25C 



JOXJENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 26, 1874. 



from Mr. Ward were exceedingly well bloomed, particularly 

 A. Borsig, a fine semidonble white. MesErs. Lane and Mr. G. 

 Wheeler sent forced shrubs ; the latter, Mr. James, and Messrs. 

 Cutbush, Chinese Primulas ; and Mr. James and Messrs. Dobson, 

 of Isleworth, Cinerarias. 



Of miscellaneous exhibitions Mr. Williams, of Holloway, and 

 Messrs, RoUisson, of Tooting, sent fine mixed groups ; Mr. G. 

 Wheeler also contributed one. Messrs. Veitch had collections 

 of Hyacinths, Tulips, Cyclamens, and Clematises ; Mr. W. Paul, 

 Hyacinths, cut Camellias, and Roses ; Messrs. Lane, a charming 

 group of Camellias in pots; Messrs. Jackman, of Woking, a 

 collection of Clematis ; and Mr. Williams, one of Cyclamens. 

 New plants were plentifully shown by Messrs. Veitch, Williams, 

 and RoUissoD, and the certificates given were correspondingly 

 numerous. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



The noted collection of Orchids made by the late Thomas 

 Dawson, Esq., of Meadow Bank, Uddingstone, is to be offered 

 for sale by auction on the premises, on the Gth and 7th of 

 May next. This includes some of the finest specimens of 

 rare and beautiful Orchids in the kingdom, and no doubt the 

 high reputation in which the collection has been long held 

 will attract from aU parts of the country and the Continent 

 some of the most eminent Orchid-growers. 



We have received from Messrs. Manle & Sons, of 



Bristol, a coloured plate of the new fbuit fp.om .Tapan, which 

 they are advertising in our columns. It is a variety of Quince, 

 with beautiful scarlet flowers, and the fruit forms an excellent 

 marmalade. Messrs. Maule exhibited both the fruit and the 

 preserve at the Bath Show, and both were much admired. We 

 can testify to the excellence of the preserve from personal ex- 

 perience. 



An ingenious contrivance has been devised by Mr- 

 George Monro, of Potter's Bar, the well-known inventor of 

 " the cannon boiler," by which plants and fruits maybe grown 

 un er glass without artificial heat with perfect security from 

 the effects of extreme cold and frost. At present Mr. Monro 

 is not prepared to give publicity to the system, but as soon as 

 he has it quite matured due notice will be given of it. 



The Orchard Houses at Sawbkidgewokth are now 



in their glory, the trees being in full bloom, and exhibiting a 

 concentrated mass of colour rarely to be witnessed. The new 

 house recently erected, which is 200 feet long, is as full as it 

 can hold with fruiting Peaches and Nectarines in pots. These 

 were started in the beginning of January, and the fruit are now 

 in some instances IJ inch long, or nearly as big as Walnuts. 

 The only heat given is by a Deards's boiler and three 4-inch 

 pipes, the cost of which is a bagatelle. There must be many 

 thousands of fruit in the house. A new vinery is also a sight 

 worth seeing. The Vines are in pots, and these stand on the 

 pipes. Each Vine bears from eight to nine bunches ; when 

 full grown they will produce an enormous weight. We never 

 saw a grander sight in the way of fruiting pot Vines. 



Messrs. Williams & Co., patentees of the Archimedean 



lawn mower, have introduced a number of patterns of trellises 

 for flowers, made of a combination of wood and cane, which 

 appear to be very useful for the purpose they are intended to 

 serve. They are very light and elegant in their design, and are 

 a more durable-looking article than the split-wood trellises we 

 have seen in use. 



Ret. C. C. Ellison, of Bracebridge, sends us the root 



of an Apple tree worked on Rivers's Broad-leaved Paradise 

 stock, planted over two years ago, during which period it has 

 extended over 6 feet in a direct line about 8 inches from the 

 surface. Mr. E. says, " This fact suggests some useful hints 

 about growing grass or crops of anything around one's fruit 

 trees. I may note that the soil in which it grew is rich and in 

 fine condition, a bright lightish loam." 



The Exhibition of plants, flowers, fruit, &c., of the 



Rotal Flora Society of Brussels is to be held on the 5th, 

 Gth, and 7th of April, at the New Exchange, Brussels. Foreign 

 horticulturists and amateurs may compete for prizes, among 

 which are gold, silver, silver-gilt, and bronze medals, also 

 money prizes of £4 and £2. Lists of consignments for exhi- 

 bition should be sent to M. Lubbers, Sfcrc.tarie de la Societo 

 Royale de Flore, No. 28, Rue du Berger, a Ixelles, Brussels, on 

 31st March at latest. Notice of entry should have been given 

 on the 20th, but as the intimation did not reach us till that 

 day, exhibitors from this country will do well to ascertain 

 whether that rule is to be strictly insisted upon. 



The extension of the Cinchoma cultivation in Darjeeling 



continues. Every year additional land is brought under 

 Cinchona culture, and it is calculated that two thousand acres 

 more will be cleared and planted within the next four years. 

 With regard to Ipecacuanha, upwards of twenty thousand 

 plants and cuttings are now in hand, all of which promise well. 

 Another interesting fact relating to the introduction of useful 

 plants into India, is that of the success in the Terai of the 

 Cacao (Theobroma Cacao, L.). The plants that were planted- 

 out about a year ago, were sent from Kew at the suggestion of 

 Dr. Hooker, and they are now in a most healthy and satis- 

 factory condition. — (Nature.) 



The steamship " Manhattan," which left Charleston, 



S. Carolina, for New York, February 25th, had on board the 

 first NEW Strawberries of the season, being about a hundred 

 quarts ; she also took new green Peas, both being among the 

 earliest shipments known. They were the growth of Florida, 

 and indicate that the semi-tropical climate of that State is 

 able to furnish fresh fruits and vegetables nearly all the year 

 round. 



We learn from the Hatits Independent that the experi- 

 ment is being tried of shipping Broccoli from Jersey to America, 

 via Southampton. 



A Belgian paper, says Nature, describes an immense 



petrified trunk of a Conifer discovered in the province of Line- 

 burgh in perfect preservation. Its length is about 33 feet, and 

 its diameter about 20 inches. 



The Southampton Hokticultdral Societt have fixed 



the 25th of May and the 1st and 3rd of August for their Exhi- 

 bitions. The schedule contains a Uberal list of prizes, and 

 the Committee have been fortunate in having the first prizes in 

 many of the classes presented by various gentlemen and trades- 

 men residing in the neighbourhood. The principal prize is a 

 silver cup and £10, offered at the August Show for the beat 

 collection of thirty miscellaneous plants, open to all. 



A Scotch pauper lunatic (says The Pall Mall Gazette) 



who beUeved himself to be a mUlionnaire used to describe with 

 much gusto the costly viands daily prepared for him, and 

 served on gold plate, adding that he could not understand why 

 they all tasted of oatmeal. A similar objection might be made 

 to the confectionery of the present day, owing to the extent to 

 which it is pervaded by a flavour of vanilla. The propensity 

 to give the public rather too much of this good thing will be 

 increased by a discovery which, according to the Scotsman, has 

 been made in Dr. Hoffmann's laboratory at Berlin, and is pub- 

 lished by that journal as especially interesting to the possessors 

 of Fir trees, of which there are many in Scotland. There is, 

 it appears, in the juice of Fir trees, between the wood and the 

 bark, a crystalline substance called coniferin, a glucoside, as 

 chemists call it, which, when acted upon by oxydieing agencies, 

 is easily converted to vanillin, the chemical principle of vanilla. 

 As a few grains of this vanillin wUl flavour at least a dozen ice 

 puddings, and the juice of an ordinary-sized Fir tree contains 

 enough coniferin to make five guineas' worth of vanillin, it is 

 evident that Scotland can supply all our pastrycooks with this 

 article without greatly diminishing the forests of Firs now 

 about to clothe her hills with the most delicate of vernal green. 



A BIT OP THE NEW FOREST. 



I AM obliged to acknowledge that thirty years, or thereabouts, 

 have passed since the sunny autumn day on which I walked 

 forth from Southampton to wander through a part of the New 

 Forest. I was a Fern-collector in those days, and a prime 

 object was to obtain specimens of Osmunda regalis — that truly 

 Royal Fern, that " flower-crowned prince of British Ferns " — 

 nor was I disappointed. Nowhere since have I seen it in greater 

 luxuriance or so appropriately placed as in some of the grassy 

 open spaces among the trees near Rufus's Stone, the memorial 

 of the traditional place where the tree stood against which the 

 arrow glanced that killed the Red King. Pages could I fiU 

 with extracts from my notes on the forest scenery — Lyndhurst, 

 Foxlees, Ladycross, and other places whose beauties are still 

 remembered ; but I must pass on to a church crowning a steep 

 ascent, and deeply set amid the forest trees. It has been well 

 described by a recent visitor as "so thickly surrounded by large 

 Elms that the square embattled church tower is not visible in 

 the summer landscape, and scarcely in tho winter ; but from 

 the churchyard you have glimpses through leafy screens, or 

 thinner network of bough and twig, of the wide-stretching 



