February 20, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKB AND COTTAGE GAEDKNER. 



143 



thing obscure iii tho summary of tlie privileges of the Fellows it shoold 

 be made plain ; auil then, in virtue of his office as President, nominated 

 Earl Grosvenor, M.P., Lord H. Leunos. M.P., W. W. Saunders, Esq., 

 and J. Bateman, Esq., Vice-Presidents for the ensuing year. 



A vote of thanks was then unanimously passed, on the motion of 

 Mr. Bowring, to his Grace the Chairman and tho rest of tho Council. 



At the Meeting on Saturday, tho 17th inst., there was a much larger 

 display of flowers, fraits, and" vegetables than has been exhibited on 

 any former occasion. It is quite evident that these meetings ai-e ac- 

 quiring a large amount of favour, and go on improving as the season 

 advances. 



Messrs. Cutbush & Son, of Highgate, had a beautiful show of forced 

 flowers, consisting of tho Convallarias exhibited last week, inter- 

 spersed with Magnolia Soulangeana, Berberis japonica. Azaleas, Rho- 

 dodenih-ons, Dielytra, Pronns sinensis, &c. This received tho first 

 prize. 



Mr. E. Robinson, gardener to R. Benyon, Esq., Reading, sent a very 

 meritorious exliibition, consisting of eleven beantrfuUy-groivn plants 

 in pots of Otaheite Oranges, laden with fruit. Although tho largest of 

 them was not 18 inches high, some of the plants bore as many as 

 foui'teen large full-sized Oranges, and the whole formed a very orna- 

 mental gi'oup. We cannot conceive anything better adapted to the 

 ornament of the dinner table than such plants as these of Mr. Robin- 

 sou's — 110 fruit in all. All honour to Mi-. Robinson. An extra first 

 prize was awarded to them. 



Mrs. B. Hooke, Munster Road, Fulham, sent four pots of well-gi'own 

 Cyclamens — a mass of bloom, aud very well grown, and to which a 

 first-class certificate was awarded. 



Mr. Bartlett, of Hammersmith, again exhibited forced bnlbs, to 

 which a tirst-class certificate was awarded. 



Messrs. Cutbush & Son sent a collection of forced Hyacinths, Tu- 

 lips, and Polyanthus Narcissus, to which a second prize was awarded. 

 They also exhibited a beautiful collection of twelve Hyacinths, which 

 received a third prize ; and a collection of Crocus, which was awarded 

 a first-class certificate. 



Mr. Young, gardener to Mrs. Barclay, Highgate, sent a collection of 

 five Draca-nas — Cooperi, ferrea variegata, terminalig, marginata, and 

 ferrea, which received a first-class certificate. 



Mr. Earley, gardener to Felix Pryor, Esq., sent a pot of the lovely 

 little Scilla bifolia, and a good specimen in balloon shape of Francis- 

 cea eximia, which received a first-class certificate. He also exhibited 

 an excellent collection of vegetables, which received the first prize. 



Ml-. H. Beasley, gardener' to Mr. T. Wood, Twyford Abbey, Acton, 

 received a second prize for a smaller collection ; and Mr. Earley re- 

 ceived a third prize for six dishes of Apples. 



Messrs. Lucking received a first-class certificate for forced flowers. 



T.VBLE DEC0RATI^^3 PLANTS. 



As tahle plants are noiv, like crinoline, among the accepted 

 by Fashion, though, unlike crinoline, they are oi-namental ami 

 not inconvenient, it may not be out of place to say a feiv words 

 in this Journal about some which experience has taught to be 

 among the best. 



Feens come foremost. When I say Perns, I allude to 

 moderately large plants of the gold aud silver varieties. For 

 instance, nothing can present a more beautiful or graceful 

 appearance on the dinner-table than a plant or plants of the 

 Gymnogramma peruviana or G. Wetenhalliana, and amongst 

 the golden varieties Gymnogramma Laucheana, G. sulphurea, 

 and G. chrysophylla. I have seen these used extensively on 

 the table of that great lover of horticulture, J. L. Naper, 

 Esq., of Loughcrew, and as they are gro\vn by Mr. Burns, Mr. 

 Naper's gardener (who, by-the-by, is quite an enthusiast in 

 growing Fernsj, nothing can present a more rich and graceful 

 appearance. 



I have also seen Mr. Burns use Marantas -vittata, omata, 

 regalis, albo-lineata, zebriua, and Warsczewiczii, with very 

 successful effect. 



He also uses different varieties of Dracjena with good effect 

 on the side table — Dracajnas reflexa, ferrea, stricta, and ter- 

 minahs. 



For tho breakfast-table, in shallow low vases, Eriocnema 

 mai-morea, Eranthemnm rubrovennm, and several others, which 

 at some futm-e time I may mention, have a good effect.— E. M. 

 (To be continued.) 



send them local lists, notes of localities, or any information 

 connected with the subject; in the case of rare, critical, or 

 doubtful species, the loan of specimens mil be very acceptable. 

 Dr. Trimen's address is 71, Guildford Street, EusseU Square^ 

 Loudon, W.O. ; Mr. Thiselton Dyer's, Christ Church, Oxford. 



HANUM FRUIT. 



I HOPE that in the course of tho summer we shall learn the 

 botanical name of the fruit of which Mr. Wanklyn has given 

 us (page 12(j) so interesting a description. If it wore not pre- 

 mature and idle to give a guess, I should think it likely to be 

 Cucumis dudaim, called also Cueumis odoratissimus, first cul- 

 tivated in England a.d. 1705.— G. S. 



[We think you are right in your surmise. Mr. Wanklyn'g 

 further description of the plant in a private letter very closely 

 agrees with the description in DUIenius's " Hortus Eltham- 

 eusis." Mr. Wanklyn also sent us a leaf which agrees with 

 the engraving in Dillenius.] 



Botany of Middlesex. — Dr. Henry Trimen aud Mr. W. 

 Thiselton Dyer are collecting materials for a Flora of the 

 county of Middlesex, on the plan of the Cambridgeshire and 

 Essex Floras. They will feel indebted to botanists who will 



OAK IN THE COAL F0R:\IATI0N. 



Knowing the interest you and the readers of your valuable 

 paper take in all sorts of natural curiosities, &c., I am led to 

 send you a very brief account of a log of Oak taken out of a 

 seam of smut or coal on Gresley Common, Derbyshire. The 

 log is about feet long aud 18 inches iu diameter, partially 

 decayed through the middle, but otherwise perfectly sound, 

 and the grain very beautiful, capable of taking a high polish, 

 and very black in colour. A gentleman in the neighbour- 

 hood, who has for many years studied geology, and is con- 

 sidered an authority on such subjects, has seen it, also the 

 place from whence dug. I quote some paragraphs from his 

 letter, as giving a better description than I could. He says, 

 " The fact is a very interesting one, much more so, indeed, 

 than I expected to have found it." " The tree must, indeed, be 

 one of the most ancient of Oaks, for it could only have reached 

 the situation in which it was found by being floated in the 

 water or frozen iu the ice, by one of which agencies the clay 

 drift was deposited. This puts back the date to that of the 

 existence of the mammoth and other extinct animals," &c. 

 " I should put yom- Oak back to a date long anterior to the 

 deposit of the so-called bog Oak, found in low-lying swamps." 

 " The discovery of tho tree will, most probably, form the sub- 

 ject of a paper at the next meeting of the Midland Scientific 

 Association," held on the STth inst. 



I shall be most happy to show the tree to any of the readers 

 of "our Journal" who may think it worth a journey to the 

 Pool Works, Gresley Common, near Burton- on- Trent. — Hekkx 

 D. Ensoe. 



PARADISE AND QUINCE STOCKS. 



I SEE at page 121 of the Journal for February 13th a Mr. 

 Pearson has been somewhat " astonished" at my recommend- 

 ing people to plant Apple trees on paraiHse stocks — i. e., 

 " Pomme Paradis." He goes on to tell us that he was " struck " 

 with the pretty little trees he saw growing near Paris, and he 

 ordered several thousands of the stock with whicli to astonish 

 the people of Notts ; but the " severe winter " killed more than 

 half, and be burned the other half, or the summer did so for 

 him — sad extremes of heat and cold they must h.ave iu his ilk. 



I ask you, as coinciding judges, if you or he know anything 

 about the severity of a Parisian winter as compared with one 

 in Notts ? I have known winters at Paris destroy trees o£ 

 large diameter ; and Laurels, Laurustinus, &c., are, or were 

 when I was in Paris, rather sparse, as well as many other 

 things that thrive in our blessed isle. I never saw a Pommier 

 Paradis hurt by frost, and I ask French nurserymen, M. Leroy 

 of Angers for example, whether they consider the said offend- 

 ing stock tender ? I would also ask the nurserymen of Scot- 

 land what they have to say about it ? — Messrs. Imrie, of Ayr ; 

 Messrs. Dickson & Turnbiill, of Brechin, aud others north of 

 the Tay, who use the stock in question, I believe, largely. 



I can say myself that in 1860-1861, I lost thousands of trees 

 by frost, amongst them more than five hundred liingston Black 

 Apple ; and, apropos, this is a physiological question as re- 

 gards canker, not yet taken proper account of, but of this 

 another time. Although I lost so many other kinds of Apples 

 and Pears by frost, I do not think that one of my paradise 



