148 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 5, 1860. 
and Louis Napoleon was the best and most different from 
those before mentioned, in the Messrs. Eraser’s. 
In the class for six Azaleas, Mr. Carson was first; 
Messrs. Atlee and Whitebread second; Messrs. Peed and 
Xaile third; and both Mr. Hally, of JBlackheath, and 
Mr. Smith, gardener to A. Anderson, Esq., Norwood, 
had equal prizes in the next degree. But, in all the 
aforesaid, there were more exhibitors and many more 
plants than one might think from a dry list of them. 
Pelargoniums were just as good as they have been for 
the last ten years at a May Show, but not better or 
more numerous, and there was no appreciable improve¬ 
ment in their seedlings, which were very numerous here. 
The prizes were few for May-seedling Pelargoniums, 
probably from the discovery that seedlings of all kinds 
of fancy plants have not, and never can have come to 
their true colours as early as May. No one can beat 
Mr. Turner in Pelargoniums. Ho took the first prizes 
in olds and fancies, and in seedlings. Mr. Dobson and 
the Messrs. Eraser followed in the old kinds; and the 
Messrs. Eraser in the fancies ; and several gardeners took 
prizes in both. The Duchess of Sutherland admired Mr. 
Dobson’s the most on account of his having more variety, 
and particularly more white kinds, such as Una, Fairest 
of the Fair, and Brule, with Eupliemia, which is nearly 
white; and his llosalie and Governor General made a 
good match pair, a thing which all great ladies delight to 
talk about. The Messrs. Eraser had a good match for 
Sanspareil in Mr. Ifoyle ; also, Eosamene and Governor 
General. Farepa and Lady C. Grosvenor were my own 
two favourites of all the seedling Pelargoniums, and they 
will endure, as Sanspareil has done to this day, after the 
more floristical rivals are dead, gone, and forgotten. 
Mr. Glenny aud I staked our fame and fortunes on Etna 
and Sanspareil, fourteen years back. They were both 
seedlings of one day, at least of that day. Etna was sold 
that evening for £50, and my Sanspareil was thought 
nothing of; but it has been in every winning collection 
ever since, and Etna is not worth one farthing now. 
Farepa is a purple ground, aud five large dark spots, and 
Lady Constance Grosvenor is a fine red. Both belong 
to the Messrs. Rollison. Arabella Goddard, in Mr. 
Turner’s seedlings, was also very good. 
In the Horseshoe class, Mr. Hally had two kinds of 
good house plants, after the breed of Kingsbury Fet, 
called Aurora and Beauty of Blaclcheath. Countess of 
Bective is still, I believe, the best pot plant of that breed, 
and none of them do out in beds, as the sun spoils 
them. There was a good one for beds from Messrs. 
Wood and Ingram, called the Countess, and many other 
odds and ends. 
EucHsiAshad all they needed from “ us,” last week. 
The Roses were most magnificent, and never before 
half so large. One of Souvenir d’un Ami, in Messrs. 
Lane’s collection, had the largest Rose I ever saw in or 
out of doors. Messrs. Paui were first, Messrs. Lane 
next, and Mr. Eraneis third, and no amateur attempted 
to run against them. Augustine Mouchelet, in Mr. 
Erancis’s lot was the only Rose there that has not been 
seen hundreds of times at such gatherings. His General 
Jacqueminot was the highest-coloured; but they were all 
such as I never saw before. 
In Cinerarias, Mr. Dobson beat Mr. Turner this 
time. Eegalia, a self crimson, and Queen Victoria, a 
deep purple edge and white centre, both in Mr. Turner’s, 
were the two best, and the only two out of the whole lot 
that I should think worth a pot for the conservatory. 
The circle of the florists will soon render these gay spring 
flowers worthless for decoration. 
Calceolarias not very numerous, and about the usual 
run of sorts. 
Collections of Variegated and Eine-leaved Plants 
not so numerous as usual, which was a great improve¬ 
ment, as they went to the extreme with them, and with 
Ferns, of late years. 
There were no prizes offered for Terns at this ex¬ 
hibition, yet there w r ere thirty yards of them, and an 
extra prize was given to one collection. 
The collections of Stove and Greenhouse Ilants 
were thoroughly good specimens of careful cultivation, 
though I do not recollect having seen so many collections, 
or half so many without some black sheep among them; 
but here there was hardly one with a black tail. Seven 
years ago I offered to bet £oO that I could tell the names 
of all the stove and greenhouse plants at a May show, 
that year, without going over the threshold the whole 
day, and now the thing is easier done than then. Azaleas, 
Allamandas, Polygalas, Chorozemas, Epacris, Eriostc- 
mons, Acrophyllum venosum, Tremandras, Dracocephalum 
qracile, Adenaudras, Aphelexises, Tetrathecas, Pimeleas, 
Boronias, Clerodendron, Ixora, blue Leschenaultia, Heda- 
roma, Genetyllis, Eraneiscea, Hoya, Meyenia, and a few 
others not very diffei’cnt from them, a few Heaths, and an 
occasional old thing or two, fresh brought under sub¬ 
jection, are all the May plants for these large collections. 
Combretium purpureum in Mr. Baxendine s collection 
was the only exception at the Crystal Palace; as I see 
a list of the winners in the last number I shall say no 
more about them. 
The Heaths consisted of depressa, Cavendisliii, elegans, 
ventricosas (of sorts), Jlorida, perspicua nana, favoides 
elegans, trossula intermedia (Bowinia breed), Beaumontia, 
fastigiata, lutescens, and a few others. The iargest Heaths 
were produced by Mr. Laybank, gardener to ,T. H. 
Maudsley, Esq., Norwood. Bohmeria argentea, amongst 
the newish fine-leaved plants, turns out to be a tall, 
dense, strong, soft-wooded plant, and seemingly as easy 
of culture as a Justicia. By-the-by, a Jnsticia something 
variegata in the Messrs. Jacksons’ collection of variegatas 
is one of the best of them to form into a good specimen 
plant. 
In tall Cacti no one can beat Mr. Green. There was a 
new cross Epiphyllum, between the speciosa and crenata 
breeds, a starry straw-coloured flower, and very singular 
in the genus. It was in a collection from Highgate by 
Mr. Y oung, gardener to R. Barclay, Esq. 
D. Beaton. 
CINERARIAS NOT THRIVING. 
“ M. R. S.” will feel obliged by a reason why her Cinerarias 
are this season flowering badly with some yellow leaves in the 
foliage. They were potted with chopped turf and ordinary soil. 
Perhaps there should have been leaf mould and sand in it. No 
fire heat was used during the cold weather in spring, and the 
sashes were opened even in cold days. 
[We should judge the Cinerarias were suffering more from 
neglect of watering and a dry atmosphere, than from cold in 
spring. They will find no fault with cold or moisture, if the 
thermometer is a few degrees above the freezing-point. The air 
lately has been very dry and hot, and if the plants were not 
kept airy and cool and moist, we should expect the signs in¬ 
dicated to follow. A little sandy matter in the compost would 
have been beneficial.] 
VINES UNPRODUCTIVE. 
I have the care of a stove about thirty feet long, with Vines 
along the rafters, and glass-cases for putting them in during the 
winter. Now, these Yines have never fruited properly, though 
they are near ten years old. As the Grapes in 1857 and 1858 
shanked, I, in September of the latter year, took up the roots 
and lessened the depth of the border, with a layer of broken 
bricks two feet deep, thus reducing the depth of the mould from 
five feet to three feet. These last two years they have shown 
j fruit well; but the fruit-bunches, instead of flowering, turn dead 
I and curl up like a corkscrew. The flue is only about two inches 
from the outside wall; and as the flue is buried level with the 
footpath inside, much of the heat goes out into the border, and 
creates, I think, too much moisture. As I have to heat a green¬ 
house, when necessary, from the same fire, the heat must, at 
