116 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



scribed as a universal manure. Our supply lias been stacked in a corner 

 mucb infested with woodlice, but not one of those gentry has been met 

 ■with in tbe stercus, and we are informed that no insect will live in it. As 

 to the proportion in which to use it, that of course depends on circum- 

 stances. We may, however, for the guidance of tbose who give it a trial, 

 state that it may be used with safety in larger proportions than rotten 

 dung, but it is sufficiently fertilizing to produce similar effects, if used in 

 the same quantities, suitably of course to the requirements of the plants to 

 which it is applied. That there may be no doubt as to its fertilizing 

 powers, it may be sufficient to cite the analysis by Professor Way, who 

 gives, nitrogen, 4.33 = ammonia, 5.25. As it is our custom to quote the 

 prices of things recommended in these pages, as essential to complete the 

 information, Ave here follow the rule by stating that the stercus'with which 

 w r c have experimented, was supplied by Messrs. Hayter, of the Imperial 

 Works, Bromley-by-Bow, London, E.C. The price is £5 10s. per ton, 

 and the smallest quantity sold is five cwt. There is an additional charge 

 for bags, which are allowed for if returned. The bulk is considerably 

 lighter than guano, and, therefore, carriage will not be a serious item to 

 those in distant places. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



Hokticitltceal Society, May 1. — The anniversary meeting took place 

 in the Lecture Theatre of the Museum of Science and Art, Kensington 

 Gore. The Earl of Ducie in the chair. The secretary read the report of the 

 Council, in which was succinctly narrated the progress of the society, in the 

 establishment of the new gardens. The report stated that the society is wait- 

 ing to find a collector who can be depended on, and who will be despatched 

 to some rich and uninvestigated country for supplies of new plants. The 

 society's finances have vastly improved, irrespective of the Kensington Gore 

 account. In 1857-8, the sale of produce from the garden at Chiswick 

 realized £142 18s. 3d. ; in 185S-9, £190 10s. ; in 1859-GO, £292 13s. 8c?. The 

 flower and fruit committees have been reconstructed — Mr. Thomas Moore 

 having been appointed secretary of the former, and Mr. liobert Hogg of the 

 latter. The entire debt on the 31st of March, last year, was £10,752 ; it is 

 now only £4,296. May 8. — Bev. L. V. Harcourt in the chair. Among the 

 fruits exhibited were some well-kept Bibston-pippin apples, which had been 

 wintered in glazed earthenware pans in a cellar. They came from J. Lamb, 

 of Staffordshire. This mode of keeping fruit has frequently been recom- 

 mended by us, and, for private growers, is, we believe, the best method known. 



Boyal Botanic, Apkil 25. — This was the third spring meeting, and was 

 well supplied with spring flowers. Among the objects of special note were 

 the f&llowing : — Cinerarias : Duke of Cambridge, purple crimson ; Constancy, 

 white, with purplish tips and dark disk; Miss Marnock, Queen Victoria, and 

 Solferino, from Mr. Turner. Cineraria : Martha, white tipped crimson, like 

 many others already out, from Mr. Shrimpton, gardener to A. J. Doxat, of 

 Putney. Cineraria : Masterpiece, white tipped rosy crimson ; Beauty, white 

 tipped rosy purple, from Messrs. Dobson ; the last a really beautiful flower. 

 A variegated leaved calceolaria, called Pendula, the leaves edged white, from 

 Mr. Davidson, gardener to 11. Bishop, Esq., Begent's Park. Messi'3. Erazer 

 showed some pretty roses. Messrs, Ivery, Azaleas Tricolor, Leviathan, and 

 Carnation. Messrs. Cutbush, a dozen hyacinths, still in fine condition. 

 There were also numerous contributions of auriculas, tropreolums, tulips, 

 gloxinias, and fine foliaged stove plants. 



