The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-20 00:00:00

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-[ ROYAL lIORTICUL2URAL SOCIETY.

The London season may almost be said to hare
commenced with the Early Spiing Flower Show of
yesterday, whicri heads the programme of the Royal
sHortcultural Society's arrangements for the year
1862. Hitherto the fashionable drives and pro-
menades of Hyde-park and the aristocratic localities
of Belgravia and South Kensington have, owing to
the long continuance of the cold and wet which

have marked the opening months of the present
year, been comparatively deserted. Yesterday they
were alive with gay equipages, and the immediate
neighbourhood of the Horticultural Gardens and
he International Exhibition was all but impassable
from the influx of visitors, attracted not so much,
perhaps, by the expectation of a brilliant horticul-
tural display, which is hardly possible in the third
week of such a March as this has been, as by
the bright sunbeams which, almost for the first
time since their return to town, shone out with
sufficient promise of permanence to draw them
from the warmth and shelter of their firesides.
But, considering all things, the show itself was
most creditable. The hyacinths, whose beautifully
formed petals, pure colours, luxuriousness of
flower, and exquisite but powerful aroma could
scarcely be surpassed, were in great profusion, and
well deserved the commendations they obtained
from the cognoscenti. The camellias, white, red, and
variegated, were unexceptionable, and, as regards
those which obtained prizes especially, told of the
care which had Leen bestowed upon their culture.
There was not so large a display of tulips as a more
genial season would doubtless have produced,
but the few that were there were extremely
good. Early open air grown spring flowers were,
as might be anticipated, scarce, except lilies of the
valley, which were plentiful enough, and amongst
them some bunches drooping with the weight of
their white bead-like blossoms. The primula,
epieias, and other open air spring flowering plants,
and the stove amaryllis, did credit to their respec-
tive growers as well as to the exhibition of Which
they formed a part. Besides the competing plants,
there was a magnificent display, as far as quality is
concerned, of rhododendrons, and a few beautifully
developed roses, both red and white. There was
but one drawback to the show, and that was that
the confined area in which it was held, and the im-
mense number of visitors, rendered it all but impos-
sible to see one half of the many very interesting
specimens of the floricultural art it embraced. From
a little after one o'clock, when the doors opened,
until dusk, there was a continuous stream of visitors
passing through the council chamber, which on this
occasion was the somewhat inconvenient route of
the exhibition, and the necessary efforts of the
attendant policemen to keep the stream flowing
prevented that attention being given to the "points"
of the flowers which an area of more extended
limits would have allowed. This is a defect which
will be no doubt remedied by the next flower show,
and may well be excused in the present instance,
remembering that the very unpromising weather
which prevailed yesterday would have made the
substitution of a marquee in the gardens a dan-

gerous experiment.
The band of the Ist Life Guards attended in the
grounds during the afternoon, and enlivened the
out door portion of the entertainment with a selec-
tion from some of the most popular composers.
Taken as a whole, this, the opening day of the
season, was most successful, and promises well for
the numerous other fetes which are set down in the
published programme of the year, and which are to
follow each other in rapid succession.

The following is the list of the prizes in the
various classes to which the competition extended :
Class 1-18 pots of hyacinths, 12 distinct kinds (open)
W. Cutbush and Son, Highgate Nursery, N. £2.
Class 2-12 pots of hyacinths, distinct kinds (amateurs),
W. Young, gardener to R. Barclay, Esq., West-hill House,
Highgate, £2 2s.
Class 3—G pots of hyacinths, distinct kinds (amateurs),
W. Young, gardens'. to R. Barclay, Esq., Highgate, £l.
Class 4-6 pots of hyacinths, new distinct kinds (open),
W. Cutbush and Son, Highgate Nursery N., £1 10s.
Class 5-24 pots of tulips, 3 bulbs in a pot, 6 kinds
(nurserymen), W. Cutbush and Son, Highgate Nursery,
N., £2 10s.

Class 6-18 pots of tulips, 3 bulbs in a pot, 4 kinds
(amateurs), W. Young, gardener to P. Barclay, Esq.,
Highgate, £2.

Class 7-12 pots of tulips, 3 bulbs in a pot, 3 kinds (ama-
teurs), W. Young, gardener to R. Barclay, Esq., High-
gate, £l.

Class 8— 6 plants, camellias, distinct kinds (amateurs),
no competition.

Class 9-4 plants, camellias, distinct kinds (amateurs),
no competition.

Class 10—Single plant of camellia (open), John Standish,
Royal Nursery, Bagshot, £l.

Class 11-9 pots of lilies of the valley (open), Mrs. Mary
Conway, Earles-court Nursery, Brompton, 15s.
Class 12-6 pots of stove amaryllis, 3 kinds at least
(open), \V. Parker, Exotic Nursery, Tooting, S., £1 10s.
Class 13-6 pots of any kind of primula (open), Thomas
Todman, gardener to R. Hudson, Clapham-common, 15s.
Class 14-12 forced geraniums (open),'no competition.
Class 15-12 pots, spring plants in flower, not forced
(open), J. Veitch and Son, Chelsea and Exeter, £2.
Class 16-12 plants in flower, forced, J. and J. Fraser,
Lea-bridge-road Nurseries, Leyton, £2.

MISCELLANEOUS CLASS.

Flowers and plants-Ist prizes : to W. Cutbush and Co.,
for collections of 10 hyacinths, £1 10s.; (equal) to A. Hen-
derson and Co., for collection of hyacinths and tulips, £1
10s.; (equal) to W. Paul, for collection of 100 hyacinths,
£1 10s. 2d prizes : to W. Cutbush and Son, for collection
of 36 varieties narcissus, Ll ; (equal) to J. Standish, for 5
camellias, £1 ; (equal) to W. Paul, for new and rare plants,
£1; (equal) to T. Todman, for collection of 6 roses, Ll.
3d prize to W. Paul, for two boxes of cut roses, 15s. ;
(equal) to B. S. Williams, for collection of miscellaneous
plants, 155.; (equal) to the Rev. F. Beaton, for 3 boxes cut
camellias, 15s. 4th prizes : to Paul and Son, for 1 box of
cut roses, 10s. ; (equal) to F. and A. Smith, for collection
of new and rare plants, 10s. Extra prize to J. Salter, for
2 pota variegated lilly of the valley, 7s. 6d.
The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Mary of Cambridge visited the show in the early
part of the morning, attended by the Duke of
bßyu Buck-
ingham. r
Wentworth
-
ingham. Her Royal Highness was received
otw theor Council.thDilke
, Mr. Fairbairn, and other mem-
berse