538 THE GARDENER. [Dec. 



powers that be. The sooner, therefore, these blunders are rectified, the 

 better it -will be both for the Society and for horticulturists. 



At the last meeting of the Society (iS^ovember 12) some of the lead- 

 ing Fellows belonging to the horticultural party were busily organising 

 a plan by which the Society's affairs might be placed upon a more 

 satisfactory footing. Any straightforward course of action on the part 

 of the horticulturists is sure to meet with success ; and if ever the Society 

 needed a hearty co-operation of its practical horticultural members, it 

 is at the present time. Just now we know nothing of the scheme 

 likely to be adopted in order to extricate the Society from its present 

 undignified position, but we are certain that prompt and decisive action 

 will prove the best. Horticulturists have been badly treated by the 

 Society ; but at a time like this, petty grievances must be forgotten, and 

 all interested in the matter must work together for the general good. 



NOTES OK" HARDY CO]SriFEIlS. 



CEPHALOTAXUS (tHE CLUSTER-FRUITED YEW). 



Though botanically difi*erent from their near allies the Yews, the 

 species vrhich constitute this genus have a general appearance sug- 

 gestive of that group, and are associated with them in the coniferous 

 sub-family Taxinea^. 



The few species in cultivation are natives of Japan and China, 

 where they are found at high altitudes, forming medium-sized trees, 

 valued for their timber, and extensively cultivated in the gardens and 

 pleasure-grounds of both countries as decorative trees. 



If less hardy, and somewhat more fastidious in regard to soils and 

 situations than the Yews, all the species are quite handsome enough 

 to justify their being recommended for trial wherever a well-sheltered 

 locality and a deep rich loamy soil can be made available ; and where 

 they do succeed they are objects of great beauty, their warm green 

 tints blending most pleasingly with the darker green of the common 

 Yew and its varieties. 



Like the Yews, they are peculiarly adapted for shady situations, 

 where, if the soil is moderately moist, and each plant sufficiently 

 isolated to admit of the branches being freely developed on every 

 side, they rarely fail to form neat and attractive specimens. 



C. Fortuneii {Mr Fortune's Cephalotaxus). — This is one of the 

 many valuable accessions to our list of hardy plants for which we are 

 indebted to the distinguished collector whose name it bears, and by 

 whom seeds were first sent to this country in 1848. It is found wild 

 in several districts in Japan and the north of China, chiefly in high 

 but sheltered valleys, and attaining heights of from 40 to 60 feet. 



