Uaioh 2, 1876. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICTJLTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



167 



By this I mean that he will find cnttinga of these root well, 

 grow well, and bloom well in what I consider a moderate 

 length of time from taking them from the parent plant. 



I have some plants which are not any of them more than a 

 year old, some not more than ten months, and they ate from 

 15 to 24 inches high, with one, two, or three principal shoots, 

 and from one of them I, this morning, cut a lovely bloom of 

 Catherine Mermet. They will bloom more freely next year I 

 admit, but they are pretty, healthy, and symmetrical plants now. 



I think it right to add that I began cutting blooms on 

 December 2Gth, 187-1, and hardly missed a day until the out- 

 door plants came into flower. This year, in consequence of 

 the wet season, the wood did not ripen, and they are nearly a 

 month later. 



" St. Educnd " may likewise be encouraged by the know- 

 ledge that I do not keep a qualified gardener, that I live in the 

 middle of a manufacturing town with a factory chimney at the 

 south-east corner of my garden, aud that the only space 1 have 

 for forcing is that under some Vines in an 8-foot section of a 

 lean-to house 14 feet wide. 



On an old plant of Souvenir d'un Ami on its own roots I 

 counted twenty-five flowers in different stages of growth, all 

 showing colour about a fortnight ago. So much for the dictum 

 that these plants do not bloom freely. — E. L. W., Yeovil. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



M.'LRCH 1st. 



Fruit Committee. — Henry Webb, Esq., in the chair. A brace 

 of Cucumbers was received from Mr. Owen Thomas, gardener 

 to Sir Robert Peel, Drayton Manor. The variety is the result 

 of a cross between Telegraph and Masters' Prolific. It partakes 

 more of the character of the latter than of the former, but was 

 not considered sutEciently distinct. Mr. Thomas was awarded 

 a letter of thanks. Mr. Thomas McLure, The Gardens, Hartley 

 Grange, Wincafield, sent roots of Black Alsace, a long black 

 Turnip, which is very hardy and very valuable for winter use. 

 It was decided to have it cooked, and a report to be made upon 

 it at the next meeting. Lady Holland sent a dish of Birming- 

 ham Stone Pippin Apples grown at Holland House, Kensington, 

 which were in very fine condition, and a letter of thanks was 

 awarded. A dish of very finely flavoured Old Colmar Pears 

 came from the garden at Chiswick. 



Floral Committee. — W. B. Kellock, Esq., in the chair. It 

 would not have been surprising, considering the miserable state 

 of the weather — the persistent downpour of rain — if both horti- 

 culturists and plants had been absent from the Council-room on 

 this the first meeting after the ratification of the " treaty of 

 peace." But peace, usually bringing prosperity, fostered a will- 

 ingness in several floral caterers to make an attractive exhibi- 

 tion, the mildness of the day further favouring the safe removal 

 of tender plants. 



A most beautiful group of Orchids, interspersed with a few 

 choice Palms, was exhibited by Messrs. Veitch & Sous. The 

 Orchids comprised about fifty plants of Dendrobes, Odontoglots, 

 Cypripediums, Phalfeuopses, &c. Odontoglossum Pescatorei 

 had a splendid spike with eight branchlets and a hundred 

 flowers. O-lontoglosaum gloriosnm had a remarkably dense 

 spike of over fifty flowers. Near it was an unnamed " species," 

 or variety, of great beauty, apparently intermediate between 

 O. gloriosum and O. Alexandrje. 0. triumphans had a very 

 fine spike 4 feet in length. Angraecum citratum had a lovely 

 spike of fifty pearly white flowers. Odontoglossum Roezlii was 

 in lovely form, and the Dendrobiums craEsinoc'e, Wardianum, 

 &c., were in good force and fine condition. Noticeable also was 

 a small plant of Dendrobium Ainsworthii, a cross between 

 D. heterocarpum and D. nobile, very distinct and chaste. Mas- 

 devallia njcterina was also exhibited; it is a singular species, 

 the flower being buff with purple maroon spots aud horns ; it 

 was springing from the root and resting on a mound of moss. 

 Ada aurantiaca and Dendrobium Jamesianum were also very 

 attractive. The collection was highly commended by the Com- 

 mittee. 



Mr. B. S. Williams also exhibited a very gay miscellaneous 

 group of fine foliaged and flowering plants, consisting of Palms, 

 Ferns, Orchids, Eucharises, Bertolonias, Amaryllises, Antheri- 

 cam variegatum, &c. In this group Calinthe Turneri, Cypri- 

 pedium Dayanum, and Zygopetalum criaitum were specially 

 noticeable. Habrothamnus elegans argentens was exhibited, 

 the foliage being nearly white. The Bertolonias Van Houttei, 

 Buperbissima, Sec, were also attractive. Mr. Williams also ex- 

 hibited a dozen plants of Primula sinensis fimbriata of a re- 

 markably robust strain. Also as new plants, Odontoglossum 

 membranaceum superbum ; Masdevallia polysticata, a small 

 species singularly spotted, and Amaryllis Mendelli of fine form 

 and of a rich crimson scarlet colour, and a variety of undoubted 

 merit. A vote of thanks was awarded for the collection. 



Mr. Bull exhibited a double white Epacris, which is distinct 

 and beautiful. The foliage is stout, short, closely set, and of the 

 richest green ; the flowers, which are perfectly double, being 

 pure as driven snow. This is undoubtedly a plant of great 

 value, and merited the first-class certificate which was awarded 

 it. It was introduced from New South Wales, aud was named 

 onosmseflora flore-plena, its foliage resembling that species, 

 but is of a deeper green. 



Mr. Bennett, gardener to M. T. Bass, Esq., M.P., Rangemore 

 Hall, sent a splendid plant of Phalfenopsis Schilleriana, having 

 foliage a foot in length and 5 inches in breadth, a spike 5 feet 

 high with ten branchlets and nearly a hundred blooms. For 

 this superior example of culture the Committee recommended 

 to the notice of the Council that a Davis medal be awarded. 



Mr. Herbst, nurseryman, &c., Richmond, exhibited about 

 sixty pots of Lily of the Valley, densely bloomed and very fine ; 

 also good plants of Hoteia japonica, and was deservedly awarded 

 a vote of thanks. 



Messrs. R. RoUisson & Sons, Tooting, exhibited a fine plant of 

 Erica herbacea var., a species of Alsophila from the West ludies, 

 a fine basket of the intense primrose-scented plant Borouia 

 megasfigma, and half a dozen plants of Grevillia Preissii, a 

 very graceful Australian plant, not unlike a fine species of Roti- 

 nospora, with pendulous racemes of flowers freely produced of a 

 soft red colour. This is a very distinct plant, and a first-class 

 certificate was awarded. The plant at first sight somewhat 

 resembles Southernwood or " Lad's Love," Artemisia Abro- 

 tanum, clothed with flowers. 



Mr. Ollerhead, gardener to Sir H. Peek, Bart., Wimbledon 

 House, had a vote of thanks for two admirably grown plants of 

 Odontoglossum Alexandra;, and he also exhibited a singular 

 flower of the Flamingo Plant having two spathes. These were 

 alluded to in our columns last week. 



G. P. Wilson, Esq., P.R.S., sent an Hepatica of a "new 

 colour." It was thought to be uousual by its rosy red petals, and 

 was highly commended. Mr. Wilson also exhibited an American 

 Goodyera. Some gigantic blooms of Cyclamen persicum were 

 exhibited by Mr. Ware, gardener to — Morgan, Esq., Hunger- 

 ford Park, Tunbridge Wells, but they wore much withered. 



A basket of hardy Primroses was exhibited by Mr. R. Dean, 

 Ranelagh Road, Ealing, for which a vote of thanks was awarded. 

 Mr. Chapman, gardener to Dr. Patterson, Northbridge Road, 

 Fulham, exhibited a plant of Phaius maculatus, misnamed Ca- 

 lanthe Sieboldii ; and Mr. Douglas, gardener to F.Whitburn, 

 Esq., exhibited a fine head of Poinsettia having nine sub-crowns; 

 it was very robust and good. 



ERANTHEMUM PULCHELLUM. 



Blue flowers are indeed scarce amongst stove flowering 

 plants, hence are always acceptable, more especially those 

 which flower during the winter months, and one of the most 

 useful is this old, very free-flowering, easily-grown plant. I have 

 plants now in 4-inch pots not more than from 4 to 6 inches in 

 htight, little less than all flower, and yet the plants have the 

 healthiest foliage, and are very useful alike for cutting from 

 and for decorative purposes. 



I usually cut the old plants, the shoots of the previous year, 

 to within one or two joints of their origin, keeping the plants 

 rather dry for a fortnight after flowering. The plants start 

 away freely and are potted when the young shoots are 2 or 

 3 inches in length. The balls are considerably reduced, and 

 the plants are returned to the same size of pot, and are given 

 a larger size when the plants have filled the pots with roots. 

 A light airy position is afforded ; and if this cannot be given 

 in a house the plants do equally well in a cold pit, admitting 

 air moderately so as to keep up a good temperature ; and it is 

 only right to say the plants do better than those grown at a 

 distance from the glass in a warm house, the growth being 

 stouter, shorter-jointed, and the flowering is proportionately 

 finer. From the middle of June to the middle of September 

 they are as well in a cold pit as in a stove. 



If bushy plants are wanted the growths may be stopped 

 when the shoots are grown so as to be stopped to two joints; 

 or the plants may have the shoots regulated by tying to stakes 

 as they advance. The unstopped flower earlier than the stopped 

 plants. In April, or when the plants are cut down, cuttings 

 may be taken of shoots with two joints and the growing point, 

 and these inserted in sandy soil up to the second pair of leaves 

 will root quickly in a gentle bottom heat. They should be 

 potted-off singly when rooted, and kept in heat until estab- 

 lished, and may be removed to a cold frame in June or July, 

 shifting at that time into 5-inoh or 0-inch pots. They will 

 grow very stocky, and flower well in early winter in a cool stove 

 or warm greenhouse, being removed thither by the middle of 

 September. 



