424 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t June 20, 1867. 



coppices will be very great, they will scarcely recover this year. 

 A cold north-west wind and frosty mornings have almost cleared 

 onr Pear crop. Apples will be much better. Plums, and wall 

 fruit generally, though well set, have dropped off.— J, M. M. 



KOY.VL HOETICULTUR.VL SOCIETY. 



Weekxt Show, June 15//*.— Thougli several prizes were offered, 

 only one exhibitor put in an appearance — namely, Mr. A. Wilkie, 

 gardener. Oak Lodj^e. Addison Koad, Kensinfiton. A third prize was 

 awarded him for a collection of cut Roses, and he received three extra 



f)rizes for six Fuchsias, six Pelarnoninms, and a collection of miscel- 

 aneous plants. A collection of Gloxinias, Begonias, Pelargoniums, 

 &c., from the gardens of the Society at Chiswick, made up a small 

 but interesting exhibition. 



Flob.\l CosniiTTEE, June \%th. — Among other plants exhibited on 

 this occasion, a single flower of a seediing Cactus, sent by Mrs. 

 Merrick, was brought before the Committee, but it proved to be in no 

 way distinct from known varieties. Messrs. Do^v^ie, Laird, & Laiug 

 received a secoud-class certificate for Nosegay Pelargonium Flori- 

 bundum, and a similar award for Nosegay Pelargonium Right Hon. 

 G. Hardy, both plants producing liuo trusses, but not very distinct 

 from or better than many others. The same firm also sent Nose- 

 gay Comet, a promising variety with a compact truss ; and a Fancy 

 Pelargonium called Mr. J. W. Todd. Mr. J. Da%'idson, Highfield 

 Park, Hants, exhibited Pelargonium Emily, not equal to Rose Queen, 

 tfec, and three specimens of variegated Laurels, very faintly variegated, 

 and by no means an improvement as regards the foliage. Messrs. 

 Osboru sent a group of plants, among them one well known but rarely 

 seen, Gordonia javaniea. It was deservedly much admired, and was 

 awarded a special certificate. Mr. Lee, Albion Road, Hammersmith, 

 sent a seedling Lobelia named Lee's Dwarf Blue, veiy compact in 

 habit, distinct in colour, and a decidedly useful plant. *It received a 

 first-class certificate. Lobelia Fawn, pale lavender ; and Lobelia Ultra- 

 marine, came from the same exhibitor. Mr. Shortt, gardener to 

 Viscount Eversley, Heckfitld, exhibited a cut specimen of Pentstemou 

 Cobosa vera, a very handsome form, witli large white flowers deeply 

 veined ; and Ruscus aculeatus, covered with berries, as standard 

 plants for table decoration ; the hemes had been produced by careful 

 impregnation. 



Messrs. J. Sc C. Lee sent seedling Lobelia Sparkler, Hypericum 

 (chinense) monogynum. and Carex pilulifera var. anrea. Mr. Bull 

 exhibited a specimen of Drosera filiforme, a curious plant; likewise a 

 collection of C^-pripediums. Bertnhinins. Podocaqius, &c., for which a 

 special certificate was awarded. Mr. John Parker, gardener to S. G. 

 Cooper, Esq., brought a variegated form of Lobelia speciosa, which 

 appeared to be L. speciosa spoiled. Jfr. Whitehorn sent several seed- 

 ling Pelargoniums — Purity and Pauline, show flowers ; and Purple 

 King, a beautil'ul fonn of Rollisson's Unique, which might be much 

 more appropriately named Crimson King. TJiis plant we hope to see 

 shown a^ain ; it is very distinct, and will be useful. 



Mr. Mann, Brentwood, sent some good seedling Zonal Pelargoniums, 

 but the specimens were too small to allow of judgment being passed 

 npon them. A Nosegay called Novelty well deserved its name, but it 

 was quite useless. Nosegay The Baron; Guardsman, a promising 

 Zonal light orange, itc, were also sho^^Ti by Mr. Mann ; as well as 

 Zonal Startler, Christabel, Bridesmaid, and North Star, a bright 

 scarlet. These plants we hope to see again in better condition : the 

 specimens were too young and too small for any fair decision as to 

 merit. Mr. Tirebuck, Luton Nurserj', sent several seedling Zonal Pe- 

 largoniums, bnt none of them new or distinct. Richard Keely, with 

 bright yellow foliage, was the most distinct, and may prove useful. 

 Crimson Cushion and eight others were of no use, not being distinct 

 from known varieties. Mr. Kimberley exhibited a spotted seedling 

 Show Pelargonium, Grand Arab. 



Messrs. Veitch sent Dendrobium Bensoni.-e, sweet-scented, which 

 received a first-class certificate ; also Dendrobium species, with small 

 insignificant flowers. Mr. R. AVarner received a special certificate for 

 a very fine collection of cut specimens of Orchids. Mr. Sherratt, 

 gardener to James Batemau, Esq. Knypersley, was awarded a first- 

 class certificate for Miltonia spectabilis var. rosea, a very beautiful 

 plant. Mr. Anderson, gardener to T.Dawson, Esq., Meadow Bank, 

 Uddingstone, near Glasgow, received a lirsL-class certificate for a 

 beautiful new Odontoglossum, called roseum ; and Lord Egerton of 

 Tatton received a special certificate for a very superb spike of Aerides 

 Fieldingii. This was a marvellous specimen, baring eight branches 

 besides the central spike of flowers. So unusually fine was this speci- 

 men that the Committee recommended it for the Lindley medal, which 

 the Council most readily granted. W. W. Buller, Esq., exhibited 

 Odontoglossum flavescens. for which a second-class certificate was 

 awarded. A small collection of Orchids was sent from the Society's 

 gardens, also some seedling Caladiums ; some of the latter, being of 

 great promise, will be sent to the Committee again, when they will, 

 without doubt, receivt- their proper award. 



Fruit Committee. — Mr. Tillerj. of Welbeck, sent three dishes of 

 Strawberries grown under glass. They were fine specimens, and Mr. 

 Tillery stated in a letter that he had been gathering fruit of the same 

 size and quality ever since the beginning of May. The plants were 



grown in pots only 5 inches wide and 6 inches deep, and the fruit was 

 thinned out so that each plant carried only two fruits. They were 

 stood on shelves, which held about half an inch of soot water. The 

 sorts were Ingram's Prince of Wales, Empress Eugenie, both excellent 

 in flavour, and Reeves's Eclipse, which was not so rich. The Com- 

 mittee awarded them a special certificate. Messrs. J. & C. Lee, of 

 Hammersmith, exhibited fruit of '* The Lady " Strawberry. The frait 

 was large, but being not ripe had no flavour. Plants were also ex- 

 hibited which showed the highly prolific character of this variety. 



Messrs. Wood & Ingram sent specimens of the fruit of a small oblate 

 Apple veined with russet, which appears to be Grange Apple, and 

 which was perfectly sound, and of good quality. 



Mr. Sliortt, gardener to Lord Eversley, of Heckfield, sent a fruit 

 of Passifiora quadrangularis under the name of macrocarpa. It 

 was of large size, and weighed .3 lbs. 9oz9., but was not ripe. Mr. 

 Shortt also sent specimens of a hybrid Melon called Golden Eversley, 

 which, however, was overripe, and the flavour flat. He also sent four 

 varieties of early Potatoes— viz., Paterson's Early Red Kidney, Early 

 Handsworth, Rivers's Royal ludney, and Old Ashleaf Kidney, all of 

 which were planted on the 6th of March in the open ground, and the 

 tubers exhibited of each were ten of the largest, selected from three 

 plants. James Bateman, Esq., of Knypersley, sent a dish of forced 

 Peaches. 



Several dishes of Strawberries were sent from the Society's Garden 

 at Chiswick, among which the best-flavoured were President, Sir 

 Joseph Paxtou. and Napoleon III. Prince Imperial was highly 

 flavoured with a fine aroma ; Souvenir de KieflF is a large conical 

 Strawberry, solid flesh, and with a fine brisk decided flarour; La 

 Coustauto was firm, solid, and with a fine flavour. 



General Meeting. — Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Bart., in the 

 chair. After five new Fellows had been elected, and the Llangynwyd 

 Cottage Garden Society, Merthyr Tydvil Floral and Horticultural 

 Society, and Newjiort (Salop) Floral and Horticultural Society had 

 been admitted into union with the Society, Mr. Shortt offered a few 

 remarks on Passiflora " macrocarpa," which he stated to be of Brazilian 

 origin, and considered different from P. qnadiangularis, for which it 

 had been taken. The plant on which the fruit exhibited was produced 

 was not ten mouths old, and any one who could give moderate heat 

 and moisture could grow it in an eight-inch pot. He himself had 

 plants in flower in five and six-inch pots. Mr. Shortt concluded by 

 remarldug that the splentUd Tacsonia Van-Volxemi also prodocea 

 edible fruit. 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley said that with the exception of the Orchids 

 there were few plants that required any observation. The first to 

 which he would direct notice was Gordonia javaniea, belonging to the 

 same natural order as the Tea plant. Gordonias were bog plants, 

 and in North America their bark was extensively used for tanning. 

 Mr. Shortt's fruiting specimens of Butcher's Broom next claimed 

 attention, and their ornamental appearance for dinner-table decoration 

 was pointed out. The plant, however, being diiHcious. it was difficult 

 to fruit it except by artificial impregnation, as Mr. Shortt had done. 

 After noticing Limnanthes Douglasii, as a very pretty spring bedding 

 plant if sown in autumn, Mr. Berkeley directed attention to a beautiful 

 specimen of a fasciated Pinus Pinaster, in which the lower part was 

 spirally twisted, and bore normal cones, while the subordinate upper 

 branches were fasciated. Abnormal pressure in the bud, he remarked, 

 Vould not account for this example of fasciation. Though so much 

 had lately been said about the foliage of Zonal Pelargoniums, he 

 would venture to make a few more remarks on the subject. A doubt 

 had been expressed whether it was possible for a white ground to be- 

 come pink ; but he exhibited two leaves of the same variety, L'Elegante, 

 shown by Mr. Bull, the one with white, the other with pink edges, the 

 result, he believed, solely of different treatment, the plant in the former 

 case being subjected to ordinary treatment, and in the latter kept 

 dry and near the light. Another curious subject for investigation was 

 the appearance of the leaves of a hybrid between the common Zonal 

 and the Ivy-leaved Pelargonium, and in which the upper part of the 

 leaf partakes of the Zonal character, whilst the lower part has that of 

 the Ivy-leaved Pelargonium, and the flowers are partly those of the 

 Zonal, partly of the Ivj--leaved parent. This case could not be ac- 

 counted for in the same way as the production of C^i-isus Adami, by 

 cell-grafting, and tended to show that the theory which had been 

 formed respecting it was entirely wrong ; at the siime time the mode 

 of action of the pollen on the embryo sac was not known. Schleiden 

 supposed that the end of the poUen-tube entered the embryo sac and 

 became a new plant ; but, j)robably, the action of endosmose and ex- 

 osmose would account for the passage of the pollen influence into the 

 sac ; the subject, however, was one of those mysteries which at present 

 we are unable to explain. Passing to another subject, Mr. Berkeley 

 said that about a month ago he was in the grounds of Sir Frederick 

 Pollock, at Hatton, near Hounslow, and observed that four plants of 

 Cupressus macrocarpa. once the pride of the garden, had perished. 

 On examining them he found that the whole of the plant was covered 

 with the spores of a fungus (Pestalozzia funerea), which nnder the 

 microscope formed one of the most beautiful objects he had ever seen. 

 Some years ago the Camellias in one of the principal nurseries near 

 Canterbury were devastated by an allied species of fungus, originally 

 discovered in France by M. Dupin. 



Mr. Bateman said, that though all knew the splecdid sprcimens of 



