The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-25 00:00:00

relligence.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 25, 1863.

CR'

.CE.

One of the most brilliant flower-shows of the
season, both as regards the display of plants
and the number and rank of visitors, was held
at Norwood on Saturday. Every care had
been bestowed in the choice and arrangement
of the exotics to make this the moat successful
display of the year, and the interest with which it
was looked forward to was considerably heightened
when it transpired, as, of course, it soon did, that
their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales had signified their intention of visiting the
collection during the early part of the day. Great
preparations were accordingly made at the Palace
to celebrate the honour of this visit with becoming
ceremony and display. The superb suite of rooms
at the north end of the building, fitted up exclu-
sively for the use of Royalty on such occasions, and
which have unfortunately been for so long a time
unvisited, were put in thorough order, and in the
dining-room a magnificent defeuner was laid, the
table ornamented with the finest small specimens of
rare exotics from the show, and the beautiful porce-
lain service made for the use of the Queen brought
out on this occasion. Unfortunately, beyond
evincingthe
honouranxietyloyalto
of the management to do
every possible
their illustrious visitors,
all these preparations were thrown away. On
Saturday morning a letter was received from Gen.
Knollys, expressing the Prince's regret that the
unavoidable postponement of the departure of the
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse till three in the
afternoon would prevent either himself or the Prin-
cess of Wales having the pleasure of seeing the
show. The letter also expressed the thanks of their
Royal Highnesses for the trouble which they knew
had been taken to receive them, and their intention
of availing themselves of the first opportunity of
visiting the Palace. It is, perhaps, on the whole not
to be regretted that the Princess of Wales did not for
the first time see the building on a flower-show day;
when the whole length of the nave, from end to
end, is dwarfed and hidden by a very useful, bat most
unornamental screen of canvass hung at a short
height from the floor to protect the flowers. This
screen of course utterly hides the glass roof above, and
makes the unequalled view down the centre as un-
imposing as it is possible to make any view in such
a building. When her Royal Highness does pay a
visit we hope the screens may be removed from end
to end, that she may see at once the whole interior
of a structure, the like of which for height, extent,
and singular beauty is not to be found in any other
part of the world. Though it was known in the
Palace that their Royal Highnesses could not pay
their intended visit, the news of the disappointment
did not transpire outside the building, where down
the hill and pretty roads the belles of Norwood and
Dulwich mustered in considerable numbers waiting
to see their Royal Highnesses pass. Their patience
lasted them late enough to see most of the long
cavalcade of carriages passing to the show,—a sight
which, though well enough in its way, was not ex-
actly calculated to console them for the disappoint-
ment of that which they came forth to see.
The flower show was arranged as it always is at
the Crystal Palace, which is saying a great deal in
a few words, for it means the very perfection of
artistic display. While the arrangement of classes
was scrupulously adhered to, the position of every
individual plant was chosen as much as possible with
reference to its form and colour, and all were so
skilfully ranked, so artistically intermixed with
vases and statues, that the whole length of the nave
presented on either side such a varied yet continu-
ous array of beautiful grouping as we have seldom
seen even at Norwood. In front of the orchestra,
surmounting a magnificent group of flowers, was
shown, for the first time, Mr. Marshall Wood's bust
of the Prince, which has just been completed from
sittings given by his Royal Highness; and facing
this was one of the finest and most beautifully
grouped banks of ferns and statues that it is
possible to imagine. The show was especially
strong in azaleas, which were exhibited in all
their rare and beautiful varieties—masses of white
bloom, like piles of newly fallen snow, white
and red—red purple, and one magnificent plant
of the richest mauve. Of orchids there was one
of the finest collections ever shown—rare in
their colours, wild and eccentric in their shapes, an
extraordinary
thoughblendi plants n blending appearance
werepear banaceoouft to animal and
vegetable, as change
themselves to moths and May flies. There was a
small, but most rare, show of plants of variegated
foliage, with leaves and stalks pencilled in such
colours as put most other groups to shame. The air
was heavy with the fragrance of the roses, and the
rich green of the heaths seemed absolutely to
sparkle with blooms of every hue. -There was a fine
bank of hot, thirsty weird-looking cacti, so sugges-
tive of the wild, ardent luxuriance of the tropics;
.smsgairrooeidarowalernit
ye
oeas mfawpf
en;
yni
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lowte
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sa veesf eergorosfyrmwag
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looked
all the chief prizes at the Horticultural. Where all
ftreaerhl :Yuri
isciaeoth: masses
eooe
rfet
mhi
tapdehareegpiei
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accustomed
thesrocl nave was occupied with
distinguished themselves with such success it would
be almost invidious to mention names of growers ;
and we are fortunately relieved of this responsibility
by the prize list, which distinguishes the best
where all were so good that the judges had more
than their usual difficulty in making the awards.
The following contains the names of the chief prize-
takers in the most important classes--

FLOWERS.

Class 1-15 stove and greenhouse plants, in flower—firs'
prize, MCI, Mr, B,
Peed, gardener to Mrs. Treadwell, Nor.
wood.

Class 2-12 stove and greenhouse plants, in flower—first
prize, £l2, Mr. H. Chilman, gardener to Mrs. Smith, Ash-
stead•house, Epsom.
Class 3-8 stove and greenhouse plants, in flower—first
prize £lO, Mr. B. Peed, gardener to Mrs. Treadwell, Nor-
wood.

Cla.s 4-6 stove and greenhouse plants, in flower—first
prize £7, Mr. T. Page, gardener to Mr. W. Leaf, Streatham,
Class 5-12 fine foliaged and variegated plants—first
prize, £7, Messrs. J. and 0. Lee, Hammersmith.
Class 6 l 6 orchids, of exotic species, in flower—first
prizes, £2O each, Mr. R. Bullen, gardener to Mr. A. Turner,
Bow-bridge-house, Leicester; Mr. G Baker, gardener to
Mr. S. Bassett, Stamford-bill.
Miss 7-10 orchids of exotic species, in flower—first
prize, £l2, Mr. C. Benny, gardener to Mr. H. H. Gibbs,
Regent's-park.
Class B—Six orchids of exotic species, in flower—first
prize, £7, Mr. J. Wiggins, gardener to Mr. W, Beck, Isle-
worth.

Class 9—Ten greenhouse azaleas—first prize £l4, Mr. C,
Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough.
Class 10—Six greenhouse azaleas—first prize £7, Mr. C.
Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough.
Class 11—Eight greenhouse azaleas, new kinds—first
prize £5, Mr. C. Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough.

Class 12—Six Cape heaths—first prize £B, Messrs. T.
Jackson and Son, nurserymen, Kingston.
Class 13—Six tall cacti, species or varieties of, in flower,
large plants—lst prize £4, Mr. J. Green, gardener to Sir
E. Antrobus. Lower Cheam.
Class 14—Ten roses, distinct kinds, in pots—first prizes
£lO each, Mr. W. Paul, Waltham-cross; Messrs. Land
and Son, Great Berkhampstead.
Class 15—Ten roses, distinct kinds, in pots not exceeding
eight inches in diameter—first prize, Mr. C. Turner, Royal
Nurseries, Slough.
Class 16—Ten pelargoniums, distinct varieties, in pots
not exceeding eight inches in diameter—first prize, £lO,
Mr. T. Bailey, gardener to Mr. T. D. Drake.
Class 17—Six pelargoniums, distinct varieties, in pots
not exceeding eight inches in diameter—first prize, £5, Mr.
J. Shrimpton, gardener to Mr. A. J. Doxat, Putney-heath.
Class 18—Six fancy pelargoniums, distinct varieties, in
pots not exceeding eight inches in diameter—first prize, £5;
Mr. C. Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough.
Class 19—Seedling pelargoniums, 1862—first prize, £1;
Mr. G. W. Hoyle, Sidney-villas, Keading, " Diadem."
Class 20—Single specimen of newly-introduced extremely
to
orarme orr. bje.anutuifnutl,pslyandtesn,hinamor.:u:f flower, hardy or exotic—
firstClass 22-6
triscleVliaPne.
prize, £5, Mr. R. Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting.
Class 21-6 plants of cinerarias, in pots not exceeding 11
inches in diameter—third prize, LI, Mr. W. Reid, gardener
gacrdlaensser23_to
11 inches in diameter—first prize. £2 10s., Mr. J. James,
plants of calceolarias, in pots not exceeding
oWu
saLso.o is
prize, ew rxt h
Mr. H. Lavey
gardener to Mr. E. A. Grave, Fetcham (ferns).

. .
CuT FLOWERS.
Class 24-24 Tulips, dissimilar—first prize, £2, Mr. J.
Hunt, High Wycombe, Bucks.
Class 25-24 Verbenas, three trusses of each variety—
first prize, £2, Mr. W. R. Treen, Victoria Nursery, Rugby.
FRUIT.
Class A—Pineapples, single fruit of any kind—first prize,