THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 21, 1358. 
Glory last,—capitally done ; otherwise the General 
should have stood with Glory, instead of that bewitch¬ 
ing Fuchsia, Venus de Medici. 
Mr. Gaines was third, with Volcano de Aqua, Snow¬ 
ball (a trailer) ; Christabella, a yellowish kind ; 
Charlemagne, Conqueror, and Venus. 
Air. Cross, gardener to Lord Ashburton, was fourth, 
his two best being Wonderful and Autocrat. 
The Japan Lilies were most numerous : Mr. 
Gaines had the largest plants, but others were better 
bloomed. Mr. Laybank, gardener to T. Maudslay, 
Esq,. Lower Norwood, took the first prize; after him 
coming Messrs. Mathews, Gaines, Brown, and Higgs. 
Mr. Carson had the prize for a collection of Ixoras, 
—fine, large, healthy, well-bloomed plants. 
The Heaths were not extra. Mr. Rhodes and Mr. 
Peed divided the spoil among the heather, as did the 
Messrs. Yeitch and Gedney over their Pitcher Plants. 
Some of the Balsams were good, and some 
worthless. Mr. Green was first, Mr. Brown second, 
and Mr. Parker third. 
The China-asters were very good, and two or three 
times more of the French (tasselled) than of the 
German strain (quilled). For French, Mr. Sandford, 
gardener to T. Thomasset, Walthamstow, was first; 
Mr. Monk, Tottenham, Middlesex, second; and Mr. 
Brown, third. There were also extras. The first 
stand of them was the only one in which the blooms 
were thoroughly well matched. Did Air. Sandford 
raise them himself in Herefordshire P The best growers 
of French Asters are down in Berkshire. Thus, Mr. 
Daniel Lewis, East Hendred, Berks, first; second, Mr. 
F. Besley, East TIendred, Berks ; third, Mr. Thomas 
Westbrook, Abingdon, Berks. But I lost three or 
four more bests. 
The Cut Roses looked better than they do in June. 
In the amateur class, Mr. Hudson, gardener to F. 
Barchard, Esq., ITckfield, Sussex, was first, with fifty. 
Mr. Blake, gardener to T. Green, Esq., Ware, Herts, 
second; Mr. Terry, third; and Mr. Hollingworth, 
Maidstone, fourth. The nurserymen (in fifties) stood 
thus :—Messrs. Paul, Francis, Atitchel, and Lane. For 
twenty-four blooms—Mr. Hudson, first; Mr. Francis, 
second ; and Mr. Kimbersley, Stoke Nursery, near 
Coventry, third. 
The Hollyhocks stood up in a long row behind 
the Dahlias, —a capital arrangement. The greatest 
novelties were at one end, but the fattest were in the 
middle, and they took the first prize to Mr. Chater, of 
Saffron Walden; Messrs. Paul and Son, second, with 
many good new faces ; and Mr. Bragg, third. But they 
were so close that it must have been a ticklish game 
to judge them. 
Dahlias. —Of course, they were the best of all, and 
I never saw them so put up, without wishing in my 
heart I was a florist. Indeed, I am a florist at heart; 
but I want Rarey’s plan of taming my horse, for I 
could never get him to carry me up in face of their in¬ 
struments and cooking utensils, and it would be im¬ 
possible for me to walk it. I saw, however, that I 
could judge a flower-garden Dahlia better than they. 
I would engage to give up my reins, if they gave the 
best prizes to the best seedlings at this Show. In two 
years time, my favourite flowers will attract the public, 
when none but a florist will buy the prize plants of that 
Show. But let us see ! 
For the best fifty old strain, Mr. Turner came in 
first, as usual; Mr. Keynes, next; Mr. Legge, Lower 
Edmonton; Mr. Kimberley, Stoke Nursery ; Mr. 
Bragg, Slough ; and Air. J. AValker, Thane, in that 
order. For twenty-four blooms, ditto, Mr. Dodds, 
Salisbury ; Mr. Charles Fellows, Shottesham Rectory ; 
Mr. G. Holmes, Brooke Lodge, Norwich ; Air. Grant 
Shottisham Park, Norwich; Mr. W. Barnard, High 
Street, Epsom ; Mr. Leslie, Ramsgate; and Air. 
Derry, Norfolk, last of all. 
Fancy Dahlias, which I like best, will soon be up 
in all the points. It was just as good as a play, to 
study why Mr. Keynes took the cream out of Mr. 
Turner s spoon. Both lots were placed side by side. 
Mr. Keynes had Jesse, Oliver Twist, Marie Anthony, ! 
Charles Perry, Cosmos , Lady Paxton, Favourite, 
Triomphe de jRoubaix, Carnation, Duchess of Kent, 
Conqueror , and Eugenie. The best in Mr. Turner’s 
were— Lady Paxton, Duchess of Kent, Oliver Twist, 
and Elizabeth. 
The best Seedling Dahlias were— Golden Drop, 
very large clear yellow; Dandy, a fancy gray, made j 
up of purple, black, and white, Carnation and Picotee 
fashion; Rosebud, the best Rose there, yet without a 
prize; Mrs. Ii_eynes, and William Dodds, two other 
Roses, but not so good as Rosebud. Who were the 
Judges P or, which of the three will be the best three 
years hence P 
Fruit. — Pears and Apples, under the Handel 
Organ.—Six dishes, of twelve fruit each. First, Air. 
Harrison, Palace Garden, Oatlands, with Macons 
Incomparable, Duchesse d’Angouleme, Marie Louise, 
Bon Chretien, Beurre Diel, and GanseVs Berqamot. 
Second, Mr. Halley. Third, Mr. Frost, Preston Hall. 
Mr. Frost had the heaviest Pear. There was a hitch 
here: I could see no second prize. Mr. Whiting, with 
a splendid lot, had no mark when I noted. But there 
was some confusion, misjudging, and misplacing of 
collections contrary to the schedule, which might be 
the cause of misjudging. No judge is worth trusting 
with his own gloves, unless he has nerve enough to j 
stick close to the schedule. One fruit more or less in 
one dish, or one dish more or less than what is specified 
in the schedule, ought to disqualify the best gardener 
in England, and the best dessert that ever was dished. 
But I saw a first prize given to a gardener who smashed 
every word of the rule under winch he entered. His 
fruit were the best, it is true; but that should not 
screen him. It is most awkward to be Judge in such 
cases, and the authorities of these Shows must either 
give up their rules, or else make the Judges stick to 
the letter of the law. I have every one of the awards 
noted, and the dishes and number of dishes in all the 
collections, but I shall not record such bungling. I 
shall name the principal Pears and Apples, to let far- 
off people see what kinds were shown. 
Of Pears. — Marie Louise, Winter Crassane, Chau- 
montel, Williams s Bon Chretien (very numerous and 
ripe), Louise Bonne, Summer Bergamot, GanseVs Ber¬ 
gamot, Ambrosia, Madeleine (small, roundish, and ripe), 
Jersey Gratiole, Beurre Ranee, Beurre de Capiaumont 
(very near ripe), Beurre Spence, Duchesse d’Angouleme, 
Calebasse, Catillac, and a few others. 
Apples. — Dutch Codlin, Emperor Alexander, Hol¬ 
low-eyed Pippin (called provincially Holland Pippin ), 
Shepherd's Seedling (after the looks of Stone Pippin), 
Alfriston, Woodstock, Golden Noble, Red Quarrenden, 
Hick's Fancy, Downton Pippin, and its brother, or 
sister, Yellow Ingestrie, Fearn's Pippin, and a few 
Pearmains made up the staple. 
Fine Lemons and Oranges, from Mr. AVilliams, 
gardener to Mrs. Warner, Hoddesdon ; a corrugated 
or warted Citron, called Cidratii, from Mr. Bragg, 
gardener to J. B. Lousada, Esq., Sidmouth, the 
first time any of this kind was exhibited in London, 
—it is a splendid-looking fruit. Mr. Solomons, of 
Covent Garden, had some noble foreign fruit, chiefly 
Apples and Pears. A small, very black Grape, 
called Labrador, was new to me. Also, Mr. Snow’s 
Hamburgh Muscat, one bunch grown in a Peach 
house, one in a vinery, and the third bunch from a 
pot, and all of them ripe two months before the Show, 
