we 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTtJBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jtme 8, 1876. 



very double ; Venna Victrix, with lavender flowers, having well- 

 shaped petals; Dake of Connaught, also with lavender flowers, 

 but distinct in character. Firstclaes certificates were awarded to 

 them. Messrs. Harrison it Son, Leicester, sent some plants of 

 Mimnlns moschatas var. Harrisonii, a cross between the Musk 

 Mimulus and a species with spotted flowers; it is musk-scanted, 

 and will be a great improvement on the old Musk of the Loudon 

 Btreet-barrows. A first-class award was voted to it. 



Messrs. Backhouse & Son, York, sent Microlepia anthriscifolia, 

 a very beautiful South African Fern with creeping rhizomes, 

 and the fronds finelydividedlikePterisscaberula. Mr. Croucher, 

 gardener to J.T. Peacock, Escj., Sudbury House, Hammersmith, 

 sent Echinocactus cylindraceus, a most curious species with 

 long curved spikes, beautifully marked. This was well worthy 

 the highest award which was voted to it. Agave panopleta 

 and A. Gararrii, two Californian species that have been recently 

 introduced by Mr. Peacock, they are very handsome species. 



A noble specimen of Lilium Hansonii was sent by G. F. Wil- 

 son, Esq., of Weybridge ; it had three spikes with twenty-four 

 flowers, but one only was open. Gloxinia Criterion and G. At- 

 traction, two very fine varieties with upright flowers, were sent 

 by Messrs. F. & R. Kinghom of Richmond. 



Mr. J. George, Putney Heath, sent two hybrid Ivy-leaved 

 Pelargoniums. Gem, a variety with blush flowers and very 

 neat trusses, had a first-class certificate ; Progress has bright 

 rose-coloured flowers. Begonia Prince of Orange and Bronze 

 Queen were sent by Mr. B. S. Williams of Upper Holloway. 

 Fancy Pelargonium" Jack Jordan, a fine dark-coloured flower, 

 was sent by Mr. C. Turner of Slough. E. B. Foster, 'Esq., of 

 Clewer Manor, Windsor, sent a group of the large-flowered va- 

 riety, of which Edith was the best. Sappho has a very neat 

 habit, and has bright red flowers. 



Lobelia cserulea alba marmorata was sent by Mr. J. Chambers, 

 Westlake Nursery, Spriug Grove, Isleworth ; it has very pretty 

 mottled flowers. A very good strain of Mimulus was sent by 

 Mr. R. Dean of Ealing; they are beautifully spotted and in great 

 variety. The same exhibitor sent some grand spikes of a giant 

 white Stock, which were highly commended by the Committee. 

 O. Wrigley, Esq., Bridge Hall, Bury, Lancashire, had a vote of 

 thanks for Tbuuia sp. and cut Ixoras. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



A MEETING of bortioultnrista was held at the rooms of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on Friday last to take steps to 

 raise a memorial of the late M. Louis Van Houtte of Ghent. 

 The chair was occupied by Dr. Hogg, and there were present 

 Dr. Masters, Mr. H. J. Veitch, Mr. W. Ball, Mr. Silberrad, Mr. 

 McCulIum, lis. ; and letters approving of the object were re- 

 ceived from Mr. Moore, Mr. B. S. Williams, Mr. Andrew 

 Henderson, Mr. Charles Turner, and others. It was resolved 

 that a committee be formed to raise a subscription with the 

 object of creating a fund to be vested in Trustees, the interest 

 of which will be applied to giving a large gold medal or medals, 

 to be called Van Houtte Medals, at every quinquennial Horti- 

 coltnral Exhibition held in Ghent. The sum of nearly £50 

 was subscribed in the room, and a Committee, with power to 

 add to its number, was formed, consisting of Dr. Hogg, Chair- 

 man ; Dr. Masters, Treasurer ; and Mr. Harry J. Veitch, Secre- 

 tary. We cannot too strongly recommend this object to the 

 attention of all British horticulturists, and to ask them to 

 unite in doing honour to the memory of one who has done bo 

 much for horticulture. Those who knew him best honoured 

 him the most while he lived. Let us honour his memory and 

 keep it fresh in our own. 



I FIND Early Pabis Maeket Cabbage Lettuce ex- 

 tremely useful for an early crop in the spring. Sown in a 

 Potato frame in the end of February, and afterwards planted 

 on a south border, it formed heads by the middle of May — 

 earlier indeed this season than Bath Cos and Hardy Hammer- 

 smith sown the previous August. I confidently recommend it 

 as the earliest Lettuce known. It is very agreeably flavoured, 

 and tender even to the outside leaves. There is a very good 

 drawing of it in the Messrs. Veitch's catalogue for the present 

 year. — Wm. Taylok. 



The exhibition oe floweb beds which was announced 



to be held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's Park, on the 

 occasion of the opening of the new wing of the conservatory 

 last Thursday by His Serene Highness the Duke of Teck, G.C.B. , 

 fell through for want of support. The condition was that the 

 plants should be plunged in beds on the lawn, and there 

 remain for eight days — a condition impracticable, because 

 nurserymen were not likely to lock up their property at the 

 time when alone it was in demand, and because gentlemen 

 could not be expected to permit their best bedding plants to 



be almost irretrievably injured by removals and packing. 

 Besides, had these sacrifices been made, no beds, however well 

 arranged, could have equalled the effects of beds in summer 

 after the plants had attained their natural growth. Thanks to 

 the taste and skill of the managers of the London parka and 

 the Crystal Palace, " exhibitions of flower beds " are provided 

 annually to all who choose to enjoy them, so that the failure 

 of the recently-proposed novelty is of trifling import. 



We understand that on the occasion of the great 



Whitsuntide Show at Manchester Mr. Bruce Findlay was pre- 

 sented by a few friends in the neighbourhood of London, who 

 have been in the habit of attending these Exhibitions, with a 

 very chaste silver inkstand and a pair of silver candlesticks 

 as a token of their kindly feelings. It was all done in a quiet 

 and unostentatious manner, quite in accordance with Mr. 

 Findlay's own character. 



The Gardener informs na that there is a small plant of 



Odontoglossum vexillaeium in bloom at Drnmlanrig in a pot 

 about the size of a breakfast cup, with sixteen blooms from 

 one bulb, some of which flowers measure 3^ inches by 3 inches, 

 and are of the most lovely rich glossy pink with a pure white 

 centre and yellow pencilled eye, forming the most captivating 

 object imaginable. Mr. Thomson states that cool Orchids 

 require to be kept constantly moist at the root, and such 

 as are in pots glazed outside thrive better than those that are 

 in common porous pots. 



We regret having to record that on the 5th inst. died, 



aged eighty, at the Rectory House, Woodstock, Oxon, the 

 Rev. George William St. John, M.A., Rector of Bladon-cnm- 

 Woodstock. 



At a meeting of the Edinburgh Botanical Society an 



interesting communication was read from the Rev. D. Lands- 

 borough, on experiments in growing several Australian plants 

 AND TREES in Arrau, in the Firth of Clyde, including among 

 others the great Australian Tree Fern and other Tree Ferns, 

 Acacias, and Gum Trees. The Blue Gum grew llj inches the 

 first year, 4 feet the second, and C feet the third. The Eu- 

 calyptus pendulosa also grows well in sheltered situations 

 along the west coast, and Mr. Landsborough expects to see it 

 generally introduced in a few years, and form a valuable ad- 

 dition to our evergreen shrubs. 



• At a meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 



Sciences Mr. Thomas Meehan remarked that some bulbs of 

 Liliuu pardalinum received last spring from Dr. W. P. Gibbons 

 had the scales articulated in the middle. The upper portion 

 of the jointed scale fell off easUy at the slightest touch, giving 

 the blunt ends of the remaining portion the appearance of 

 grains of Indian Corn as they were arranged along the rhizome. 

 Dr. H. N. Bolander has since informed him that it was a 

 common characteristic of this species. It does not, however, 

 appear to have been noticed by monographers of this genus. 

 He had since found that the eastern Lilium superbum had 

 the same character. It was, however, by no means regular. 

 Some bulbs would have a large number of articulated scales, 

 while others had but a few here and there ; and they were as 

 likely to be found among the inner as the outer scales. The 

 scales of Lily bulbs were but the dilated and thickened bases 

 of ordinary leaves. There were no articulations in the normal 

 leaves, and it was difficult to trace any morphological relation- 

 ship in these scale joints. Another observation he had made 

 on the failure of some bulbs of Lilium canadense to produce 

 seed. He had received a few years ago some bulbs of this 

 species from Mississippi. The flowers proved so remarkably 

 large and beautiful, much superior to those of the northern 

 plant, that he was in hopes to increase it by seeds, but not 

 one seed vessel formed, though a quantity of L. superbum 

 growing near them set every flower. Supposing that this 

 might be a case where fertilisation from other flowers might 

 be a benefit, pollen was applied from others of the species, but 

 all of the same Mississippi plants, with no better results. He 

 wished to call particular attention to this fact, because he 

 believed that physiological agencies in fertilisation and re- 

 production were often lost sight of in the diecussiona relating 

 to the connection of flowers with insects in this matter. 



KEEPING GRAPES. 



I SEND for your inspection, and for the guidance of any who 



may not have adopted the bottling system of keeping Grapes, 



a few berries of old Lady Downe's, and a hint or two as to the 



' mode adopted in keeping them. They were ripened by the 



