AppU 10, 1866. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



273 



E. Oates, Esq., Hanwell. were awarded prizes in the order in which 

 the exhibitors are named. Thouj,'U not large, all the plants were in 

 excellent condition. B. riciuifolia macalata. was noticeable for its 

 deeply-cat foliage of a deep velvety gi-een on a paler ground, and 

 Madame Albert and Madame Oldham as having fine silvery markings. 

 Messrs. F. it' A. Smith contxibnted half a dozen plants of Erica Will- 

 morei in good bloom. Miscellaneous collections of fine-foliaged and 

 tlowering plants from the same. Mr. Williams, and Mr. Wheeler, com- 

 prised Dicksonia antartica. Alocasia metallica. Pandanuses, Erioste- 

 mons. Azaleas. Heaths, Acacias. Cytisns, itc. ; and from Mr. Williams 

 we noticed excellent plants of Cordyline indivisa. the variegated Aloe- 

 leaved Yucca, and Hedaroma Hookeri in very good bloom. Mr. William 

 Paul had likewise a miscellaneouscollection. consistingof broad-leaved 

 Kalmias, Dentzias, double-tiowering Peaches, and Rhododendrons, 

 among which Bylsiaunm and Ponssin were very bright and attractive, 

 and Fa£tuosum was blooming very freely. Rhododendrons, dwarf 

 plants, in small pots, and in fiue bloom, also came from Messrs. Lane. 



Collections of Cinerarias in good bloom were furnished by Mr. .James, 

 gardener to W. Watson, Esq.. Isleworth ; Mr. Cox, gardener to Capt. 

 Cahill, Southall; Mr. Miu-cham ; Mr. Clarke, Whitton, and Mr. 

 Beech, gardener to W. Rogers. Esq., Redhill. Several seedlings were 

 also exiibited ; by far the best was Perfection from Messrs. F. & A. 

 Smith, which received a first-class certificate. It is of a rich violet 

 purple, with a nan-ow ring of crimson at the base of the ray florets, 

 ■and a nan-ow ring of white round the disk. It is a very large and 

 showy variety, and a decided acquisition. 



A small collection of Amaryllis was exhibited by Mr. Young, and a 

 dozen Gloxinias, chiefly erect-flowering, came from Mr. Balleuger, gar- 

 dener to F. Shadbolt, Esq., Highgate. Messrs. E. G. Henderson con- 

 tributed a collection of Cyclamen persicnm, beantifuUy grown and 

 bloomed, and the same remark applies to a dozen pots of Lily of the 

 Valley from Mr. William Paul, who also exhibited Zouale Pelargo- 

 nium Rebecca, remarkable for its fine, large, rosy scarlet flowers, and 

 breadth of petal. X tii'st-class certificate was awarded for it. Messrs. 

 E. G. Henderson, in addition to the Cyclamens already noticed, had a 

 collection of tricolor-leaved and variegated Geraniums, Sunset and 

 Sophia Cusack being two of the most beautiful of the former ; and 

 the variegated Cyuosorus, noticed in another column, was also again 

 produced. 



Of Roses Messi-s. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt. showed four boxes of 

 cut blooms, conspicuous among which were Teas Marechal Niel in 

 great beauty, Gloii-e de Dijon, and Ro.sea alba, and Hybrid Perpetuals 

 .John Hopper, Seuateur Vaisse, Lord Clyde, Lord Raglan, Beauty of 

 Waltham. Pierre Notting. and Piincess Mai-y of Cambridge. Of other 

 subjects hardy British Feras were shown by Messrs. Ivery and Mr. 

 Bull, those from the former comprising a nice Wardian case of Tri- 

 chomanes l"adicans ; and among those from Mr. Bull were very good 

 examples of Hymenophyllum tunbridgense and Trichomanes speciosum. 

 Mr. Bull also contributed a variety of novelties, and received a fir.st-class 

 oei-tificate for Maranta spleudida. and second-class ones for DieJfenba- 

 chia gigantea, and Aspidistra Siebnl.lii, with dark gi-een foliage broadly 

 striped with pale yellow, one half of the leaf being sometimes entirely 

 yellow, and the other half gi-cen. Other plants were the pretty yellow- 

 flowered Berberis stenophylla. Psychotria macrocephala. with ample 

 deep-green foliage, and heads of white flowers : and Meyeuia Vogeliana, 

 violet, with a yellow thi'oat. Imantophyllum miuiatum superbum in 

 excellent bloom, and a leaf of Coccoloba pubescens, about 3 feet 

 across, were also shown by the same exhibitor. 



Awards: — For Cinerarias (.Vmateurs) : iii-st, Mr. .lames; second, 

 3VIr. Cox ; third, Mr. Marcham. (Xurseryuien) : fii-st. Mr. Clarke. 

 For Amaryllis : first, Mr. Young. For LUy of the Valley : iii-st. Mr. 

 W. Paul. For Biitish Ferns : first. Messrs. Ivery : second, Mr. Bull. 

 For Miscellaneous Floweiing and Fine-foliaged Plants : first, Mr. 

 Williams ; second, Mr. Wheeler : third, Messrs. F. & A. Smith. 

 Miscellaneous : Silver Medal to Messi-s. Lane, for Azaleas. Small 

 Silver Medal to Messrs. Lane, for Rhododendrons ; Messrs. Paul and 

 Son, for cut Roses ; Mr. W. Paul, for Miscellaneous Plants : Messrs. 

 E. G. Henderson, for Cyclamens. Bronze, Mr. BaUenger, for 

 Gloxinias. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES— LINTON PARK. 



Water ! water ! the very name of which last September had 

 so refreshing a sound, threatens now to deluge us with its 

 abundance. Eain, varied by sleet, or now and then falls of 

 snow, has so far soaked the ground as to apparently leave no 

 room for more to be absorbed ; and, consequently, our rivers 

 and streams become flooded with only a fraction of the rain- 

 fall that would be required after a period of dry weather in the 

 latter part of summer, the thirsty ground at that time swallow- 

 ing up more rain than I have ever known faU in one day in this 

 district. Saturated, however, as the ground now is (March), 

 a small quantity will suffice to make an impression on our 

 streams. 



Mr. Perkins's record of the rainfall of Suffolk bears a great 

 resemblance to that of the place from which I write, only we 

 have had somewhat more rain in the seasons he notices, and 

 the present year has been unusually wet also. Subjoined I 



give a table of the monthly rainfall of 1858, 1860, 1864, and 

 1«6.5, the figures denoting the fall in inches and hundredth 

 parts of an inch : — 



January . . . . 

 February . . . 



March 



-A.pril 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September.. 



October 



November . . 

 December . . 



I95S. 

 0.79 

 0.77 

 0.80 

 1.93 

 2.16 

 0.67 

 2.69 

 1.20 

 1.19 

 1.45 

 0.77 

 1.01 



1%.-.. 

 4.48 

 2.49 

 2.14 

 0.38 

 2.89 

 1.17 

 3.48 

 5.28 

 0.08 

 8.04 

 2.74 

 1.93 



1868. 

 3.83 

 4.55 



Total 16.38 83.66 21.25 35.08 



By the above it will be seen that more rain fell last year than 

 in 1860, the wet year as it is called ; but the fall was better dis- 

 tributed, and accompanied by a much greater amount of heat 

 than usual, and besides that, the rain that fell in the summer 

 months came down in something like a succession of thunder 

 showers, withintervals of bright weather between. Tso evil effects 

 followed it« during the months of July and August, when we 

 had such a plentiful supply. September and October were, 

 however, the most remarkable months, the former being the 

 driest and the latter the wettest I have any record of ; in fact, 

 from the •24th of August to the 8th of October only 0.08 inch 

 of rain fell, and the heat dm-ing the first twenty days of Sep- 

 tember, taking both night and day together, exceeded that of 

 any like consecutive number of days since 18.57. Eain, how- 

 ever, set in on the 9th of October for two or three days, but the 

 wet period did not commence until the 18th, from which time 

 to the end of the month upwards of fij inches fell, being fully 

 half an inch a-day. November and December were mild, and 

 more remarkable for dull, drizzling rain than for any heavy fall. 

 January and February of the present year have, however, been 

 unusually wet, the latter month especially so ; for here, taking 

 the average of ten years prior to 1865, February is the driest 

 month of the year, and September the, wettest. The rainfall 

 of the last three months of 1865, and first two of the present 

 year, has been excessive ; but of snow we have not had much, 

 neither have the sharpest frosts produced ice more than half 

 an inch thick ; still the many changes, combined with some 

 sUght frosts about the end of February, destroyed many plants 

 that withstand a mild winter. Eetuming to the meteorology 

 of 1865, I may say that January was wet and changeable ; 

 February cold, with frequent slight falls of snow ; March also 

 cold ; but .\pril very warm, dry, and fair, only one frosty night 

 being recorded — a most unusual circumstance. lu May there 

 were three frosts, and on the whole it was a favourable month. 

 June was very diT, no rain falling from the 3rd to the 29th. 

 July was a showery and growing month ; August equally so up 

 to the 24th, after which it was dry and hot, the drought con- 

 tinuing throughout September and up to the 9th of October, 

 when three wet days were followed by four or five fine ones, 

 and then the rest were all wet. November and December were 

 mild. dull, and wet, with scarcely any frost — so little, in fact, 

 that Geraniums out of doors were quite fresh up to the 11th of 

 January of the present year, when a rather heavy snowstorm 

 and two nights' frost destroyed them. High winds have been 

 frequent during the winter, and during the summer of last 

 year we had very little thunder. 



To all interested iu the amount of rainfall in the different 

 parts of Great Britain, I would recommend a perusal of Mr. 

 Symons's --Eainfall for 186.5," and former years. That for last 

 year gives upwards of one thousand stations in the United King- 

 dom, and, of course, there is a considerable difference amongst 

 them ; but, as a general rule, the western parts of the king- 

 dom are wetter than the eastern, the driest of all being Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk. At certain stations on the Cumberland hUls, 

 in some years as much as half an inch a-day is recorded for 

 the whole year, and on some occasions even inches have 

 fallen in one day, and upwards of 15 inches in four consecutive 

 days. At none of the Scotch stations, although similarly 

 placed as to elevation, &e., does the amount approach this. 



For the information of those who take an interest in other 

 meteorological observations besides those of rainfall, I may add 

 that the prevailing winds during the past year at this place, as 

 noticed at noon each day, have been from the south and south- 

 west ; for, taking the eight cardinal points as they come, the wind 

 has been as follows : — East, 28 days ; south-east, 45 ; south, 

 59 ; south-west, 74 ; west, 36 ; north-west, 29 ; north, 35 ; 

 north-east, 55 ; and four days were not ascertained. The nnm- 



