192 



JOURNAL OF HORTIGULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ March 18, 18f9. 



lection containing Phormium tenax variegatum and some very fine 

 varieties of Trichopilia snavis. 



Mr. William Paul exhibited his new Hyacinths. It can well be 

 imagined that a difiiculty would be found in finding something distinct 

 and new in these flowers. One named Hector, of a li^bt grey colour, 

 with huge bells, a distinct shade of colour, though too nearly resem- 

 bling some of the good old varieties, was awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate. Dante, a double dark bine ; Andromache, a counterjiart of Yon 

 Schiller ; and Double Diebitz Saballsansliy, in theii- present appear- 

 ance were unworthy of distinction. Mr. Woodward, gardener to Mrs. 

 Terr, Ewell. was awarded a special certificate for a well-cnltivated 

 plant of Trichopilia suavis. Messrs. Ivery, Dorking, sent two seedling 

 Azaleas of a bright rose colour. These were Emma Ivery, verj pro- 

 mising, and it was requested it should be sent again ; and Kosa Iveri', 

 not equal to the kind first named. Mr. James Atkins sent a plant of 

 Triteieia with pale blue flowers as a distinct variety, but it seemed to 

 he the opinion of the authorities it was simply T. uniflora of another 

 shade of colour. Mr. W. Paul sent two variegated-foliaged Tulips, 

 ■which were considered of no importance, this variegation not being 

 Tiucommon with the Tulip. Mr. Gibson, of Battersea Park, sent a 

 small collection of succulent plants, which was awarded a second-class 

 certificate. 



General Meetixg. — J. Bateman, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair- After 

 the election of fifteen new Fellows, and the admission of the Western 

 (Plymouth) Horticultural Society into union, the Committees' awards 

 "were announced ; and in doing so, Mr. Wilson remarked that the 

 conditions under which the large Onions shown had been produced, 

 were deep trenching, heavy manuring, and February sowing, and that 

 they had been kept on a diy floor. 



Mr. Fortune, having been called upon by the Chairman, read his 

 paper on the Kumquat, of which the following is an abstract : — 



'' It is now rather more than a quarter of a century since I had the 

 honour of being sent out to China in the service of the Society. Before 

 that time (1h4'2), China had been all but a sealed-up country to the 

 rest of the world. Amongst other jdauts which I discovered and in- 

 troduced while on the mission was the Citrus japonica, or Kumquat, 

 the plant whose fruit was exhibited by Mr. Bateman at our last meet- 

 ing. I found it cultivated over a large tract of country in China, but 

 it was evidently most at home in the more temperate parts, such as the 

 islands of the Chusan Archipelago. Here large plantations were met 

 ■with on the slopes of the hills, and very beautiful they appeared in 

 autumn, winter, and spring, covered with their golden- coloured fruit, 

 and deep green leaves. The fruit is much liked by the natives, who 

 eat the skin as well as the pulp. Its chief value, however, is when 

 used as apresen'e. A large quantity is exported annually to Europe 

 and America, preserved and sent home in nearly the same way as the 

 lietter -known China ginger. Such shops of those of Fortnum ifc Mason 

 in Piccadilly have always a supplj. I believe some of the Fellows of 

 the Society tasted the preserve in this room about two years ago, when 

 Mr. Bateuiau also exhibited fruit which had ripened in his garden. 

 In a horticultural point of view, however, in this country, we must look 

 at the Kumquat as an ornamental plant only, and I think if our 

 gardeners would set about its cultivation in the right way, they would 

 find it easy to grow, and that it would amply repay them' by being one 

 of the most ornamental plants for winter decoration. I believe that a 

 knowledge of climate and other circumstances relating to a plant's 

 natural habitat is of the first importance to be successful in its eulti- 

 Tation in this country. An All-wise Providence has formed the animals 

 and plants of om- globe for those situations on the earth's surface on 

 ■which they have been placed. The Indians, the Malays, and the Chinese 

 flourish under the rays of a fierce sun, which would prove fatal to the 

 inhabitants of a more northerly climate. Some plants, as the Fir 

 tribe, flourish on the mountains, or hill sides, while others, of which 

 Rice is an example, must be grown in water. The Cocoa Palm is always 

 found on land near the sea shore. The Banyan tree luxuriates under 

 a tropical sun. but would perish in a country like ours. Then again 

 the plants of cool or temperate countries require a cold winter, when 

 they can shed their leaves, and have a season of rest. The peiiod of 

 rest required by plants in certain tropical countries, such as Bengal for 

 example, is not given them by cold, but by heat and the dryness of the 

 atmosphere, and to give only one example of the natural law, I 

 may mention a class of plants whose nature it is to be in a climate 

 ■which is warm and moist all the year round. The Mangosteen which 

 has justly been called the ' King of Fruits," the Nutmeg, and many other 

 productions indigenous to the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, will 

 only succeed in such a elimate as we find in that part of the world. 

 It is always summer there, and rain fails in heavy showers almost 

 every day throughout the year. litre, then, is a wide field for study, in 

 ■which practical horticulturists would do well to labour. For what do 

 ■we really find if we enter an ordinary hothouse in some of our English 

 gardens ? We find plants of most of the countries to which I have 

 alluded, which have been formed for, and which occupy, situations on 

 the earth's surface so widely dift'ereut, crowded together in one house, 

 ■where they are treated much in the same manner as if their nature and 

 requirements were of a like character. Need we wonder at the result 

 of such treatment? It is to this unnatural mode of treatment we 

 attribute the loss of so many valuable Orchids, which we are now re- 

 introducing at gi-eat exi)ense. I may mention as an illustration of 

 the subject, a ciixnmstsiuce relating to the cultivation uf the tree Pteonies 

 in China. This beautiful plant is a native of the more northerly part 



of the Chinese Empire, where the winters are extremely cold. Large 

 quantities of it are brought south to Canton and other large towns 

 every autumn, where it blooms well the first year, but the first year 

 only. The winter is too warm for its constitution, and if its cultivation 

 is further attempted in the new climate, it only dwindles away, and 

 eventually dies. In practice, the Chinese simply throw the plants to 

 the rubbish heap when the blooms fade, and order from the north a 

 fresh consignment every autumn. 



" I will just add a few remarks on the cultivation of the Kumquat 

 in this country. From what I have stated of its native connti^, 

 you will naturally come to the conclusion that it is a much hardier 

 I)laut than the common Orange. In the country where the Kumquat 

 is found in the highest perfection, the common Orange will not 

 survive the winters. And, on the other hand, the Kumquat when 

 cultivated in the south of China does not succeed, although the 

 common Orange is found there in the gi-eatest i)erfeetion. The cold 

 winters of the north, which kill the Orange, are favourable to the con- 

 stitution of the Kumquat. Both plants require warm summers, indeed 

 the northern summer is frequently hotter than the southern one. A 

 hot summer temjierature ranging from 80' to lOO^fFahr. is necessary 

 to enable the Kumquat to form its growth and ripen its new wood. In 

 winter it will bear without injury- from li)' to lo'' of frost, and perhaps 

 even a lower temperature than this. There ought to be no difficulty 

 in cultivating the Kumquat in Eu-Iond. If we wish to have it in high 

 health and vigour, we must k t'l. ii cool and rather diy in winter. 

 During its season of giowthin summer it ought to have a liberal supply 

 of water, and a temperature cf from yO" to 100^ and this heat should 

 be kept up even in autumn, in order that the young wood may be 

 well ripened." 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley then addressed the meeting, and adverted 

 in the first jdace to the singular effect of grafting the variegated 

 Abntilon Thompsoni on the green-leaved A. striatum, the result being, 

 as .shuwn at a previous meeting, that the stock had thrown out a 

 variegated shoot. Since then M. Lemoine, of Nancy, had published 

 an account of a similar occurrence after grafting the same plant on 

 A. megapotamicum and A. veuosum, variegated shoots being in both 

 cases thrown out by the stocks. The subject was one of considerable 

 interest, and it was to be hoped that it would Le further investigated. 

 With regard to the white-flowered Leucocoi-j'ne alliacea, from Mr. 

 Atkins, of Painswick, it was so nearly like Triteieia nnidora in struc- 

 ture, that the two could hardly be said to differ, except in the flowers 

 of the Triteieia being of a more decided blue. The Triteieia was a 

 valuable spring-flowering bulb in the open air, to which the only ob- 

 jection was that the flowers had the smell of garlic. As instances of 

 the effects of the late warm, dry summer, flowering S2>ecimens from 

 Mr. Standish of several Conifers not generally known to flower in 

 this country, were produced. Among these were several species of 

 Ketinospora, Fitzroya patagonica. Lebocedrus chilensis, and the three 

 forms of Cupressus Lawsoniana, showing the plant to be montecious 

 as well as dioecious. Mr. Berkeley, after exhibiting a flower of Nar- 

 cissus Sibthorpii, a very rare species, of which the plant that bore the 

 flower was derived from the Cambridge Botanic (iarden, remarked on 

 the peculiar interest and beauty of the genus, and stated that Mrs. 

 Lloyd Wynne, of Coed Coch, puq)osed to give a prize, to be competed 

 for in April, 1870, for the best collection of species of Narcissus. 



Mr. Berkeley next remarked on the importance of protecting Peach 

 and Plum trees not only from frost but heat, illustrating his observa- 

 tions by sections of wood from Chiswick. It was not an iincommon 

 practice to protect the roots of such trees with tiles, but it was neces- 

 sary to protect the trunk as well, especially the part where the bud 

 joins the stock. Some of the specimens exhibited transverse cracks 

 extending from the bark to the centre of the stem. It was a well- 

 known fact that the whole efl'cct of frost may not appear at fii-st, that 

 the tree may go on for three or four years, the injury be covered 

 over, and yet ihe tree may eventually die. It was known that the 

 medullary rays were continued into the bark, but in the transverse 

 section of a Plum which was taken as an illustration, it was found that 

 on one side there was the nonual bark, and on the other an abnormal 

 growth had been formed outside the true bark, and into that the 

 meuuUary rays did not penetrate. On looking at the specimen 

 minutely, he observed a slight fissure of the cuticular layer and an 

 attempt to form fresh bark. This subject was one of great interest, 

 and he should be extremely obliged if persons finding abnormal growth 

 would submit them. We had been taught by Virgil's " Georgics.' that 

 cold often produces the effects of heat, and the moral of all this was, 

 tliat we should protect our Peach trees more than we have been in 

 the habit of doing. 



Mr. Bateman said, as the Orchid field was not very large he would 

 take occasion to bring before the meeting a truss of Rhododendron 

 Falconeri, which he noticed in flower in the western approach, and 

 though it was not the first time of its flowering in this country, it had 

 never before exhibited itself in its proper beauty. It was one of the 

 Sikkim species described by Dr. Hooker, with respect to the hardiness 

 of which we had been doomed to disappointment, for though passing 

 our winters well they were in such a huri-y to be off that they were 

 nijiped in the spring. He had also noticed in the western approach a 

 youug plant of Rhododendron Xuttallii, so beautifully flowered by 

 Mr. Williams, of Holloway, some time ago, and it was ])articularly 

 encouraging to find these Rhododendrons succeeding so wi 11 there, for a 

 succession of them distinct in habit, foliage, and tint of flower might 



