THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
69 
HAMBURG EXHIBITION. 
Most Important Ever Held In Europe—Great 
Horticultural Hall—Flowering and Fine- 
Foliage Plants—Mammoth Palms. 
Regarding the Hamburg international horticultural exhibi¬ 
tion which opened on May ist, the Gardeners' Magazine, 
speaking from advices direct from the exhibition after its 
opening, says : 
“ The exhibition is the most important that has yet been 
held in Europe. It is in every way worthy of that enterprising 
city, and cannot fail to afford satisfaction to those who during 
the past two years have giv^n so freely of their time and talent 
to making the needful arrangements. The executive have 
been fortunate in securing for the purposes of the exhibition 
an ideal site : extending over an area of about fifty acres, it 
affords abundant space for both exhibits and visitors ; highly 
picturesque, it has given full opportunity for the display of the 
landscape gardeners’ art ; and situate within a short distance 
of the centre of the city, and nearly surrounded by tram lines, 
it can be readily reached from every part of the city. The 
site, which forms part of the moat that originally surrounded 
the city, is one of its most important open spaces, and the 
public spirit evinced by the citizens is worthy of imitation in 
this country, for they not only readily surrendered their rights 
for a year or so, but provided the funds required for beautify¬ 
ing the grounds and the erection of the necessary buildings. 
“ The permanent exhibition, which will be continued until 
the end of September, includes collections of evergreen, 
deciduous, and coniferous trees in great variety, and arranged 
with due regard to general effect; and in the beds and borders 
are collections of hardy bulbous and perennial plants, to be in 
due course supplemented by tender plants adapted for the 
embellishment of the flower garden during the summer. Just 
now the tulips, of which many thousands of bulbs have been 
planted, produce a brilliant effect, and the tropical and other 
water lilies in the basin of the great fountain are coming freely 
into flower, and should form a feature of more or less interest 
until the end of the summer. Protection has been and still is 
given the water lilies at night by means of canvas, supported 
by rather stout wires, painted a grey colour, radiating from 
the fountain in the centre to the margin of the basin. The 
buildings provided for the accommodation of the plants, cut 
flowers, fruits, and vegetables contributed to the special 
exhibition are spacious, and, as so strikingly exemplified by 
the inaugural show now being held, admirably adapted for the 
purpose. 
THE GREAT HALL. 
“ The structures provided for these special shows form a 
continuous line of upwards of two thousand feet, and they are 
so designed as to form a series of handsome buildings cul¬ 
minating in the great hall. This is unquestionably the most 
magnificent structure that has yet been provided in Furope for 
the purpose of a horticultural exhibition, and in admiring its 
stately proportions it is impossible to restrain a feeling of 
regret that notwithstanding the important position occupied 
by horticulture in the United Kingdom, no such hall has yet 
been provided for the display of the products of the garden. 
The special show now being held has, like other gatherings of 
a similar character, some weak features, but these are more 
than counterbalanced by strong ones, and the object lessons it 
affords with regard to the usefulness of hardy shrubs for 
indoor decorations, and the arrangement of both flowering and 
ornamental-leaved plants are of immense value. Our German 
friends adopt a much bolder style of arrangement of plants 
than that which finds favour in this country, and it would be 
well were we to follow their example, and break away from the 
flatness and formality which characterizes so many of the 
groups presented to public notice at our exhibitions. 
FLOWERING AND FINE-FOLIAGE PLANTS. 
“Groups had a considerable number of classes provided for 
them, and as the competition is keen, and the whole of the 
arrangements more or less meritorious, they constitute a 
magnificent feature. These are all arranged in the great ex¬ 
hibition hall. On either side of the hall is a broad terrace 
with a wide border next the wall, and at the end opposite to 
the vestibule is a spacious orchestra. The middle of the hall 
is occupied by an expanse of turf intersected by broad, wind¬ 
ing walks, and a winding stream which in the centre widens 
into a miniature lake. At either end is a large, sloping bank 
at present occupied chiefly by Indian azaleas, and on the 
central portion of the turf are grouped flowering and fine 
foliage plants of various descriptions. In some cases they are 
placed in circular beds, and in others they are arranged in 
irregular groups or dotted about on the grass. Ornamental 
leaved and flowering plants are balanced with great judgment, 
and the colours of the general scheme are so well harmonized 
as to produce an effect at once rich and effective. Immedi¬ 
ately below the balustrade of the vestibule is a great bank of 
azaleas comprising one hundred finely-flowered specimens, 
beyond is the green turf with its beds and groups of plants 
and miniature lake, and rising as it were from the turf is a 
semi-circular bank of azaleas, upwards of one hundred feet 
across, flanked by rhododendrons and fine-foliage plants, this 
bank of plants being so carried up as to appear to merge into 
the plants with which the orchestra is so lavishly and tastefully 
decorated. 
“ The principal groups for effect are arranged on the borders 
that skirt the terraces ; and as the terraces are five or six feet 
above the general level of the hall, and the majority of the 
plants employed of the largest size, many of the palms em¬ 
ployed rising to a height of fifteen or sixteen feet, they pro¬ 
duce an effect which for boldness, is seldom approached at 
exhibitions at home, and indeed could not be equalled at 
gatherings at which the plants are arranged under tents of 
ordinary construction, because of an insufficiency of space. 
There are two groups of commanding importance, and these 
bold masses of foliage and flowers, extending the whole length 
of both of the terraces, one group on each, adds immensely to 
the general effect within the great hall. 
MAMMOTH PALMS. 
“The most remarkable contribution of palms to the exhibi¬ 
tion is that from L. Winter, Bordighera, Italy. Mr. Winter 
wholly fills a house about one hundred feet by twenty-five feet 
with huge specimens, chiefly of species of Phoenix, some 
fully twenty feet high, and all perfect in development. The 
species most strongly represented are Phoenix tenuis, of whioh, 
in addition to those within the building, there are two groups, 
each comprising some half-dozen specimens outside flanking 
the entrance, and giving the visitors a foretaste of the magnifi- 
