MAT. 149 



Strawberries have suffered much in the open quarter from the effects 

 of a wet autumn, and at the same time an attack of mildew ; several 

 plants are quite dead, and others so weakened that a crop will be long 

 uncertain ; the Filbert and Prince of Wales remain the most healthy. 

 Lettuce plants also suffered from the same cause. All other kitchen 

 crops stood the winter well. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



April 22. — A large quantity of Sikkim, Bhotan and other Rhododen- 

 drons was exhibited on this occasion. Some of them were in flower, 

 but many others were not. The most conspicuous among those in blos- 

 som was a pale yellow kind, called R. campylocarpum. This was a 

 standard worked on catawbiense, and having a fine head of bloom, was 

 really very handsome. It was stated to have flowered out of doors at 

 Holkar, near the seashore in Lancashire. Hopes are, therefore, enter- 

 tained that it may be sufficiently hardy to withstand the vicissitudes of 

 our climate. This came from Messrs. Standish and Noble. Messrs. 

 E. G. Henderson had also an extremely interesting exhibition of these 

 plants, among which were R. Hookeri, of which we soon expect to be 

 able to give a coloured representation, the fragrant Edgworthi, Nuttalli, 

 a Bhotan kind reputed to possess wonderful beauty, Boothi and Java- 

 nicum, Messrs. Veitch and Son, of Exeter and Chelsea, sent R. jas- 

 miniflorum, which is one of the prettiest tender Rhododendrons in culti- 

 vation. Its numerous clusters of long waxy white tubular blossoms 

 make it an object of universal admiration. It may be mentioned as a 

 curious fact connected with this charming genus of plants, that as they 

 approach the eastward of Asia they all more or less partake of the long 

 tubular form of flower ; while in Sikkim and Bhotan, the head quarters 

 of the race, the blossoms are for the most part of a more open and 

 spreading character. The same nurserymen also sent Dodecatheon 

 integrifjlium, a new kind something like D. Meadia, cut specimens of 

 one of Mr. Skinner's Fuchsias, a Primula, and a variegated East Indian 

 Carex. Mr.Glendinning furnished a fine specimen of Gesnera Doncklaari, 

 which has been figured by us in a former volume. It is certainly a 

 beautiful variety, considerably handsomer than G. discolor. Gaultheria 

 furens, a hardy evergreen from Chili, with little white bell-shaped 

 flowers, like those of an Andromeda, came from Messrs. Standish and 

 Noble. Messrs. Henderson, of Pine-apple-place, supplied a collection 

 of greenhouse plants, in which Tetratheca ericifolia was perhaps the 

 most remarkaljle, inasmuch as its pale lilac blossoms are sufficiently 

 large and abundant to point it out as just the plant for an amateur who 

 wishes to cultivate a few select kinds, and those only of the best 

 description Messrs. Lee had some variegated Geraniums and other 

 hybrids, among which was a very pretty Begonia, called Splendida, 

 which was said to be sweet scented. From the garden of the Society 

 also came Begonias and other plants, among which was Nemesia versi- 

 color, a blue-flowered Cape perennial, which it was thought might 

 make a good bedding plant. . 



