60 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
rature, and aquariums. The King of the Belgians offers a gold medal to the foreign 
exhibitor who shall contribute most to the splendour of the exhibition, and the 
Queen a similar medal to be competed for by Belgian exhibitors. Her Majesty also 
offers a gold medal for the best collection of fifteen specimen orchids. : 
Mr. Surrtey Hisperp will, on February 9, deliver a lecture before the Society 
of Arts, on “The Cultivation of Hardy Fruits with a view to improvement of 
quality and insuring constant and abundant production,” 
ALEXANDRA Patace.—The report presented to the half-yearly meeting states 
that a profit of £23,024 18s. 4d. has been realized on the workings of the past six 
months, and it is confidently expected that this will be greatly augmented as the 
Palace and its attractions become more widely known, and increased railway 
facilities are provided. No less than 1,307,857 persons have visited the Palace 
during the past six months, The Company also expects to increase the number of 
season ticket holders, which already shows a steady advance, by selling the 260 
acres of building land adjoining the Palace and Park, thus creating a resident popu- 
lation, many of whom would doubtless avail themselves of the advantages of a 
season ticket. 
Porators have proper recognition in the schedules of the exhibitions to be held 
at the Westminster Aquarium. At the October meeting, prizes of £5, £3, and £2 
will be offered for collections of twenty dishes. 
Tue Fopprr Vauvr or Appts forms the subject of a paper in part four of the 
Bulletin of the Bussey Institution, from the pen of Mr. H. Storer, Professor of Agri- 
cultural Chemistry. It is well known that cattle will eat apples with avidity, but it 
appears from the analysis made by Mr. Storer that apples can only be given to cattle 
with advantage in conjunction with some highly nitrogenous food. 
Tue Royau Boranic Society has issued the schedules of prizes to be com- 
peted for at the spring shows, to be held at Regent’s Park on March 29 and April 
26. On the last-named date three prizes are offered for “six old-fashioned hardy 
plants in flower, distinct (in pots),” with the condition that no plant introduced to 
the gardens of England during the*present century is to be considered old-fashioned. 
THe Horricurrurat, Cuvs held its annual meeting on the 5th ultimo. The 
financial position of the club is, it appears, most satisfactory, and steps are being 
taken for organizing a series of meetings for the discussion of subjects of horticul- 
tural interest, and it is intended also to form a reference library. 
Otp PrLarconrums.—Two old specimens of our veteran friend, Tom Thumb 
Pelargonium, now nearly forgotten, are thus described by the Comte d’Epremesnil 
in a letter to the editor of the Revue Horticole. He says: “I have seen two 
remarkable plants in M. Leclere’s garden at Fecamp. They are twe Pelargoniums 
of the variety Tom Thumb, known, on good authority, to be more thau forty years 
old. They were growing in twovases about 18 inches deep by 15 inches in diameter. 
The size of the plants was nothing unusual, the stem being only about four inches 
in girth at eight inches from the ground, but they formed fine dense bushes about 
five feet high by eight feet in circumference, and werea perfect blaze of colour. Of 
course they would have been very much larger, if they were not annually subjected 
to a severe pruning.” 
A Currtous Prtarconium Svorr is recorded in the Revue Horticole. A 
gardener, named Crepet, living at l’Orme-du-Pont-en-Puysaie, Yonne, has a double- 
flowered Zonal Pelargonium with a single stem which exhibits this peculiarity, that 
the flowers of one-half of the head are of a beautiful rose, while those of the other 
are of a dark scarlet, the normal colour of the flowers of the variety. 
A\VatuasLe Trre.—One of the finest specimens of the Pollard Oak ever grown 
in England was sold the other day in Liverpool. Its trunk was fourteen feet in length 
and twenty-one feet in circumference, its actual weight, inclusive of the root, being 
thirteen tons. This tree, which was grown near Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire, is 
to be used for furniture. The tree is calculated to produce 70,000 feet of veneers, 
the value of which is estimated at 500 guineas. 
Tur Gotpen CanaprAN Popzar, judging from the coloured illustration 
received from Mr, C. Van Geert, of Antwerp, is a valuable addition to the list of 
hardy trees with coloured leafage. It was, we learn, obtained from a sport of the 
Canadian Poplar, and from the rapidity of its’ growth, will prove of more value, for 
planting where an effect is desired to be produced at once, than the Golden Oak 
and Golden Catalpa—both fine things, but of rather slow growth. 
