530 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



should be careful as well as clear in his writings, as in another sentence he 

 says Mr Hammond and some others asserted that a continuous or vertical rise 

 is a hindrance to circulation. What is to be inferred from this ? So far as I 

 understand, the whole discussion arose from the statement that the continuous 

 rise was a hindrance, not the vertical; and that the latter, rising at once to the 

 highest point from the boiler, was the better system (see p. 421). And this is 

 the reason why I drew a distinction between this and a body of water of a 

 uniform temperature throughout — as in this case I assume we have a different 

 motive power to that we have in a body of, say, cold water, raised by pressure 

 or gravitation, of which I have had ample experience in works it was my duty 

 to see carried out. Robert Stevens. 



[These papers are positively the last we can insert on the heating question 

 for the present. — Ed.] 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



At the monthly meeting held in the Hall, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, on 

 Tuesday the 7th October, Mr Dunn, president, in the chair, there was a numer- 

 ous attendance of members and others interested in horticulture. A paper was 

 read from Mr Johannes le Clerc, nurseryman, Haarlem, on "The Culture of 

 Bulbs in Holland, " in which he gave an interesting account of the mode in 

 which Hyacinths, Tulips, &c, were reared and managed by the Dutch growers. 

 Mr W. Ivison Macadam, lecturer on chemistry, next gave a lecture on "The 

 Food of Plants." After pointing out the importance of gardeners acquiring a 

 knowledge of the chemical composition of soils, along with the ash of the plants 

 grown thereon, and showing, by the aid of a number of diagrams, the con- 

 stituents of the various manures now in use, and their value as fertilisers of the 

 soil, the lecturer compared the cost of the natural and artificial manures, 

 placing their several agricultural values alongside each other, and showed that 

 farmyard manure was the most expensive, and, in the majority of cases, quite 

 inadequate to meet the wants of ordinary crops, strongly recommending the 

 adoption of the "Association Standards," which were periodically fixed by a 

 committee, and which could be thoroughly relied upon. It was resolved that 

 this lecture, which Mr Macadam kindly placed at the disposal of the Associa- 

 tion, should be printed for distribution among the members. 



A communication was read from Mr G. Robertson, Mordington Gardens, 

 descriptive of a number of cut blooms of herbaceous plants, which were on the 

 table for exhibition. 



Mr P. Fairgrieve, The Gardens, Dunkeld House, was awarded the Society's 

 Cultural Certificate for a fine collection of stone fruits, consisting of five dishes 

 of Peaches, fifteen of Plums, three of Nectarines, five of Apricots, and one of 

 Cherries, all distinct varieties, and gathered from the open air. Mr A. Fowler, 

 Castle Kennedy, sent a plant of a new Ageratum of a similar habit and quite 

 as floriferous as the well-known dwarf variety, Countess of Rothes, but with 

 rosy-tinted flowers. A seedling Godetia, with darker flowers than Whitneyii 

 — raised by Mr J. Webster, Gordon Castle — was much admired. It has a 

 dwarf, dense habit of growth, a brilliant colour, and seems to be a remarkably 

 free fiowerer. A seedling of Lobelia speciosa, Avith snow-white flowers, was ex- 

 hibited by Mr Robertson, Sea-Cot House, Leith. This plant, though by far 

 the best white we have yet seen, had a somewhat rambling habit of growth, 



