1878.] 
OUR GARDEN PEAS. 
71 
Laurustinus, pyramidal and columnar Box, 
&c. ; and there was a very large assortment 
of horticultural erections, implements, and 
sundries. 
The novelties were exhibited in a separate 
warmed apartment, and the numerous prizes 
were hotly contested, the first mostly falling 
to Mr. W. Bull, and the second to Mr. J. 
Linden, both of whom showed many good 
plants, those from Mr. Bull being of remarkable 
merit, as the prize-list testified. M. Jacob- 
Makoy, M. L. De Smet, and M. A. Van 
Geert were also exhibitors. Some of the more 
striking of Mr, Bull’s plants were Diefferibachia 
Leopoldii , a splendid plant, with ovate velvety 
dark-green leaves, marked down the centre with 
an ivory rib and band, the stem streaked with 
blackish-purple ; D. recgina, one of the most 
striking of the blotched kinds, with a yellow¬ 
ish or creamy surface, blotched with mixed 
patches of yellowish-green and dark green, and 
narrowly bordered with dark green ; D. Shuttle- 
worthii , a distinct species, with more lance- 
shaped leaves having a broad feathered silvery 
central band; Davcillia jijiensis , one of the 
handsomest of the hare’s-foot ferns, remarkable 
for the large size and finely-cut divisions of its 
evergreen fronds; Dipteris Ilorsfielclii, a splendid 
Javanese fern, with remarkable bipartite pal- 
matifid fronds, glaucous beneath, elevated on 
long wiry petioles ; several Crotons; the West 
African Dracccna Goldieana , with its fine zebra¬ 
like transverse markings, now pretty well 
known, though new in a commercial sense; 
several distinct Aralias; Anthurium insignis , 
remarkable for its glossy three-parted decurved 
leaves ; the Sandwich Island Cibotium Men- 
ziesii, a tree-fern of bold and distinct character; 
Lastrea aristata variegata, a Japanese form of 
this nearly hardy evergreen species, in which a 
band of yellow-green on both sides of the costa 
produces a very striking variegation; and 
Selaginella Victoria ;, a very handsome species 
in the way of S. Wallichii. In M. Linden’s 
various groups were Anthurium Dechardii , a 
fine novelty, with large white spatlies, of which 
there appears to be varieties differing in size 
and merit; Mcissangea Lindeni , a very fine 
Bromeliad, with the bright light-green leaves, 
transversely barred in irregular wavy lines with 
black, one variety called M. L. vermicidata 
being also dotted with black ; Philodendron 
gloriosum , with heart-shaped, satiny-green 
leaves, marked with pale ribs ; Kentia Lindeni 
and K. Luciani , two new and handsome 
New Caledonian palms ; and several Aralias , 
Crotons , and Dieffenbachias. M. Makoy had 
several Brazilian Marantas in the way of 
M. Massangeana, the best perhaps being 
Maranta Morreni , which is of a more bronzy 
hue throughout. M. Van Houtte showed in 
one of his groups the pretty Daphne Blagay- 
ana , a dwarf hardy evergreen shrub, with 
neat oblong leaves, and abundant heads of 
creamy-white showy flowers. Such are some 
of the principal features of this fine show, 
which may be regarded as one of the chief 
horticultural events of the year. 
The exhibition, which lasted for a week, 
was opened to the public by the King and 
Queen of the Belgians in person on March 
31st, and their Majesties spent nearly three 
hours in inspecting the objects exhibited. On 
the same day the banquet given by the Society 
to the members of the jury took place in the 
saloons of the grand theatre, M. Delcour, the 
Minister of the Interior, being amongst the 
guests. There were upwards of 200 persons 
present. The hospitality of our Belgian friends 
on these occasions is always most cordial and 
profuse.—T. Moore. 
OUR GARDEN PEAS. 
T is high time to look up our information 
on the subject of these vegetables, when 
our French neighbours and others are 
sending us Green Peas in tins available for the 
table any day in the year. I have eaten these 
preserved Peas, when Green Peas from the 
garden could not be obtained, and although 
they bear no comparison with well-grown fresh 
Peas, yet with the help of a little bicarbonate 
of soda to green their outsides and soften 
their hearts, they pass muster at the market 
ordinary, where contented farmers are delighted 
to see them at unlikely times. 
In the early days of my acquaintance with 
garden Peas, the Early Charlton, with small 
white seeds about the size of buckshot and 
nearly as hard, was the first of the season. 
At the time when Charlton was a sea of market 
gardens in the immediate vicinity of London, 
this sort would no doubt be looked upon as the 
London early Pea, but Charlton has long ago 
