February 27, 187S. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



181 



produced in many-flowered umbels, and thick in texture, whilst 

 the colour is rich golden orange. Naturally it is epiphytal 

 upon high forest trees, hut it succeeds well in our greenhouses 

 under pot culture. It blooms dui-iug April and May. Native 

 of Borneo. 



E. Erookeancm giucile. — A variety of the above, of graceful 

 habit, and a profuse bloomer. The foliage differs in being 

 somewhat smaller and light green above, whilst the large 

 blooms are pale yellow, and not deep orange as those of the 

 species. It blooms about the same time, and is also a native 

 ■of the Borneau Mountains. 



R. Ekookeanum flavum. — This variety requii-es the warmest 

 •corner of the greenhouse, so perhaps is not found growing 

 naturally at such great elevations. The plant resembles the 

 species in habit of growth, but the large leaves have a very 

 glossy and polished appearance. It produces its large umbels 

 of soft pure yeUow flowers during April and May in the greatest 

 profusion. Native of Borneo. 



R. oiLiATUH. — We now come to an extremely beautiful small- 

 growing species, and one that will stand our winters with 

 impunity; but when gi'own in pots it may bo brought into 

 flower about the beginning of Blarch with the greatest ease. 

 It is dwarf and compact in habit, and blooms most profusely. 

 The leaves are obovate and bright green on the upper side, 

 glaucous beneath, and having the edges clothed with short 

 stiff hairs. The flowers are large for the size of the plant, 

 varying from pure white to deep rose in colour. It is a most 

 •desirable species. Native of Sikkim, at some 9 to 10,000 feet 

 elevation. 



K. JAS5IINIFL0KUM. — Au exquisito little species, which fre- 

 quently blooms twice during the year. The foliage is some- 

 ^vhat small ; leaves obovate or inclined to oblong, coriaceous 

 in texture, smooth, and dark green. The umbels of bloom ai'e 

 many-flowered; blooms tubular with a spreading limb, pure 

 white, and delioiously fragrant. Although a native of Malacca, 

 it tlirives well in the warm end of a greenhouse or conservatory. 



B. Dalhouseianum. — This is truly a grand and noble species, 

 assuming under cultivation more gigantic proportions, it would 

 seem, than in a state of nature. We are told that this plant 

 is a slender straggling shrub 6 to 8 feet high, with oblong 

 leaves, and white, bell-shaped, fragi'ant flowers delicately tinged 

 ■with rose, and that it generally grows on the limbs of the 

 large forest trees, in regions of fog and moisture, at some 

 '9000 feet altitude, and within sight of the snow-capped peaks 

 of the Himalayas. With us it assumes the proportions of a 

 noble erect tree, producing its enormous sweet-scented flowers 

 during the early spring months. They measure upwards of 

 ■i inches across the mouth, with a tube of about the same 

 length ; they are fleshy, pm'e white, slightly tinged with rose, 

 and very sweet-scented. 



E. AccKLAsiiii. — A fine bold-growing species, and somewhat 

 Tare in cultivation. The leaves are leathery in texture, oblong, 

 •with a rounded base and acute point, some 8 or 9 inches long, 

 ■bright dark gi'een on the upper side, glaucous below. The 

 flowers are produced in May and June ; they are pure white, 

 and nearly as large as those of E. Dalhousianum. By some 

 •this is considered the handsomest of its family : at any rate, 

 it may safely be reckoned amongst the most beautiful kinds 

 from Sikkim-Himalaya. 



K. TniBAUDioiDEs. — TWs species at first sight would not 

 appear to have any afltinity with the two previously described 

 plants. It is, nevertheless, a true Rhododendron, and an 

 extremely handsome one too. It is a small-growing plant, 

 producing its terminal umbels of blooms in the spring and 

 early summer. The flowers are tubular, with a slightly spread- 

 ing limb, the tube being bright waxy red and the limb greenish 

 yellow. It is a native of Bhotan. 



E. FRAGRANTissiiinM. — One of the beautiful plants which 

 have been raised in this country. It is the offspring of seeds 

 produced by crossing E. Gibsouii with E. Edgworthii. It is 

 •of a compact and shrubby habit, forming a beautiful specimen 

 ander pot culture, and an abundant bloomer. The flowers are 

 large and fleshy, measuring about 5 inches in diameter. They 

 are pure snow-white, slightly spotted on the upper segments, 

 and tinged with rose upon the back of the petals, added to 

 ■which they are delieiously fragrant, as its name implies. 



E. PitiscEss Alexandra. — This is also a garden hybrid be- 

 longing to the E. jasmiuiflorum type. It is a charming pot 

 plant, being dwarf and compact in growth, and a profuse 

 bloomer. The flowers are tubular, pure white, with rosy pink 

 stamens. 



B. Pbincess Hem;na, the result of a cross between the 



former variety and E. jasminiflorum, is an exquisitely beauti- 

 ful plant, well deserving a place in every amateur's greenhouse. 

 The flowers are long and tubular, whilst the colour is soft 

 piuk or flesh streaked with rose ; they are produced during the 

 spring mouths in great abundance. — Exi>ekto Crede. 



ROYAL HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



The resolution of the Council of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society to vacate their office consequent on the non-adoption 

 of their Report at the adjourned meeting held last Tuesday 

 se'night is inoperative. The Council as a body cannot resign 

 according to the spu-it of the Charter ; and if any individual 

 members should take that course, then- places must be filled 

 by the existing Council without consent of the Fellows, leaving 

 the election to be confirmed at the next annual meeting in 

 February, 1874. 



This being the case, the Council remain in statu quo, unless 

 some members, feeling personally aggrieved at the action that 

 has been taken by the Society in rejecting the Report, choose 

 to act in their individual capacity, and place their resignation 

 in the hands of the CouncU. This would give an opportunity 

 for an infusion of new blood, and probably the present uncom- 

 fortable state of affairs m.ay be got over. It would be no diffi- 

 cult matter, provided obstacles were not put in the way, to 

 construct a Council which would be acceptable to every inter- 

 est represented in the Society ; but the question which the 

 Council will have to face, be it composed of whomsoever it 

 may, is. What next ? 



It is a notorious fact that, with the exception of two years 

 during the period in which the Society has been boimd nx) 

 with the Royal Commissioners, the expenditure has consider- 

 ably exceeded the income, and that, too, in face of the fact that 

 there were men on the Council during that period who were ac- 

 customed to large financial transactions, and to the control 

 of expenditure in great undertakings ; yet, notwithstanding 

 the vigilance which, we presume, these gentlemen gave in 

 virtue of their office to the financial state of the Society, the 

 result was in many instances greatly to the disadvantage of 

 the Society. There must, therefore, we presume, be some- 

 thing in the present relations of the Society which even dili- 

 gent oversight and skilful management cannot accomplish 

 for its benefit. Notwithstanding the taunts of dishonesty 

 which have been thrown by the Royal Commissioners at the 

 Society for not paying the sum of £2400 annually as rent, 

 we hold to the beUef that the Society has honourably ful- 

 filled every engagement it has ever made with the Com- 

 missioners. If there is any ambiguity in the clauses of the 

 first agreement with the Commissioners, there is none in the 

 Charter, and the date of the latter being a year subsequent to 

 the former, the Charter may fairly be taken to be the inter- 

 preter of whatever may be doubtful in the agreement. Seeing, 

 then, that the Society are bound by the Charter to pay to the 

 Commissioners the sum of £2400 every five years instead of 

 annually, it has been found by experience that even this is too 

 heavy a burden for it after paying necessary expenditure and 

 interest on debenture debt. To obviate and to meet this state 

 of things, the CouncU recently entered into negociations with 

 the Commissioners of the annual Exhibitions now being held 

 at South Kensington to give and receive mutual advantages 

 which it was thought would put the Society in funds to enable 

 it to meet all its liabilities. The propositions for this object 

 we have ah-eady laid before our readers (page l.'U), but they 

 were rejected by the annual Meeting held on the lltli inst. 

 An amended form of these propositions (see page 1.56) was 

 submitted by the Council to the Commissioners, which that 

 body rejected, and the attempt to improve the finances of the 

 Society failed, a largo and influential number of Fellows resi- 

 dent in the neighbourhood of the South Kensington Garden 

 disapproving of the terms of agreement with the Exhibition 

 authorities. So strong is the feeUng against these proposi- 

 tions, that an eminent Chancery barrister has been consulted 

 on their legality, and he has given the following opinion : — 



" I have perused the accompanying Charter of the above- 

 mentioned Society, and the Bye-Laws made in pursuance of its 

 provisions, and also the agreement proposed to be entered into 

 between the Society and Her Majesty's Commissioners. It 

 ajjpears that the Society was incoi-porated for the purpose for 

 which the Horticultural Society of London was incorporated by 

 letters patent of the 17th April, in the 49 Geo. 3rd, and to carry 

 into effect the recited agreements with the Commissioners. A. 

 copy of those letters patent is not before me, but it would seem 

 from a recital in the Charter that that Society was inosrporated 



