November 28, 1865. ) 



JOUiiNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



413 



iiuy other variotj', tliere were twenty exhibitions ; and Messrs. Iverj-, 

 of Dorkinfi. toJk tirst prize -.vitU Winter NtlLs, whilu Mr. Uuffett was 

 aecoud with Chuumouti-l. Mr. Wilson, the ChfiirmuH, exhibited a 

 dish of niaj^niiUti'iit Chanm-nittld, very boautifally coloured and of 

 perfect tlavour. Th'-y wen* produced on a tree grown in a pot, and 

 kept in an onhard-honso till the fruit was fairly set, and afterwards 

 plunged in tlu-oiieu to'oaud. undthe result of thi.^ treatment was clearly 

 shown to be most successful. Mr. Turner, of Slough, sent a box of 

 very handsome Cox's Orange Pippin, lar^^e and beautifully coloured, 

 and the flavour delicious ; also fine speriuu-ns of Cornish Gilliflower 

 and Blenheim Pippin. Some remarkably tine Shallots were exhibited 

 by Mr. Earlev, of Digswell. Messrs. Lncombe, Pince, & Co., of 

 Exeter, sent u tine specimen of that excellent winter Pine, the Smooth- 

 leaved Cayenne. >L-. George Lee, of Clevedon, near Bristol, sent hue 

 specimens of Bon Gustave Pear and Clifton Nonsuch Apple. 



Scientific Mkkting. — ,1. Batemau, Eaci., in the chair. The Chair- 

 men of the Floral and Fruit Committees haviug reported the awards, 

 the Kev. 31. J. Berkeley proceeded to comment on the subjects exhibited. 

 At the last meeting a letter was read from Mr. Yonng, gardener to Earl 

 Fitzwilliam, stating that a branch of a Black Frontignan Grape bear- 

 ing a bunch of white :ind another of black Grapes was to have been 

 aent, but the braudi had arrived too late ; it hud, however, been kept, and 

 the meeting would see that there were, as stated, two bunches of differ- 

 ent colours, produced by different eyes, on the same branch, and both 

 h&ring the Frontignan tlavour. The Vine, he had been assured both by 

 the late and present gardener, had never been grafted. Such sports were 

 not uncommon in the Chrisauthemum, and Mr. Berkeley instanced 

 white Beverley becoming Uolden Beverley, and Queen of England 

 becoming Strii)ed Queen, &c. Oi Moustera deliciosa, fruit of whith had 

 been shown at the last meeting, from Lady Dorothy Nevill's, at Dang- 

 stein, it was remaiked that the flavour was somewhat like that of a 

 Banana, but not w> flat : evenbody who had tasted it, however, had 

 complained tliat little prickles were left in the throat and on the tongue. 

 This, it was thought, might arise from little bundles of raphides or 

 crj-stals, whieh were verj- abundant in the fmit; but on closer exami- 

 nation it was found that there were really bundles of woody tissue, 

 like double-edged swonls — not what were generally understood by 

 doable-edged swords, but sworda having two parallel blades, which, on 

 touching a spring, opened outwards ; magnilied drawings of these 

 bodies were exliibited to the meeting. A Thunbergia, from Mr. 

 Farley, was stated to be the same as Thunbergia fragrant of Rox- 

 burgh, or very little different from it ; and a seedling Imautophyllum, 

 from Mr. Bull, to be the same as I. Aitoni (Cliria uobilis). 



Mr. Bateman said that, as au old orchidist, he could not but feel 

 acuch gratitied to see that Orchids formed so large a proportion of the 

 winter-blooming plants shown, for take them away and what remained ? 

 Of Oncidium oiiiithorhynehum. or the Bird's-beak Oncidium, Mr. 

 Bateman remarked that whf u he first flowered it he was much sur- 

 prised, on turning over Humboldt's great work, to find there an exact 

 representation of it, but ■\rith yellow instead of pink flowers, which the 

 species actually has. This was only an instance of what errors tra- 

 vellers might easily fall into when they came to aiTange at home the 

 materials they had collected al'road ; and when the number and diver- 

 fiity of the specimens gathered, the haste with which this had to be 

 done, and when in aiTauging there was often only the memory to trust 

 to, — when all this was considered, occasional mistakes could not be 

 wondered at. Another instance was cited in which the flowers of one 

 plant were associated with the leaves of another. Dendrobium Tat- 

 tonianum, which came from the northern coast of Australia, and was 

 named after Lord Egerion of Tatton, was then adverted to. Although 

 not apparently veiy attractive at present, unless examined closely, its 

 blooms were twice as good as they were when tirst shown, and would, 

 no doubt, be still tiuer when the plant became larger. The flower.^ 

 were peculiar in colour, very agreeably fragrant, and the plant could 

 be kept an indefinite length of time in the drawing-room, where he 

 had had a specimen for six weeks without its being any the worse. 

 Calanthe Veitchii next oci-upied attention ; it was not a species, but a 

 hybrid, and though all knew what hybridising could effect, still he had 

 hoped that there was a presene into which the hybridist could not 

 enter, for Orchids were a royal race, and he always rejoiced when any 

 of Mr. Dominy's marriages did not turn out happy. In this Calanthe, 

 however, they had really a beautiful winter- flowering plant, as might 

 be seen by the specimen before them, and, Mr. Bateman added, Mr. 

 Kucker"s houses are extremely gay with it at the present moment. 

 la reference to Odontoglossum Alexandrae, sent home by Mr. Weir, 

 the Society's collector, ilr. Bateman remarked that when he saw that 

 it was new and beautiful, he was delighted to name it after the Princess 

 Alexandra ; but on visiting Messrs. Low's, at Clapton, whose collector 

 was in the same country as Mr. Weir, he saw Odontoglossum Bluntii. 

 a still more beautiful kind, which had been named and described by 

 Professor Reichenbach. He (Mr. Bateman) fearing that the two Odon- 

 toglossums were the same, wrote to Professor Bieichenbach, and was 

 assured that they were perfectly distinct ; but after all, the opinion of 

 most of those who had seen the two at the meeting that day was that 

 they were mere varieties of the same species, and if that proved to be 

 the case he would have to fall back on the chivalry of the Germans and 

 the loyalty of the English to preserve the name of Alexandrse instead 

 of Bluntii for the species, ilr. Bateman, in conclusion, called atten- 

 tion to the collection of Lycaste Skinneri, from Mr. A'eitch, who had 



assured him that it had been grown all the year without fire heat ; and 

 Mr. Bateman further remarked that a plant of this Lycaste had been 

 growQ in his gardener's kitchen for two yearw, and at the end of that 

 period was even in better health than those in the glass houses. Hence 

 it was a suitable plant for room-decoration. 



INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL 

 KXIIIBITION AND BOTANICAL CONGRESS. 

 We have great pleasure in being enabled to announce that 

 the eminent botanist. Professor De Candolle, of Geneva, has 

 been unanimously elected President of the Botanical Congress 

 to be held in conjunction with the great International Horticul- 

 tural EjJiibitiou that is to take place in London next year. Such 

 an appointment cannot fail to shed lustre on the proceedings. 



THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT MR. FORSYTHS. 

 STOKE NEWINGTON RO.VD. 



Mb. Fobsyth is well known as a most successful exhibitor of Chry- 

 sauthcmams, both large-flowering and Pompons, and it was only in 

 our last week's Number that we had to speak in terms of commen- 

 dation of the numerous tine specimens which he exhibited at the 

 Gnildhall show, several of which have suffered severely from the gas 

 and exposure on that occasion. Notwithstanding this drawback, his 

 show-house, .50 feet long by 20 wide, was very gay when we visited it last 

 week. The centre was tilled with a mass of various-coloured blooms, 

 whilst all along the side shelves were ranged excellent specimens of 

 Christine, Golden Christine, Alfred Salter, Oliver Cromwell, General 

 Bainbrigge, Bernard Palissy. and others, together with Pompons 

 Cedo Nnlli, General Canrobert, Mr. Wyness, itc. There were also 

 several tine standard Pompons, among which Bob was remarkable for 

 the tine mass of bloom which it presented ; Firefly, a scarlet Ane- 

 mone, was also very striking, besides which there were Cedo Nulli, 

 Jliss Nightingale, another fine Anemone variety, blush, with a white 

 centre, and several others grown in the same way, and proving very 

 effective. -Among the new large-flowering kinds were Virgin Queen, 

 perhaps the purest of all whites ; Prince of Wales, with magnificent 

 blooms ; Sam WeUer ; Venus, very beautiful : Mr. Bninlees : Lady 

 Carey ; Golden Dr. Brock, a very fine bright golden yellow : Golden 

 Ball, another remarkably fine variety : Eve, a pretty sulphur ; Albert 

 Helyer, a large rosy purple ; King of Denmark, a fine rosy lilac ; 

 Mr. Wj-ness, amaranth ; Banuncnlus ; Lady Carey ; Mrs. Kaines ; 

 Pink Pearl ; Blanche of Castile ; Prince of Anemones, large, lilac 

 blush : and Miss Margaret, a fine pure white Anemone variety. Of 

 older kinds. BeUa Donna, St. Patrick, Bouquet de Fleurs, Jardin des 

 Plantes, Gluck, Orange Perfection, Nonpareil, General Slade, Oliver 

 Cromwell, and many others, were verj- fine. Among Pompons were 

 White Trevenna, a great acquisition, and Golden Aurore, a fine 

 golden sport of Aurore Boreale. 



Besides Chrysanthemums, Mr. Forsyth is an extensive grower of 

 bedding plants, and his pits and other glass structures are just now 

 crammed with a large and healthy stock of these. There is a large 

 stock of Christine. Stella, Alma, Mrs. Pollock, and other popular bed- 

 ding Geraniums, Verbenas, Aurea floribunda Calceolarias, Lobelias, 

 Cinerarias and Mignonette coming into bloom. Intermediate Stocks, 

 itc. Altogether the area covered with glass amounts, we are informed, 

 to nearly an acre, and this extent is likely to be considerably in- 

 creased next year. However, the great attraction is the Chrysan- 

 themums, and to see these in good condition there is no time to be lost. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 

 I THAXE your correspondents, Mr. Boss and Mr. Bead, fer 

 their jeport at page 421 on the rainfall of their respective 

 districts, in both of which it was short of the quantity that 

 was registered here in October. I find from Mr. Symons's 

 monthly register of rainfall that there are only two or three 

 stations in the kingdom at which so large a quantity has been 

 recorded ; and I should have felt imcertain whether some error 

 had not crept into my report had not that report been in a great 

 measure confirmed by the registers of others only a few miles 

 from here. A person living five mUes off records 9.28 inches, 

 while in an opposite direction, but somewhat farther off, 

 7.86 inches are said to have fallen, the gentleman who reports 

 it having for many years done so with great accuracy. At Ash- 

 ford, about twenty miles from here, 10.45 inches were stated to 

 have faUen during October and the first day in November; 

 whUe at another place only four miles from us but 5.20 inches 

 are said to have fallen. These discrepancies can only be ac- 

 counted for by the fact that much of the rain that feU had the 

 appearance of thunder showers, and these might easily fall 

 more plentifully at one place than another. It is most pro- 

 bable that not more than 7 inches fell as a general average over 

 the county, otherwise the floods would have been higher than 



