Jane 13, 1866. 1 



joubnaij of hoetioultube and cottage gaedener. 



433 



but says nothing abont ajiy less quantity, it is perfectly clear 

 that no penalty could be tuforceil for planting a less quantity 

 than a rod. The Act being a penal Act must bo construed 

 Btrictly. By " strictly," I mean strictly as against the makers, 

 not the breakers, ot the law. — P. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



June 5th. 

 Floral Comhtfte'E. — The great and leading interest of this meet- 



mncli admiration ; but fine as this eihihition of Mr. Miller'* VM, it 

 was snr^iassed by that which he produced at the Regent's Part on the 

 following day. The only other frnit exhibited were ^vell-coloTiTed 

 lUmge Neitarines, shoira by Mi-. Sherratt, gardener to J. BatemoD, 

 Ks(^., iuiypurfiley, but which were not hioaght before the Conunittee. 



ing wag occasioned by the circumstance of the Messrs. Veitch, of Chel 

 sea, publicly receivint? the challenge Orchid gold medal, value £*20, 

 offered and given by .Tames Bateman, Esq. The Messrs. Veitch won 

 this medal by obtaining: the greatest number of certificates for Orchids 

 exhibited at the Tuesday meetings during the years lSfi4 and 1865. 

 Mr. Bateman remarked, when presenting the medal, that Messrs. Veitch 

 had very far exceeded any other competitor iu number of certiticates. 

 The splendid coUeciions of Orchids which have been brought from the 

 Royal Exotic Nursery on so many occasions for exhibition at the 

 Tuesday meetings, have tended gi-eatly to increase their intci-est ; and 

 every Fellow present on this day must have felt gratified at seeing 

 the award so nobly contested for given to its worthy winners. 



The Messrs. Veitch on this occasion sent twelve exquisite specimens 

 of Orchids, which received a special certificate. First-class certificates 

 ■ffere awarded to tie following plants from the same firm ;^Nepenthes 

 hyhrida ; Maranta tubispatha. a very handsome spottcd-foliaged plant ; 

 Maranta roseo-picta ; Kiempferia Roscoeana ; Amarauthus species, a 

 very promising plant for bedding-purposes, with long, narrow leaves, 

 with golden and deep red variegation — it was supposed that it would 

 prove a Celosia ; Areca Vorschoffelti, a beautifnl Palm ; tlu'ee distinct 

 Acers, marked 6, c, d. the last a very fine variety, with broad seiTated 

 foliage bordered by a delicate silver line ; Retinospora plumosa j Re- 

 linospora Veitchii ; Retinospora sp., with flat mossy-like branches; 

 Lyeopodium sp., an interesting plant, in appearance resembling a 

 small Conifer ; Gymnogramma Laucheana Thompsoni, a crested va- 

 riety. In addition to these were several interesting plants — those 

 marked with an asterisk have received first-class certificates on other 

 occasions: — A new Coleus (Gibsoni), which was requested to be sent 

 again; Palicourea discolor ; Acineta sp., a veiy beautiful Orchid, 

 spikes of pale flesh floweni, with minute spots ; 'Acer polymorphum 

 foliis dissectis roseo-marginatis ; 'Darwinia fimbriata ; •Gynerium 

 argenteum variegatum ; three seedling Amaryllis — Belle Blanchiseuse, 

 Queen of the Netherlands, and Belladonna, pale-striped varieties ; 

 and •Retinospora obtusa aureo-variegata. 



Mr. BuU exhibited Terminalia elegans, three secdUng Nephrodiums 

 from N. multifidum — molle deusnm, conflueus, and ramosissimum, and 

 Eranthemnm argjroneurum, all of which were awarded first-class 

 certificates. Athyrium Filix.fcemina pulchi-um was awarded a second- 

 class certificate ; and from the same exhibitor came also Lomaria 

 lalcata ; and Cyrtauthus obliquus (?) 



Messrs. Osborn, Fulham, exhibited cut specimens of Pmnus lusi- 

 tanica var. azorica, a very handsome hardy-flowering shrub, very 

 superior to the common Portugal Laurel. A first-«lass certificate 

 was awarded for it. From the same firm came tUso Cotoneaster sp. 

 from Nepal, with pale red flowers, and a collection of cut hardy shrubs 

 and plants. Mr. Munro, Lyme Regis, sent a tine truss of Rhododen- 

 dron Falconeri, one of the beautiful Siliim varieties, a verj- delicate 

 bell-shaped flower. Mr. Green, gardener to W. W. Saunders. Esq., 

 brought a fine collcotion of Arads and a specimen Sauromatum 

 asperum. A special certificate was awarded tliis curious collection of 

 pLiuts. From the Rev. G. Cheere, Papworth Hall, came seedling 

 Pelargonium Huntsman, foliage broadly zoned ; the flowers had suf- 

 fered from the journey, but it appeared a promising variety ; also four 

 fine plants of the larRC-Howering Mignonette, specimens of which have 

 been so often exhibited and admired this spring. Mr. Turner, West 

 Derby, sent out specimens of four seedling Pelargoniums of the iJr. 

 Andre section, with crimped edges to the petals ; and the Rev. T. 

 Madland, the Rectory. Steyning. sent a large box of cnt spikes of 

 flowers of Paulownia impenolis, which were awarded a special certifi- 

 cate. James Bateman, Esq., exhibited a cut specimen of the superb 

 Dendrobium Wardianum, the most beautiful of the family : a first- 

 class certificate was awarded it. Mr. Bateman likewise sent several 

 other beautiful cut specimens of Orchids; Mr. Batley, a seedling 

 Gymnogramma chrysophylla ; Mr. Taplin, the Gardens, Chatsworth, 

 cnt specimens of Jonesia asoca, a curious Leguminous plant, which 

 hoB rarely been seen in flower in this country. From the Society's 

 gardens came several pots of an old and pretty favourite annual, 

 Oxolis rosea ; also a plant of one of Mr. Weir's Dieffenbachias with 

 mottled foliage. „ i., . 



Fruit Committee.— Mr. Bradley, gardener to Mrs. 1. ^o^ton, 

 Elton Manor, Nott«, exhibited some remarkably fine fruit of Sir Joseph 

 Paiton Strawberry, each berry weighing at least an ounce, finely 

 eolonred, and exoJllcut iu flavour. These were intended to show how 

 iea the variety is adapted for moderate forcing. A dozen pots of Sir 

 Charles Napier, the plants bearing freely, wore also sent from the 

 Society's gaiden at Chiswiek. Two Queen Pines, exhibited by Mr. 



FoRTWionTLT Meeting.— Tlio Bishop of Winchester in the chair. 

 After the election of sixteen new Fellows, tlie awards of the Tlorel 

 Committee were announced by the Rev. .loshua Dix, and Dr. ITogg 

 offered some remarks on the subjects brought before the Fruit Com- 

 mittee. Mr. Andrew Murray then brought under the notice of tho 

 meeting part of a branch of the common Laurel sent by Mr. Perwreon, 

 gardener to W. Childe, Esq., Kinlet, near Bewdley, from which the 

 bark had been peeled four years ago for a distance of upwards of 

 ■2 feet in lenc-th. Contrary to the opinion of Thomas Andrew Knight, 

 Esq., and other vegetable physiologists, who consider that the bark 

 when once wholly destroyed cannot he reproduced, new hark was 

 formed. This result was attributed to the fact that the Laurelwas in 

 a thicket, and, therefore, not fully exposed to the drying influence of 

 the air ; had it been so, and had the season been dry instead of vet, no 

 new bark would, probably, have been loniied. 



Mr. Batcraun then presented his chalhnce medal to Mr. Veitch, as 

 being the exhibitor who had in two consecutive years gained the greatest 

 number of marks for Orchids at the fortnightly meetings. Each year, 

 Mr. Bateman remarked, Mr. Veitch had gained an overwhelming 

 majority of marks ; but one of the conditions on which the medal wa« 

 offered having been that the same person would not be allowed to 

 compete till some else had won a medal, Mr. Veitch would, for n time 

 at least, be prevented from entering the field, and then, Mr. Bate- 

 man remarked, it might, probably, be necessary to make him carry 

 weight. Mr. Veitch in returning thanks alluded to the good whicn 

 had been done by the Regent Street meetiugs in days gone by, and 

 expressed his gratification at their revival in the present fortnightly 

 meetings. The establi.shment of these had been of the greatest bcnelijt 

 to the Society — had done more to benefit it than, perhaps, any other 

 act of the Council, and though debarred from competing for Mz. 

 Bateman's challenge medal for at least two years, he would always 

 have the greatest pleasure in gi^^ing these meetings his hearty support 

 by sending to them his plants, and when again eligible he woold b^ 

 the first to contest it. 



The Rev. M. J. Berkeley remarked, in allusion to the case ot the 

 peeled Laurel reprodncini? bark, that a similar instance had occurred 

 in his own neighbourhood in the case of an Oak tree, which hail been 

 deprived of its bark for a distance of S feet, but had formed fioah 

 bark and new wood from the ends of the medullary rays. A Sikkiia 

 Rhododendron sent to the last meeting to be named, was then stated 

 to be R. Blandfordianum, of Hooker, a species of which the seedr 

 lings are extremely variable in their flowers, and it was further re- 

 marked that it, as well as R. cinnabarinum, is poisonous to animals,, 

 and that the smoke from the wood when burning canses intlammation 

 of the eyes. Marantas were next alluded to, particolarly M. roaeo- 

 picta and M. tubispatha, which was stated to be the Calathea tubi- 

 spatha ot the " Botanical Magazine." The Cyrtanthus shown by 

 Mr. Bull was also said to bo a variety of C. obliquus. which was 

 figured many years ago in the same publication. Attention was also 

 directed to Areca Verschaffclti, a dwarf hybrid Nepenthes, and an 

 orange and red-leaved plant belonging to the natural order Amturau- 

 thaceo", raised from seed sent home from the New Hebrides, by 

 Mr. .T. G. Veitch, all of which were exhibited by Messrs. Veitch, 

 The last, it was remarked, was probably a Celosia. The next subject 

 which occupied attention was a handsome Laurel, exhil itcd by Mesers. 

 Osborn under the name of Primus lusitanica var. azorica, and whicb, 

 combined with great hardiness, has the merit of producing larger and 

 finer flowers than the Portugal Laurel, and that when the bust-.CB aw 

 but small. A small Cotfmcaster, and the beautifnl Japanese Maplni 

 exhibited by Messrs. Veitch, were then noticed ; and in conuection vrith 

 Maples it was observed that they were not so mucJi cultivated as thoy 

 should be, and that many fine species exist iu the garden at Chiswick- 

 These it had been determined to propag.ite for distribution, as they 

 would certainly not be less prized by the Fellows of the Society thiui 

 tender plants,' which comparatively few could grow. A br.ancb i^t 

 Sdver Fir, from Major Peach, of Bristol, next came under notice, lit 

 this the foliage hod assumed an entirely different character from that:, 

 which it nsnally pr<sent;, and had, moreover, become deciduous. Thi* 

 result was ascribed to a minute parasitic fungus on the nnder sido ot 

 the leaves, which Lai only once before been observed iu England, hot 

 is common in the Black Forest. A curious monstrosity iu a Cabbage 

 leaf was then referred to. Iu this instance, from the upper aide of 

 the midrib several ilistinct pairs of small blades had been produced, 

 as if several leaves had become confluent ; but on exoniiuation it was, 

 found that there was no fusion of vascular bnniUes, the number of 

 these being the same as in normal leaves, ond it was further footM 

 that every rib was inclined to become proliferous. This menstrofli^ 

 Mr. Berkeley considered likely to throw light on the pnvlnction of 

 double flowers. A somewhat analoaous c«so was recorded by M. D«t 

 CanduUo in the fifth volume of the Old Series of the Booietyis • Trans- 

 actions." '; 

 Mr. Bateman then drew attention to several photognuihB of WeUjflg- 



JSier^earfmer to Lord Cmvcn." Com'be Abbey, Coventry, weighing | tenia gigantea, as seen in its native volleys in California, and to a 

 |IWMt-& lbs., and theprodace of. plants ninetwin months old, excited | section of the bark upwards of a foot in thickness, brought to tkc 



