Aagnet 1, 1865.] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUKK AND COTTAGK GABDENEE. 



89 



Physicul Journal," and other works contain too many pain- 

 ful records of poisoning by Funfji to justify any one in pulilisli- 

 inp an imliscriniinate use of them as fooil. Wu pnblislicd 

 moru than twelve months since (No. 138, )ia«e 311.5), thR details 

 of a family beiuK poisoned by eating the Agaricua fortilis, and 

 gave a drawing of the species.] 



ROYAL HOKTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



Floral Committki:, .July 2.5. — But few plants wero sent on this 

 occftsiou, anil none of any particular interest. Messrs. K. G. lleudor- 

 8on, of Wellinj^ou Koad, sent their collection of new Fuchsias, two of 

 which received first-class certificates — viz., Enoch Ardeu and Father 

 IjniatiuB, the former a neat compact tlowcr, bright crimson sepals, re- 

 flexed, large deep purple corolla ; the latter with a much lighter corolla. 

 The others consisted of Itose of Denmark, a pale colourless variety ; 

 Bhodoriek Dhu, dark purple corolla ; War Eagle, Village Pet. and 

 Lucy Mills. There was no advance or improvement iu many of the 

 older varieties, and it will ho long before a more elegant or freer llower. 

 ing variety is exhibited than Souvenir de Chiswick. Mr. Salter, 

 Versailles Nursery, sent a seedling Nosegay Pelargonium, Impcratrice 

 des Nosegays, bright red flowers forming a large globular truss. The 

 merits of this seedling will bo better known when it is seen bedded out. 

 The plant exhibited had evidently been grown under glass. Messrs. 

 Smith, of Duhvich, sent a pale light blue Delphinium, Madame H. 

 Jacotot ; a small collection of Balsams ; seedling Phloxes, Chancellor, 

 a dark red, and Beauty of Dulwich, pale lilac with dark centre ; 

 Fuchsia Eva, with a double white corolla; Fuchsia L'Africaino ; 

 Fuchsia multiflora, a good market variety ; and Fuchsia I-'.noch Arden, 

 which must not be mistaken for Messrs. Henderson's vaiiety bearing 

 the same name. Zonalc Pelargoniums, Golden Dwarf, Aureum, and 

 Bronze Shield, also came from the same firm. Mr. Towusend, Homsey, 

 8ent two .Japanese Liliums, the flowers were faded and appeared to 

 have been a dark chocolate, the other a tawny yellow. Mr. E. Davis 

 sent four single flowers of Lady Sherborne, double white Fuchsia. As 

 no plants were sent, notice could not be taken of them. Mr. Cox, 

 gardener to Earl Beauchamp, exhibited a white seedling Lobelia, 

 probably of L. ramosa. If suited for bedding pui-jioses it will be a de- 

 sirable plant — lirst-class eertilicate. Messrs. Veitch exhibited Demlro- 

 bium species, from Australia, sent homo by Mr. .John Veitch. The 

 same Dendrobium was exhibited by Mr. Wilcox, gardener to Dr. 

 PattisoD, of St. John's Wood. Mr. Bull exhibited Allamanda Hender- 

 sooii, a very fine free-flowering plant with large yellow flowers — first- 

 class certificate ; also Bignouia argyTjea violescens with beautifully 

 marked foUage ; the plants were exhibited under glass — first-class 

 certificate. Mr. Cross, gardener to the Dow.ager Lady Ashburton, sent 

 a Pol\-podinm vnlgare with forked fronds, or the fronds iu pairs on one 

 footstalli. Mr. G. Smith, Hoi-nsey Koad, sent two seedling Fuchsias 

 with double white coi-ollas, the sepals pale and deficient in colour, 

 and not attractive. Mr. Smith's single white-corolla Fuchsia Cou- 

 spicua is far superior to these pale varieties. Mr. Kivers sent a speci- 

 men of the Climbing Devoniensis Rose, with a shoot more than 10 feet 

 long. Mr. Kivers kindly explained how this vigorous growth was 

 obtained. A drawing of a fine variety of Lilium auratum with dark 

 red leaves, grown by Messrs. Cutbush, Highgate, was exhibited by the 

 Chairman, and was much admired. 



Scientific Meeting — J. J. Blandy, Esq., in the chair. The Rev. 

 Joshua Dix, the chaii-man of the Floral Committee, read over the 

 list of the awards made by that Committee, and pointed out some 

 of the subjects exhibited. Amongst others he drew special attention 

 to the Climbing Devoniensis Rose sent by Mr. Kivers, who made 

 the Devoniensis assume that form by bndiling a strong growing Per- 

 petaal on the Manetti stock, and then budding the Perpetual with 

 Devoniensis. It was also found that buds from Devoniensis thus 

 treated, when single-worked in the usual way, did not differ in habit 

 from the ordinary form of Devoniensis. Next year Mr. Kivers hoped 

 to apply a similar process to other Tea Roses with the like result. 



Dr. Hogg, the Honorary Secretary to the Fruit Committee, said 

 that before proceeding to consider the subjects brought before that 

 Committee, he would call attention to the report on the early Peas 

 grown this year at Chiswick. It was the practice of the Committee 

 to obtain seeds from the parties who send out the varieties, if pos- 

 sible. Dillistone's Early ProUfic, Carter's First Crop, Dickson's Fu'st 

 and Best, and Sutton's Ringleader, were so procured. They were all 

 sown in the same piece of ground and on the same day ; they all came 

 np on the same day ; they all flowered on the same day ; they all 

 podded on the same day ; they all were fit for table on the" same day, 

 and the result of the experiment was, that they must be considered 

 Identical. The variety which had the priority of name was Dillis- 

 tone's Early Prolific. Those who are accustomed to study Peas con- 

 sider a good sample of DiUistone's nothing but a pure stock of the 

 old Early Keut, a variety vei^ diflicult to obtain and to keep true. Of 

 Other Peas tried, Laxton's Seedling was very similar to the Auvergne 

 and Dickson's Favourite, whilst Carpenter's Express proved to be none 

 other than gangster's No. 1. Princess Koyal was thought to be an 

 improvement on the old Dwarf Marrow. Blue Excelsior struck the 

 Coouaittee aa being a remarkably distinct Pea. A Dumber of others 



were found to be exactly synonymous with Veitch's Perfection. Passing 

 on to the subjects submitted to tlie committee, Mr. Kivers had sent a 

 collection of White Grapes, all of them belonging to what the French 

 call " Muscats " and the English Frontignans, as they have round 

 berries, whilst iu what are called Muscats in this country the berries 

 are oval. The Froutigmms possessed a Muscat flavour, a quality 

 which was highly developed in Chasselas Musqur ; the great advantage 

 of this Chasselas was its being earlier than the true Muscats, and 

 ripening iu a cooler temperature ; it had, however, the evil quality of 

 cracking, but within the last few yitars a new race had been iutroduced 

 which did not offer this drawback, and of such Mr. Kivers's Grapes 

 consisted. Of Muscat Salonwn of the French, or Early Golden Fron- 

 tignan, the great reconmnindation was that it was three weeks earlier 

 than the Black Hamburgh, and producid bunches from 1'2 to 18 inches 

 long. The colour, as he cuubl alllrm, was much more golden, in fact he 

 had seen it deep amber. Early Smyrna, Muscat de Smynio of the 

 French, was also a form of White Frontigimn, not so early as the pre- 

 ceding but hardier, and would probably succeed out of doors, at all 

 events it would ripen well in an ordinary greenhouse. Early Silver 

 Frontignan bad a larger berrj*, a vi-n,- thin skin, and was eight or ten 

 days later than Early Golden Frontignan and the same number of 

 days earlier than the Black Hamburgh. The Black Bordeaux, re- 

 ceived by Mr. Kivers under the name of Muscat a gros grains, was 

 much more sugai-y than the Black Hamburgh, and a month 

 earlier. Muscat Champion, sent by Mr. Veitch, was stated to be a 

 most valuable acquisition, possessing berries as largo as those of the 

 Mill-Hill Hamburgh, with a strong admixture of the Muscat flavour, 

 the latter quality in particular rendering it highly desirable. A Rasp- 

 berry from Mr. Graham, of Cranford. was remarkable for its large size, 

 but as it had not as yet been snlijiitcd to careful cultivation the Com- 

 mittee wished to see it again before deciding on its merits. There was 

 also a Black Currant from Mr. Ford which was stated to hang a month 

 later than any other kind, but the berries were small and acid. A Rasp- 

 berry came from Messrs. Cutbush, of Highgate, the merit of which con- 

 sisted in its coming into bearing after all the other red summer Rasp- 

 berries were past, but as regards flavour it was not considered lit for 

 table, and seeing that autumn-bearing varieties of better flavour already 

 existed, no award was made. Some Cherries were also exhibited by Mr. 

 Rivers. Of these the Large Pui-ple Gean came in after all the Bigarreans 

 were over ; and the Love Apple Cherry belonging to the Late Duke class 

 was very large, being an inch across, had a colourless juice, and was 

 furrowed Uke a Tomato. Mr. Ingram exhibited a seedling Peach called 

 Frogmore Golden, but it was not so large as Crawford's Early, which 

 was a freestone, and it was not so delicious as that and some others- 

 It was therefore doubtful whether the variety in question was required. 

 In conclusion Dr. Hogg directed attention to two .\pricot trees m pots 

 which Mr. Rivers had sent, first to show that fruit trees in pots bearing 

 ripe fruit can be transmitted to a distance, and second to prove that 

 Apricots can be grown in pots. The whole secret of their culture in 

 that way was very simple — it simply consisted in giving them plenty of 

 ventilation whilst in bloom, even 3" or 4° of frost would not injure 

 them then. The rationale of this was, that when the orchard-house 

 is kept close whilst the trees are in bloom there is such an amount of 

 moisture in the air that fertilisation cannot take place. Mr. Rivers 

 stated in a commnnication addressed to him (Dr. Hogg) that chalk 

 existed in the soil which was nsed for potting, but in what proportion 

 he (Mr. Rivers) did not know, as he had sent the soil to be analysed ; 

 but one-twelfth or one-tenth would not be too much. 



The Kev. M. J. Berkeley said there were not many plants to com- 

 ment upon, bnt he had an interesting fact to communicate in reference 

 to hybrid Ferns. Every one know that in cultivating Ferns vast num 

 hers of Gymnogi-ammas — golden, silver, and grey — were freely pro- 

 duced in the same house, and they were believed to be hybrids, but no 

 one had proved them to be so. He had now, however, a veritable case 

 of a hybrid Fem. Mr. Robinson Scott enclosed a frond of an Asple- 

 nium which he had found in a rock-y place about eight miles from 

 Philadelphia, on the banks of the SehuyUdU river. It was surrounded 

 by Camptosorus rbizophyllns and Asplenium ebeneum, had some of the 

 characteristics of both, and was distinct from anything described by 

 Dr. Asa Gray, in his " Floraof the Northern United States." Sir Wm. 

 Hooker had declared it to be new. Mr. Berkeley then described the 

 leading eharaoteiistics of Camptosorus rhizophyllus, Aspleninm ebe- 

 neum, and the hybrid. The pr.idii. tiou of such a hybrid was not of 

 botanical interest only, but of hortiiultural importance ; for if any hor- 

 ticulturist could obtain hybrid forms, there was no doubt that it would 

 prove very profitable. He had prepared a set of drawings to show that; 

 it was possible to do so. The spore of a Fem consisted of an outer 

 and an inner case, and if placed in proper circumstances of moisture, 

 &c., the envelope would split and a rootlet bo throim down. Every 

 healthy spore produced antheridia containing a slender filament, 

 which, on the antheridium bursting, floats about ; and on coming in 

 contact with the embryo sac containing the ovule, it penetrates the sac 

 and the development of a fresh plant commences. Impregnation 

 between two different Fems, therefore, could not taie jdace unless 

 there was a drop of water present by which these filamentous bodies 

 could be canned to the embryo sac ; and by a little delicate manipu- 

 lation it might, therefore, be possible to bring the contents of the 

 antheridia of one Fem in contact with the ovules of another, and so 

 produce a hybrid. After briefly noticing a few of the plants, and two 

 monstrous forms of Plautago major, Mx. Berkeley observed, that from 



