METROPOLITAN SOCIETY OF FLORISTS.
THROUGH a shower of snow, on Thursday, we entered the Crown and Anchor Tavern, the great room of which presented a beautiful display of spring flowers. It was the union of January and May. Instead of the savoury odoers of the kitchen, the fragrant perfume of the garden greeted the sense; and the eye was feasted with the delicate and br.11iant hues of some of its choicest productions. In place of statues, the niches were filled with the graceful camellia and azalea; and in lieu of side-boards of plate, parterres of rhododendrons and heaths and other flowering shrubs bloomed on either side. Cut blooms of heart's-ease and passion-flowers, arranged orderly in trays of wet sand, o: in neat boxes, and loose heaps of every variety of flowers mingled together, took the place of plateaus on the tables; over which bent Ike sunburnt faces of florists, curious to examine the rare specimens. We acknowledge our utter inability to give an opinion of the merits of the flowers to which the prizes were awarded ; and We cannot be content merely to chronicle the names of the successful candidates. To Is the flowers, though various in degrees of beauty, were all lovely to sightnnd smell. The specimens of auricula furnished, we believe, the principal attraction ; but to us they were not so interesting, curious and beautiful though they were, as those which filled the eye more fully. The supetb form and gorgeous bloom- of the cactus speciocissima, contrasting with its uncouth and prickly stem, arid another singularly Splendid tropical plant, whose name has escaped our recollection (it was sent by Mrs. MAaneArr, of Wimbledon) looked like the toucan and trogon among birds of more sober plumage and familiar shape. The camellias seem artificial in their richness. Nothisg could ex- ceed in beauty the clustering blooms of the rhododendrons and azaleas. They only wanted the air and sunshine of the garden and the hum of bees. Since, however, we must needs be content to attend the Spring meeting of florists and their protisnls in a tavern hall, we will venture to suggest what we think would be an improvement in the arrange- ment of the display. If the flowers were disposed with a view to the effect of contrast and combination of their forms and colours, the coup d'ail would be transcendently beautiful. But as this would in- terfere with the classification of specimens by the respective contribu. tors, the picturesque arrangement might be made the day following that for the admission of florists ; when the public at large might be admitted, under the needful restriction of "eyes, not hands." The works of nature would, we dare say, prove as attractive as those of art.
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