894 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 29, 1859. 
Mr. Cut bush finding there was no competition for 
Hyacinths this spring in London, and not judging it 
neighbourly to disturb the people of Edinburgh so 
soon after the Burns’ festival, he determined to have a 
show of his own—to ring the bell and answer it himself— 
and the success of these resolves is already beyond a 
doubt The Camellias and the Hyacinths have succeeded 
thus exhibited. There were, on an average, five hundred 
visitors daily, the first week, to see the Hyacinths, and as 
the v eather cleared up, the interest increased ; and, in¬ 
stead of one week, Mr. Cutbushhad to give them another 
whole week of it And next year, if all be well, he means 
to make a similar hit five times the size—spring flowers, 
forced flowers, and Hyacinths, on a grand scale for a 
private firm, as compared with a public society. The 
thing will pay, and that is the grand consideration ; and 
the end of it will be, that every month of the season will 
bring out some exhibition of the kind within the fading 
shadow of granny’s apron. 
Whoever has a name for some popular plant will find 
it to his advantage, to his fame, and fortune, about London, 
to make a yearly show of it, and to make the show liberal 
—a good hearty thing of it—no ostentation, no schedules, 
and no stinginess. Let all comers come and go just as if 
the flowers were their own, and then they are as safe as 
the Bank of England. 
At Vauxhall they fill up the show-house with fresh 
Camellias as fast as they sell; but Mr. Cutbush had no 
idea that he could sell so many. The first experiment of 
a show was capitally arranged. The show-house was 
fitted up for the trial by darkening the front lights with 
green baize, and the passage on both sides with the same. 
The roof, three-parts of the way up, was covered with 
tiffany; and there was a door at each end of the show— 
not at each end of the house, for the show goes up the 
whole south front, then round the farthest end, and up 
out of sight along the west front. All this part was 
covered with fresh moss, in vhich the pots were plunged ; 
and on the other side of the way was a platform of mixed 
flowers ; then a band of Hyacinths on a higher level; and 
behind them were forced Geraniums, Rhododendrons, 
Persian Lilacs, Azaleas, and ever so many others. Let 
us take the kinds as they were, and see what we can leans 
from them ; for that should be the grand aim and end of all 
the reporting of shows, of nurseries, and of private places. 
The mixed platform was set cut thus—three kinds of 
single Van Thol Tulips ; and here the scarlet Van Thol is 
just as good, in a smaller flower, as Vermillion Brilliant 
is in the larger and later kinds. This scarlet is newish, 
and yet scarce, but is the best of them ; the white is a 
cream colour. Scilla amcena in small pots, and four bulbs 
in a pot, do better than out of doors, and one of the best 
things to line the front of a show-house. A front row 
of it, and a row of dwarf variegated Geraniums behind it, 
would be exactly the right thing. Jonquils, single and 
double, large and small, sweet-smelling and w ith little or 
no scent. Polyanthus Narcissus of which there are, at 
least, six or seven quite distinct kinds, out of forty kinds 
that are only botanically distinct. Of Azaleas, endless 
varieties ; Citisus ramosus, and its kinds ,■ Primula deitli- 
culata, an excellent show-house kind without forcing, like 
the early Bhododendrons, “also forces itself.” Chinese 
Primroses, single and double. Mignonette. The forced 
Geraniums were— Crimson King, Alba multiflora, and 
Blanchfleur; but the latter had such a running sale, that 
every morsel of growth was cut up for increase: it has 
proved to stand the heat as well as Alba multiflora; and 
when it gets as common as that Alba, the Alba must go into 
lodgings like the Horticultural Society. Blanchfleur is the 
best white forcing Geranium ever raised; but Larlfield 
Rival is well spoken of; and I can vouch for Crimson 
King as the best scarlet, or red, forcer that is to come in 
at Christmas and through January. The Rhododendron 
ciliatum forces itself also, if put under a cold frame in 
November: also, Yirgatum, which has the same kind of 
flower, but only one-fourth the size of ciliatum ; but then 
Yirgatum, as I said of it from the Clapton Nursery, 
flowers like an Epacris — one flower with every leaf all up 
the stalk, not at the top like all other Rhododendrons. It 
is a true Rhododendron ; but some of the botanical parts 
are differently arranged, and it ought to be the mother of 
an entire new race of early bloomers without forcing. 
And now for the grand show itself. All the kinds on 
sale have been bought to prove them ; and everyone 
which does not come up to an English notion is popped 
out of sight, and the name is crossed out of the catalogue. 
In practice, or, at all events, for practical purposes, there 
is no use, or reason, to class Hyacinths as single or double. 
Class them as I do; and I learned the way from the 
ladies who class them property, and by their proper 
colours. Three shades of scarlets—deep scarlet, light- 
rose, and pink, and all blushes; just as one would plant 
them, or put the colours in shades. Blues the same— 
dark blue, light blue, porcelain blue, and pale blue. Then 
pure whites ; and, after that, they all come in fancy colours 
—as indigo, black, and white, all in one flower. Violet, 
tinge over a light, or deep, bronze, in one flower, or a 
deeper or lighter self-colour, for which we have no proper 
name ; but to attempt to class the colours in single, or 
double, flowers separately, is just like children playing 
at marbles, as compared with men of business and women 
of taste. 
The highest-coloured, and the best of each colour, are 
as follows :— Aurora, Rutilans, Solfaterre, Napoleon III., 
Monsieur Feasch, Amy, Coccinella, lady Sale, and Robert 
Sterger. 
Next and lighter reds are— Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Madame 
du Lac, Madam Hodson, Circe, Charlotte, Mary Amie, 
Cosmos (fine), Florence Nightingale (very fine), Von 
Schiller (fine), Princess Royal, Susannah Maria, and 
Cavaign'ac. 
The next class is of different degrees of blush— Czar 
Nicholas, Francina, Lord Granville (fine), Dale of 
Wellington, Norma (very fine), Bouquet Royal, Grandeur 
a Merveille (fine), Groot Yorst, Flfrida (nearly white, 
fine), Tubiflora (fine), Grand Blanche, La Blaine (fine), 
Anna Maria (fine), Lamartine, (fine), Cosmos (fine), Holly 
Yarden. 
Creamy white next— Miss Burdett CVa/G(splendid). and 
Mine d’ Or. The only really good two in this rare class ; 
and the two which come the nearest to them, in the last 
section, are— Flfrida and Honneur d'Amsterdam. 
Yellow. The best yellow is — Anna Carolina, and 
Heroine. 
The pure whites are very rich— Tour d'Auvergne (the 
best of them), Victoria Regina, Talleyrand, La Deese, 
Bon Gratuit, Madame Yan der Hoop (beautiful), Grande 
Yainqiieur, Mont Blanc, Grande Yidette, Prince of 
Waterloo (fine), Gloeliv Magniflque (all very fine). 
Now, that is just how they should be planted—the 
purest white outside, and the deepest scarlet in the middle 
of a circle, or back row. 
The blues, purples, and fancy shades ought either to 
be by themselves ; or, if in abed with the above, a row of 
pure white should come between them and the scarlets. 
Last year, the best blue was Baron Yan Tuyll; but now 
General Havelock is far before it in all respects, William I. 
next to it, then Baron Yan Tuyll. The three most realty 
blue,and very fine, are— Laurence Coster, Prince Yan Saxe 
Weimar, and Baron Yan Tuyll. But take one, and the 
best one, of each of the four shades of blue, and we have 
General Havelock, Baron Yon Tuyll, Laurence Coster, and 
Sir Colin Campbell —the four best degrees of comparison 
in cultivation out of a very rich class, the light blues 
being their force and strength as— Grand Lilas (fine 
indeed), Nimrod (the same), Paarlboot, Comte dc St. 
Priest, Prince Frederick, Orondatcs (fine), Blocksberg, 
and Grande Yidette, very large and pale blue. 
Shaded blue, King of the Netherlands, nothing more to 
match the peculiar shade. 
