272 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ AprU 9, 1868. 



beautiful, and as a spi-icg decorative ilower invaluable ; it received a 

 firet-class certificate ; cut specimens of Trichopilia suavis from the 

 same firm had a special certificate, and Trichopilia var. splendens, 

 had a first-class certificate. Mr. "Williama, Holloway. exhibited a fine 

 specimen of Imantophyllum miniatnmwith numerous heads of flowers, 

 and a special certificate was awarded for excellent cultivation. Mr. 

 Baxter, gardener to C. Keiser, Esq., sent Amaryllis Othello, a very 

 dark red variety, smooth in outline and good, and received a first-class 

 certificate. A special certificate was awarded him for the collection of 

 seedlings, some of them of good character. Mr. Turner, of Slough, 

 was awarded second-class certificates for seedling Auriculas, green- 

 edged. Col. Champneys ; and grey-edged, Competitor ; of Selfs, King 

 of Crimsons, a beautiful flower, had. a fijst-class certificate ; Jessie, 

 dark, one of the second-class ; Princess, a deep purple, a first-class 

 certificate. A special certificate was awarded for the collection of 

 show Auriculas, and also for the collection of Selfs. These latter 

 are called Alpines, but the term ia inadmissible. 



Mr. Trussler, gardener to E. J. Kay, Esq., received a special cer- 

 tificate for a box of cut Camellias; Mr. Green, gardener to W. W. 

 Satmders, Esq., a special certificate for a very nice collection of plants, 

 many of the minute Orchids among them. These discarded pi ants of 

 the great orchidists Mi-. Saunders delights in cultivating, and most 

 truly beautiful and interesting they are. Mr. W. Paul received a 

 special certificae for a collection of superb cut Roses. He also 

 exhibited some vei-y small plants of Rhododendrons beautifully in 

 flower. They were grafted last September, the flower-buds being then 

 formed, kept in a cool place till spring, and then received a little 

 heat. He also sent a collection of Variegated Zonal Pelargoniums 

 which have been previously rfoticed. 



Mr. Pilcher, gardener to S. Rucker, Esq., was awarded a special 

 certificate for a remarkably fine specimen of Odontoglossnm pul- 

 chellum ; and Mr. Earley, gardener to F. Pryor, Esq., Digswell, a 

 special certificate for a basket of cut flowers of Thunbergia Harrisii, 

 most delicate in colour. Messrs. Smith, of Dulwich, received a second- 

 class certificate for Cineraria Pandora, and a special certificate for 

 a collection of Cinerarias and a collection of Variegated Zonal Pelar- 

 goniums of much interest. We must take this opportunity of stating 

 that at this early period of the season the Committee decline adjudi- 

 cating on the merits of Zonal Pelargoniums ; to do otherwise would 

 be equally unfair to the plants as to the Committee. Exhibitors 

 ahoold remember that this is not the time for judging these plants ; 

 it is utterly useless to profess to know from the present appearance of 

 any Zonal what it may present in sis months' time. The Committee 

 consequently request that all Zonal Pelargoniums should be sent later 

 in the season. 



Mr. Bragg exhibited a large collection of Pansies, rather rough in 

 outline, but sufficiently meritorious to receive a special certificate. 

 Mr. Moore, gardener to the Earl of Shrewsbury, sent a beautiful 

 collection of cut specimens of Orchids, which were destined as a 

 present to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, but they were 

 sadly bruised in their journey to Kensington. A special certificate 

 was awarded for a collection of Orchids from the Society's gardens. 



There were numerous other exhibitors. Mr. Mann, of Brentwood, 

 sent some splendid specimens of his Zonal Pelargonium, Lord Derby, 

 but owing to the rough treatment received from che railway porters 

 they were completely destroyed. However, the character of the flower 

 is still first-rate; it is. doubtless, the finest Zonal in cultivation. 

 Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, sent a collection of spring flowers. 

 Messrs. Henderson, Wellington Road, Dianthus Mossieux. and Zonal 

 Pelargonium Curiosity ; also a new Orchid, Nasonia cinnabarina. 

 The Committee were rather rebuked by Mr. Bateman in his remarks 

 on this plant not being certificated ; but the Committee have their 

 rules, which we think are to be defended. Of the rarity of a plant, 

 or of its intrinsic value, unless specified, what can the Committee 

 know ? and if rare and valuable if not effective and distinct, it can- 

 not surely deserve commendation. Mr. Kiughorn sent cut flowers of 

 his beautifully-striped Azalea Lizzie. A first-class certificate was 

 awarded this as a seedling plant in 1867, and it maintains its first- 

 rate character. 



General Meeting. — J. Bateman, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair. 

 After a vote of thanks had been passed for several donations of plants, 

 &c., to the Society, twenty new Fellows were elected, and the Harro- 

 gate Horticultui'al Society admitted into union. The awards of the 

 Floral Committee were then announced, and Mr. Wilson, in stating 

 that the Fruit Committee had made none, remarked that at this 

 season, when fruit is very scarce, the inducement of piizes is needed 

 to bring it forward, and that such would be offered at the next meeting. 

 At the last there was a very fine collection of Apples, which gained 

 the second prize, and Mr. Cox, of Redleaf, who exhibited them, had 

 sent a letter which should have arrived at the same time, but did not. 

 informing the Committee that the fruit had been preserved in cork 

 dust. The appearnnce was excellent, and the flavour in nowise 

 altered. Mr. Wilson added that he had tried the same material with 

 Josephine de Malines Peai", and the fruit so kept was very much 

 better than when otherwise preserved. 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, being then called upon by the Chairman. 

 said that at the last meeting a very pretty plant was exhibited under 

 the name of Cyperus Lacourii, and received a second-class certificate, 

 but he had since found that the plant was very widely distributed over 



the world, being found both in the East and West Indies, and in the 

 Society Islands, and that its proper name is Kylliugia monocephala. 

 He then congratulated the Meeting on the fine hybrid varieties of 

 Coleus which had been raised by M. Bause at the Chiswick gardens, 

 aud pointed out a curious specimen of Odontoglossum gloriosum, in 

 which the flower had two distinct lips, and some Stocks exhibiting a 

 malformation similar to that which is so frequent in Roses, all the 

 flowers producing a new spike in place of a pistil. A species of mould 

 which had all the appearance of a sea-weed, and which Agardh had 

 called Phycomyces nitens, was next exhibited to the meeting, and Bur. 

 Berkeley said that having developed itself on barrels of grease in a 

 storehouse in London, he had received some of it. and, being successful 

 in fruiting it, he had found it to be Mucor phycomyces, which has a 

 very disastrous effect on grease by exhausting all the fatty matters. 

 Examples of the effect of fungi on woods were then shown and 

 among others a section of a trunk of an Elm tree, showing the myce- 

 lium on one side, and on the other the fungus developed ; also a piece 

 of Oak wood, in which the coui-se of the mycelium was very distinctly 

 defined. An example of eremacausis was likewise shown, in which 

 the wood had become almost entirely converted into coal. 



At the last meeting, Mr. Berkeley proceeded, Mr. Wilson Sann4ers 

 had made some observations on the vei-y interesting subject of raising 

 Orchids from seed. The latB J\Ir. Joseph Henderson, one of the 

 most acute observers with whoni he , had ever been acquainted, had 

 found at first no trace of an embryo in this class of plants, but one 

 was eventually developed amidst a mass of cellular tissue, and conse- 

 quently its rudiments must have been there. He {Mr. Berkeley) 

 would advise all who might be desirous to try Mr. Dominy's plan of 

 hybridisation, to endeavour to raise the seeds on wood covered with 

 moss. At the last meeting there was also a bunch of Grapes, kept 

 by placing the footstalk in water (see page 222), and the opinion of 

 the Committee was condemnatoi-y of the proceeding, the berries being 

 pronounced vapid and insipid, and he could now advance a reason 

 which did not occur to h im at the time. Supposing that the charcoal 

 in the water had the power of absorbing all noxious gases, the water 

 taken up by the stalk would be pure water, not sap ; and if by the 

 process of endosmosis and exosmosis it passed into the cells, something 

 would also pass out, and that something in all probability would be 

 saccharine matter. Mr. Berkeley concluded by remarking, with refer- 

 ence to hypocaust heating, that some doubts had been expressed 

 whether noxious gases might not escape into houses heated by that 

 mode, but Mr. Martin had informed him that it was utterly impossible 

 for anything of the kind to take place. 



Mr. Bateman said he had a gi-ievance to bring before the meeting. 

 It so happened that ten or twelve years ago he had introduced from the 

 continent a perfectly hai-dy evergi-een Bamboo, called Bambusa metake. 

 It would attain the height of 14 feet, and no amount of frost affected 

 its large handsome leaves. Great, however, was his dismay last spring 

 to find that the plants were covered with brown processes, and by no 

 means in a healthy state. This he at first thought was the effect of 

 the winter, bnt afterwards he found that it was an attempt to flower. 

 On returning from the continent this year he had found the flowering 

 repeated, and he now exhibited specimens in that state. He was very 

 much interested in the fact, inasmuch as no other person's plants, so 

 far as he was aware, had taken similar liberties, but he was inclined 

 to ascribe this circumstance to the fact of his having the plant before 

 any one else, but in a year or two other people might find themselves 

 in the same position. 



Mr. Wilson Saunders said that the plant was flowering very freely 

 with him, and had thereby lost a portion of its beauty. He would 

 advise Mr. Bateman to cut it down, and fresh leaves would spring up. 



Mr. Bateman said he would put it to the vote that Mr. Sannders 

 should be called upon to cut down his plant first. 



Mr. Saunders replied he had already tried that, and with perfect 

 success. 



Mr. Bateman. in commenting on the Orchids, first referred to 

 Odontoglossum luteo-pui-pureum from the Bishop of Winchester's 

 gardener, Mr. Laurence, and remarked that the Bishox? in his long 

 illness had found much solace and comfori in his Orchids, and^Mr. 

 Bateman felt snre that aU would join him in the hope that they might 

 again soon see the Bishop at their meetings, where he had been a 

 constant attendant. Among the Orchids. Messrs;. Veitch's collection 

 held the first place. The plants of which it con^^isted were natives of 

 all quarters of the globe, bnt Africa, including Madagascar and the 

 Mam-itius, he thought on this occasion bore the palm. Especially 

 noticeable among the Africans was Angrcecnm citratum, which two 

 Tears ago was shown in a vei-y small state, but was now much im- 

 proved. Passing to India, where, in Xepal and the adjoining dis- 

 tricts, the head-quarters of the beautifal Dendrobes were fixed, we 

 had a Dendrobium Falconeri, which Messrs. Veitch were not allowed 

 to cany off from Liverpool for less than £70. With regard to Epi- 

 dendrum paniculatum, it was not very striking last year, and even 

 this its vigour was far from equal to that of wild specimens, but what 

 would it be when it foi-med one dense panicle of lilac flowers, of which 

 that on the plant before^the Meeting could only be considered a branch ? 

 An Anguloa from Peru, with a curiously-jointed lip, was then noticed 

 as reioarkable for the movements of that part of the flower when 

 touched ; but among splendid plants the place of honour was cer- 

 tainly due to the Odontoglossum pulchellum from Mr. Pilcher. Mr. 

 Bateman then took some exception to the Floral Committee's having 



