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to assist. Gifted with an artistic temperament and at the same 
time possessed of a wide knowledge and endowed with a strong 
character, his personality was an extremely cor rare one 
constitutional readiness to cavil at the opinions expressed by others 
and a peculiar sensitiveness to contradiction so far as his own views 
were concerned, prevented his being universally popular. ra by 
those who could pong and appreciate his enthusiasm, who d 
find their way to the kernel within the husk—and the his of 
these was by no means limited—the death of Mr. Gumbleton will 
be felt as barat created one of those blanks which cannot readily 
be filled. A man of means, leisure and taste, Mr. Gumbleton 
devoted himself to gardening and accumulated at Belgrove one of 
the richest libraries of works bearing on this subject in Ireland, 
and brought together there an extremely interesting collection of 
plants. These he dealt with in a characteristic and methodical 
fashion, concentrating his interest for the time being on some special 
genus or group of genera, acquiring as many forms as possible of 
the genus or group on which his attention was focussed and studying 
them proto from the horticultural standpoint. e cou 
not, however, be induced to supplement the notes which he made 
and often published, by the preservation of authentic specimens ; as 
a consequence much of the varied and valuable information so 
carefully acquired disappears with his decease; a circumstance 
which intensifies the regret which his death causes, not only to 
those who fully understood him and appreciated his many. high 
qualities, but to those who only knew him as a keen and competent 
student of garden plants. 
Seeds of Chinese Trees and Shrubs.—Kew has lately received 
through Mr. J. C. Williams and Mr. A. K. Bulley a quantity . 
seeds ~eollsotal in South-Western China by Mr. Forrest. The plan 
collector’s work has always been attended with per eres of 
climatic, sometimes of human origin—but from what has been 
recounted in the public press of Mr. Forrest’s adventures, we may 
judge that few indeed of the long line of plant collectors, which 
began with Francis Masson in 1772, have encountered more 
cardabips and perils from both these agencies than Mr. Forrest. 
The country traversed by this intrepid collector is considerably to 
the south of that explored by Henry and Wilson, and the respective 
floras whilst presenting much the same general features are, no 
doubt, in many ways distinct. That of Mr. Forrest’s country had 
in part been revealed by the work of some of the earlier Jesuit 
ft notably by Abbé Delavay. 
Mr. Forrest’s seeds (of most of which the genus only is 
bene, there is a considerable number of rhododendrons, ranging 
from low matted shrubs to trees 30 feet high. One of the latter, 
described as having large, pale yellow, fragrant flowers, is of 
exceptional interest. Will it provide us with the long-desired, 
yellow-flowered, hardy rhododendron with large sid hg and trusses ? 
All the yellow species we cultivate at present, with the exception 
of R. campylocarpum, are of a small Alpine ‘a and although 
