

1 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



damaged or decayed must be cut in to the quick; and after shaking away as much as possible of 

 the ball of the old soil, the plant must be repotted in a smaller pot than that from which it was 

 taken ; all unhealthy naked branches must be cut out ; the plant should then be placed in a pit 

 near the glass, but shaded from the sun. — Lmid. Gard, Chronicle. 



Skimmfa Japonica. — ^Tliis fine new evergreen shrub, which is attracting a good deal of attention 

 in your columns, and elsewhere, was discovered by me in the winter of 1848, and introduced to 

 England in 18-i9. I met with it in a nursery near Shanghae, and it was there the rarest and most 

 prized plant of the collection to which it belonged. The nurseryman told mo that it was brought 

 to him from a high mountain, in the interior, named Wang-shan, and consequently the plant is 

 called by the Chinese the Wang-ihan-Kvid. The last term was given it on account of the fragrance 

 of its flowers, which the Chinese consider as sweet as the Kwei-yfha or Olea fragrans. These 

 scented flowers are produced in great profusion in early spring, and are succeeded by bunches of 

 red berries, like those of tlie English holly. The plant exhibited to the Horticultural Society, in 

 Regent street, by Messrs. Standisu & Noble, a week or two ago, gave but a faint idea of the beauty 

 of the species. The berries of that plant were scarcely ripe ; later in the season they become much 

 larger, and are then of a deeper and clearer red. 



My own opinion is that this fine bush will prove perfectly hardy in this country. It cares 

 nothing for the cold winds and sharp frosts about Shanghae, and no doubt endures a much lower 

 degree of temperature on the inland mountains already named, where it is found wild, than in 

 places nearer the coast. Although this is my opinion, I think your reporter was perfectly justified 

 in "erring on the safe side," and saying that more proof of its hardiness in this country is required. 

 I recollect well when I wrote an account of Wcigela rosea, some years ago, in the Jourj;al of the 

 Horticultural Society, I advised the possessur of that beautiful shrub to keep it in the green-house 

 i;ntil its hardiness was proved by the Society. Well, there was no harm done in that instance, 

 although every one knows now how hardy Wehjela rosea is. 



I may now notice the letter of your Liverpool correspondent, in which he tells you that Skim- 

 mia Japonica has borne the "pelting of the pitiless storm" during the last seven years. As you 

 justly remark, your correspondent must be writing of Skimmia Laurcola. In my opinion, how- 

 ever, his letter goes a long way to prove the hardiness of Skimmia Japonica, as it comes from a 

 much colder country than Dr. Wai.lich's 8. Laurcola. It proves, also, what I have long feared, 

 that many persons in the trade will, by mistake, send out S. Laurcola with the name of ;S. .Japonica, 

 as the names have been mixed and confused. Until Y)r. Lixdlet set the matter right in "Paxton^s 

 Flower Garden," an idea had got abroad that the Chinese and Himalayan plants were identical ; 

 but in reality no plants can be more different, in so far as their ornamental properties are con- 

 cerned, although they may resemble each other in their stems and leaves. The Himalayan plant 

 has been in the garden of Mr. Luscombe for some years, and yet I am informed by that gentleman 

 that it scarcely ever opens its flowers, and never produces berries. The beauty of the Chinese 

 plant not only consists in its being a nice dwarf evergreen bush, but also in the profusion of its 

 sweet-scented flowers, and in the abundance of its holly-like berries. The former is a plant of no 

 value for ornamental purposes, while the latter will, no doubt, form in a few years one of the 

 most attractive winter plants our gardens can boast of Fancy if you can our borders or parterres 

 dotted in mid-winter with a little evergreen bush, only two or three feet high, and covered all 

 over with bright red berries, each of which is as large as those of the common holly. In green- 

 houses, too, it will be invaluable for decorative purposes, where its flowers, although not showy, 

 will fill tlie air with the most delicious odor, and its berries will be most attractive in the dull 

 montte of winter. 



Those of your readers who wish to add the plant to their collections, have, in the description I 

 have just given, the mcar.s of knowing when the true Skimmia Japonica has been sent them, or 

 whether they have received the Himalayan plant in its stead. I think you will agree with me, 

 the discoverer of a fine, new, ornamental plant, may justly complain of mistakes of this kind. 

 ly a very short time since another blunder of this description, was committed with the new 



