143 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 8, 1858. 
as doing so well witli one of his neighbours, but here 
we find it as slow as the Golden Chain . I have an 
excellent bedder of the variegated Geraniums, from a 
friend in Yorkshire, without a name. The flowers are 
in large trusses, and of a clear salmon colour, — more 
bright salmon than the old Globe Salmon. Mr. 
Kinghorn’s Lizzy is the best rose Geranium out. One 
of my own seedlings, the Victoria Rose, is about on a 
par with it, and we are going to make an exchange of 
the two for more crossing. 1 anticipate, or I expect 
to be able to give an account of, more kinds of really 
new and good bedding Geraniums next autumn, than 
I could have done any year since I took up the pen, 
or the pollen; and the most of them I heard of only ; 
but I have such faith in the breeders as leads me to' 
this conclusion. 
No one should be without a bed of Dennis's Rival. 
It is the best telling bed of all the greenhouse Gera¬ 
niums ; and I do not think that any soil can be so 
strong, or so rich, as to throw it out of bloom .and run 
to leaves. 
What a lovely bed Eugene Duval would make, if it 
were a perpetual bloomer, and how the ladies would 
run after it, as a new colour. All shades of purple, 
and all shades of crimson, are very scarce yet in 
bedding Geraniums; while no other shades would more 
improve the looks of our scarlets, as any one may see 
with half an eye, when good pinkish shades, as the 
shade of Le Titien, is put alongside with Tom Thumb. 
It is not true, however, in practice, that strong 
yellow Calceolarias can be drowned,or spoiled,by being 
side by side with the best scarlet Geraniums, either on 
gravel or grass ; yet the laws of colour would teach 
, the contrary; but, to hurt one another, they must be on 
a white or some light-coloured ground. To put colour 
to colour, or to cut flowers, to see how their colours 
will agree—as yellow and scarlet, for instance—is very 
deceptive, unless the ground colour, the natural green 
of the leaves and grass, is given along with it; and 
that is how it is so hard to judge how such and such 
plants would look together in one bed. Therefore, 
although it is safe to trust to the law of colours in the 
spectrum, it is not at all necessary to adhere strictly 
to these laws under a very different system; and I 
would sooner trust to a good eye, on a disputed point 
about the colour of flowers, than to the most natural 
laws, which can only govern the colours when they 
are given on one uniform ground colour. How would 
the rainbow look if the sky was as green as grass F 
The sky is the ground colour, and the degrees of 
j strength, or weakness, of the colours in the rainbow 
would vary in proportion to the colour of the sky, or 
I ground colour, supposing the sky to be green, or 
I purple, or yellow, or a mixture of the three. 
D. Heaton. 
MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL 
HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
[ We have been favoured with very lengthy reports 
of these Exhibitions, but are obliged to decline their 
insertion, because they insure applications from other 
country Societies, to have their proceedings reported, 
1 and we have no space to spare for them. We extract 
a portion of what Mr. Errington has sent us, relative 
: to the fruit at the Liverpool Show.] 
On the 27th of May was held the first Exhibition of 
the season for horticultural productions in general,— 
as propitious a day for the purpose as ever welcomed 
the votaries of Flora. Hut, as this far-famed neigh¬ 
bourhood is not particularly noted for a run of fine 
weather, the Committee had very wisely and liberally 
provided a spacious new tent, of a thoroughly water¬ 
proof character. This is indeed a step in advance, 
and augurs well for the future prosperity of their un¬ 
dertakings. As might be expected, the anticipation 
of security induced many hundreds to visit the show, 
who otherwise would scarcely have ventured, and the 
consequence was, that the spacious tent was crowded 
throughout. At some periods, the good people seemed 
to be packed rather than promenading ; and it became 
almost impossible to wedge one’s self forward on any 
special occasion. 
Some readers may not know that the exhibition is 
held in the Botanic Gardens, at Edgehill, by per¬ 
mission, I believe, as they have no necessary connec¬ 
tion with that Society. The grounds here afford most 
delightful promenades, considering they are in a some¬ 
what smoky neighbourhood ; and the width and 
boldness of these promenade walks, are such as to 
afford the utmost facilities to parties who desire to 
stroll in groups, uncrowded : they will entertain thus 
an immense number. The number of visitors was 
very considerable, and our Merchant Princes, with 
their ladies and families, seemed to form the great 
bulk of the visitants, as might be judged by the rich¬ 
ness of their dresses ; and the congregation of beauty 
plainly showed that the Lancashire Witches had not 
degenerated. Many a noble specimen, too, of the 
Lords of the Creation might be seen ; for your Liver¬ 
pool merchant is, in general, a bold-looking, manly, 
well-developed personage ; — a tall race, with a 
frontispiece in which cautious discrimination and a 
consciousness of dignity seem happily blended. I 
should imagine there might be about five thousand 
visitors, of various grades, throughout the day : but 
this is a mere off-hand guess ; there might be many 
more. The Exhibition was, doubtless, the best May 
show that has been held for years ; and the rarity and 
high culture of many specimen plants plainly attested 
that the floral mania is not confined to the great me¬ 
tropolis ; indeed numerous specimens wiould have done 
credit to the London exhibitions. Thus much as pass¬ 
ing remarks, and, as I have attended them as censor 
for many years, I may observe, that the Society makes 
a steady and firm progression. 
In Pines, there was nothing extraordinary ; although 
Mr. Jennings, of Knowsley, had a few Jamaicas, 
respectable for the period. Black Hamburgh Grapes, 
although not very large, were perfect in colouring, 
from Mr. Jennings, Harold Littledale, Esq., &c.: 
they were very ripe, and in good state for exhibition. 
There were some very good early Melons, of the 
hybrid Cashmere, and Egyptian Green-flesh kinds: 
they were not large, but appeared to be well perfected. 
Peaches and Nectarines were not so large as some 
seasons, but appeared to have had justice done them 
in the ripening process. To revert for a moment to 
the Grapes, there was a dish named Josling's St. 
Alban s, said to be notorious for cracking, but not a 
crack on these : they were not, indeed, “ crack ” 
Grapes at all, and, I should say, out of season. One 
of the jokes of the exhibition, was a fine black 
Hamburgh Vine, in a pot, with five or six bunches on 
it—all well ripened and perfectly coloured : the pot 
being only about eight inches in width and depth. 
This seemed to puzzle certain amateurs and others ex¬ 
ceedingly ; and I happened to overhear the following 
sort of dialogue, between two gents, whose brogue had 
a strong snatch of the vernacidar used in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of tall chimnies. They were amateurs, I 
suppose; and one at least, by his conversation, had 
his greenhouse, and dabbled a little in the Grape way. 
I must call them, for the present, Mr. Wigan and 
Mr. Bolton. 
Mr. Wigan.—“ Dost see this Grape, lad : these 
gardeners go ahead of us. Why, I had some last yeiir 
