The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-26 00:00:00

THE FLOWER SHOW. -

The determination to keep open this beautiful
collection till the Thursday of next week seems to
have given universal satisfaction, and since the
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The great care which has been taken by the various
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gardeners of their plants still kept the show as
anything, indeed, it seems almost to have im-
proved, and none even of the most delicate orchids
and stovehouse plants have suffered in the least
either from their change of locality or from the
fierce assaults of the east wind which blew some-
times yesterday as though it would almost strip the
canvas from the roof of the tent. A large mass in
the rhododendron valley, stimulated by the shelter
they have received, sprung into magnificent heads
of bloom, and now look beautiful enough to con-
stitute a good flower show in themselves alone.
The fruit, as might be expected, has lost a little
of its bloom and freshness in some of its various
classes, though on the whole it has been kept in
surpassing perfection. In the orchid shed are
now shown the Japanese silkworms exhibited by
Lady Dorothy Nevill. They are feeding on the
plant on which they are nourish ed in Japan, while
on the ground beneath is a case of the moths them-
selves with samples of the beautiful silk they have
spun. Near these, too, may now be seen a specimen
of the lace plant of Madagascar, its leaves, which
are precisely like fine net, floating in the water. As
an instance of the interest which has been felt in
this show, we may mention a few of the rare plants
gathered from all parts of the world, and which
have been sent over here for exhibition by Mr.
Linden, of Brussels, alone. When we consider
the difficulty of moving these rare exotics at all,
our readers will fully appreciate the enthusiasm of
Mr. Linden in undertaking to send such a collection
from Brussels to Loudon. There are plants from
Parana, from Maynas, from Peru, from the Rio
Negro, from th.l Phillippine Islands, from the
banks of the Upper and Lower Amazons. Of
medicinal and commercial plants the same gentle-
man is also a large exhibitor, sending examples
of the well known cocoa of Peru, the cocoa
of Central America, the lignum vitae of Vene-
zuela, the gutta-percha tree, the pimento of
Guiana, the true Japanese cinnamon, the
" Picked nut " of the Brazils, the nutmeg tree,
and the " Tolu-Balsam" of Columbia, the Nux
Vomica tree and gamboge tree from the
Chiapas, the Indiarubber from the Spanish Main,
and the clove-tree from the Moluccas. In another
division he shows a very fine fruit tree from Rio
Negro, with 25 new plants. In yet another division
he exhibits the marmalade tree of Central America,
the cannon ball tree and the medlar of Guiana, the
star apple tree of the West Indies, the longen tree
from South China, the rose apple tree from
Malacca, a peculiar plum tree from Madagascar, the
mangosteen tree of the East Indies, and a new avo-
cado tree from the Chiapas. Mr. Mischolls also sends
specimens of foreign plants and trees from all parts
of the east and west, and there is scarcely a zone
or country which Mr. Veitch, Mr. Bull, and Mr.
Standish do not appear to have ransacked. This
day the admission will be half-a-crown, but during
the whole of next week it will be limited to a
shilling. The Botanical Congress has brought
its sittings to a close. Nearly 50 papers in English,
French, German, and Italian were read to the
members. These, of course, were all necessarily
very short, and as they treated only of the most
abstruse points of horticultural and botanical tech-
nicalities were without interest to the general reader.
We are happy to state that the support afforded by
the public to this display is likely to make it as
complete a financial as it has been undoubtedly a
horticultural success.

ENSUING WEEK.—Mon
LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS FOR THE
Anniversary. Tuesday—Engineers, at 9 : " Physical Geo-
graphy and the Fine Arts," Professor Ansted. Wednesday
—Society of Arts, at 8: "Popular Errors concerning
day .—Geographical, at 1
Australia," Hon. C. G. Duffy. Thursday —Royal Institu-
tion at 3 : " Ethnology," Professor Huxley ; Royal, at si ;
Antiquaries, at 81. I riday—Arebseological Institute, at 4;
Royal Institution, at 8 : " Opalescence of the Atmosphere,'
Professor Roscoe ; Philological, at 8. Saturday—Actua-
ries, at 3 : annual general meeting ; Royal Institution, at
a_ Ltlowlygy " Professor Iluxley.—Athentrum.