THE FLORAL V/ORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 29 



HOETICULTURAL AFFAIRS. 



ilHE Royal IIorticultural Society ha?, we are informed, determined 

 to hold a series o*" evening meetings at South Kensington. Tlie meetings 

 are to be of an educational character, as, for example, the reading of 

 papers and oral addresses, and lectures on the scientific principles of 

 practical horticulture. Tlie present series will comprise six meetings, 

 to commence early in the present month. The dates and particulars will be shortly 

 announced. 



The Horticultural Inbustrt of Ghent is a very important one, as may be 

 gathered from the following particulars furnished to the GarUnfretind by Professor 

 "Van HuUe, The writer observes, tliere are as many as two hundred nurseries in 

 and around that town, almost exclusively devoted to raising ornamental plants and 

 the better sort of fruit trees. The gUass houses occupy an area of nearly eighteen 

 acres, and in these houses from 2,705,000 to 3, .512, 000 plants are annually raised, 

 to the value of from 5,930,000 to 7,705,000 francs. 



The Botanical Magazine for 1871 is dedicated to Mr. G. Maw, of Benthall 

 Hall Broseley, by Dr. Hooker, as a tribute to the value of the services rendered in 

 introducing hardy plants to English gardens. 



The Fritit Show held in the Pomona Gardens, Manchester, in the early part 

 of last mouth, was attended with a large measure of success. The schedule was 

 comprehensive and the prizes libaral, and, as a natural result, the competition very 

 spirited. There were something like two thousand entries, including over sixty hand 

 bouquets, and a large number of epergnes for the dinner-table. There were nearly 

 fifty Pine-apples, an immense quantity of Grapes, and of Apples and Pears the 

 luimbers were simply enormous. Palms, Tree Ferns, and flowering and fine foliage 

 plants, were also staged in large numbers, and added materially to the attractive- 

 ness of the exhibition. 



The Pelargonium Society is making good progress, and the Committee, which 

 includes the names of Dr. Denny, Mr. Shirley Hibberd, Mr. Pearson, Mr. George, 

 Mr. Postans Mr. Grieve, and other well-known raisers and cultivators, have prepared 

 and issued a liberal schedule of prizes for competition at the exhibition of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, to he held at South Kensington on the 21st of July next, 

 la addition to the prizes mentioned in the Floral World for October, 1874, 

 page 317, others will be offered for Cape species, hybrids, and stands of cut blooms, 

 of twelve and twenty-four trusses respectively. 



The Lindley Medal, which was proposed some years ago since by the Council 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society, as a reward for superior cultivation of any special 

 subject exhibited at the meetings of the society, is at length prepared ; it is a hand- 

 some work of art, and its estimated value, £15. On the obverse is a portrait of Dr. 

 Lindley, enclosed with a laurel wreath, and the inscription, " Dr. John Lindley, 

 F.R.S., born February 5th, 1799. Died November 1st, 1865 ;" on the reverse, Flora 

 with wreath in her left hand, and the inscription, " Royal Horticultural Society." 



The Royal Botanic Society will hold the undermentioned exhibitions in their 

 gardens in the Regent's Park during the current year, namely :— Spring Flowers, 

 Wednesdays, March 31, April 28 ; Summer, Wednesdays, May 26,:June 16 ; Fruit 

 and Cut Flowers, Wednesday, June 30 ; Evening l<'ete, Wednesday, July 14 ; 

 Special Exhibition of Clematis from the nursery of G. Jackman and Son, Woking, 

 May 1 to 24 ; Lectures, Fridays in May and June. 



Poinsettia pulcherrima formed a grand feature in the Church Walk Nursery, 

 Stoke Newington, previous to the Christmas festivities. Mr. Oubridge had in one 

 house alone over 2,000 plants, all of which were furnished with splendid bracts, and 

 consequently made a grand displ.ay. 



BoLDOA FRAORANS, the plant yielding the new drug " holdu," which is said 

 to he remarkably efficacious in promoting digestion and in liver diseases, has 

 recently flowered in the gardens of the Royal Botanic Society. Specimens may 

 also be seen in the collection of economic plants at Kew. It is a native of the 

 Chilian mountains, where it assumes the form of a small, much branched tree. 

 The flowers are borne in auxiliary racemes. It was introduced in 1844, and has 

 been figured and described in the Botanical Hegister and in Liudley's Vegetable 

 Eingdom. 

 January. 



