1879.] SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 333 



place flats below them. The soil should consist of a good fibry 

 loam with a little sand added, and the petting must be firmly done. 

 Fertilisation is effected simply by placing the two sexes so that 

 the pollen falls on the female spadix ; but the operation must be 

 performed when the stigma is well seen, and when the stamens will 

 bear a touch with the point of a knife. Our plants have bloomed 

 in succession since November, and those which were impregnated 

 are swelling their fruit. James Scott. 



Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, March 11, 1879. 



SCOTTISH HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



The monthly meeting was held in the hall, 5 St Andrew Square, on the evening 

 of Tuesday the 3d ult. — Mr Hugh Fraser, Vice-President, in the chair. After a 

 variety of preliminary business, Mr William Sutherland, manager, Craigleith 

 Nursery, read a paper upon "Alpine Plants." Dealing, in the first place, with the 

 claims of these plants upon all who had to do with decorative gardening, and 

 strongly urging that they deserved more attention and more extensive cultiva- 

 tion, even in the most fashionable gardens, than had been usual for many years 

 past, he adverted to their value as a means of education, — their large number and 

 specific diversity of character being eminently fitted to engage the interest of 

 young gardeners, and to lead them to acquire a more exact and scientific know- 

 ledge of plants than they in a general way possess at the present time. Turning 

 to their culture, he gave a brief statement of the general conditions under which 

 they are found in nature, from which he drew a variety of practical deductions, 

 calculated to assist those who were beginning their cultivation. Alpines from 

 high altitudes he had found more difficult to manage than those from lower 

 levels, and he recommended such to be grown in pots, and kept in cold frames or 

 pits, so as to secure the complete control of ventilation, shade, and moisture. It 

 was pointed out, however, that by far the greater number of the species, and 

 those by no means the least ornamental, were amenable to treatment as ordinary 

 border or rock- work plants, where, under fairly favourable circumstances, they 

 soon established themselves, and formed a permanent source of interest. In 

 regard to rock-work, the author held that, provided good drainage could be 

 secured, a low or even hollow site was preferable to such as was high and ex- 

 posed. So far as soil was concerned, he had found a good loam the most gener- 

 ally useful — such species as required peat, peaty composts, or calcareous soils being 

 comparatively few in number. An interesting conversation followed the reading 

 of the paper, at the close of which Mr Sutherland received a cordial vote of 

 thanks. 



The table as usual was crowded with plants and cut flowers for exhibition, 

 prominent among which were stands of Zonale Pelargoniums and double Petunia 

 blooms, from Mr A. M'Leod, Powburn. A seedling Alpine Auricula, named 

 William Sang, from Mr William Young, 33 South Bridge : this is a remarkably 

 fine flower, with smooth edges, a perfectly circular deep maroon edge, and bright 

 golden eye. As might have been expected from a seedling of last year, the plant 

 was small, and the Floral Committee, to whom it was submitted for a certificate, 

 recommended its being grown for another year. Mr G. L. Brown, Millburn 

 Cottage, had a collection of seedling Polyanthus, all very showy, and in one or 

 two cases considerably above the average. Mr Scott, The Gardens, Corbet Castle, 



