lii ProcecdingH of Ihr IManical Society 



open air. r-iiya coarctatu and Dasylh'lon Blfjdovni, also do well 

 (but have since died), as well as Aga/oe utahends; but A. Deserti 

 and A. Shaioii succumbed. A few Cacti planted in the vertical 

 face of a haw-haw wall facing S.W., and not protected from rain, 

 though the drainage is perfect, withstood the severity of last winter. 

 More are now planted, as well as Agaves and Mesemhryantliemums. 

 A very pretty plant, Gillia aggregata, from the Eocky Mountains, 

 flowered with Mr Loder this year, but did not ripen seed. He had 

 seen only small plants of this in Colorado, 2 feet high, with a small 

 spike of flowers, but his garden specimen was 4 fei't high, branching 

 like a large individual of Lytliravt Salicaria, with hundreds of 

 flowers. The colour is fine, but the scent of the flower is not 

 agreeable. Agave utaliensis since stood 41° of frost uninjured. 



W. E. Gumbleton, Esq., Belgrave, Queenstown, Co. Cork, writes, 

 at date November 21, 1880 : — " In reply to your inquiry about 

 hardiness of Clethra arhorea, I write a line to let you know 

 that on the island of Valentia, off the coast of Kerry, this beautiful 

 shrub is perfectly hardy, a fine specimen of it some 20 feet in 

 height having been, next to his monster Fusehia Riccartoni, 165 

 feet in circumference, the great pride and delight of my much 

 esteemed old friend, the late Knight of Kerry. Even the severe 

 and prolonged winter of 1878-79 left it quite uninjured. It has 

 been planted out, I believe, somewhat over twenty years, in the 

 middle of a small wood and close to the sea, and blooms profusely 

 all over the tree every summer, usually also producmg seeds. 

 Leptospermum hullatum also lives out there, flowering abundantly 

 and ripening seeds also. I believe we have had, for us, very severe 

 frost for the last few nights — Wednesday night, 11° 3 Thursday 

 night, 9°; and Friday night, 12°, if not 13°; and I am happy 

 to say my three new shrubs — Bigeloioia avhorescens, Carpcnteria 

 Californica, and Fallugia jjaradoxa — seem quite uninjured thereby, 

 though quite unprotected in any way. The first-named I hardly 

 expected would prove hardy." 



III. Report on Tenvpcratures and on the Progress of Open-air 

 Vegetation at the Royal Botanic Garden from August to 

 November. By Mr John Sadler, Curator. 



Mr Alexander Buchan gave instances from the readings of the 

 various stations of the Scottish Meteorological Society to show that 

 last October had been the coldest month of that name for 1 70 years 



