222 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ March 19, 1868. 



Seedling, Minchall Crab, and Alfriston. Mr. Cox, of Redleaf, sent 

 Formosa Pippin, Dumelow's Seedling, and Scarlet "Winter Pearmain, 

 or Duck's Bill. Mr. Sidney Ford sent Sir William Gibbons. Royal 

 Rnsset, and Norfolk Beefing. He also sent Flower of Kent, Wad- 

 Imrst Pippin, and Beauty of Kent, misnamed Flower of Kent. Mr. 

 Parsons, of Lyons, Sevenoaks, sent HoUandbni"y, Dumelow's Seed- 

 ling, and Alfriston. Mr. Dixon sent Dumelow's Seedlinf?, Yorkshire 

 Greening, and Catshead. Mr. Lynn sent Dumelow's Seedling, Kentish 

 Fillbasket, and French Crab. Mr. Spivey. of Hallinglniry Place, sent 

 Wadhurst Pippin, Kentish Fillbasket, and New Hawthoruden. The 

 first prize was awarded to Mr. Lynn, and the second to Mr. Whiting. 



There was also a prize offered for the best dish of early Grapes. 

 There was but one exhibition sent by Mr. Johnson, gardener to the Mar- 

 quis of Aylesbury, Savcmake Forest, and as they were very excellent 

 and of good flavour, the first prize was awarded it. Mr. Whittaker, 

 gardener to Lord Crewe, sent a bunch of Lady Downe's Grape which 

 had been preserved by placing it in water containing charcoal, from 

 which the air is excluded by sealing the cork. The bnnch was some- 

 what shrivelled, and the flavour of the berries was watery, evidently 

 caused by the absorption of the water in which the stalk was immersed, 

 thereby diluting the sacchaiine juice stored up by the fruit. Mr. D. 

 McKeUar, of Colworth Gardens, Sharnbrook, BetKordshire, sent a 

 sample of Marguerite Strawberries, grown under the influence of Stan- 

 den's manure, which were very fine specimens. Mr. S. Ford sent a 

 fine collection of Apples, consisting of upwards of fifty dishes, and 

 was awarded a special certificate. He likewise sent a dish of Uvedale's 

 St. Germain Pear, under the name of Catillac, and one of Oranges. 

 Mr. John Cadger, Luton Hoo Park, exhibited a Mushroom upwards 

 of 7 inches in diameter, and which when gathered weighed 14 ozs. 

 Though of large size, much larger specimens than this have been 

 recorded. Mr. Dixon, gardener to Lady Holland. Holland House, 

 exhibited two dishes of Mushrooms, seemingly excellent, but affected 

 by a parasitic fungus. 



Floral CoiiiiiTTEE. — Another very excellent exhibition of plants 

 and flowers took place this day, and several certificates were awarded. 

 Mr. Davies, Oi-msldrk. sent a neat dwarf-habited Rhododendron called 

 multiflorum, with white flowers, a seedling from R. virgatum, and a 

 Becond-class certificate was awarded it. Messrs. E. G. Henderson 

 sent a basket of small plants of Lamium maculatum aureum, but they 

 were too young for its merits to be decided upon ; also a new Cyperus, 

 JJacouri, a dwarf plant of vei-y neat appearance — it received a second- 

 class certificate. Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, exhibited an unusu- 

 ally fine collection of pot Roses in full flower. Rarely are such Roses 

 Been at this early season. A special certificate was given them. From 

 the same firm came three boxes of cut Roses, which were most lovely. 

 There were several fine specimens of that f,'orgeous yellow Rose Mare- 

 chal Niel ; a special certificate was awarded for them. Messrs. Veitch, 

 who contributed largely to the show, had a very fine collection of 

 Orchids, among them Dendrobiam crepidatum, Oncidium macrdnthum 

 haatiferum, and an extraordinarily fine specimen of Cymbidium ebur- 

 neum, for which a special certificate was awarded. A special cei-tifi- 

 cate was also given for the collection of Orchids. There were also 

 some very nice plants of Camellias and Azaleas. A special cei-tificate 

 was awarded for the collection. 



Mr. W. Paul sent small plants of Deutzia gracilis varie^ata and 

 Deutzia crenata marmorata. Messrs. Smith, Dulwich, exhibited a 

 collection of Variegated Zonal Pelargoniums of great merit. Among 

 them were specimens of Sir- J. Paxtou, L'Empereur. Glory of Dulwich, 

 Sultan, Marvellous, and Sunray. These were of the highly coloured 

 Zonal section. Golden Circle, Gladiator, and Sybil, three of the 

 Bronze Zonals, with a yellow gi-ound, were extremely fine. A special 

 certificate was awarded the collection. Mr. B. S. Williams sent a 

 fine collection of Orchids. Among them an Oncidium, probably a 

 variety of O. obryzatnm, was awarded a second-class certificate. A 

 special certificate was awarded for the collection of Orchids. Mr. 

 Williams also sent a collection of Cinerarias and Lilies of the Valley, 

 Azalea Princess Helena, and Azalea Souvenir de Leon Mienhaut. 



Mr. W. Paul sent several new Hyacinths, which, although not pro- 

 ducing such large spikes as usual, were of great merit. The following 

 received first-class certificates : — KinLi of the Yellows, Autocrat, very 

 dark blue ; Grand Monarch, pale silvery blue with shaded stripes ; 

 Clio, something of the same colour ; Couronne des Bleus, pale delicate 

 grey. J. Stone, gardener to J. Day, Esq., exhibited a fine specimen 

 of Oncidinm Krameriannm, resembling O. papilio. A first-cla?s cer- 

 tificate was awarded it. Messrs. Osbom, Fulham, sent a very in- 

 teresting collection of hardy spring flowers, consisting of SciUas, 

 Primulas, Ericas, &e. A special certificate was awarded. Mr. Bragg, 

 Slough, exhibited a large collection of Pansies, which were awarded 

 a special certificate. W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., exhibited three or 

 four Orchids, distinguished by their form or colour of flowers ; one 

 heing Zygopetalum ci-initnm, of two varieties growing n the same pot, 

 probably seedlings, one a remarkably tine flower with dark pui-ple lip. 



General Meetes-g. — W. "Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.R.S,, in the 

 chair. After the election of thirteen new Fellows, and the announce- 

 ment of several donations of plants and seeds, for which a vote of 

 thanks was passed, the Chairmen of the Fiiiit and Floral Committees 

 reported the awards of these bodies. 



The Rev. Mr. Berkeley then said that on the last occasion he had 

 (lii'ected attention to Oncidium macranthum hastiferum, of wliich at 



the present meeting there was a specimen with eleven flowers from 

 Messrs. Veitch, and one with five flowers came from Mr. Richards, 

 Lord Londesborough's gardener. Since the last meeting. Mr. Berk- 

 eley continued, he had been to Kew and examined Dr. Lindley'a 

 herbarium, in which he found several specimens of macranthum, 

 which had been met with by a number of travellers in Peru, but none 

 of hastiferum, though there was a pen-and-ink sketch of it by Reichen- 

 bach. He therefore could not say whether it was a distinct species or 

 not. An unnamed Oncidium, shown by Mr. Williams, of Holloway, 

 was then stated to be a mere variety of Oncidium obryzatnm, which 

 was also shown by the same exhibitor. Zygopetalum crinitum, exhi- 

 bited by Mr. Wilson Saunders, was nest referred to, as exhibiting two 

 extremely distinct varieties in the same mass, one being much more 

 handsome than the other. Whether this difference was the result of 

 a sport, or arose from there being two distinct roots, he did not know, 

 Mr. Berkeley then held up a spike of Dendrobiam, of which the flowers 

 were double ; the divisions of the corolla were doubled, there were two 

 columns, and two lips. This result he ascribed to lateral fusion. He 

 next called attention to a matter of considerable importance in regard 

 to two remarkable specimens of Mushrooms shown, and of which the 

 gUls were paler than he had ever seen before — a circumstance some 

 might think was duo to their having been gro\vn in the dark and not 

 developing their spores ; but on close examination he had found that 

 the gills were being gradually obliterated by a parasitic fungus. It 

 became questionable, therefore, whether Mnshrooms in this state were 

 wholesome. For his own port he should not like to eat them, for, 

 even if they were so, they had not that fine aroma which good Mush- 

 rooms ought to possess. No doubt the gentleman who sent the Mush- 

 rooms in question was not aware of their being in a diseased state ; 

 and when we heai-, as we occasionally do, of deplorable cases of poison- 

 ing by Mushrooms, possibly such disasters may not be caused by the 

 Mushrooms, but by the fungi with which they are attacked. With 

 regard to the Grapes preserved by placing the stalk in water, it had 

 been justly remarked that they were certainly not improved in quality. 

 In the ordinal^ way of keeping, Grapes became something like raisins ; 

 but in this mode water was absorbed to the detriment of the flavour, 

 and even with the addition of charcoal the water might get into a 

 putrid state. The mi-'thod was originally practised at Thomery, but it 

 was universally acknowledged not to be a success. At the last meeting 

 he had drawn attention to two lands of decay, one being dry rot, the 

 other a process of slow combustion. He had since been informed by 

 a gentleman that he had specimens of wood which, if the latter process 

 went on, might end in being pure carbon, and which, instead of being 

 brown as with ulmates and humates, had become like anthracite- 

 Mr. Berkeley then exhibited several specimens of wood attacked by 

 fangi, and among others a drawing of one which had attacked teak at 

 Madras, completely obliterating the medullary rays, and he said it 

 frequently happened that these were completely destroyed in such 

 attacks, while the longitudinal cells remained perfect. Wood was 

 often affected by fungi, although there was no trace of their- presence 

 superficially. It might be asked of what interest was all this in a horti- 

 cultural point of view ; but he replied that it was of great impoi*tance 

 to those about to put up houses. At Lord FitzwUliam's a large range 

 of houses had been put up with oak wood, which was in what was 

 known as si "foxy" state — no specimen of such wood would be 

 allowed in the dockyards — and the houses soon became very unsound. 

 The reason of much of the wood in Northamptonshire being foxy was, 

 that instead of being produced by trees raised from seed, very often 

 old stools which were generally full of fungus were cut down, and the 

 resulting wood became affected likewise. It was of gi*eat importance 

 to ascertain before buildings were pnt up that the wood to be used was 

 free from the mycelia of fungi. The next subject to which he would 

 call attention was a model sent by C. Wykeham Martin, Esq., M.P., 

 of Leeds Castle, Kent, showing a system of heating which was described 

 by him in the first two parts of the Society's Journal (an account of 

 this was given by Mr. Robson in The Journal of Horticulture, 

 Vol. xi., pa^es 361 and 3G'2). This mode of heating offered the ad- 

 vantages of but a small quantity of fuel being required to heat a large 

 area ; almost any land of fuel might be used — Mr. Martin burnt 

 faggots, and even sawdust ; and it was extremely cheap, the expense 

 of constructing the foundations and arrangements for heating a house 

 15 feet by 10 having been only £17 l'2s. 



The Chairman said that those who were at the last meeting would 

 recollect that a medal — the Lindley medal, was voted to Mr. Marshall 

 for his exhibition of Cattleyas ; but as it was a rule that members of 

 the Council could not take such awards, though Mr. MarshaU might 

 have the honour of its being presented to him, he could not, in con- 

 sequence of that rule, accept it. W^ith regard to the Zygopetalum 

 crinitum, referred to by Mr. Berkeley as exhibiting two kinds of in- 

 florescence appearing to come from the same source,, his impression 

 was that two seeds had been dropped close together and sprung up. 

 Now, if the same pod of seed produced the two conditions of the plant, 

 he wished to know why we do not import seeds of Orchids instead of 

 bulbs. The Cattleyas in Mr. Marshall's collection were all, he be- 

 lieved, the result of the seed of one species under different conditions, 

 and it would be a great gain to horticulture in this counti-y to import 

 seed and raise plants from it, and in doing this he did not know that there 

 would be any difficulty. Another subject taken up by Mr. Berkeley — 

 dry rot— was of vast importance. He (the Chairman) had seen large 

 portions of ships entirely destroyed by di-y rot. Hundreds of thousands 



