plants of the garden of Geneva. There was also a large drawing of a monstrous pine-apple, which had grown in the West Indies, the top of which had spread out into a sort of cock's comb shape, about two feet long, edged with various crowns. The articles exhibited were, seven varieties of double wall-flower, of different shades of colour, from light yellow to blood red; double and single tulips of different sorts; and one flower from a root brought from Persia, black bottomed with red and white petals, sharp pointed, pretty, but the very reverse of a florist's flower; two varieties of pæony, single, or semidouble, and both of pale colours; flowers of Ribes aureum, or yellowflowered currant, with fine glossy leaves, a plant now common in the nurseries, and which is in fruit at Kew; (the fruit, we were there told, is supposed to be excellent ;) a flower of Calceolaria corymbosa, a plant rather difficult to keep; flowers of Glycine sinensis, which the secretary observed was one of the handsomest plants hitherto introduced from China, perfectly hardy, and flowering twice a year, in Spring and Autumn; double yellow rosa Banksiæ, from the open wall of the Society's garden, where it is now thickly covered with flowers; double-blossomed whin, a variety of Ulex Europæus, found a few years ago in Devonshire, a most ornamental shrub, of the easiest culture; a plant of a new variety of Azalea Indica (var. Phoenicea) with large purple flowers: it was imported by the Society about a year ago, and is the fourth variety of that elegant plant now in the country. The following fruits were tasted; Bostock, Scarlet, Keens' seedling, and Roseberry strawberries; Marseilles figs, grown in pots, and treated in Mr. Knight's manner, (Encyc. of Gard. § 3161.) from the garden of the Society; loquats grown in the hothouse of Lord Powis, and said to be a distinct variety from that common about London; indeed, the loquat being frequently raised from seed, the varieties in the gardens are numerous. The fruit was rather acid, and, to our taste, far inferior to any common plum ; ripened in Summer they would most likely have a better flavour. The Sweeny nonpareil, and stone-pippin, were in good condition; and some black Hamburgh grapes, grown by Mr. Andrews of Vauxhall, had a very good flavour. An unnamed pine-apple, grown by Charles Gomond Cooke, Esq. was also very good; it was rather above middle size, and conical shaped. Two oranges, imported from China were exhibited, the one large and flat, the other small and round, and both of a dirty brown colour from long keeping. Some potatoes were shown which had grown in the open ground in the neighbourhood of Penzance, but under what circumstances of culture, locality, or variety, was not mentioned, the tubers were oblong, and seemingly mature; they were sent by Mr. John Eddison of Penzance, from whom, if he should see this, we should be glad of some particulars respecting them; for, though the climate of Penzance is much warmer than about London, yet the variety may have peculiar properties, which may render it valuable for any climate. Some fine heads of Cape broccoli were presented by Mr. James Dann, which one gardener present called dwarf Danish, and another Siberian broccoli. The seeds distributed were rampion, and curled, and early knob celery. No papers were read. Our much respected president was in the chair, and announced that on the anniversary the same officers had been re-elected. The dinner of the Society, we understand, was but thinly attended, and no exhibition was made of the dessert, as in former years. We regret the want of the dessert, as we think the sight of that as well calculated to promote a taste for horticulture, as any part of the Society's transactions.

May 16. The communications read were, on acclimating tender herbaceous plants and shrubs; on the treatment of melons and cucumbers; 'on the treatment of the vine; and on a compost for the pine-apple.

Some black Hamburgh and sweet-water grapes, some strawberries, some ripe figs, and a Ripley queen pine were exhibited and tasted. The

secretary observed that the latter was a very distinct sort of pine to that commonly called the Ripley, and indeed it differed little in external appearance from the old queen pine. Specimens in flower of the following plants were exhibited: Yellow-flowered and white-flowered rosa Banksiæ; the three-leaved China rose, more commonly known by the name of the Cherokee rose, Rosa sinica; Pyrus grandiflora; Pyrus floribunda; Genista decumbens; Spartium scoparium and spinosum; Oncidium pumilum; Pancratium illyricum; Cytisus purpureus and supinus; four sorts of wall-flower, and various sorts of tulips and pæonies; but the most conspicuous object was a specimen of the Carolinea insignis, from the stove of Messrs. Loddiges, a fine plant from the Spanish West Indies.

June 6th. The first paper read was on the cultivation of plants in live moss by Mr. Street, gardener at Biel, Haddingtonshire. Mr. S. collects plants of sphagnum and other mosses, sometimes paring off a little of the surface in which they grow, and mixing it with them. In pots of this mixture, Mr. S. finds marsh plants, such as canna, hydrangea, and a great many other genera, grow remarkably well; bulbs did not succeed very well in it, though crocus flowered freely; cuttings, such as those of aucuba, and other genera, struck root in it. The advantages of this mode of culture are said to be neatness of appearance and no crumbling of earth and dirt in moving the pots, watering the plants, or turning out the balls to examine the roots. A similar practice has been carried to a certain extent, by Mr. Sweet, Mr. Shepherd of Liverpool, and especially by our much esteemed correspondent Mr. Archibald. (See p. 255.)

The next paper was on the different varieties of the tree Pæonia, by the Secretary; and the last on the infancy of vegetation, by a foreign writer.

The articles exhibited were, Vanack cabbage, Pæonia albiflora Whitleiji, Rosa Boursault, various double Scotch roses, twenty-three varieties of Azalea pontica, and above twelve species and varieties of Rhododendron, by Mr. Lee; eight species of iris; six varieties of Viola tricolor; Drummond's thornless rose, which has been in flower for a month; double scarlet anemones; double garden ranunculuses; the yellow Scotch rose, from a plant obtained last year from Paris; Lonicera flava, &c. from the garden of the Society; Gloriosa superba, from Sir Charles Hulse; Brassia caudata, Quisqualis Indica, Zephyranthes grandiflora, the Sir Abraham Hume geranium, and some other geraniums and plants, by different individuals.

The fruits tasted were, a queen pine, some peaches and nectarines, cherries and strawberries, and a fruit of Xanthochymus pictorius, from the garden of Mrs. Beaumont at Bretton Hall, being the first time the plant has ripened its fruit in this country. It had an acid taste, by no means agreeable.

A thrust-hoe was exhibited by Mr. Knight of Clapham; it differs from the common Dutch or thrust-hoe in having

a sharp edge behind as well as before, and in having the edge of the fore-part of a pointed form (in the way of fig. 62.). Mr. Knight has very properly instructed

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and authorized a respectable manufacturer to introduce them for general sale. The seeds given away were yellow savoy, and green chard beet. The following notice was read by one of the secretaries:

Sale of Garden Produce.-"The Committee have directed that in future all such fruits and choice esculent vegetables as shall remain at the Garden after the supply of specimens for examples, and for exhibition at the meetings of the Society, shall be disposed of to the Fellows of the Society, or to persons reconmended by them, in the following manner: A list of such articles as can be disposed of, with moderate prices for the same annexed, shall be sent daily

to the Society's house from the Garden, for the inspection of the Fellows of the Society, or persons authorized by them, who shall be at liberty to order any of the articles on the list for the next, or next but one succeeding day, and which articles shall be sent unto Regent Street by eleven o'clock on the day fixed, and shall be forthwith delivered at the house in London of the person ordering the same. Payment to be made at the time of delivery."

It was observed by the Secretary that it was not intended by this measure to injure the market-gardeners; but merely to enable members of the Society, and their friends, to taste fruits and other garden articles more correctly named than they generally are in the public market.

June 20th. The principal papers read were a report respecting the garden of the Society; one on Glycine Sinensis, by Mr. Sabine; and one on the clubbing of cabbages, by Mr. Thomas Blake, gardener to Mrs. Butts, at Kensington. Among the books presented were a volume of the American Farmer, and one of the Memoirs of the Agricultural Society of New York. The flowers on the table consisted of a fine collection of roses, from Mr. Lee; two blossoms of Magnolia macrophylla, from the garden of E. Gray, Esq., of Harringay, near Highgate; the plant there, and that at the Duke of Devonshire's, at Chiswick, being the only plants near London that have yet flowered. The leaves and flowers are much larger than those of any of the other Magnolias; the flowers white, with a slight degree of sickly odour. A collection of ranunculuses, some pæonies, Ixora rubra and coccinea, Rosa Grevillea, the Champney rose, a variety like R. Noisette, and Lonicera flexuosa, from the garden of the Society. Rosa Grevillea is a variety of R. multiflora, and in a single fasciculus of flowers are roses of every shade of purple, from white to the darkest tint; it is one of the handsomest of climbing roses. Lonicera flexuosa, though often kept in green-houses, seems to be as hardy as the common honeysuckle, which it greatly exceeds in fragrance, and in abundance of blossoms. These two roses, and this honeysuckle, and also Lonicera Japonica, deserve a place in every garden. A fine collection of pinks was presented by Mr. Hogg of Paddington, and flowers of Cactus speciosissimus from Mrs. Byng; Lilium longiflorum, from the garden of the Society; and some azaleas by different individuals. The only culinary vegetable on the table was mountain spinage, seven varieties, from the garden of the Society. This is the sort of spinage in general use round Paris, and deserves, in our opinion, to be more generally cultivated in this country as a Summer spinage; its leaves, which it produces in abundance on stems sometimes six feet high, being as succulent in Sunimer as those of common spinage are in Winter. There were 37 sorts of strawberries from the garden of the Society tasted, and also a new seedling, raised by Mr. Knevett of Turnham Green, from the common pine impregnated with Keens' imperial. We saw it in Mr. K.'s garden some days ago; it is a handsome fruit, in general appearance like the pine; hardy, a great bearer, and considered high flavoured. Mr. K. intends to bring it out about Michaelmas, 1827, and is in the mean time raising as many plants as he can for that purpose.

Horticultural Society's Garden, May 22. In the experimental division of the ornamental department, we observed a handsome row of greenhouse plants, from 2 to 4 feet high, plunged in the soil, with the pots covered, and occupying a small border along a walk. They are chiefly Australasian plants, and the intention is, probably, to prove their comparative degrees of hardiness; but, at any rate, the effect is exceedingly good, and might be adopted and improved upon, in private gardens. A collection of single specimens arranged in this way, following each other in natural relationship, bordering a revolving walk, as in Messrs. Loddiges' arboretum, and named with glazed china tickets, as in Mr. Boursault's garden in Paris,

or Mrs. Beaumont's conservatory at Bretton Hall, would form an easy and agreeable source, for ladies to acquire a practical knowledge of botany. There is nothing, indeed, more conducive to this taste, than placing the names of plants upon or beside them, in conspicuous, but not obtrusive labels or tallies. We regret that this is not done in the arboretum at Kew, and we hope it will ultimately be adopted in every department of the Chiswick garden. The mere circumstance of seeing and reading these names, by attracting attention and exciting curiosity, gives rise to a taste for plants; it is, therefore, desirable that public bodies should use the means of originating and promoting a taste so agreeable, peaceful, and useful.

We pass over many things of interest, to notice four beautiful epiphytes, Calathea veratrifolia, Eulophia gracilis, Oncidium pumilum and flexuosum; and two fine aquatics, Pontederia cordata, and Limnocharis Plumerii, in flower in the hot-house. The plants are in their usual excellent condition, being abundantly supplied with heat and moisture; the paths were literally flooded. The Australasian bees have unfortunately died during the last Winter.

In the experimental garden of the fruit department, the principal thing worthy of notice is the vigour of the pine plants, of which there are some new and apparently distinct varieties from Sierra Leone, selected by Mr. George Don, when botanizing in that colony. In one pit, Trapa natans, and Scirpus tuberosus, the water chestnut, are planted in cisterns of mud and water, with a view to their cultivation as esculents; and the fruit of Passiflora edulis has attained a considerable size on the back wall. The different descriptions of pits erected in this department are well deserving of attention, and will be particularly noticed on a future occasion. No article of garden-culture seems neglected; we observed finochio planted in trenches, in the manner of celery, in order to be blanched by earthing up, as practised in Italy.

In the kitchen-garden, celery is already planted out. In the orchard the strawberries are in bloom, and in some places beginning to suffer from the dry weather. The peaches, and other wall fruit, have set well; partly by having been protected by a wooden coping, and partly in consequence of the application of canvass netting. In the flower garden, some phloxes, pæonies, narcissi, Muscari comosum and monstrosum, some tulips, wallflowers, and stocks, and a few border perennials, are the chief articles in flower. A number of the pæony blossoms having been fecundated by art, are tied up in gauze to exclude bees and other insects. In the orchard some strawberries are similarly treated.

In the arboretum nothing struck us as deserving particular remark, unless it be worth while to express our regret, that the turf is formed of a mixture of grass seeds in which cock's foot, Dactylis glomerata, is conspicuous; being a much coarser and rapider growing grass than any other species, it is the very worst that can be fixed on for the purpose of a lawn. We presume it must have been mixed with the other grass seeds inadvertently; but, whatever has been the cause of its introduction, it ought be immediately rooted out.

We cannot leave this garden, without paying a tribute of approbation to the young men employed in it; their decent appearance, their dress and linen, compared with their wages, is at once an index to their morality. The number of such young men is nearly forty, and we cannot help thinking that a very important addition to the horticultural establishment would be a school, in which, for a small consideration, all who chose might go through a regular course of education. We are convinced this would ultimately do more for horticulture than almost all the other plans for its progress put together; but in the mean time it need not supersede other good plans for the same purpose.

ART. VI. Flower Shows.

It was our intention to have given an account in this Number of the principal meetings held by florists in the neighbourhood of London, for the exhibition of what are called florists' flowers; but after having put some of our friends to a good deal of trouble, we find, that to give the names of all the flowers for which prizes were awarded would occupy more space than we could possibly spare. We beg leave, therefore, to apologise for the trouble we have given our friends, and especially Mr. Groom, Mr. Greig, Mr. Robert Mackay, Mr. Davey, and Mr. Lawrance, near London; and Mr. Saul of Lancaster; and to limit our record to the dates of a few of the principal shows or feasts, with the name of the flower which obtained the first prize, and its owner.

The Islington or Canonbury Auricula Show was held on the 18th of April. The first prize was taken by Francis Cooper, Esq., for Britannia, and the Lancashire Hero.

Extract from a communication by Mr. Greig, the Secretary to the Islington Florists' Society.

"The Islington Florists' Society is of comparatively ancient date, and may truly be termed the parent Society of all others that have of late been established in the vicinity of the metropolis. At its first formation, which, I believe, was about fifty years ago, the meetings of the Society were held at the Barley Mow, an old and respectable public house, situated in the parish of Islington, on the side of one of the old pack-horse roads, leading from Blackwell Hall, in the city, to the north of England; and now called Troy Lane. They were afterwards held at the Britannia tavern, where you may, I think, still find a copy (framed) of the ancient rules and regulations of the Society Some little dispute having occurred at this tavern, the Society was in a great degree remodelled, the rules and regulations simplified, and its meetings removed to Canonbury tavern, but latterly they have been held at the King's Head tavern, opposite the church.

"The shows of flowers at this Society consist of auriculas and carnations, and the prizes are adjudged under the regulations (of which I hand you a copy) to the best flowers, the first prize being a silver cup, of the value of five guineas. The Society has always been supported by many amateur growers, and, generally speaking, (their enthusiastic fondness for the flowers inducing the greatest care in the growth of them,) they have borne away the prize from the regular dealer.

"I feel assured, Sir, that you will lend a willing aid in promoting the growth of the finest flowers; and it being a maxim amongst florists, that exhibitions of them for prizes create emulation in their production, you, I hope, will give me leave to trespass upon your valuable pages, for a small additional space, to say, that this feeling so predominates with several members of this Society, as to induce them (through me) to request of you to offer this challenge to the florist world. That each member will, on a day in July next, to be agreed upon, shew a pan of carnations, consisting of twelve blooms, the produce of their own gardens, (and according with the rules of the Islington Society,) against the same number of gentlemen from any part of the kingdom, for any sum not exceeding 100%. The house for the show to be agreed on, and the censors appointed, prior to the time of showing. Wishing you every success in your valuable undertaking, Upper Paradise-house, Islington, "I am, dear Sir, &c. "May 26th, 1826.

"JNO. GREIG."

The Windsor Florists' Show was held on the 19th of April, and the first prize taken by Mr. Brown, for Barlow's king.