1873.] GAEDEN GOSSIP. OBITUARY. 45 



rooted, and arranged fully exposed to the sun on a large space reserved for this purpose. A 

 few of the earliest are laid on their sides in the autumn, to hasten the maturation of the 

 crowns, but the bullc are plunged up to the rims in a ribbon border for the winter, where 

 they stand exposed to all weathers until drafted into the j^its. The result has been very 

 satisfactory, and Mr. Carmichael attributes much of his success to the small pots, and to the 

 fact that he uses no saucers, as well as to the roots getting ahead of the crowns in the start of 

 growth. 



ItN tliG Shakspearean Imperishahle Labels recently introduced by Messrs. 



Bell and Thorpe we seem to be supplied witli what has long been a desideratum 

 in our gardens, namely, a tolerably cheap, and at the same time permanent label 



for naming garden jilants, whether of the utilitarian or ornamental class. Wooden labels aro 

 cheap and readily accessible, and serve all the purposes of a temporary label for small stock 

 plants ; but in the case of permanent plants, whether border flowers, fruit trees, or ornamental 

 trees, aa well as the more permanent of indoor plants, they are both costly and perishable. 

 Cast-iron labels of various kinds have been introduced, but they bi-eak too readily, and are 

 expensive. Messrs. Boll and Thoi-po's labels aro formed of a tough, white, lustrous metal, which 

 does not break like cast iron, and which entirely withstands the action of the weather ; while 

 the names being raised in the casting, they cannot possibly become illegible, even if the black 

 face with which they are originally prepared should wear off. Some are stalked for setting 

 into the ground ; some provided with eyes for nailing up or susjDending, and some are provided 

 with hooks to clasjj the rim of a flower-pot. The jDrices range from 9d. to 18s. per doz. 



^HE Dendrohiiun chri/sotis of Reichenbach, figured in the Florist and 



POMOLOGIST for 1871, is identified by Dr. Hooker with the previously published 

 D. Hooherianum of Lindley, specimens of which were gathered by Dr, Hooker in 



1848. The plant is quite distinct from any of the forms of D. fimhriatum, with which it has 

 been compared, and is certainly one of the finest of the yellow-flowered Dendi-obes. 



£&•* Fr. Ptafp, experimenting on the amount of Evaporation that 



takes 2')lace from the Surface of Leaves, having examined several times daily, 

 from May till the end of October, a small Oak, the number of leaves on which 



were estimated at 620,464, flnds that the evaporation varies from day to day according to 

 circumstances, but the average for the whole of Juno was 26,023 kilogrammes ; and for 

 October, 17,023 kilogrammes (1 kilogramme = 2 lb. 3 oz.). 



®HE higher Municipal Honours occasionally fall to the lot of horticul- 

 turists. Thus we learn that Alderman Mackey, the well-known seedsman of West- 

 moreland Street, Dublin, has been elected for the second time to the distinguished 

 office of Lord JIayor of the Irish metropolis ; while Tsh: Henry Steward, an enthusiastic 

 amateur horticulturist, who has for several years past been a leading exhibitor of Pelai'goniums, 

 Tulips, Auriculas, Carnations, Picotees, &c., and is at the present time an active member of 

 the committee of the York Gala, is the present Lord Mayor of York. 



Kt is stated that Waterproof Translucent Pajjer for Screens, &c., may be 



formed by washing paper (or cotton fabrics) with a solution of gelatine or glue, 



to which one-fiftieth part by weight of the bichromate of potash is added ; they 



are thus rendered impermeable to water. The process, which depends on the action of bichro- 

 mate of potash on the gelatine, must be carried out in full daylight. It is stated that the Japanese 

 prepare their paper umbrellas in this way. 



Bhitnavv. 



fHE. James Donald, Superintendent of the Eoyal Gardens, Hampton 



Court, died on December 23, 1872. He was born at Forfar in 1815, and when 

 eighteen years old was apprenticed at Lilly Bank Nursery, Dundee, whence he 



•went as under gardener to Kinnordy, the seat of the late Sir Charles Lyell, 'who procured his 

 admission to Chiswick in 1839 ; he remained there as a student three years, and then went to 

 Chatsworth. When Mr. Fortune went to China he came back to Chiswick as temporary 

 superintendent of the hothouse department ; afterwards he became head gardener to tho late 



