14? 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 5, 1860. 
was here tliat Mr. Carson showed conspicuously his Rarey 
management over the hitherto-unconquerable Vanda 
teres, and won the first prize, of £15. His Oncidium 
ampliation major was very good ; and his Camerotispur- 
pur ed vtas in Rarey’s style of management. Also his 
Cjpripedium barbatum superbum had twenty-six blooms 
fully open; and his Arpophyllum giganteum had seven 
bloom-spikes, upright as a dart, and covered densely at 
the top with crimson bobbins, or close spikes, like some 
coral ornaments. 
Mr. Lovell, gardener to H. E. Gurney, Esq , Nutfield 
Surrey, was second, or £10. He had that fine Miltonia 
stellata under the cancelled name of Cyrtochilum by its 
own author. Another fine creamy-white flower of his 
Was Dendrobium tortilis, and such like. 
The third, of £7, to Mr. Woolley, whose best were Den- 
drobium Paxtonii and JErides erispum. 
The fourth prize, of £5, was to Mr. Robert Warner 
aforesaid. He had a splendid nobile Hendrobe; also a 
D. tortilis, a fine Mossier Cattleya, and Oncidium sar- 
vtides, and the bulbosa Cattleya. There were many more 
good bloods in the rest of the tens. 
The next start consisted of six plants of Okchids, and 
this was^ very strongly contested. Talk of protection to 
little animals ! why, there is just as much more strength 
in the blood of ponies over that of regular racers, as it 
is in less compass. Free trade will take out the six- 
plant collections, after awliile, in better condition than We 
have seen the heavy weights attain. The first prize, of 
£7, in sixes; went to Mr. Warner. It was here he placed 
the On'cldium sphacelation Philipsii, but, that being a bad 
hame, it ought to be known as 0. sphacelatum major; 
!tnd no one will ever grow sphacelatum after seeing this 
in bloom. Dendrobium transparens and JErides Field - 
ingii were in high cue. 
Mr. Bullen was second, or £5; Leeliapurpurea, also 
with six flowers, being his best; and Mr. Bunney, of 
Stratford, was nose and nose with him, and got £5 more 
for being so ; his were high flower sorts—such as iErides, 
Saccolabiums, and Plialsenopses ; but then he is a nursery* 
man, and can show what he likes. 
Mr. Carson was third, or £3, here with his Maxillaria 
tenuifolia, Anguloa Ruckeri, the only Acanthophippium 
there, and a small Miltonia stellata. Mr. Woolley was 
next, and ho had his Dendrobium liliiflorum. The rest 
of the six-in-hand looked plucky enough for a fresh start. 
I noted all the Orchids before they were judged, and 
judged as I went. Sir Joseph Paxton and Mr. Grove, 
the Secretary, can prove the first part, and one of our 
Editors can prove that my awards corresponded to a 
fraction with that of the Judges ; for I had not to alter 
one of them in the afternoon when “we” went back to 
take up a note of the prizes. 
The next in order were the Novelties and NewPlants, 
and Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton, were the principal 
and prime movers. First running with a pair only ; then 
with six in hand Scotch greys, or Begonias of the Scotch- 
grey blood; then with tandem, the leader being of a 
blood before the flood, and by name Collocasia metallica; 
and pray do not forget the name, as it is very likely that 
this is the only living thing we possess from before the 
flood. The nearest to liken it to is the peltate-leaved 
Caladiums of the present era, and the colour is the most 
difficult to imitate of all the fancies—a metallic dark 
purplish-blue bronze. It is of the fine-foliaged class, 
and, from the size of the leaves and the way the leaf¬ 
stalk is fastened to the centre of the leaf, one might be 
inclined to believe them to be the natural shields for the 
children of the Dryads, or some such race, before the 
present order of things. There is nothing now on earth 
like these leaves out of a fossil state. As compared with 
1lex and its blood relations, the new Begonias of the 
Clapton Nursery are as Scotch grey ponies compared 
to Scotch grey chargers. Gem, Lowii, Zebra, and Cloth 
of Silver, or Queen’s Saddle-cloth, are their names; 
and there is a Madame Alwclrdt larger than these, and 
smaller ones still; then a new and handsome-leaved and 
softwooded-looking plant called Spharostema marmorata 
with the leaves nearest in beauty to those of Cissus dis¬ 
color, and in that shape, but of greater substance. Also 
the Bernean Plocostemma, which I mention from the 
Clapton Nursery, with hanging clusters of light cinnamon 
Hoya-looking flowers hanging down gracefully from 
every joint of last year’s wood; and also AncectochiivA 
petal e, and the new Fern called Lindscea —all these had 
prizes, and deserved them. Then a fine primrose-coloured, 
strong-growing Cypella, after the fashion of C. Herbcrtii, 
from Mr. Gedney, of Hoddesdcn; it had the sepals 
marked with dark blotches in the way of a Peacock Iris. 
It is from Natal by Mr. Ellis, and will probably do with 
the treatment of Tritoma or Pardanthus, and is the finest 
looking in that genus. This had a prize also, as had a 
collection of six half-standard plants of his new Azalea 
Magnet from Mr. "NY. Barnes, of Camberwell, a rosy, fine- 
shaped bloomer. The Stangeria paradoxa, a half Fern 
and half Zamia-looking plant from Natal,- from ME 
I Young. A new close-growing Ilex and Quemits bambusce ■> 
folia from the Messrs. Jackson, of Kingston. Begonid 
Leopoldii from Mr. Ivory. A seedling golden Fewi from 
ochracea by Mr. Euston, gardener to Sir John Duck¬ 
worth, Bart. Two splendid Rhododendron Dalhousianum, 
One from Mr. Carson, the other from Mr. Green, both in 
fine bloom and good healthy leaves—-the flowers four in 
a cluster. 
I have been engaged shine time in hunting up the best 
management of these Sikkim Rhododendrons, and I hope 
to be able soon to give a regular-BagBhoband-Standish- 
management paper on that race. 
A fine bedder of the Drummondi breed of Phloxes 
from Mr. Taylor, of Shrubland Park gardens, stood here* 
but I cannot give the name ; it was a memento mori for 
me, who have just lost the best garden friend I ever had. 
Sir William Middleton is no more I 
The Azaleas were particularly fine and very numerous, 
but not different in kinds from what I had often booked, 
Mr. Carson has obtained the lead in them this time, and the 
way his first collection of ten kinds was marshalled against 
the same number from Mr. Green, at the right and left 
1 corners of the farthest-off nave, was a masterpiece (ff 
arrangement. If the two opposite corners had been 
equally well set, the Exhibition, as a whole, would have 
been the best set off of all that ever I saw attempted. 
Mr. Green and Mr. Carson live so near to Epsom Downs, 
that none can rival them in starting on a Derby day like 
I this. They matched their Azaleas to perfection, each 
starting from the centre of his group with a handsome 
florid-yellow Chinese Azalea, and the first won the £12, 
the other the £8 prize. Mr. Whitebread took the £5, 
and Mr. Gaines the £4 prize in this class, and Mr. Peed 
had an extra prize in the same. 
There was a keen competition in the class of eight 
newest kinds of Azaleas. Mr. Turner, of Slough, Mr. 
| Ivery, the Messrs. Fraser, and the Messrs. Jackson, 
( competed here ; and Mr. Green was the only gardener 
who started against such odds, and he came out third 
best after all. Mr. Turner’s eight Azaleas were the best 
placed for effect at the Show. They ivere in three tiers, 
or on three shelfs or stages, rising one above the other; 
three plants on the top, three on the middle, and two on 
the front stage. The middle plant in the second row 
was his key plant to read from. It was Criterion, with 
Gem and Prince Jerome to match on each side of it. 
Stanlcyana stood behind Criterion on the top shelf, with 
the Empress Eugenie and Petuniccflora right and left of it 
to match ; and in the front, General Havelock and another 
match to it also, which I did not note, because I spent 
more time than I could well spare enjoying that setting 
off. His Gem and General Williams were the best in 
Mr. Ivery’s. The best in Messrs. Jacksons’ were Petuniae- 
fiora, Rosea grandijlora, Grand Crimson, and Valentine; 
