Moy 2, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



sepals edged with yellow, aud a wMte Up crisped and sHglitly 

 timbriated. 



Mr. Croucher, gardener to J. Peacock, Esq., Sudbiuy Honse, 

 Hammersmith, received a first-class certificate for Echmocactus 

 MirbeUi, a singular-looking eight-ribbed globular Cactus, 

 marked with white on the sides of the ribs. Messrs. KoUisson, 

 Tooting, had a similar award for Draciena lentigmosa, a very 

 distinct species, with narrow leaves 3 feet long, and of a brown- 

 ish oKve coloiu-. They also sent a collection of pretty erect- 

 flowering Gloxinias, of which Eichard Thornton and Fanny 

 Wilder were singulai-ly marked, and some of the others were 

 high-coloured. Mr. Ware, Tottenham, exhibited a group ot 

 Funldas, of which ovata aurea was very effective ; Mr. 1 Ucher, 

 Station ISfursery, Horsham, Coleus Lady Burrell, reddish brown, 

 broadly tipped with yellow; Mr. Hooper, Bath, Pansies, ot 

 which the foUowing had fiirst-class certificates— ^1Z., Crunson 

 Beauty (fancy), reddish brown with a black blotch ; Mrs. Byles, 

 white groimd, broad velvety purple belt ; and Prince of Wales, 

 yellow ground, maroon belt. Mr. Turner, Slough, had a farst- 

 •class certificate for Alpine Ani-ieula Colonel Scott, noticed m 

 our report of the last meeting, also for Mercnry, very hke it m 

 colour. „ , ,13 



Mr. Baines, gardenei: to H. MichoUs, Esci., Sonthgate, had a 

 •cultural commendation for two marvellous specimens of Sarra,- 

 •eenia Drummondi alba and 3. flava standing 41 to 5 feet high 

 from the gi-ound ; Mr. Green, gardener to W. Wilson Saunders 

 Esq., received a similar award for a very interesting group ot 

 plants ; and J. Eussell, Esq., for a collection of cut Orchids. 



From Messrs. B. G. Henderson & Son, Wellington Nurseries, 

 St John's Wood, came a group of Tricolor and Bronze Pelar- 

 ♦roniums, of which Bronze Queen was broadly zoned with deep 

 bronze ; also the beautiful Fern-hke ThaUotrum adiantoides. 

 Pelargonium Schottii, deep purplish crimson with an almost 

 black blotch on each petal— a mere curiosity at present, but 

 which may give rise to new coloiu'S ; and Bouvardia longitlora 

 flammea, with fine heads of salmon-rose flowers— this had a first- 

 •class certificate. A similar award was made to Messrs. Ivery 

 and Son, of Dorkingfor Azalea Fanny Ivery, with large salmon- 

 red flowers, blotched with purple in the upper petals. Mr. W. 

 Paul Waltham Cross, sent white variegated Pelargoniums 

 Imo^ene, white with a pink eye, and Lord Bacon, salmon, shacL- 

 ino- off to pale rose, a very pleasing variety. Mr. Bull sent two 

 Dracffinas; Mr. Blackley, Leyton, Tree Carnation La Belle, 

 white, stated to be very free-flowering, but shaken m travelling ; 

 and Mr. Porter, gardener to Mrs. Benham, Isleworth, triant 

 Polyanthuses. From Messrs. Barr & Sugden again came a col- 

 lection of Narcissus ; and Mr. Stevens, gardener to the Uuke ol 

 Sutherland, Trentham, sent a variety of Odontoglossum i esca- 

 torei, sparingly spotted with purple. Mr. Denning, gardener to 

 Lord Londesborough, exhibited cut specimens of a similar 

 variety. 



LAEGE ELM IN EYABSH CHURCHYARD, KENT. 

 Some time ago, in passing through the churchyard of Eyarsh, 

 half-dozen mUes to the west of Maidstone, I noticed an aged 

 Ehn of unusual size growing against the churchyard wall. It 

 had probably been a poUard a hundred years ago, as a number 

 of heads seemed to start from a wide-spread head that might 

 have been several times headed-down before. The tree had 

 a bole fi-om 8 to 10 feet high, the girth of which, taken at 

 the smallest part between the root-claws and the swelling 

 whence the branches proceeded, was 28 feet ; and in walkmg 

 round a casual observer would have pronounced it sound, so 

 healthy were both the bark and the foliage. Such, however, 

 was not the case; for although there was no side opening, 

 aud only one place showing a little decay, yet in the centre 

 (as could be seen by getting upon the wall) there was a hollow 

 sufficient to hold thi-ee or four people. No doubt the treat- 

 ment to which the tree had been subjected 150 years ago, or 

 before that time, had tended to make it so, but its healthy 

 vi'^our seemed to warrant a belief that it would outlive many 

 generations of men. There is Uttle doubt that the internal 

 decay will go on faster than the formation of new wood on 

 the outside, and a period must come when some part of the 

 fabric wiU give way, but at present that day seems far distant. 

 This noble tree exhibits in its foliage all the vigour of youth, 

 and the limbs— two or three of them competing as leaders- 

 seem quite sound, and likely to outUve many younger trees. _ 

 The character of the soil in which this Elm is growing is 

 sandy, with a subsoil varying between a white siUcious sand 

 and a yellow gravel. The surface soil is, however, not shallow, 

 aud it i9 possible the Elm may have benefited more from the 

 disturbance of the churchyard than it suffered ; for Elm roots 

 are blamed for appropriating to themselves all that is good 

 within their reach, and the rapidity with which they occupy a 

 lieap of compost lying within their range is known to aU who 



have had experience of them. Here was a very fine example of 

 a tree growing where everything has an ah of rural simpUcity^ 

 in a retu-ed country churchyard. — J. Eobson. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 

 The April meeting was held at BurUngton House on the 

 1st, when, from the fact of its occurrence on the hoUday of 

 Easter aud the wet weather, the attendance of members was 

 but small. The sudden death of one of the active member.5 of 

 the Society, Mr. T. Home (whose entomological experiences in 

 India had so often contributed to the information of the Society), 

 aud the recent decease of Professor Pictet de la Rive, of Geneva, 

 were announced. The latter author had published excellent 

 monogi-aphs on the Perlidfe, Phryganeidfe, aud other Neuro- 

 pterous insects, but his attention had more recently been devoted 

 to palseontology, upon which science he had pubUshed some 

 important works. 



Professor Westwood exhibited specimens of a wood-like, 

 many-celled gaU, found at the roots of young Oak trees, vrith a 

 number of the insects reared therefrom, which Mr. A. Miiller 

 recognised as Cynips Quercus-radicis. The Professor also ex- 

 hibited a number of highly magnified drawings of the minute 

 organs of various species of Cynipidse, amongst which the 

 structure of the outer sheath of the ovipositor was shown to 

 be very variable, and to afford specific characters hitherto un- 

 noticed. He also exhibited some highly magnified drawings of 

 the head, antennie, and terminal parts of the body of various 

 species of fleas, some of which were of a very interesting cha- 

 racter ; also drawings of a species of mussjl-shaped Coccus, 

 which is often found on the rind of Oranges, and of the very 

 curious parasite by which it is attacked, belonging to the genus 

 which he had characterised under the name of Coccophagus. 



Mr Butler read descriptions of eight additional species of 

 South American moths, belonging to the group Pericopides. 

 Mr MacLachlan read a memoir on the structure of the external 

 male organs of various individuals of the genus Acentropus, 

 which induced him to adopt the opinion that there was only one 

 variable species in that genus. Mr. Albert Miiller exhibited 

 specimens of the small beetle Anaspis maculata, which he had 

 reared from an excrescence on a Birch twig, from a larva a 

 quarter of an inch long, the perfect insect having made its ap- 

 pearance on the 7th of March. M. Penis had reared the same 

 insect in France from the Grape Vine. , 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 BIRMINGHAM PRIZES. 



It would be most ungracious in exhibitors to complain of 

 the conditions which are attached to the prizes so generously 

 ofl'ered by Messrs. Carter, Sutton, Hurst, and others at the 

 Eoyal Sliow at Bu-mingham ; but I would with the utmost 

 courtesy suggest to those in authority that to insist^ upon a 

 special variety when there is not time to produce it tends 

 directly to lessen vastly the number of competitors — e.g., in 

 Class 160 one of the six varieties of Peas must be Maclean's 

 Best of AU. Many exhibitors besides myself grow it, for it 

 is 'really good, and, like myself, may have reserved it for a 

 later crop, and wUl therefore be excluded from competition, 

 because not informed tiU the middle of April that it is essen- 

 tial. Nor is this all. So many classes being " Umited," and 

 all but the owners of vast gardens being precluded from com- 

 peting for Messrs. Carter's grand cup by Melons and certain 

 kinds of vegetables, it becomes a question, Is it worth whUe to 

 go to Birmingham at aU ? 



WhUst on " suggestions " I may add, it should surely be 

 defined what are and what are not vegetables — for instance, in 

 Class 150, may Ehubarb, Cucumbers, Lettuces, aud Melons be 

 exhibited ? for in some places these are aud in others they are 

 not considered vegetables. What are they to be at Birming- 

 ham?— C. C. E. 



FUMIGATING. 

 To " H. G.'s " very convenient mode of delivering a single 

 plant from the troublesome aphis, so weU Ulustrated at page 326, 

 aUow me to add the foUowiug plan which I have found to 

 answer. If the infested plant is small aud short, take three 

 or four Laurel leaves, beat them all over with a hammer so as 

 to thoroughly bruise them, then place them round or i^^<iei- 

 the plant, and cover as shown in the lUustration. A beU- 

 glass does best. Let all remain closed for a few hours, and 

 the aphides wiU then be found dead, each hanging by its pro- 

 boscis only. If this process is repeated within a day or two 

 to make sure, the plant wUl be perfectly freed, and m some 

 cases is not again attacked. This way of kiUmg aphides may 



