May 6, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE OARDENKR. 



309 



notice issued to the lcailinj:j oxhibitore at tlin Loudon Shown (hpo 

 page 294), a meeting was held in tho Counfilroom, nt which Mr. 

 Fraeer, Mr. W. riiu!, Mr. (J. Piinl, Mr. 0. Ijno, Mr. Ktandish, Mr. 

 Laing, Mr. J. CutbuBli, Mr. FranciB, Mr. KinfjhorD, and Bomo nthurs 

 were present. Tho lUv. JoBhua l>ix took tbo rhair, aud explained 

 the object ol' tho meeting to bo the diseiiBsion of tho hi/.o of poU to bo 

 used at the oxIiibitiouB in 1H7(I. Ah no plan of contemplated al- 

 terations was submitted a somewhat desultory conversation ensued. 

 Some were in favonr of placing no limitation on tho size of pots, but 

 to leave it to tho judt^os to decide which mi;^ht bo tho best collection, 

 and others advocated chissea for plants in small pots, bo as to j^ivo 

 amateurs a chance. Dr. Ho^g preaumcd that it was not intended to 

 abolish largo pots, but to make a pluco for plants in small ones, and, 

 60 for as wu could gather, that was the only conclusion arrived at. 



eoverancG. Ho muHt bo a mau who ha^ learned to labour and 

 to wait — not to labour for a season, to plant an orcliard or 

 vineyard, and thou ^itdown and wait with folded hands, ex- 

 pecting without farther ciTort to gain I'omona'n f-iirest trea- 

 Bures ; but to labour conHtantly aud earnestly, firmly believing 

 that the reward will come." 



Gener-vl Mketts*;. — J. Bateman, Keq., F.U.S., in tho rhair. 

 Fifteen new Fellows wero elected, and tho Royal Oxfordshire Horti- 

 ooltural Society admitted into union. The awards of tho Floral 

 Committee haviup been announced, tho Kev. M. J. Berkeley stated 

 with reference to the prize offered by Mrs. Lloyd Wynne for the best 

 OoUectiou of Narcissus, that as it was found impossible to bring to- 

 gether a complete eolicctiou in flower at one time, it had been de- 

 termined to extend the competition to an entire year, and it was hoped 

 that it would commence nt tho next meeting. Mr. Berkeley added, 

 that as it was so extremely uncertain what aro specios and what are 

 not, it was intended to include all well-marked varieties in the com- 

 petition. As an instance of how variable some of the Narcissua 

 family are in their characters, ho produced examples of Narcissus 

 bifloms not merely with two but with four flowers on tho same stem, 

 and this a single stem, not one resultiu<^ from the union of two or 

 more. He also exhibited three-flowered aud one-flowered specimens 

 of the same plant. In conscquenco of the variations which he ob- 

 served in this respect, he was led to think it possible that Narcissus 

 biflorus, hitherto considered a British species, might after all be only 

 a hybrid, and on examining tho plants in hi<( own fjarden, whither 

 they had been brought from tho old garden at Fothcriugay Castle, ho 

 was strengthened in the supposition by finding; no trace of an ovule 

 in the flower. A sport of Colens Blomei with the leaves overlaid 

 with pink, wos then noticed as likely to be the parent of a new race, 

 as well as Dieffenbachia nebulosa, a hybrid raised hy Mr. Banse, 

 having D. W'eirii for its male, and D. picta for its female parent. 

 Allusion -was also made to a variegated Maple from Messrs. Stantlish 

 and Co., shown under the name of Acer japonicum argenteura, but of 

 which the specific name has to be determined ; and it was mentioned as 

 a fact not generally known, that the capsules of some of the Acers aro 

 milky, while in others they aro di*y. It was also remarked in reference 

 to a Rhododendron from the same firm, that out of six thousand 

 plants resulting from crossing two distinct kinds, not more than twelve 

 resembled the female. A Cioton ; Toxicophlfea spectabilis, from Natal, 

 used for poisoning arrows ; aud a Lichen, Usuea florida, very abun- 

 dant on trees in Abyssinia, having been pointed out, Mr. Berkeley 

 observed that the qnestion had been raised in France whether the 

 beat way to produce TrufHes is to sow acorns, and although the plants 

 raised from a quantity of Pyracantha berries, imported from Russia, 

 had been found affected with a fungus attacking the berries, Ktill tho 

 spores of the Truffle were very largo, and it was impossible tliat they 

 coold permeate the acorns, and this remark applied to other Fungi as 

 well, but not to all. Thus, it had been said that Rose mildew pro- 

 ceeded from the roots, but it was not so, for it. as well as the mildew 

 on the Hop and Vine, is external, and admits of a remedy ; but others 

 are internal, aud in general admit of no remedy, and, as an example, 

 a Lychnis was adduced, of which the only part attacked was the 

 anther, the spawn of the fangus having certainly traversed tho plant. 

 As regards corn, bunt could be remedied, but not mildew and smut, 

 because by steeping in certain liquids (as a solution of Glauber's 

 salts, afterwards drying with quicklime), it was possible to destroy tho 

 vegetative power of the seeds of the bunt, which germinate, produce a 

 thread, and by that enter tho seeds of the corn, whilst the smut is 

 carried by the wind. 



Mr. Bateman remarked he had never seen Blandfordia Cnnning- 

 hamii in such beauty as he had seen it that day ; and as regards the 

 Maples, he could say that there are in existence many most strange 

 and most charming kinds, and he only wished some one would offer a 

 prize for them. He then made some remarks on the Orchids, espe- 

 cially noticing Masdevallia Veitchiana and Dendrobinm Falconeri, 

 from Mr. Salt's gardener ; D. transparens, of which a fine specimen 

 was shown from his own garden at Knypersley; D. xanthophlebium ; 

 Yanda Deunisoniana, Brassia sp., and Epidendram syringithyrRum, 

 from Messrs. Veitch. Attention was also drawn to the fact that 

 Rhododendron Nuttallii is now in flower in the conservatory at South 

 Kensington. 



Advice to HonTictTLTumsTS. — President Hammond, of the 

 Warsaw (U.S.), Horticultural Society, in his last annual 

 address, gave the following advice to beginners in horticulture : 

 — " He who would succeed as a horticulturist must be in love 

 with his profession ; he mast adopt it as hi»3 bu&iness, and 

 identify it with his life. He must be a close observer, possess 

 an indomitable will, and a large amount of patience and per- 



ENTOMOLOGICAT. SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



Tjjk April meeting was hold at Burlington House on tho 5th ult., 

 the Prosidont bt-iug in the chair. Among-.t tho additions to tho So- 

 ciety's library received since tbo last meeting woro the Transactions 

 of tho Swiss Kntomologii'al Society, especially interesting from tho 

 number of articles on the honey Beo aud hive culture ; also a remark- 

 able memoir on tho development of tho Acarida) by M. Claparede, 

 presented by Sir .Tohn Lubbock. 



Mr. Pascoo oxhibitt^d Bomo interesting exotic Beotlos, including & 

 new gonus of Diapcridro, in which a curious case of mimicry was ob- 

 sci'ved, tho front of the thorax bein;^ armed with two flattened horns 

 replacing the armature of tho head so common in this family ; alao 

 specimens of three genera of Plnropean forms now first detected as in- 

 habiting New Holland — Apion, Attolabn^, and I'UleBCus ; likewise 

 several very curious new genera of Curculionid;!', in ono of which the 

 hind margin of the thorax was armed with a flattened spiuo extending 

 over tho suture of the elytra. 



Professor Westwood exhibited, from the Hope colketion, a specimen 

 of tho curious Panorpa nematogaster from Java, described by Mr. 

 MacLachlan at the piocediug meeting from a supposed unique apeci- 

 men in the British Museum; and Blatta melanocephala, a species o£ 

 Cockroach, which he had received from the late Sir Charles Lemon at 

 Carclew and other correspondents, as committing great injury in Orchid 

 houses by eating the bud^ nnd young shoots of the plants. The species 

 is a native of India and the adjacent islands. Mr, F. Smith stated 

 that a small species of tliis family is to be found abundantly in tnfts 

 of grass on tho seashore in Norfolk, and other smaJ species are occa- 

 sionally beaten from trees. 



Mr. Frederick Bond exhibited Sciaphila communana of Herriclc 

 Schaffer, a species of Tortricid&o new to this country, captured at 

 Wicben Fen, Cambridgeshire, and preserved specimens of the larvsa 

 of Phycita cribrella. Mr. Druce exhibited ppecimens of the very 6jia 

 and rare Papilio zalmoxis, Hewits., from Old Calabar. 



Mr. Frederick Smith exhibited a remarkable series of British 

 .humble Bees (Bombus sp.), showing the extent in the variation of the 

 colouring of some of the species, whilst others, apparently, were not 

 liable to any material amount of variation. With these humble Bees 

 he alao exhibited a corresponding series of their parasites, belonging 

 to the genus of false-humble Bees (Apathus or Ptithyrus), each species 

 of which undergoes a similar amount of variation as tho species to 

 which it is attached ; thus, whilst Bombus subterranens aud its para- 

 site A. campestris respectively undergo a great and corresponding 

 amount of variation, Bombus terrestris and its parasite A. vestaUa, 

 B. pratorum and its parasite A. Barbutellus, and B. lapidarius and 

 its parasite A. rupestris, scarcely undergo any amount of variation. 

 The parasites are allowed to enter the nest unmolested by the true 

 worker Bombi, but it was remarkable that the variable species, B. sub- 

 terranens, is very irritable and easily provoked to use its sting, whilst 

 the moss-worker species aro very quiet aud tame. 



A memoir was read, containing descriptions of various new species 

 of exotic Butterflies, including two new species of Papilio from, 

 Ecuador, by Mr. Hewitson, and Mr. Baly contributed a paper con- 

 taining descriptions of new species of plant Beetles, belonKiug to the 

 families CassididaB and Hispidao. A monograph on the British species 

 of Homalota, a genus of minute Staphvlinida>, by Dr. Sharp, was 

 read. Of this genus 89 species aro contained in the last British 

 Catalogue by Mr. J. R. Waterhouse, whilst Dr. Sharp increased their 

 number to 157, of which 29 wero entirely new to science. 



Mr. A. K. Wallace contributed a memoir on certain eastern speciea 

 of Butterflies, belonging to the genera Myues and Prothoe, of which 

 he described several new species which had partially been regarded 

 by preceding writers as varieties. 



PLANTS V/INTERED OUT OF DOORS IN THE 

 NORTH. 

 The late mild winter bas been very favourable fnr many of 

 tbe occupants of onr gardens in this neighbourhood surviving 

 in the open ground in sheltered places. Thus, some Verbenas, 

 as ImpCratriee Elizabeth, Firefly, and others are not killed, 

 nor aro Calceolarias Aurea floribunda, K;iyii, Buby Bicolor, 

 Gem, and others. C3ntaurea candidissima I have watched 

 anxiously ; it has lived through the winter without any protec- 

 tion, and is now looking as well as can be. Coronilla glauca, 

 planted out last spring, has lived, and has been during the past 

 month one mass of bloom, and an object of great beauty. At 

 the same time and place was planted a large Genista canariensis, 

 which 18 now in bloom, and was very fine in April. A large 



