T 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 27, 1858. 
arrangements were complete ; tliey were made by Air. 
McEwen, the chief gardener of the Society, and were 
carried out by his brother, Mr. John McEwen, and 
assistants from the garden, and the house in Regent 
Street. 
The nurserymen and the great exhibition prize-men, 
in the neighbourhood of London, came out most hand¬ 
somely, and profusely, to decorate the Hall, in addi¬ 
tion to the contents of the prize-lists. The Hall was, 
indeed, “ decorated ” at last, and it struck me, as the 
first impression, on entering, that with a less brilliant 
display of strong-telling colours from flowers, this 
Hall would be ruinous to a display of plants in bloom. 
But ah this was so compactly pressed in the old red 
tapes of the Society, that the very strongest, or, at 
all events, the very reddest of the old tapes, snapped 
asunder like anything, and the confusion which fol¬ 
lowed baffles description ; every black leg in London 
could have got into the Hall, even when her Majesty 
was there, with the greatest ease _ and comfort; _ for 
such legs take comfort in confusion. The bruised 
ribs at the close wicket, at Chiswick, the other year, 
was as nothing to the rush and disorder on opening 
the doors, just ten minutes too soon ; for her Majesty 
was preparing to leave the Hall at this time, and the 
rush and confusion of lords, ladies, and commoners, 
as they encountered the Royal procession down the 
grand staircase, and through the vestibule, made her 
Majesty—G-od bless her!—laugh most heartily; but 
the' Prince Consort looked grave ; the Princess Alice 
seemed to enjoy the fun amazingly, as did Lady Mac¬ 
donald, who accompanied her Royal Highness behind 
her august parents. 
Your humble servant had to write to the Council of 
the Society to arrange better rules for the ensuing 
Meetings, as he was not very fairly dealt with himself 
by the unpaid Secretary of the Society, who took 
advantage of the confusion, caused by her Majesty s 
visit, to deprive me of my prerogative rights, but 1 
determined to disbud that act of discourtesy promptly, 
and, my word for it, you shall hear no more about 
it. 
Her Majesty and the Princess Alice admired Far- 
| fugium grande particularly, and also two or three very 
dwarf plants ; a new dwarf variegated G-eranium, with 
| three or four tints in the leaves, in the collection from 
the Wellington Road Nursery; a silver fairy-looking 
Caladium, from France, and exhibited in a collection 
j from the Messrs. Low, of Clapton Nursery ; and a 
| pale greenish-yellow flowering Iris, from the Crimea, 
| with leaves not more than four inches long; and when 
her Majesty was told that the “ roots ” of this alpine 
! Iris were gathered by Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, 
during the siege of Sebastopol, she seemed to admire 
it the more on that account. Mr. Owen J ones came 
: in for the royal recognition of his inimitable art in 
colouring and designing. 
The Bishop of Winchester, as one of the officers of 
the Society, was there to greet and bless her Majesty. 
After the Prince Consort conducted her Majesty to 
the royal carriage, through that confusion, he returned 
into the Hall, took the chair, and Dr. Lindley gave a 
brief and rapid sketch of what the Society had done 
in former days, and drew the President’s attention to 
the June-like display of flowers before them in the 
middle of April, in corroboration of the “ sound judg- 
i ment and practical good sense ” of the Society. Spoke 
of cross breeding in the hands of its British parents, 
Knight and Herbert; in its results in the British Queen 
and Princess Alice Maud Strawberries, in the way of 
fruit; and for flowers, they were there in sufficient 
numbers to impress any one with the superiority of 
cross breeding over the mere scientific compilations 
of botany. The new Clianlhus Dampieri was pointed 
out, as I had done, last month, at the Weliington Road j 
Nursery. 
After this, the Bishop of Winchester, whose voice f 
filled the stupendous vault in every part, thanked his 
Royal Highness for condescending to become the Pre- ! 
sident of the Society; and, in a few pleasing compli¬ 
mentary sentences, his Lordship hinted at the fact, 
that his Royal Highness was not one who undertook 
plurality of offices with a view of escaping hard work 
in any good cause. The Prince Consort returned the 
compliment, and said he felt greatly obliged for the 
confidence which has been shown to him; and, after a 
graceful acknowledgment of the merits and great worth 
of our late President, he congratulated the Society 
on the beauty and usefulness of the plants composing 
the “show,” and then withdrew. The Hall is too 
much for the compass of the Prince’s voice; and as 
for Dr. Lindley, who appeared to be labouring under 
some nervous complaint, one could not distinguish 
his words at ten feet from where he stood; while, of 
the Bishop of Winchester’s voice, every syllable could 
be heard at the farthest end of the Hall. 
The Hall was arranged withflowers as Willis’s Rooms 
were with fruit tables ; one eight or nine feet wide 
down the centre, and one on each side, with passages 
all round ; two cross tables along the farthest end from 
the “ chair,” the place for which is a platform, four or 
five steps up the orchestra, in amphitheatre fashion, 
with the organ at the top, and from fifteen to eighteen 
feet above the level of the Hall floor. 
The fruit occupied the first step of the amphitheatre, 
just behind the chair, and other two steps or stages in 
front of the chair were filled with magnificent Roses in 
pots, and the principal Orchid collections in front of 
that, with a collection of six Azaleas at each end. A 
most judicious and telling arrangement; but it was 
behind the chair, up the ascent to, and beyond the 
great organ, that the climax of the composition was 
most telling; it was an Exotic hanging grove, resplen¬ 
dent with bloom, and the plants were most admirably 
matched and set for effect. 
First, in the centre, in front of this grove, an im¬ 
mense mass made by four huge Rhododendrons, from 
Sion House, was flanked on either side by a collection 
of Camellias from the Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston, 
and from Mr. Halley, of Blackheath ; and next from the 
centre, collections of prize Azaleas ; those on the right 
hand side were from Kingston; then, all above, in the 
hanging grove, were huge masses of Azaleas ; and others 
of equal merit, from plants not in competition. The side 
and end galleries were also furnished most artistically 
with plants in good will, some standards, some tall, some 
very bushy, some in full bloom, and some for their 
leaves only ; and one of the side tables in the body of 
the Hall, and eighteen yards long, was filled with the 
most beautiful plants that Air. Yeitch, of the Exotic 
Nursery, Chelsea, could furnish from his extensive 
establishment, and all this “free,” and for the good of 
the Society; that is, not for competition. 
There were two collections of fancy G-eraniums, and 
two of Cinerarias, on the first set of cross-tables at the 
farthest off end of the Hall; and early Tulips, Azaleas, 
and Camellias on the last stage there. Then turning 
on the south side, there was a large collection of fine¬ 
leaved plants ; another collection from Mr. Standish, 
and Air. Eraser, of Lea Bridge Nursery ; another from 
the Messrs. Henderson, of the AYellington Road 
Nursery ; another from the Alessrs. Low, of Clapton ; 
another from the Alessrs. Henderson and Co., of Pine 
Apple Place ; and the rest with collections from Mr. i 
Glendinning, and the Alessrs. Cutbush, 6f Highgate 
and Barnet, and some private gardeners. 
The centre platform, along the Hall, began at the end 
next the chair, with a large collection of Hippeasters 
