PROCEEDINGS. Ixxill 



they had been produced in a brick pit with the remains of 

 dung and leaves which had formed a hotbed for early pota- 

 toes. On one of the fruit being cut it proved not to be 

 first-rate in flavour. To Mr. Davis, gardener to the Earl 

 of Tyrconnel, at Kiplin, for a bunch of black. Hamburgh 

 Grapes, finely swelled and perfectly ripe, but insuflSciently 

 coloured, and much spoiled by travelling ; it weighed 4 lbs. 

 Another accompanying it weighed 2 lbs. 1 oz. 



Certificates of Merit : To Mr. Turnbull, gardener to the 

 Duke of Marlborough, at Blenheim, for a box of black 

 Hamburgh Grapes, medium sized bunches, well-coloured 

 and covered with bloom. To Messrs. Veitch, for a new 

 Peruvian Oxalis, concerning which Dr. Lindley has given 

 the following account : — " This plant, the O. elegans of 

 Humboldt, had been exhibited on several previous occa- 

 sions without exciting much attention. It was regarded as 

 a pretty plant, but not as one of striking merit. It has 

 now, however, quadrupled the size of its foliage, doubled 

 that of its flowers, and acquired a brilliancy of colour which 

 places it in the first rank among border flowers. This 

 change is the effect of cultivation. Cramped in a flower- 

 pot, and coddled in a frame, it w^as puny and worthless ; 

 planted in the open border, and fed abundantly with air and 

 dew, it has become a gem of the purest water. Mr. Veitch 

 believes the species to be hardy ; he has grown it for two 

 years in the open ground in his nursery at Exeter, and he 

 received it from the mountains behind Loxa in Peru, where 

 his collector, W. Lobb, obtained it. We take it to be about 

 as hardy as O. Bowiei. The leaflets are firm, fleshy, of a 

 dark rich green, and stained with purple on the under side. 

 From the centre of these rises a stalk about 9 inches high, 

 bearing a truss of 5 or 6 deep rose-coloured flowers, with 

 a rich dark purple eye. In general effect they are not un- 

 like Viscaria oculata, only much handsomer. Till expe- 

 rience shall have been obtained of the real habits of this 

 species, it will be prudent to give it some slight shelter in 

 the winter. We believe, however, that dryness will be 

 more important to it than warmth at that season. As a rock 

 plant it promises to be extremely useful ; for a gay bed in a 

 summer garden it will be invaluable. Nor are these its 

 only merits, for it stands well in a dry drawing-room when 

 cut and mixed with other flowers, and will open perfectly 

 with no more light than that of an ordinary day." To 

 Messrs. AVrench, for two well-managed Fuchsias, from a 

 little greenhouse on the top of their warehouse at London 



