March 5,1863. ] 



JODRNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDEMEB. 



185 



neighbouring farmer is winnowing Barley, I beg as much as I 

 think will be necessary, have it run through a sieve, and use it 

 sufticiently thick to prevent any of the slug tribe attacking a 

 plant. — F. Flitton. 



KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TiiE lloyal Horticultural Society ban not unfrequently been 

 reproached with a want of sympathy for science, and charges 

 have at various times been made that it neither prosecutes 

 nor encourages it. Tliese charges may or may not be true, and 

 their value depends very much on the quarter whence they 

 come, and the standpoint whence the accusers regard the object 

 and operation of the Society. That there is wide scope for the 

 Society to prosecute a course of scientific investigation there can 

 be no doubt, and that the field has not been cultivated as it might 

 have been is equally doubtless ; but to say that the Society 

 either ignores, neglects, or discourages scientific investigation as 

 regards horticulture and the laws of vegetation is contrary to 

 fact, as may be shown by a reference to its published Trans- 

 actions and Proceedings in bygone days, and by the appoint- 

 ment of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley as one of its present Horti- 

 cultural Directors. It is true that in those latter times, now 

 happily past, when the Society was struggling through a tran- 

 sition state to a new existence, neither practical horticulture 

 nor scientific research received their due attention ; but it is 

 unfair, now that it is working with a will in its legitimate field, 

 and doing its utmost so far as its means will allow, to recall 

 the days of its distress, and endeavour to establish against it 

 charges which, however true then, are entirely unfounded now. 

 For the last two or three years the Kev. 51. J. Berkeley has 

 been labouring exclusively in the interest of science in connec- 

 tion with the Society, and how useful his work has been is 

 known to many, and indeed to all who have taken the trouble 

 to inquire. 



By way of developing more fully its scientific character, the 

 Council announced at the meeting on Tuesday last that they 

 had decided on forming a Botanical, or what may be regarded 

 S3 a Scientific Committee. As is well known, there have been 

 for many years the Fruit and Floral Committees in full opera- 

 tion. These deal with the subjects that severally appertain 

 to them ; but hitherto there has been no similar body engaged 

 in scientific investigation, and it will be gratifying to our 

 readers to know that there will now be associated in the Society 

 a body of men competent to deal with the abstruse and difficult 

 questions which are constantly arising in horticultural practice. 

 The subject will be understood from the following paper issued 

 by the Council : — 



" 1. The Fruit and Floral Committees of the Eoyal Horticnltaral 

 Society have for their objects the encourage me ut of the production of 

 new and improved varieties of fruits and vegetables, plants and flowers, 

 and the examination of the poraological and floral subjects submitted 

 at the Sfeetiugs, or grown in the Society's garden at Cbiswick ; and 

 these Committees have dealt with the results of hoi-ticulturiil practice 

 hrouRht under their notice in a mauuev which leaves little to be desu-ed. 

 ''The Fruit Committee have also disseminated reliable information 

 respecting the adaptability of particular kinds of fruits to the varied 

 conditions of soil, locality, tt'c, throughout the United Kingdom. 



" 2. At the general Meetings of the Society, the objects of scientific 

 interest which have appeared before the Fruit and Floral Committee 

 Meetings, together with other points bearing on physiology, and the 

 culture of plants and trees, have been regularly brought forward, aud 

 occasionally discussed. 



" 3. The Council now consider it advisable to invite the co-operation 

 of physiological botanists and of chemists in the formation of a Com- 

 mittee, whose special functions shall be, to promote and encourage 

 the appUcation of physiology- and botany to purposes of practical cul- 

 ture, and to originate experiments which may assist in the elucidation 

 of horticultural subjects. 



'' 4. The Committee shall consist of a Chairman, who shall be a 

 member of Council, three Yice-Chairmen, and any number of gentle- 

 men, whether Fellows or not, interested in vegetable physiology aud 

 horticultural chemistry. 



" The three Horticultural Dhectorg are to be considered ex-officio 

 members of the Committee. 



" 5. The Committee shall sit on the days fixed for the general 

 Meetings of the Society at such times and places as may bo found 

 convenient. 



" The foregoing resolutions shall, as a preHminary step, be cora- 

 mnnicated to botanists, physiologists, and chemists, with a request for 

 their co-operation as members of the Committee, or as corresponding 

 members." 



It will be seen that these resolutions deal with the subject in 

 general terms, and we presume that in a subsequent announce- 



ment the details will be gone into more fully. We are glad to 

 see that the constitution of this Committee will not be confined 

 exclusively to botanists and vegetable physiologists, but that 

 chemists also are to be associated. The microscopists also 

 ought to form an element in this new Committee. The reve- 

 lations of the microscope are not less important than those of 

 the laboratory, and when we consider how valuable both are in 

 union with physiological research, wo shall hope to see great 

 results from such a combination. 



Among the subjects which come within the province of the 

 new Committee we may instance — 1, The examination and 

 elucidation of abnormal structure ; 2, The principles and prac- 

 tice of hybridising and cross-breeding ; 3, The investigation 

 of sports in form, habit, and colour, and the agencies by which 

 these are produced ; 4, The theory and practice of grafting, 

 and the influence of the stock on the scion, and the scion on 

 the stock; 5, To inquire into the origin, nature, and treat- 

 ment of the diseases to which plants are subject ; C, To regu- 

 late and correct the nomenclature of garden plants, and to 

 determine their synonymy ; and finally. To institute experi- 

 ments based on scientific principles, which may tend to secure 

 certain results in cultivation, and to avoid the repeated failures 

 which occur through ignorance of the fundamental laws which 

 govern all organic as well as inorganic matter. These, and 

 many more subjects which will suggest themselves after the 

 Committee is in operation, when subjected to the consideration 

 of such a body cannot fail to have a most beneficial effect on 

 practical horticulture. 



This movement has our heartiest support, and we trust it 

 may be successful. _______ 



FOETNIGHTLY MEETINGS.— J/<t>ofe 3,;J. 

 FamT ComnxTEE. — G. F. Wilson, Esq., in the chair. Mr. Daviff, 

 market gardener, Starch Green, Hammersmith, sent two punnets of 

 Mushrooms, such as he has been supplying to Covent Garden from the 

 same bed since the 1st of September last, at the rate of twenty bushels 

 a-week. They were remarkably handsome and of fine substance, and 

 were much admired by the Committee. Mr. John Glen, gardener to 

 Mr. Palmer, Elmstead, Chiselhurst, Kent, sent very good specimens 

 of the Potato Onion. Mr. Davie, gardener to the Marquis of Huntley, 

 Orton Longueville, near Peterborough, sent dishes of handsome speci- 

 mens of Beurre de Ranee and Easter Beurrc Pears, neither of which, 

 however, was of good flavour. Mr. Bull, of Chelsea, exhibited speci- 

 mens of S( veral varieties of Melville's Curled Borecole, which are re- 

 presented to be jierennial ; but as they did not appear to differ from 

 other varieties of coloured Borecole in cultivation, and as there was 

 no evidence before the Committee that they were perennial, the Com- 

 mittee decided that they should be gi'own in the Society's garden at Chis- 

 wick before a proper examination of them by the Committee could be 

 made. 



Floe.1L CoMJnxTEE. — This was the finest exhibition the Society 

 has seen at the fortnightly Tuesday Meetings, and it is most gratify- 

 ing to witness the increased interest taken in these Meetings, both by 

 the exhibitors and the Fellows, many of whom are con\'inoed that 

 these gatherings have quite as much, and to some more, interest than 

 the fonnal great shows. 



F. .J. Graham, Esq., again exhibited his seedling Violet Victory; 

 he also brought specimens of The Czar for comparison, but they were 

 so badly grown that The Czar was scarcely recognised. The seedling 

 must be seen better gi-own before it can be noticed. Messrs. Veitch 

 again sent a very choice collection of plants, chiefly Orchids ; there 

 were twelve varieties of Lycaste Skmneri. an exhibition in itself ;^ a 

 pretty plant of Dendrobium Klumacenm. also fine examples of Hip- 

 jieastrum pardinum. A special certificate was awarded. W. Marshall, 

 Esq., sent one of the largest and finest collections of Cattleyas ever 

 seen, it was magnificent ; the varieties Juno, Cleopatra, and Tricolor 

 respectively received first-class certificates. A special certificate was 

 voted for the group, and the Committee recommended that a medal 

 be awarded for the excellent cultivation of the plants. 



Mr. James Atkins, Painswick, Gloucestershire, sent a very interest- 

 ing collection of hardy spring-flowering plants ; among them Iris reti- 

 culata, a well-known but extremely pretty flower, also a hybrid Cy- 

 clamen — coum album, which was awarded a first-class certificate- 

 Messrs. E. G. Henderson's collection contained many very pretty 

 plants ; among them an Acanthopanax with variegated leaves ; 

 Primula denticulata Horibunda ; Daphne altemifolia, new ; Iris reti- 

 culata ; Galanthus plicatus, or the Crimean Snowdrop ; and two pans 

 of Pyrethmm Golden Feather, one of cuttings, the other seedling 

 plants, proving that the seedlings come true, and are equal in colour 

 to the parent plant. A special certificate was awarded. Mr. Hannan, 

 gardener to E. B. Evans, Esq., sent a large branch of BongainviUea 

 spectabUis with highly coloured bracts. Mr. Cross, gardener to Lady 

 Lousia Ashburton, brought a cut spike of Lielia elegans Turneri, very 

 beautiful, with deep rosy puqile flowers. A first-class certificate was 

 (riven for it ; also from the same exhibitor came a spike of Oncidiam 

 Batemanii. 



Mr. 'William Paul sent a very extensive collection of plants n very 



