564 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 8, 1886. 
which cultivators are expecting so much this season. 
Alas ! in gardening matters there are so many things 
beyond the control of human agency. 
Begonia growers may be interested to know 
that the earliest batch of plants in the Forest Hill 
Nursery are just coming into bloom. Already con¬ 
spicuous among the singles are those fine varieties, 
Princess Victoria, Lady Lewisham and Golden Gem, 
very fine ; while in doubles, Little Beauty, Marquis of 
Stafford, Marquis of Bristol, and Louis d’Or, are in 
rare form. If Messrs. John Laing & Co. carry out 
their present intentions, we shall see these flowers at 
Forest Hill next autumn in such numbers as have 
never been seen before. 
A New Park for Sheffield. —The Corporation 
of Sheffield has just acquired the beautiful piece of 
woodland on the south side of the town, known as the 
Endcliffe Mood. It is intended to lay this out for the 
use of the public, and as it is within a mile of the centre 
of the town and easily accessible, it will be a boon to 
the townsfolk, Sheffield not being too well off in the 
matter of public parks. The Endcliffe Wood occupies 
the slope and valley near the Botanical gardens, and is 
nearly a mile in length. The slope is covered with 
large trees, chiefly Oaks, and the river Porter runs along 
the valley, and in its course works three old water 
wheels, one of which will be retained as a picturesque 
object; in fact, it is intended to preserve, as much as 
possible, the rusticity of the place. Broad walks will 
traverse the wood and rustic bridges will span the 
stream at various points, while along the boundary will 
be a carriage and foot way 75 ft. wide, planted on each 
side with trees. The dams, which have worked the 
water-wheels, will be converted into lakes for bathing, 
skating and water-fowl, and the outlets will be trans¬ 
formed into waterfalls, there being a fall of some 
80ft. or 90 ft. in the course of the stream between one 
end and the other. The natural beauty of the wood¬ 
land is such that, when embellished a little, few towns 
will be able to boast of such a delightful public park as 
Sheffield. The work of laying out the place has been 
entrusted to Mr. William Goldring, of London. 
Scottish Horticultural Association. —At 
a meeting of this Association held on Tuesday night 
at 5, St. Andrew Square—Mr. Milne, President, in the 
chair. The Secretary read a paper by Mr. W. H. 
Divers, Ketton Hall, Stamford, on the “Culture of the 
Double Varieties of Primula sinensis.” The Double 
Primula is the most useful plant we have for winter 
flowering, and he thought that in a very few years, 
when its culture was better understood, it would be 
very largely grown by persons who had a large supply 
of flowers to maintain during the winter months. The 
old double white, or alba plena, was used, when cut, 
for wreaths, vases, bouquets, button-holes, and sprays. 
He thought the reason why it was not more extensively 
grown was, that it had obtained a bad name with 
many on account of failures in propagating it, as it 
would not strike under the treatment given to ordinary 
succulent plants. A discussion on the paper followed, 
and it was resolved to send a letter of thanks to Mr. 
Divers. Mr. Tod afterwards read a paper on “The 
Flowers that Bloom in the Spring.” Those flowers, 
he said, were peculiarly fitted to rouse poetic ardour, 
notably the Snowdrop and Primrose, the latter of 
which was threatened with extinction owing to its 
vulgar popularity as a political emblem. 
-- 
MR. BULL’S ORCHID SHOW. 
When, a few years ago, shrewdly noting the signs of 
the times, and especially the waning interest taken in 
the leading Horticultural Society, and the consequent 
falling off in the size and quality of its exhibitions— 
Mr. William Bull determined to hold an annual exhi¬ 
bition in his own nursery ; few could have anticipated 
the remarkable development of the idea that has since 
taken place ; or have had even the faintest notion that 
such a superb display, of one tribe of plants, could be 
made by any one man for such a lengthy period as from 
the first week in May to the last week in July ; indeed, 
that such a venture should be attempted, let alone be 
successfully carried out, speaks volumes for the enter¬ 
prise of the Exhibitor, the resources of his establish¬ 
ment, and the wonderful wealth of beauty to be found 
among Orchids—the nobility of the Floral World. 
Regarded from whatever point of view—artistic, 
cultural, or instructional—each of the preceding dis¬ 
plays seemed to be as perfect as man could wish 
them to be, and yet to our mind the present eclipses 
them all. The general style of arrangement adopted is 
the same as before—that is to say, the colour effects are 
brought out strongly by the judicious admixture of 
Ferns, small Palms, and other foliaged plants of a 
handsome character ; and we have the same extremely 
useful groups of well marked varieties of individual 
species ; but we note fewer masses of any particular 
kind of Orchid, and this we regard as a prominent 
feature of the present exhibition—it is composed of a 
greater number of genera and species, and is, besides, 
richer in fine varieties or types of well known plants. 
In this respect we may indeed, appropriately use a 
florists phrase, and say “its all quality,” for in no 
other words could we adequately convey an idea of the 
perfect beauty of the flowers themselves, and the 
exquisite taste displayed in their arrangement. 
Entering the exhibition house from the grand con¬ 
servatory,—which has supplied the handsome Tree 
Ferns which adorn the conservatory attached to the 
Queensland court at “The Colonies,” without their 
being missed here—the visitor is at once arrested by 
the marvellous beauty of a group facing the door, of 
various forms of Odontoglossum vexillarium, dotted 
with Masdevallias of dazzling colours, and overhung 
with noble arching spikes of Cymbidium Lowianum, 
surmounted again by a grand cluster of blossoms of 
the bright yellow and brown Oncidium Marshallianum. 
The genera most largely represented are those of 
Cattleya, Odontoglossum, and Cypripedium ; the 
numerous species of the latter adding variety of a 
welcome and pleasing character, while the two former 
genera contributed most to the general floral feast. 
Taking Cattleyas and Lfelias together, we may note 
the presence of some grand forms of the lovely C. 
Mendelii. The variety named grandis is a noble 
flower, with broad sepals and petals of a delicate shade 
of mauve, and the lip exceedingly rich in its hue of 
purple. C. Mendelii triumphans is a lovely flower, 
pure white with the exception of the rich purple 
labellum, rendered all the more conspicuous by its rich 
lemon centre. That Lfelia purpurata is here, goes 
without sajung, for no exhibition at this season would 
be complete without it, but in LEelia purpurata 
Schroderii we have a novelty of a chaste and lovely 
character. It is apparently a natural hybrid between 
C. purpurata and C. grandis, with pure white sepals 
and petals, and the white lip elegantly veined or 
pencilled with purple and shaded with violet. The 
new C. Lawrenceana is represented by several plants of 
different shades of colour, including a very dark one, 
and a still more distinct variety than all, one named 
oeulata, a light coloured form with a yellow throat. 
C. Skinneri, in its ordinary form, furnishes numerous 
bits of rich rosy crimson ; but in C. Skinneri superba 
we have a form, the flowers of which are considerably 
larger in all their parts. 
In Odontoglossoms the exhibition contains many 
fine things. The lion of the hour on the opening day 
was a splendid variety of crispum, named Chelsoniense, 
a flower of great breadth and substance, with crisped or 
fringed edges, pure white, with a few bold chocolate 
spots on the sepals and lip. 0. citrosmum and its 
varieties are a great feature. In juxtaposition with 
0. citrosmum roseum, of a delicate rose shade, is the 
variety, album, pure white, with the exception of the 
yellow blotch in the centre. Then near by is the 
variety, aurantiacum, in which the sepals and petals 
are coloured as in the typical citrosmum, and the lip 
rose coloured, with a bright orange centre ; and still 
another, named punctatissimum, a fine round flower, 
with the sepals and petals flushed with pink, and faintly 
spotted, and the labellum of a rich shade of rose. The 
feathery spikes of 0. cirrhosum, numerous varieties of 
0. Rossi majus, including excellens, the central blotches 
and bars of which are of an intensely dark shade ; 0. 
maculatum erosum, very bright yellow ; 0. Roezlii, in 
variety ; and 0. histrionicum, a yellow ground flower, 
with large purple-brown blotches, are all conspicuous 
features at different points. 
At the farthest end from the door of the central stage 
there is a noble specimen of Cymbidium Lowianum 
with three spikes, representing in the aggregate 5 yds. 
of flowers, one of the spikes bearing twenty-seven fine 
blooms. In front of it is the new Oncidium undulatum, 
and near at hand are one or two distinct varieties of 
the Cymbidium last named. That named atro-pur- 
pureum has a longer labellum than the ordinary type, 
and'its colour instead of being Indian red is a rich 
crimson-maroon. Another variety, albo-sanguineum, 
is greater in width than any of the others, the slightly 
more recurved lip of the same colour as atro-purpureum, 
and the centre pure white ; while in contrast with the 
above was the old but still distinct C. aloifolium. 
Other notable plants consist of Trichopelia crispa 
superba, a large deep-coloured variety ; a new species 
of Maxillaria, not yet named, with pure waxy white 
flowers, and the lip striped and spotted with dark 
brown, and crested with yellow ; Oncidium nigratum, 
with small, pretty flowers, white, barred with very 
dark brown, and yellow, cinnamon-spotted lip ; On¬ 
cidium macranthum aurosum, with pure golden yellow 
blossoms ; and the pretty Oncidium Jonesianum. We 
have not attempted to name a tithe of the species and 
varieties here to be seen—the limits on our space forbid 
such a proceeding—but we cannot close these remarks 
without recording our inability to do the display full 
justice. It must be seen to realise all its excellencies. 
-- 
THE INDIAN AND COLONIAL 
EXHIBITION. 
The wondrously interesting and beautiful Indian 
and Colonial Exhibition opened with so much state 
ecldt by Her Majesty the Queen on Tuesday last, will 
he found to contain very much that is of value and 
interest to gardeners; indeed, not one of the preceding 
exhibitions have possessed for horticulture one tithe 
the importance that the present one does, and it is to 
be desired that as the outcome of the gathering, the 
science we love and practice, may he eminently bene- 
fitted thereby. Apart from the actual knowledge of a 
purely technical kind offered, there is such a wealth of 
information calculated to enlarge our conceptions of 
what the world is like outside of England, that we 
shall be cursed with conceit and self-sufficienev in¬ 
deed, if in the widening of our knowledge, which must 
follow a study of the exhibition, our minds are not 
broadened also, and some sense experienced that there 
is beauty and enterprise, as well as wealth and intelli¬ 
gence outside our sea-girt isle. 
The Indian Court. 
India, that vast Asiatic region which we hold so 
firml 3 r , because now governed so justly, is so tropically 
placed that here horticultural produce has perhaps less 
interest than has that of any other colony, still there 
are features which will attract the gardener, and 
specially so the mimic stalls and shops in the southern 
annexe, where may, in the economic section, be seen in 
one green fruits and vegetables ; in another, dried 
fruits and seeds ; and in a third, all kinds of herbs 
and perfumes. These are arranged so naturallv and 
without efforts at special attractiveness, that more 
interest will probably'be shown in them than in other 
more pretentious shows. In the West Indian depart¬ 
ment sugar cane may be seen, not growing, but as 
grown, and a vast amount of information relating to 
an article of such first-class importance in our domestic 
life will be afforded in a most practical way. Much 
interest will be taken in the pretty decorative baskets 
and ornaments for feminine adornment, made from 
the scarlet, mauve, and black seeds of various West 
Indian plants, and probably many of these elegancies 
will find their way into country homes, momentoes of a 
pleasant visit to the “Colonies.” In this department 
also may be seen numerous pleasing 
Illustrations of Native Flora, 
And gardeners will easily recognise plants with which 
we have long been familiar. In writing of floral 
pictures we are fain to give the palm in this respect, as 
far as we have been enabled to inspect the exhibition, 
to the very enterprising colony of Victoria, for there, in 
the divisional partitions, may be seen coloured illus¬ 
trations of the native plants of that region that excel 
in beauty and elaboration anything -we have so far seen 
at home. Not merely are the plates most beautifully 
executed, but they are, as it were, crowded with subjects 
with which we are by no means so familiar as is de¬ 
sirable, and lead to the hope that our home flora may 
in time be vastly added to by natives of this Australian 
region. Above these drawings will be noted with in¬ 
terest some very large ones, roughly but very truthfully 
executed by a home artist, of Victorian plants ; this 
style of decoration presenting a vivid and pleasing con¬ 
trast to the baldness shown at previous exhibitions. 
