diO 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



(. Utrch 37, 18G6. 



torest. A >^maU standard Wistaria in excellent bloom came, in ad- 

 dition, from the Society's Chiswick Garden. 



Fbutt CoMinrTKK. — G. F. Wilsou. Esq., F.R.S., in the cbair. The 

 only subjects cxlubit«d vero Black Alicaut«, Muscat of Alexandria, 

 and Lady Downe's Grapes, of which excellent bunches came from Mr. 

 Tillyard. gardener to J. Kelk, Esw]., M.P., Stanmoro Prion,-. They 

 were in very tine condition, and excellent in flaronr. A special cer- 

 tificate was awarded them. 



Scientific Meeting. — Lord H. Gordon Lennox, M.P., in the chair- 

 The award*; of the Committees having been announced, the Rev. 

 M. J. Berkeley made some remarks on the subjects exhibited. The 

 distinguishing features on this occasion were, he said, the Amherntia 

 nobilis and tlio collections of Orchids, but of these Mr. Bateman would 

 epeak. Attention was then directed to Odontoglossnm luteo-pnrpnrenm, 

 exhibited by Messrs. Backliousc ; and O. hystrix. notwithstanding the 

 difference in the spikes and leaves, was stated to be merely a variety 

 of it. Mr. Berkeley then read a letter from a gentleman, whose name 

 was withheld lest the locality being disclosed collectors might divest it 

 of the plants, stating that in his neighbonrhood the Lizard Orchis 

 (Orchis hircina) attained great perfection, and in proof instancing one 

 near his house which had a spike 31 1 inches in height, bearing fifty 

 perfect lizards. Chinese Primulas next came under notice, particu- i 

 larly a double Fern-leaved variety : and the stmctnreof donble-flower- I 

 ing Primulas being a matter of considerable interest, a paper on the i 

 subject would probably appear in the " Proceedings." As an instance 

 of fie abnormal production of flowers, a ca<-e was cited in which Clarkia 

 elegans was fonnd to liavo produced a perf^^ct flower from the side of a i 

 petal. Of Sonchus platylipis, from Mr. Wilson Saunders, it was re- j 

 marked that it appeared ptrculiurly favourablu to the growth of the ' 

 j^rasitieal Orobanchc minor, which, when once established on the 

 Sonchus, was very difficult to eradicate. Cultivators experienced I 

 great difficulty in endeavouring to grow parasitical plants, but if it i 

 were once known which were the plants mort favourable to the ; 

 growth of partirular parasites, tlie cultivation of these would be much I 

 facilitated. Chloranthus inconspicnus was mentioned as being very } 

 cnrious in respect to the structure of the flowers, and Dammara ■ 

 Moorei, from New Caledonia, as an elegant plant for table decoration. I 

 A section of a branch of Pinus Lambertiana. from a tree recently cut j 

 down in the course of the improvements at the Society's Chiswick j 

 Garden, was next exhibited. The branch from which it was cut was i 

 pendulous, and then grew erect, and it was remarkable that the dis- 

 tance from the pith to the outside was only Ih inch on the upper side, 

 bnt as much as 8| inches on the lower one, being a difference in the 

 thickness of the woody deposit of 7 inches. This result was partly to 

 be accounted for by the gravitation of the sap. but there were other 

 circumstances as well that might exert an influence in causing the 

 great inequality in the thickness of the woody layers on the two 

 sides. A little mollusc, which had attacked Mr. Wilson's Cucumber 

 plants at Weybridge, then occupied attention. This was found to bo 

 identical with Bulimus Goodallii, a native of the West Indies, al- 

 thongh of larger size than the specimens which had for some years ex- 

 isted at a Bristol nursery. It was there mostly fonnd at the bottoms 

 of the Pine-pots, but did not attack the roots : in the case of the Cu- 

 cumber-plants, on the conti*ary. it had proved troublesome, and not- 

 withstanding that the house had been thoroughly cleaned and white- i 

 washed, and the old soil removed and replaced with fresh, this little ! 

 snail was as plentiful as ever. Mr. Gwyn Jefifreys. to whom speci- i 

 mens were shown, was surprised to hear of its attacking Cacumber- ' 

 plants, as the species is considered to be carnivorous, but several in- ' 

 stances were taiown of carnivorous molluscs becoming herbivorous. 

 and vice versd. Mr. Berkeley then read a letter from M. Nandin, of 

 Paris, stating that he had found Cncurbita melanosperma, an annual 

 at Paris, perennial at Hvires. There was a plant there, five years 

 old, which had a hard stem upwards of tO yards in length, and even i 

 then its growth was not complete. The difficulty experienced in grow- | 

 ing some kinds of Gonrd in this country was an interesting point in ' 

 the theorj- of horticulture, for although the summer temperature at I 

 London was nearly as high as that of Paris, yet Gourds were found 

 to thrive better at Paris than near London, whilst at Bordeaux, though 

 warmer than Paris, they were not grown so successfully as at the 

 latter place. The explanation of this was probably to be found in the 

 sky being clearer at the one place than the other, hence that light was : 

 as important to their ripening as heat. 



The Chairman in calling upon Mr. Bateman to address the meeting | 

 on that plant which had been called the pride of Bnrmah — the Am- 

 herstia, said that Mr. Bateman required no introdnotion from him, as 

 that gentlemen hml contributed so mnch to the success of the fort- 

 nightly meetings. 



Mr. Bateman said that before dealing with the most attractive ob- 

 ject in the room — the Amherstia. and the Orchid^;, which were his 

 nsnalprovincp. he would direct attention to an outsider — nz.. Andro- 

 meda floribunda. a plant which in the last few years hid risen rapidly 

 into favour. It shonld be known, however, tliat it was most poisonons 

 to cattle. His first suspicion of its being so was awakened two years 

 ago, when a goat at Biddnlph (Jrange was seixed mth what appeared 

 to be an epileptic fit, and in the foaming-i from the mouth ho saw 

 some leaves suspended : bnt a short time ago, however, two cows be- 

 longing to a neighbouring fanner were taken ill with what was snp- 

 p<>sed to be the cattle plagae, and one of them died. On examination 



it was fonnd that she had eaten some withered leaves of the Andro- 

 meda, whirh had formed part of some schonl decorationii that had been 

 incautiously thrown away within the reach of the animals. Wln-tber 

 dead or alive, no jwrtion of the plant should ever Ik; within the reach 

 of cuttle. He did not wish to disconrage the cultivation of the plant, but 

 only to inculcate caution as to where it was planted, for it had proved 

 hardier even than the Oak, and the flowers, though formed before 

 winter, refuse to expand till spring. Next with reference to Orchids 

 Jlr. Bateman remarked that Odoutoglos^um radiatum of lleichenbnch. 

 and O. hystrix, named by himself, must, he thought, be merged in 

 O. Inti'o-pnrparenm of Lindlcy. The disadvantages under which those 

 who first describe new Orchids, often from wr-'t^hed specimens, 

 labour were then referred to. and as an illufitratixu of the develop- 

 ment of such Orchids under cultivation, he held up a small plant of 

 Dendrobium luteolum, newly imiwrted, and a fine spike grown by Mr. 

 Anderson, gardener to T. Dawson. Eh<j., of Meadow Bank, near Glas- 

 gow, where there existed a remarkably fine collection of Orchids. 

 Among others there was there a perfectly white varietv of Lycast« 

 Sldnneri Odontoglo?sum Alexandra-, exhibited by Mr. Kobson. gar- 

 dener to G. Cooper, Esq.. was small, but there was one at Mr. Patter- 

 son's, near Glasgow, with seven flowers on it. O. Blnntii, was ap- 

 parently only a variety, for it had been impossible to discover any 

 specific difference between it and O. .\lexandnp. Attention was next 

 directed to the fine example of Dendrobium speciosum. from W. W. 

 Buller, Esq.. and thongh the species had been long known in this 

 country, it was, said Mr. Bateman, evidently !^till one of the finest, 

 and he called upon Mr. Bnller to state the mode of cultivation which 

 he had adopted. 



Mr. Buller said he had grown it in a warm greenhouse where Ge- 

 raniums were kept, and the only secret in its cultivation, he believed, 

 was not to shade it at all. -Sfr. Buller added that D. Hillii, which he 

 had recently seen at Kew. appeared identical with speciosum, bnt the 

 latter grew on rocks, the former on trees. 



Mr. Bateman. in continuing his observations on the Orchids, said in 

 reference to one exhibited as Dendrobium macropbyllum. that a large * 

 variety of this had. till the last few years, gone under the name of 

 D. anosmnm. but that which had been called D. Da5%ium. introduced 

 by Messrs. Low. was the true anosmnm. Attention was then drawn 

 to a cut spike of Angnecum ebnmeum, which had been in bloom since 

 Christmas, and of which the beanty had only begun to wane. 



The next subject was the special one of the day. Amherstia nobilis. 

 Of this Mr. Bateman remarked, that his acquaintance with it began at 

 a very early age, for he remembered reading, when a boy, a newspaper 

 paragraph to the effect that a wonderful flower had been distovered. 

 Little did he then think that forty years afterwards he shonld have 

 been called upon to speak of that very plant. The paragraph to which 

 he referred appeared about the year 1S2.5. Two or three years later, 

 when at Oxford, he was surprised on opening WaUich's '' PlantiP 

 Asiaticflp Rariores," to find that the first plate was a representation of 

 that very plant. ''The plates of it in this work, also one by Mr. Fitch, 

 of the plant flowered at Mrs. Lawrence's,^ in 1810, were exhibited.] 

 The history of its discovery and introduction was this. Somenunonrs 

 had reached Dr. WaUich's ears from a Mr. Crawford, respecting a tree 

 which had been seen in the garden of a monastery on the River Salnen, 

 in the pro\-ince of Martaban, and some of the flowers of it were sent to 

 Dr. Wallich. The latter took the earliest opportunity to visit the 

 locality, and when he came to the garden of the monastery, he was sur- 

 prised to see a tree 40 feet high, l>earing long pendant clusters of ver- 

 milion-coloured blossoms, such as those exhibited before the meeting 

 by Mr. Taplin. He also observed that the flower >vas greatly prized 

 bv the natives, being found by handsful before the gloomy images of 

 Buddha. Ten years elapsed before any other notice was taken of the 

 plant, and up to* 1835 no living plant had been seen in Europe. That 

 time was a memorable one in the annals of horticulture, for then the 

 Horticultural Society's collectors were ransacking the world ; then Dr. 

 Lindley and Sir William Hooker were in theii- prime ; and then, too, 

 was in his prime the late Duke of Devonshire, who detcrmimd cot'ite 

 fj}ie route, he would have the Amherstia. and he sent Mr. Gibson, now 

 of Battersea Park, to 1 ring it and certiiin Orcliid-i over. Mr. Gibson 

 succeeded in brintring home, in 18.^7. a liring plant, and a house was 

 specially prepared for its reception : but unfortunately at that time 

 the process of kyanising had jnst been discovered, and thongh known 

 to preserve wood, it had not then been also discovered that it had just 

 the contran.- effect as regards growing plants. It was. then, placed in 

 a kvanised tub. and vear by year grew worse and worse, and seemed 

 so likely to perish that Sir Joseph Paxton had determined to send 

 some one to India to introduce another plant, and was just on the 

 point of carrying that determination into execution when the evil 

 effects of kvanised timber on plants were found out, and the plant was 

 removed from its tub, and thenceforth it began to flourish. Although, 

 however, the Dnke of Devonshire was tho first to introduce the Am- 

 herstia. he was not the first to flower it. for Mrs. Lawrence, of Kaling 

 Park, in lSi9 had the honour of pre-euting to Her ilajesty a bouqnet 

 from a plant sent home to her by Lord Ilardiuge. Since that time the 

 flowers of the .\mherstia had not been seen, till happening to be at a 

 soirrc of the Manchester Field Naturalists, he found a spike there, and 

 he was infoi-med by Mr. Taplin. the Duke of Devonshire's gardener at 

 Chatsworth. tbat it was the last of fifty or sixty racemes that the tree 

 had produced this year. Mr. Bateman "added, that the present Dnke is 

 so charmed with hisjrroUg^^ tbat he is going to enlarge tlie honse, aaad 



