The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-18 00:00:00

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Oxford has not drawn so large a detachment of the
pleasure-seeking community away from London but that
the second great show of the Horticultural Society at South
Kensington was graced by an attendance equal in number
and brilliancy to that of any similar event of the season.
The show yesterday was distributed over a considerable
part of the Exhibition building ; and not only was it over-
spread with crowds of visitors, but the gardens were almost
as full as we have ever seen them. The conservatory, too,
with its recent sculpturesque additions, was a much-fre-
quented spot ; and in speaking of this department we may
repair a former omission with regard to the well-ramed
statue of Purity, by Mr. Noble, which piece of simple grace
and beauty is as fitly placed here as if the marble lilies in
the young maiden's hand were real, and she herself a
nymph of Flora. Among the company were especially
noticeable Prince Leopold and Prince Lucien Bonaparte;
while the general list presented a most imposing array of
titles and distinguished names.
A very attrrctive feature of the show was the ladies' ex-
hibition of decorations for the dinner-table, in competition
for the prizes offered by Sir C. Wentworth Dilke. The
judges in this department, the Marchioness of Waterford,
the Countess of Besborough, and Lady Dorothy Nevill,
have, we think, exercised a very laudable taste and discre-
tion in preferring the type of ornament which originally
gained the palm when these competitions were instituted two
seasons ago. This is the slenner glass shaft, with its upper
and lower plateaux, decked out with flowers. In the present
case, the first prize has been awarded to Lady Rokeby, whose
invention has enlisted the aid of humming-birds, which
spread their jewelled wings among tempting clusters of fruit,
branching spikes of the beautiful fern called Gleichenia,
and rings of perfumed Stanhopea flowers. The second prize
fell, by decree of the unimpeachable tribunal above named,
to Mrs. J. Worthington Bliss, who, pursuing the same
principle of decoration, was less complex in her
mode of evolvement. Mrs. Fawcett took the third prize ;
and other noteworthy objects in this branch of display were
contributed by Miss Robinson, who veiled her tastefully
grouped exotics with a cloud of the most delicate grass; by
Miss Maling, who artfully adapted to her use the white
Minton ware established by Messrs. Goode as a staple orna-
ment of dessert; by Lady Kerrison and by Mr. Salter, both
of whose designs were commended, the latter for its singu•
lar simplicity; and by Mr. W. Thompson, who imparted
motion to his elaborate device by crystal reservoirs of gold-
fish, reflections of which appeared in a horizontal mirror at
the base. Passed over by the la.:y judges, possibly as being
mere adjuncts of decoration, were the ingenious flower stands
of glass, which Messrs. Naylor and Dunn have so contrived
that they may be employed either in one or more pieces;
and an excellent flower-tray, invented by Mr. Geo. Weeks
and called " The Paragon," enabling cut flowers to be ar-
ranged with growing hyacinths and ferns, in the form of a
miniature garden, which may be watered with a fine rose,
the superfluous moisture draining away beneath.

The main attractions of the flower show were arranged,
as on a fernier occasion, in the nave; and there has not often
been so full a representation of every class of horticulture.
The orchids, with their sweet, subdued odour enriching the
varied beauty of their blossoms, included nearly all kinds
that have been yet seen in England, and, if we are not mis-
taken, one or two strangers beside. The pelargoniums, each
plant a perfect cloud of dainty colours, and looking not un-
like ladies in light ball dress, reached in a long line on one
side of the avenue. In this division alone, Messrs J. and
J. Fraser, of Lea Bridge, took three prizes, dividing
with Mr. C. Turner the honours in every class. Se
near, indeed, were the merits of the competitors, that
the first prize in one class was doubted, and bestowed on
both, it being impossible for the judges to decide which
was best. Among the richest varieties of the flowers
shown by the Messrs. Fraser were a fiery crimson speci-
men, called Lightning; another of a rosy scarlet, entitled
Sunset ; a parti-coloured kind, blending deep pia with
white, called the Roi des Fantasies; and a most bewitching
combination of pure white and lavender, rightly named the
Bridesmaid. In all, the number of prizes taken by Messrs.
Fraser were five; and indeed they were in no small degree
a support of the show, their stand of cut blooms of Chinese
peonies being a really astonishing collection, which eclipsed
even that of Messrs. Paul and Son, while their stove and
greenhouse plants were the admiration of all the experienced
growers present. Chiefly worth seining for special notice
was their clustering Prostauthera lasianthos, the pearly
white blossoms of which gave it the character of an abores-
cent lily of the valley. Among the rarer plants exhibited
by Messrs. Veitcb and Son was a Bromelia sceptrum in
flower. Tbis curious example of tropical vegetation belongs
to the pine tribe, and as its long prickly spikes diminish
towards the centre, they merge into a radiating system of
bracts or pseudo-leaves, of deep scarlet, in the middle of
which is an immense mass of white bloom tiped with violet.
The Japanese plants of Messrs. Standish, the rose trees, in
their Arcadian exaggeration and seeming unreality of bloom,
the ferns, the heaths, and a rich display of fruit, made up
what may certainly be pronounced one of the most notable
exhibitions of the season.

PLAYING AT FRIENDSHIP.--A correspondent of
a Ne iv York paper writes from the Rappahannock :
.4 Our pickets at the river front are again becoming intimate
with the graybacks on the opposite shore. Simultaneously
a few days since a party came down to the water's edge on
either side to bathe. They stripped off and swam towards
each other, and paddled about promiscuously for half an
hour. Then the rebels struck out for the Union shore,
changing places with our men. In this position the naked
rebels amused themselves by talking Union to the Federals,
while the latter shouted back from the rebel side any
amount of treasonable sentiments. This little performance
over, the bathers changed places again, dressed themselves
in their respective waitorms, resumed their muskets, and
became 040 more the moat implacable of foes.",