THE ILLUSTRATION ] 



HORTICULTURAL CHRONICLE. 



March, 1875. 



— Masdevallia amabilis lineata. — The coloured 

 portrait of this plant that appeared in our last number 

 exhibits some inaccuracies in the tints, which we hasten 

 to point out. It is exceedingly difficult, if not absolutely 

 impossible, to render the extremely delicate pink ground, 

 suffused with orange, of our plant; and it is not the artist 

 who is in fault, but the resources of chromolithography are 

 simply unequal to the task of reproducing the scintillating 

 hummingbird-like colours of which we endeavoured to give 

 an idea in our description. 



— A New Medicinal Plant. — Mr. Minard, an engineer 

 in Luzon, one of the Philippine Islands, has brought to 

 Paris the seeds of a convolvulaceous plant, which enjoys a 

 great reputation among the Tagals as a medecine of extra- 

 ordinary virtues. Professor Bureau of the Paris museum 

 believes it to be new to science, and has it under examination. 



— The Phylloxera. — We learn that Mr. Louis Portier 

 of Ferriere Cercier, Rhone, thinks he has found the long- 

 sought remedy. It consists in growing tobacco plants between 

 the vines. The green foliage drives away the winged fertile 

 insect ; and when the plants are about 18 inches high they 

 are pulled up and buried in the soil , which their narcotic 

 properties pervade and thus destroy the insect. Let it be 

 registered and tried. 



— A Botanic garden at Chicago. The great City 

 of the North American prairies is to have its botanic garden. 

 It will comprise a botanic garden proper, an arboretum, a 

 garden devoted to general floriculture, a botanic museum 

 and library, and an herbarium. Professor H. H. Babcock 

 has been appointed director, and the organisation of the 

 establishment, we are informed, is to be based upon the 

 same plan that is in operation at Kew. 



— New double-flowered Pelargoniums. — Florists 

 are actively engaged upon this class of flowers, and impro- 

 vement is rapid. Mr. Lemoine, of Nancy, raised the following 

 varieties in 1874 : Emile Lemoine, Fille cVhonneur, Guillion 

 Mangilli, Lucie Lemoine, Madame Thibaut, Richard Lavias, 

 and Venus. Mr. Alegatiere of Lyons, who is in connection 

 with the celebrated raiser, Mr. Sisley, announces a selection 

 bearing the names of : Henri Beurier, Anna Montel, C. Wag- 

 ner, Rodbard, Sylphide, Louis Buchner, Henri Lecoq, Louis 

 Agassi*. Our space is insufficient to give the descriptions 

 of these varieties, but we recommend giving them a trial. 



— Parasiticism of mistletoe upon itself. — At one 

 of the late meetings of the Boyal Horticultural Society of 

 London, I)' Maxwell Masters exhibited specimens of mistletoe 

 from Mr. Corderoy of Didcot, which presented the strange 

 phenomenon of the seeds having germinated and grown upon 

 the plant which gave them birth. 



— Continental and other horticultural exhibi- 

 tions for 1875. — It may interest some of our readers to 

 know the dates of the following shows : 



gold medal of the value of £ 24, in conse^uein 

 favourable lvpurt passed upon it by Mr. K. 

 author shows that the presumed parasilrisiu oi 

 is an error, and he dispels the last doubts up 

 This dissertation will not prove very agreable 

 sans of transformation. Mr. Morren tells U s tha 

 could not be treated more exhaustively, and 

 author the most unqualified praise for the mar 

 be has executed it. The complete work will ab 

 — Change of climate in Scotland. — At 

 the Meteorological Society of Edinburgh on 

 Mr. Dm han read a paper on the bearing of n 

 records on the supposed change of climate in 

 subject on which much lias been written of late 

 n;t l, and others. Mr. Buchan concludes that tl. 

 no general tendency towards a permanent chai 

 regards summer heat or winter cold. 



Obituary. — Charles Lyell, the emii 

 geologist, did not long survive Elie de Beaumo 

 most zealous advocate of the slow formation . 

 the opponent of geological periods, detern 

 cessive cataclysms. We shall not attempt to re 

 tensive labours; but such men may be said to 

 sciences, and more directly to botany through j 



