1*78 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



ford, Ximenos, Queen Victoria, Bon Financier, &c, with the following tine 

 seedlings raised hy Messrs. Tyso and Son — Felix, Edgar, Gippius, Grand Ro- 

 rnana, Albinus, Herbert, Virginia, Attractor, Dictator, Raphael, Amasis, Jubal, 

 Delectus, Champion, Falcidia, Eureka, Alexis, Comptroller, Tubal, Basilica, 

 Grandis, Adolphus, Phyllis, Silverton, Innocent, Ada Cathcart. Arcadia, Solon. 

 The Pinks were good for the season; the collection to which the silver 

 Knightian medal was awarded, was from Messrs. Norman, of Woolwich, for the 

 following sorts. — Cousin's Queen of the Isles, Creed's Henry Creed, \Villmer*s 

 Queen Victoria, Young John, Eclipse, Hodges' Gem, Lady Flora Hastings, 

 Melona, Flora, YVillmer's Prince of Wales, Cousins's Little Wonder, [Creed's 

 President, Majestic, Unsworth's Omega, Duke of Northumberland, Garrat's 

 Alpha, Bunkell's Lord Brougham, Norman's William, Triumphant, Queen of 

 Roses, W. Cobbett, Gay Lad, Creed's Miss (heed. 



The African Guano Island, Ichaboe. — The island whence the Guanoistaken 

 is about three miles from the shore, on the south-west coast of Africa. It is a 

 barren rock, about a mile in circumference ; has no soil, or the least sign of 

 vegetation. The Guano lies to the depth of twenty feet, and without any varia- 

 tion as to quality. The continent is very sandy, and in high winds will cover a 

 ship's deck nearly 100 miles off. The birds on the island are a kind of penguin, 

 and cannot fly to any distance, if at all, their wings being a kind of flu. Mr. 

 Parr, who appears to have first visited ir, states it is very difficult of approach, 

 there being no harbour. On walking on it he could scarcely set his foot without 

 treading on the birds, and they took no notice of him, except pecking at his 

 feet, he being barefoot. There is no fresh water, it is believed, for some hun- 

 dreds of miles along the coast, and no rain. — Edinburgh New Philosophical 

 Journal, 



On Grafting Pelargoniums. — On a former occasion I stated that at the end 

 of last July I had grafted half a dozen very distinct coloured Pelargoniums, 

 upon a strong plant of the old vigorous growing variety, Commander-in-Chief, 

 doing it by first heading back to about four inches long the six leading branches, 

 and immediately inserted a graft of another kind into each, in the whip grafting 

 method, having the graft a well ripened shoot of that year's growth. After 

 claying and mossing over the same, I placed it in a close frame, shaded, and 

 sprinkled the foliage over daily to keep it fresh. In three weeks all the grafts 

 were united, and at the end of September I repotted the plant, and now 

 (April 20th) the six kinds are in beautiful bloom in my conservatory, having 

 been gently forced to get them thus early into bloom. The pretty contrast of 

 form and colours of so many varieties in one plant, render it so interesting an 

 object as to deserve the attention of the readers of the Cabinet. — Clericus. 



On the Chinese Iris. — Having in my greenhouse one of those beautiful 

 plants the "Chinese Iris," I thought a description of it in its flowering state 

 might be interesting to the readers of the Fi.oricultur.al Cabinet, and tend, 

 in some degree, to stimulate the cultivation of so pretty a 'flowering plant. I 

 have one in a large pot, which has several shoots, itwo of which have sent forth 

 flowering stems, and upon the two appeared last month forty-five bud-blossoms. 

 On the 30th ultimo, fifteen blossoms were open at once, nine on one stem and 

 six on the other, and it has continued to exhibit from seven to nine (and for 

 several days ten to twelve) blossoms every day since. I should not have 

 remarked it so much, but that on referring to Mr. Curtis's " Flower Garden," 

 vol. ii., page 373, he makes mention of one of these plants at Mr. Colvill's, 

 King's Road, on which were counted " seven blossoms expanded at onetime 

 on its different branches." Mr. Curtis does not say how many branches the 

 plant had. But if seven was thought by such a botanist as Mr. Curtis, to be 

 worthy of such notice in his work, I think fifteen blossoms upon two branches 

 only (or rather stems) fully expanded at the same time, and nine of them upon 



