486 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTDKE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ December 2, 1875. 



the enriobing of the EiirFace of the border, and keeping it 

 moist iu the eeason of growth. Vino roots are like sheep, thpy 

 will not wander far from a good feeding-gronnd ; bat when the 

 pasture is bare and affords them no support U is difficult to 

 prevent them passing a prescribed boundary. — A Northern 

 Gardener. 



BOYAL HOETICULTDRAL SOCIETY. 



December 1st. 



FlWiT Committee. — Henry Webb, Esq., iu the chair. Mr. 

 Jones, the Royal Gardens, Frogmore, sent three very handsome 

 specimens of Smooth-leaved Ciyenne Pines, each weighing 

 about 8 Ihs., which were award'-d a cultural commendation. 

 Messrs. W. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, sent six dishes of Pears, 

 consisting of Jewess, Comte de Flandres, Emile d'Heyst, Broom- 

 park, Dr. Trousseau, and Beurr6 Beauchamp. He also sent a 

 seedling Pear without a name, which was of a good but not 

 superior flavour. Messrs. Kinmont & Kidd, nurserymen, Can- 

 terbury, sent a seedling Apple from Court of Wick crossed with 

 King of the Pippins, but its flavour was not distinct; a seedling 

 from Devonshire Quarrenden, very similar to the parent, but 

 the flavour was inferior; and Swinerd'a Seedling, also a seed- 

 ling from Devonshire Quarrenden, which was not of remarkable 

 flavour. 



Four seedling Apples vrere received from Mr. Charles Arnold 

 of Paris, Ontario, Canada. They were raised from Northern 

 Spy crossed with mixed pollen of Wagner and Spitzemberg. 

 No. 1 was very acid. No. 3, a firm-fleshed and rather acid Apple. 

 No. 4, tender flesh and slightly sweet, but not good. No. 5 is 

 very tender-fleshed and sweet, but the Committee did not con- 

 sider either of them worthy of a certificate. A letter of thanks 

 was voted to Mr. Arnold for sending the fruit. Mr. J. Charlton 

 of Tonbridge Wells sent a seedling Pear of a Bergamot shape, 

 which had a powerful flavour of Gansel's Bergamot and very 

 gritty flesh. It was thought that it might be better in another 

 season. Thomas Laxton, Esq., of Stamford sent a seedling 

 Apple called The Boy's Delight, a small striped Apple of very 

 tender flesh and rather sweet flavour. Boothby's Seedling No. 4 

 is also a very tender-fleshed variety, which was thought to be 

 a good cooking Apple. Boothby's Seedling No. 3, a medinm- 

 sized, oblate, yellow Apple of tender flesh and very briskly 

 flavoured, and was thought to be a good Apple for sauce. The 

 Doctor is also a medium-sized Apple but of no character. No. 7, 

 a seedline from Cox's Orange Pippin fertilised by Stamford 

 Pippin. No. 8, a seedling from New Hawthornden crossed with 

 Stamford Pippin. No. 9, very disagreeable. 



There were others, but they like the preceding were inferior 

 to many others in cultivation. Mr. Trussler of Edmonton sent 

 a small seedling Apple which did not possess any special merit. 



Floral Committee. — Dr. Denny iu the chair. Only a very 

 few exhibits were brought before the Committee on this the 

 last meeting of the season, the weather being altogether too 

 cold for the safe transit of tender plants. No certificates were 

 awarded — the numbers awarded at previous meetings during 

 the year being ninety. 



Mr. Clarke, florist, Twickenham, sent a hundred plants of 

 Cyclamens, well-bloomed sturdy plants, with good- shaped flowers 

 in a great variety of colours. Some of the dark colours — crim- 

 son, magenta, and purple — being very rich, and whites pure. 

 This charming class of plants are evidently as valuable for 

 winter as they are for spring decoration. Mr. Clark also ex- 

 hibited a selection of eighteen Cyclamens of vigorous habit, 

 and with exceptionally large flowers, but limited to the lighter 

 colours. For these collections a vote of thanks was deservedly 

 awarded. 



Messrs. Waterer & Sons, The Nurseries, Bagshot, exhibited 

 plants of Thujopsis borealis aurea variegata. The plants were 

 small but of robust habit, and with their vigour a constant 

 variegation of golden sprays. For this very promising orna- 

 mental lawn Conifer the thanks of the Committee were awarded. 



Mr. Westcott, The Gardens, Raby Castle, Darlington, exhi- 

 bited a new hybrid Solanum Princess of Wales, a cross between 

 Prince of Wales and Yellow Gem. It is a highly ornamental 

 variety, the pyriform fruits being of the brightest yellow, 

 2j inches in length and an inch in diameter, the foliage being 

 5 inches in length by 4 iu breadth. This vigorous hybrid is 

 strikingly effective, and cannot fail to be useful as a winter 

 decorative plant. A vote of thanks was awarded. 



Improving the Flavour of Frdit. — It ia not a little sur- 

 prising that those who would enjoy the full flavour of Apples 

 and Pears do not pay more regard to the temperature of the 

 fruit when placed on the table. Many, if not all, sorts of 

 Pears are immensely improved by being subjected to a tem- 

 perature of 100° for an hour or two previous to being eaten. 

 To take the best kinds of fruit direct from the fruit-room, 

 which may not be halt a dozen degrees above the freezing 

 point, ia not doing jastice to the frait or, I maat add, to the ' 



owner. Let anyone test fruits of any good sort of Apples and 

 Fears, some "stinging cold" and others artificially warmed, 

 and note the superiority of the latter, which is to my mind 

 conclusive. — A City Man. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUIT. 



Delphinium CASHMiRiANnii. iVa^ ord., Ranunoulaceee. Linn., 

 Polyandria Trigynia. — Flowers purple. " About a dozen 

 species of Delphinium inhabit the Himalaya Mountains, of 

 which the present is one of the handsomest. All are found 

 at considerable elevations ; and some of them that come from 

 the loftiest spots, as D. Brnnoniannm, Rotjle, exhale so strong 

 a musky odour that the ignorant mountaineers attribute the 

 odorous secretion of the musk-deer to the animals' feeding on 

 that plant, and of the D. glaciale, which is equally strongly 

 scented. No such odour has been attributable to D. Cash- 

 mirianum, though it too occurs at great heights, ascending 

 from 12,000 to 15 000 feet in the Western Himalaya, where it 

 ranges from the longitude of Kumaon to that of Kashmir, 

 abounding in grassy valleys, &c. The subject of this plate 

 was raised by J. Anderson-Henry, E"q. ,from seed sent from 

 the north part of Kashmir by Dr. Bellew during his journey to 

 Kashgar with Mr. Forsyth, and it flowered well at Hay Lodge, 

 Trinity, in July of the present year." — {Bot. Mag., t. 6189.) 



Masdevallia Davisii. A'a(. ord., Orchidacese. Ltnn., Gyn- 

 andria Monandria. — Native of Peru. " This fine Masdevallia 

 is remarkable for its size and colour (yellow). It was dis- 

 covered by Mr. W. Davis near Cuzco in Peru, and was flowered 

 by Messrs. Veitch iu August of the present year ; the plant 

 here figured bearing twenty flowers. Singular as the colour 

 is, it is probably very variable. Reichenbaoh describes the 

 perianth-tube as ' whitish yellow, with a blackish-violet great 

 eye-spot on each side;' and the other parts of the flower as 

 ' yellowish white outside and of the deepest splendid orange 

 inside;' colours not at all repeated in our specimen." — (Ibid., 

 t. 6190.) 



TuLiPA Eichlehi. Nat. ord., LiliaceiB. Linn., Hexandria 

 Monogyuia. — Flowers dark crimson " It belongs to the group 

 SoabriscapsB of Baker, all the species of which are natives of 

 the Mediterranean region, from Italy eastward to the Levant, 

 and of the Caspian region extending to Turkestan. This, 

 indeed, is the principal area inhabited by Tulipa, for very 

 few of the species (nearly fifty are described), reach the ex- 

 treme east of Asia; only one is found in India (T. stellata. 

 Hook.), and that is confined to the North-eastern Himalayas, 

 and one (T. edulis, Baket), in Japan. The T. Eichleri was 

 discovered by the traveller whose name it bears, in the Baker 

 district of Georgia." — {Ibid., t. 6191.) 



Heteranthera limosa. Nat. ord., Pontederiacese. Linn., 

 Triandria Monogynia. — Flowers violet-blue. " A very pretty 

 water-plant of wide distribution, inhabiting very wet marshes 

 from Virginia to Venezuela and Brazil, and likely to become a 

 favourite for cultivation in tropical aquaria, where it may be 

 grown in pots standing in the water. As far as I am aware, 

 but one species of the genus Heteranthera had hitherto been 

 cultivated in Europe— namely, the H graminea of Vahl, a very 

 insignificant submerged species, a native of North America, 

 which was introduced into the Glasgow Botanical Garden half 

 a century ago along with VaUisneria spiralis, and is well 

 figured in Hooker's ' Exotic Flora,' tab. 94, nnder the generic 

 name of Leptanthns. About a dozen species of the genu? are 

 described, some of which, having spikes of blue flowers, ere no 

 doubt worthy of cultivation. Seeds of H. limosa were sent 

 from Santa Martha, in New Grenada, to the Royal Gardens 

 by M. Endres, which germinated and flowered in the short 

 space of a few weeks. M. Endres states that it grew in brackish 

 pools. It flowers at Kew from May onwards. It is a plant of 

 very wide range, from the warm temperate region of the 

 United States (Illinois and Virginia), to Bahia in Brazil." — 

 (Ibid., t. 6192.) 



OxALis arenabia. Nat. ord., Oxalidaceie. Linn., Decandria 

 Pentagjnia.— Flowers purplish pink. " The genus Oxalis, once 

 a favourite amongst amateur horticulturists, has of late years 

 experienced the neglect that has overtaken so many interesting 

 classes of herbaceous plants. Upwards of 130 species, chiefly 

 natives of South Africa, have been figured as under cultivation 

 in Europe. By far the larger number of these are contained 

 in the beautiful Monograph of the genus published by the 

 elder Jncquin in 1794, from specimens cultivated in the Im- 

 perial Gardens at Vienna. In 1808 fifty-eight species were in 

 the Kew collection, where there are now only thirty; and no 



