being single, 
j Grey Blue, or Porcelain Blue. —The best in this 
i tint is Grand Lilas, a most beautiful flower. The next 
in beauty is Couronne de Celte, and Nimrod next. The 
three are of equal merit ; the degrees refer to their 
shades. 
Argus is my own favourite of all the blue Hyacinths, 
or of all the blue flowers I ever saw—it cannot be classed 
in any line of other blue flowers. It is a single flower. 
I wish all Hyacinths were so—large bells, a strong spike, 
the flowers just at the proper distances on the spike; 
the tube, or outside bottom, is of the clearest indigo 
blue that ever was seen ; the face, or flat end of the flower, 
is violet-blue ; and the eye, or centre, is pure white, with 
the violet running into the white in pencilled stripes. 
Argus is sold for a mere song (3s.) in respect to its in¬ 
trinsic value; and Argus will be a favourite with ladies 
for a thousand years after I am dead and gone. 
Pure Whites, in good, better, and best.— First, Snow¬ 
ball, aforesaid; second, Madame Van der Hoop (single), 
Grand Vidette (ditto), Mont Blanc (ditto), and Talley¬ 
rand (the same) ; and third, Grand Yainqueur (single), 
and Don Gratuit (double). 
Blush. —First, Miss Burdett Coutts (single), inclining 
to a creamy blush; one of the best. Flfrida (single), 
same way ; and Lady Franklin, the same, and more real 
blush. Second best, Orondates aforesaid, Grandeur a 
Merville, and Cloche Magnifique, three single ones in 
three running shades. Third best, Tubifora, Dolly 
Varden, and Grand Vidette, also single, and in three * 
running shades as they stand. 
Crimson. —Three best, TAna, Amy , and Quintin Dur• 
ward, all single. Four second best, Robert Steiger, Lady 
