•28G THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUILE. 



ments ; or if the Society shall next year, out of moneys which it could tender as 

 rent, reduce the new debt hy £2,400. By the second new agreement the Council 

 liave obtained part of the French Annexe, tbe garden attached thereto, and a new- 

 entrance close to the Royal Albert Hall, in consideration of certain concessions in 

 respect of the strip of land lying to the north-west of and outside the gardens, 

 which they believe can be made without injury to the Society's property. 



Royal Botanic SociETr. — The 30th anniversary meeting of this Society was 

 held on the 10th ult. at the Society's house in the gardens, Regent's Park, Lord 

 Cbesham, vice-president, in the chair. The ballot for the Council resulted in the 

 addition of Lord Londeshorough, Lord Rendlesham, and Mr. J. Travers Smith as 

 new members. The Duke of Teck was re-elected president, and Mr. W. M. 

 Coulthurst was re-elected treasurer. A total of 124 new Fellows had been elected 

 during the year — a number in excess of that of last year, and which had only been 

 exceeded in one year of the last ten. The amount received in subscriptions was 

 also in excess, being £300 above that reported last year. A considerable portion of 

 the garden and an extensive range of greenhouses is devoted to the practical pur- 

 suit of botany, and its application to tbe arts and manufactures. Most of the plants, 

 whether natives of the tropics or the temperate zones, wliich are useful to man are 

 here exhibited. The lectures, which are free to all visitors to the gardens and were 

 delivered by Professor Bentley, were well attended. 



Eucalyptus globulus during the summer flowered very freely in tbe garden 

 of R. NV. Hall Dare, Esq., Newtownbarry House, co. Wexford. The tree is In a 

 dry and sheltered position ; it has been planted out about four years, and is twenty 

 feet high, and very healthy. 



The Annual Meeting of the Pelargonium Society was recently iield at 

 the " Criterion," Piccadilly Circus. The treasurer, Dr. Denny, was able to report 

 a healthy state of the finances, a balance of £20 8s. 4d. remaining after paying the 

 prizes awarded at the exhibition on the previous day, and all the working expenses. 

 The sum paid out in prizes was £40. A hope was expressed that the Society, now 

 that it had become better known, might draw around it more abundant support, so 

 that encouragement might be extended to other classes of pelargoniums, besides the 

 zonals, which was the class specially in view when the Society was originally 

 founded. It was also thought that the inducements ofl'ered hy the Society might 

 set hybridizers to work, and so be the means of obtaining new types of this useful 

 decorative genus. The chairman, treasurer, hon. secretary, and committee were re- 

 elected, the latter body being strengthened by the addition of the names of Mr. 

 Andrew Henderson, Mr. G. T. RoUisson, Mr. B. S. W'illiams, and Mr. J. F. West. 

 In the course of the meeting a most interesting discussion took place as to the in- 

 fluence of the pollen in cross-breeding, and on other matters connected with the 

 history and improvement of the pelargonium. Mr. Pearson suggested that the 

 Society should endeavour to find and to fix satisfactory and intelligible names lor 

 the difl'erent groups of pelargoniums, instead of the inapplicable ones — show, fancy, 

 tricolor, zonal, etc. — now in common use. 



Keeping Apflfs under Leaves. — The " Rural Home," an American journal, 

 gives an account of an experiment near Rochester in keeping apples on the ground 

 under leaves. Two bushels cf leaves were placed on one bushel of apples, the whole 

 being partly surrounded by evergreen trees, which kept the wind from blowing the 

 leaves. They were found this spring less decayed than apples in the cellar, and fresh 

 and fine in condition. There were obviously two or three causes which made them 

 keep well. Contact with the earth gave them moderate and uniform heat from 

 below ; the leaves, being stratified, turned off the water and kept out the cold, the 

 frost of very few winters ever reaching through a foot of leaves ; and the evergreen 

 trees gave an additioual protection. If we were covering apples in this way in an 

 exposed situation, we should want a foot of leaves, held down by evergreen branches ; 

 but, surrounded closely by the evergreen trees, half that depth of leaves might answer. 

 What gardener has not picked up apples perfectly sound and fresh which had dropped 

 from the trees, and lain during the winter hidden beneath leaves or the dense-grow- 

 ing crops ? 



The International Potato Show will bo held in the Alexandra Palace, 

 MusweU Hill, September 29 and 30. 



