Septomber 17, 1868. ] JOUBNAL OF HOBXIOULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



207 



part}-. Oa the l')ih inst., ha thus entertained the Master, 



Wardens, and the rest of the governing body of the Fruiterers' 

 Company, at the Mansion House. " From time immemorial the 

 Guild of Fruiterers has been accustomed to present annually to 

 the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress for the time being, gifts of 

 choice fruits of great variety, and to atteud through their re- 

 presentatives, the Master and Wardens, at the official residence 

 of the Chief Magistrate of the city for that purpose in autumn. 

 The fruit is always neatly packed in clean white baskets, and 

 covered with white napkins, and formerly it used to be borne 

 there by a file of men servants of the Cjmpany, preceded by 

 their beadle carrying his mace. On its reaching the Mansion 

 House the fruit is uncovered and arranged iu the saloon, and 

 the Master of the Company usually accompanies the gift with a 

 complimentary address to the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. 

 The ceremony concludes with an invitation to the Master and 

 Wardens to dine there on a day named. The dinner on the 

 present occasion was served in the Long Parlour, and covers 

 were laid for nearly fifty guests." Our correspondent proceeds 

 to ask whether this presentation of fruit and the convivial 

 return are the entire duties devolving upon " the Master, 

 Wardens, and the rest of the governing body of the Fruiterers' 

 Company ? " AVe acknowledge our inability to answer the 

 query ; but if the Company's Clerk, Mr. 0. C. T. Eagleton, 84, 

 Newgate Street, were applied to, he might afford some relative 

 information. Stow, in his Chronicle, says that the Fruiterers 

 are a very ancient brotherhood, but were fir.st incorporated iu 

 the third year of the reign of James 1. — that is, in IGOj. Wo 

 published in our Becond volume a copy of the armorial bearing 



— Cultivated in China and .Tapan for its sub-acid fruit, eaten 

 either raw or cooked. Derries blood-coloured. — {Ihid., t. 57'27.) 



Aeiudes MiTKATinr (Mitre-spurred Aerides). Nat. ord., Or- 

 ohidaceie. I.inn., Gynandria Monandria. — Native of Moulmein. 

 Flowers white and purple. — [Ihid., t. 57'23.) 



S.incocAvr.os' Bckmanni (IJurmann's Barcocaulon). Nat. 

 ord., Geraniaceie. Linn., Pentaudria Pentagynia. — Native of 

 South Africa. Flowers white, plaited. Its stem is woody and 

 resinous, and its branches prickly. — (Ibid., t. 57'2'J.) 



Leavenwoiitiii.v AtTiu;A (Golden Leaveuworthia). Nat. ord., 

 Cruciferre. Linn., Tetradynamia Siliquosa. — Native of the 

 Southern States of North America. An annual, introduced by 

 Mr. Thompson, of the Ipswich Nurseries. Flower pink, and 

 golden-edged.— -(;^i(/., (. 5730.) 



EriDKNmu-u rANici'LAxnst (Panicled Epidendrum;. Nat. 

 ord., Orchidace»e. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. — Native of 

 Peru, aud Bolivia, at 7000 to 8000 feet elevation. Flowers lilac, 

 edged with pink, and these being fragrant, it is a great ac- 

 quisition to oar cool-house Orchids. — (Ibid., t. .5731.) 



Lasi.^noba ii.AciiAXTnA. — " It is a grand plant, the blossoms 

 being no less remarkable for their size than for their depth and 

 brilliancy of colouring ; but what is most remarkable of all is, 

 that these monster blossoms are produced abundantly on the 

 tiniest plants, while in its more developed state it forms a 

 freely branching slender shrub of moderate size, the beauty 

 and profusion of whoso flowers will render it a noble acquisition 

 for our flower shows, no less than for our warm conservatories. 



" The plant was first made known by Dr. Seemaun, who 

 published a figure (not, however, giving the blooms of the size 

 they have since attained), iu his ' Journal of Botany ' for 18G4. 

 Dr. Hooker has just published a figure in the 'Botanical 

 Magazine,' under the name of Pleroma macrantha, the genus 

 Lasiandra being by him merged in Pleroma. 



" We are indebted to M. Linden for the introduction of this 

 fine Melastomad, it having been sent by his collector, Libou, 

 from the province of St. Catherine, in Brazil. M. Linden first 

 flowered it in 18(51, and it has since been produced at several 

 of our London shows during the present year, little plants of 

 4 or inches high bearing six or seven flowers and buds. The 

 elegantly- shaped oblong-ovate acuminate leaves, with their 

 deep green rugose hairy surface, set oft' to great advantage the 

 large smooth-petaled saucer-Bhaped intense violet purple 

 blossoms. 



" As a stove plant it is of very easy culture, requiring to be 

 treated in the same manner as Pleroma elegans, and while it 

 resembles the latter iu general features, it quite eclipses it iu 

 the magnitude of its flowers." — (Florist and Poinuloi/ist, n.s., 

 i. 103.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



A CORRESPONDENT, " F. Cr.," has Sent us a report of the 

 annual dinner given by the Lord Mayor to the Fruiterers' Com- 



; I 



of the Company — Azure, Adam and Eve, one on each side the 

 forbidden Apple tree, aud the serpent twined round its stem. 

 The Company now have no Hall, but when Stow wrote they 

 had one in Worcester House, Worcester Place, in the Ward of 

 Vinlry.^ In 1735, they met in the Parish Clerk's Hill, in 

 Wood Street. Seymour states that the Company consists of a 

 blaster, two Wardens, seventeen Assistants, and thirty-nine 

 Liverymen. Noorthouck says the Livery fine is £5. Like most 

 of the other Livery Companies its "occupation's gone." We 

 suppose its sources of income are not. What are they ? The 

 only Companies having an efficient control over the trades they 

 were founded to benefit, are the Goldsmiths and the Apothe- 

 caries. 



Mr. Van riEit Scuelden, of Ghent, has discovered that 



the Hop contains a first-class textile material, and has invented 

 a process by which the fibres of the vine can be used for 

 cloth without in the least interfering with the crop of Hops. 

 The following is said to be Mr. Van der Schelden's process of 

 separating the fibres: — When the Hop blo?soms have been 

 gathered, the stems are cut, put up in packets, and steeped 

 like hemp. This maceration is the most delicate process, sinco 

 if it be not made with all due precision, it is very difficult to 

 separate the threads of the bark from the woody substance. 

 When the stalks have been well steeped they are dried in the 

 sunshine, beaten like hemp with a beetle, and then the threads 

 come oft' easily. These are carded aud worked by the ordi- 

 nary process, and a very strong cloth is obtained. The 

 thickest stalks also yield the material for several kinds of 

 rope. 



POMOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



A seedling Nectarine marked S. 23S has been received 

 from Mr. Rivers, with the following note : — " The origin of the 

 seedling Nectarine is unknown, but supposed to be from Vic- 

 toria. It is remarkable for its marvellous richness. The fruit 

 was produced on a tree three years old growing in a small 

 pot." There is no doubt that this Nectarine has the Stanwick 

 " blood " in it, and the conjtcture that it may be from Victoria 

 is not very wide of the mark. The fruit is meulum-.sized, and 

 of an uniform pale yellow with a tiuge of green in it ; and the 

 flesh is very melting, juicy, and richly flavoured. 



We received at the same time two fruits of Prince of 



Wales Nectarine, grown against a brick wall, protected by De. 

 Newington's glass screens ; and the result is that the ripening 

 has been hastened from ten to twelve days, aud though pro- 

 tected in this way, the tree is perfectly free from red spider, 

 owing to it.s free exposure to the rain and dew. This simple 

 and cheap invention seems to give a healthy ripentug climate, 

 and will prove very valuable. 



Eev. W. Kingsley writes : " The Scsquehanna Peach 



went to the flower show at Thirsk. One weighed well over the 

 pound, and was 12j inches in girth. I gave it away, and it was 

 not eaten for nearly a week, and was then said to be excellent. 

 The other big fellow wo ate ourselves, and it was better than 

 Exqui-site, which grew in the adjacent pot. Rivers's Princess of 

 Wales ran up to three-quarters of a pound on a heavily- 

 cropped tree, and was grand in flavour, ami few fell below 8 oz3. 

 The pierced pots have proved their value this dry season, as 

 they allowed the water to spread all round. I shall soon be 

 taking them up, and then w'e shall see how the roots have 

 fared." 



Budded Peaches, no doubt, as a rule make better trees 



than those grafted ; but does it not, therefore, stand to reason 

 that the common way of grafting has something wrong in it? 

 I believe you will find in all oases of Peach Trees Gr.aftep 

 by the ordinary process, the bark of the scion becomes hard to 

 such a degree as to prevent good early growth, and so the check 

 to the roots ruins the health of the tree ; yet I possess grafted 

 trees more vigorous than any others where attention was paid 

 to this matter. In all cases of grafting I insert the scion, so 

 as to have a bud close above the stock, and two beyond it if I 

 can ; these three buds are kept clear from the clay or grafting 

 wax, and the shoot from the bud just above the stock is made 

 the leader, the scion being cut oft' closely above it after the 

 tree has plenty of leaves on it to keep the roots in health. 

 In this way there is very little difference in appearance af:er a 

 year between the budded and grafted tree ; but the three eyes 

 in the grafted tree work the roots better at the first start than 

 the single eye from a bud, unless the same attention is paid to 

 keeping an eye or two of the stock working for a time, and in 



