334 Domestic Notices .- — Scotland. 



ordinary course of business, were read to, and sanctioned by, the latter 

 Meeting. We now supply that information. 



At the Meeting of Committee, on the 15th of December last, specimens of 

 a seedling apple were received from the Rev. H. Wastel of Newbroiigh, near 

 Hexham, a plant of which had been sent to the Society's garden last year. 

 The fruit was considered of excellent quality, and thanks voted to the 

 reverend gentleman. Specimens of six diiferent sorts of good apples, not 

 generally known, sent by Mr. Archibald Reid, gardener at Balcarres in Fife, 

 for competition on the 2d of December, but which arrived too late to com- 

 pete, were found of good quality, and thanks voted to Mr. Reid. 



The Secretary stated that although no competitor for the medal ofTered 

 for " long service," had appeared on the day fixed by the schedule, yet one 

 had since come forward. That person was Mr. John Cunningham, who 

 had been forty-two years head-gardener at Riccarton, the fidelity and satis- 

 factory nature of whose services were amply certified by Mr. Gibson Craig. 

 The Committee recommended to the Genera! Meeting to admit Mr Cun- 

 ningham's claim to the medal for 1828 ; which was agreed to. 



At the Meeting of Committee on the 8th ofJanuary,a collection of seeds 

 from the Himalaya mountains was presented by John Govan, Esq. W.S. 

 The seeds had been sent to that gentleman by his brother, Dr. Geo. Govan, 

 botanist and geologist to the survey of those mountains. Thanks were 

 voted to Mr. Govan, with a request that he would assure his brother, that 

 the seeds had been received with gratitude, and would be carefully culti- 

 vated in the Society's garden. A card was read from John Robison, Esq., 

 announcing a donation of arboreous and shrubby plants, twenty-five in 

 number, several of which were rare, also fifteen varieties of grape vines, 

 including the most esteemed raisins de table, by John Exshaw, Esq , of 

 Bourdeaux. Thanks were voted to that gentleman for this handsome 

 donation, and also to Mr. Robison for his uniform attention to the inte- 

 rests of the institution. 



Upon the 8th of February, the arrival was announced of a rich collection 

 of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs, and of seeds, from the Horticultural 

 Society of London, for which handsome donation the cordial thanks of 

 the Council were directed to be communicated to the London Society. — 

 Some apples of crop 1827, in good preservation, although fifteen months 

 off the tree, were exhibited by Mr. Geo. Watson, gardener at Tarvit, near 

 Cupar, Fife. These apples were of the variety called the Kerry Pippin, and 

 the mode of preserving them consisted in placing them apart from each 

 other in flat-bottomed earthen jars, with air-tight covers, layers of fine dry 

 sand being put between them, and the jars kept in a cool dry situation. — 

 The Council examined Mr. R. Spittal's essay on the diseases of plants, with 

 specimens of the diseased leaves and stems, and found it to be a commu- 

 nication evincing great research, and possessing much interest. 



At the Meeting of the Council on the 8th of March, the Society's silver 

 medal was recommended to be awarded to Mr. Alexander Smith, gardener 

 at Cunnoquhie, for producing pine-apples and melons in pits, the bottom 

 heat of which was derived from steam, introduced into a close chamber 

 filled with pebbles, a mode of heating introduced by Mr.' John Hay ; and at 

 the same Meeting the large medal, annually placed at the disposal of this 

 Society by the Horticultural Society of London, was voted to Mr. John 

 Hay, for his invention of this improved mode of heating. 



The Society were put in possession, by Captain Smith of Dysart, of an 

 interesting account of the effect of introducing buds of the Ganges apple 

 into branches of the Russian transparent apple, by the ordinary process of 

 inoculation ; the Ganges apple produced from these buds having acquired 

 the peculiar transparency which characterises the fruit of the stock ; an 

 effect, it will be observed, which goes to overturn the received opinion that 

 the produce of the bud is in no respect affected by the qualities of the 



