March 13, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



197 



the late Mr. Beaton, when he was so strongly advocating the 

 sand-and-water system o£ propagating, and it was the most suc- 

 cessful I ever saw before or since. Now living, however, near 

 a town where castings of any description can be had, I made 

 a sketch of what I wanted, gave it to Mr. Birtwhistle, and he 

 quickly ,made a pattern which was sent to the foundry, and 

 in a short time, not more than a fortnight from the time the 

 idea sugge sted ■itself, up came my propagating-pans. They 

 are 2 feet wide at the top, and about 13 inches wide at the 

 bottom, 8 inches deep, aud 10 feet long. Very shortly I wiU 

 give an open section of the end of the house, showing the 

 position of the propagating-pans when fixed, the method of 

 working them, &o. I have also had a lot of iron slabs cast for 

 covering flue tops ; these answer remarkably well, they will 

 throw off a large amount of heat with one-fifth of the firing 

 that it takes to heat a flue covered with ordinary tUes, and I 

 am not sure whether they wUl not supersede hot-water pipes 

 in many cases. — J. Wills. 



(To be continued.) 



ROYAL HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



March 6th. 



pLOEAii Committee. — The unfarourable state of the weather had 

 its effect at this meeting, both in respect to the number of visitors and 

 that of the plants sent for exhibition. The exceedingly cold atmo- 

 sphere made exhibitors veiy caatious in sending their plants, but, not- 

 withstanding, there were many good things to be seen. Major Trevor 

 Clarke sent a specimen of Coburgia miniata, an old plant, not often 

 aeen in bloom, producing a head of handsome, tubular, red tlowera, 

 'S inches long, the segmeuts of the mouth of the tube marked with 

 dark green ; a special certihcate was awarded it. Mr. Daniels, Sivyn- 

 combe House, Henley-on-Thames, contributed cut specimens of a 

 new Bougainvillfea, named splendens, brighter and more intense in 

 colour than speciosa and glabra, and an earlier- fioweriug vaiiety. 

 From a note sent with it, it appears that with this aud the other Bou- 

 gainvillieas a succession of blooms of these decorative plants may be 

 had throughout the year. A first-class certificate was awarded. 



Messrs. Lee, Hammersmith, exhibited eight fine plants of Aucuba 

 japouica variegata, bearing clusters of handsome scarlet berries. A 

 special certificate was awarded them. J. Batemau, Esq., sent cut 

 specimens of Orchids for distribution, and for these a special certifi- 

 cate was also awarded. Rev. G. Cheere, Papworth HaU, sent two 

 large pots of Anna Boleyn Pink in full flower, for which a special cer- 

 tificate was awarded on account of meritorious culture. Mr. Young, 

 gardener to Mrs. Barclay, Highgate, sent a large specimen of Oucidium 

 sphacelatum ; and Mr. Veitch a new Lycaste from Guatemala, supposed 

 to be a good variety of L. Deppei; also Ulicium religiosum, an old 

 plant producing pale yellow tiowers. From Messrs. Garaway came 

 cut specimens of Amaryllis — viz., Ariel, a pale variety with broad 

 white bands, and Mii-anda, a deep red. 



Messrs. E. G. Henderson, Wellington Road, exhibited a large col- 

 lection of Cyclamens containing many varieties, some of them pro- 

 ducing semi-double flowers ; among them C. coum, and Atkinsii ru- 

 brmu and album ; these dwarf specimens covered the surface of the 

 pots with their sweet miniature flowers. A special certificate was 

 awarded them. From the same firm came Pelargonium Pink Stella, 

 very promising, but not in a condition nor at a season for its merits 

 being decided on. It was requested that it should be sent again. Mr. 

 Brown, Elmdon Hall, was awarded a fii-st-elass certificate for a cut 

 specimen of Rhododendron Aucklandii, a large handsome white flower. 



From Mr. Elliot, Lilliesholl, came a cut specimen of seedling Rhodo- 

 dendron Duchess of Sutherland ; and from Mr. AUis, Gunton Park, 

 Norwich, a cut specimen of a Rhododendron with very handsome white 

 bell-shaped tiowers, ^rith deep red markings at the base. This beau- 

 tiful specimen arrived too late to be noticed. It was subsequently de- 

 termined to be R. argenteuni. W.Wentworth BuUer. Esq.. sent cut spe- 

 cimens of hybrid Rhododendrons and Rhododendron Jenkinsii, also a 

 plant of Lselia furfuracea. an Orchid seldom seen in flower. A special 

 certificate was awarded for these interesting specimens, ilr. Pilcher, 

 gardener to S. Rucker, Esq., Wandsworth, brought twelve cut flowers 

 of Camellias, all of them tii-st-rate flowers of great beauty ; among 

 them were a superb specimen of the double Camellia reticulata, Cup 

 of Beauty, Reine des Fleurs, Lavinia Maggi, Valtevaredo, Countess of 

 Orkney, Princess Sophia, Mathotiana, Eximia, and Elegans. A spe- 

 cial certificate was awarded them — a distinction which they well 

 merited. Mr. Pilcher brought also cut specimens of two beautiful 

 Lycastes. Several plants came from the Society's gardens, among 

 them were Cattleya Trianaji var,, collected by Mr. Weir ; a well-grown 

 specimen of Dcudi-obium speciosum, to which a special certificate was 

 awarded ; and auother variety of Odontoglossum collected by Mr. Weir. 

 It is to be hoped that at the nest meeting Mr. Pilcher's example may 

 be followed, and that an opportunity will be given the Fellows to note 

 down the best varieties of Camellias in cultivation. It is not diflicult 

 to bring cut spetnmens of this beautiful flower, and it is very desir- 

 able to make it more popular. 



Fruit Committee.— The subjects exhibited on this occasion were 



few, as might be expected at this period of this season. From the 

 Rev. M. J. Berkeley's garden in Northamptonshire, came an Apple 

 supposed to be Northern Greening, but more highly coloured than 

 that sort usually is, even when long kept; and from Mr. Flemin*T, 

 Cliveden, Scarlet Nonpareil in excellent preservation, and some very 

 good Apple jelly. Mr. Christie, Avingtou House, near Winchester, 

 sent two seedling Apples, one of which, somewhat resembling Court of 

 Wick, was of very good quality, and it was requested that a greater 

 number of specimens should be sent for tasting on a future occasion. 

 Mr. H. Turbei-ville, Pilton, Barnstaple, exhibited a seedling Grape, 

 said to hang exceedingly well, but of which the Committee could form 

 no opinion from the small portion sent, and the bad condition in which 

 the berries were. 



:) 



Scientific Meeting.— W. Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.E.S., in the 

 chair. After the awai'ds of the Floral Committee had been announced 

 by the Eev. Joshua Dix, and some brief comments had been made 

 by Mr. Wilson, the Chairman of the Fruit Committee, on the snbiectB 

 brought before that body, the Kev. M. .T. Berkeley proceeded with his 

 remarks. Those who were at the last Tuesday meeting, he said, would 

 recoUect that attention was drawn to a species of Peperomia exhibited 

 by Mr. Wilson Saunders, and which was supposed to be a new species. 

 He jMr. Berkeley) had the good fortune to meet at Kew, the other 

 day, M. Casinur De CandoUe, who had particularly studied the genus 

 Peperomia, and he recognised the plant in question as being Peperomia 

 nummulai-ia;folia. Coburgia miniata, from Major Trevor Clarke, was 

 next noticed as a remarkably handsome but shy-flowei-ing bulb. Its 

 habit, Major Clarke observed in a note accompam-ing the specimen 

 shown, is to produce a profusion of offsets, and the plan which he 

 adopts to flower it is to grow it in small pots, to shift every sprints, 

 and, in order to remove the offsets as they appear, to keep the bulb 

 three-parts out of the soil. If, on the contrary, increase is wanted, 

 the bulbs are shifted into larger pots. The treatment in all other 

 respects is the same as that of the Hippeastrums, to which the Co- 

 burgias are related. Mr. Berkeley then directed attention to Lalia 

 furfuracea, from W. Wentworth Buller, Esq., a plant rarely seen in 

 flower in this country, and perfectly distinct from L. autumnalis, witk 

 which it had been compared. Among cut flowers was an Odonto- 

 glossum from New Grenada, sent home by Mr. Weu-, and which was 

 considered to be new; there was likewise a spike of Rhododendron 

 Aucklandii, and it was stated that the plant from which it was cut was 

 4 feet high, and was bearing fifteen of its magnilicent spikes of white 

 flowers. A hybrid Rhododendron from W. W. Buller, Esq., then 

 came under notice. It was stated to have been obtained from K. java- 

 nicum and R. jasminifloi-um. and to be almost if not quite the same 

 as one that had been exhibited some time ago by Mr. Veitch (Princess 

 Helena). It was a curious instance of a pink flower proceeding from 

 an orange and a white. Of IlUcium religiosum it was remarked that 

 it would probably be hardy and produce its fragrant flowers on the 

 south coast, like Pittospomm tobira, another Japanese plant, which at 

 Margate formed large bushes, but in colder parts of the country re- 

 quired the protection of a gi-eeuhouse. Bougainvillaea splendens, a 

 distinct kind, more lively in coloui' than spectabilis, was the next 

 subject to which attention was directed, and a letter was read from 

 Mr. Daniels, stating that Bougainvillaeas could now be had in bloom 

 all the year round ; for tho flowering of B. splendens commenced, with 

 the year and continued he knew not how long, that of B. spectabilis 

 was prolonged from Apiil to July, and B. glabra then commenced, and 

 continued till the end of the year. Nuttallia cerasif oi-mis, of which some 

 floweiing shoots came from the Society's gai-den, was then noticed ; 

 and Mr. Berkeley observed, that though not verj' attractive as seen 

 at the meeting, yet when he saw it a fortnight ago at Chiswick, the 

 bush had a very good appearance, and having the habit of the Eibes, 

 and flowering abundantly at the present season, it desei-ved attention. 

 After describing the structure of the flowers aud fruit, Mr. Berkeley 

 said that orders had been given to propagate the plant with the view 

 to its distribution among the Fellows of the Society. Reference was 

 next made to a cut spike of the beautiful Ehododendi'on argeuteum 

 which had been sent by Mr. Allis, of Gunton Park, near Norwich. 

 Mr. Berkeley then exhibited a highly magnified drawing of the 

 fungus which produces the formidable disease, called the muscadine, 

 which preys on the silkworm ; and as instances of other fimgi exist- 

 ing in animal tissue, he cited the caterpillar fungus of New Zea- 

 land, which is sometimes brought to this country as a curiosity, and 

 the fish moulds attacking living fish and rendering it veiy difficult 

 to presei-ve them in health at the Zoological Gardens and other places. 

 There were also fungi causing cutaneous disorders in man. His 

 object in di-awing attention to this subject was to make some remarks 

 on the supposed connection between fungi and the linderpest. Dr. 

 Beale had, in a letter which appeared in the Mtdkal Thins, stated 

 that in ail cases of riudeqjest entozooids were found to exist in the 

 voluntary muscles, and in the involuntajy muscles of the heart. Dr. 

 Cobbold, however, determined that these bodies were not animal, but 

 thought they were of the nature of Algfe ; but these ai'e not known to 

 exist in animals, though fungi are. In the same publication " A Pro- 

 rincial Physician " called attention to the fact that the fields were 

 covered last autumn with an orange-coloured rust, but though he had 

 examined the animals and found in them the spores, he did not meet 

 with a single instance in which these had germinated. Mr. Berkeley 

 expressed his opinion that it was perfectly possible that the bodies 



