250 Notes and Gleanings. 



.baskets suspended from the centre dish, which, filled with the pretty Isolepis 

 gracilis^ and a few rosebuds or any small flower, has a very pretty effect. The 

 stands should be filled with wet sand or water, with a lump of charcoal in it. 

 This, of course, keeps it in a state of purification, and in it the flowers will keep 

 longer than in pure water, which has to be changed so frequently. 



In the place of the stands for the dinner-table, plants are now almost univer- 

 sally used, and some of them have a very pretty effect. Light foliaged palms 

 and ferns, with flowering plants introduced as a relief, are among the most suita- 

 ble ; placed in the new China pots and mossed around, they are verj.- pretty. I 

 have seen a sort of miniature tree fern used for this purpose, formed by placing 

 in a small piece of a dead stem of a tree fern and covered with Selaginella, and 

 it really is charming for the purpose, and sets one wondering whether it really 

 has grown so, or been arranged by human hands. Some of the light-looking 

 foliaged Dracaenas are very suitable. The leaves of Draccena Macleayi are of a 

 bronzy metallic appearance, and form a striking contrast among the bright growth 

 of the fern fronds. Country Gentleman^s Magazine. 



The Revue Horticole, for April i, 1871, has just come to hand, the first 

 number since the sixteenth of September, 1870, this long suspension having 

 been caused by the war in France. The colored plate represents the Prunus 

 prosiraia, the branches covered with small flowers, of a deep pink color, and 

 described as trailing on the ground, so as to form a carpet of flowers. The 

 Roussanne Nouvelle peach is said to be a freestone variety of excellent quality, 

 ripening the latter part of August. The Haricot intestin is recommended as a 

 new bean, desirable either as a string bean, or for use in a dry state. 



Velocipedes. — The Gardener's Chronicle thinks that the " bicycle nuisance " 

 ought to be put down with a strong hand. Recently a van returning from a 

 flower show, was overturned by one of these pests of the road being allowed by 

 an incompetent rider to fall between the horses's legs. A load of beautiful 

 variegated zonal pelargoniums which had just won an extra prize, was totally 

 ruined, and three attendants were seriously injured. 



Violets. — I supplement my series of violets, sent a few weeks back, with 

 blooms of V. calif ornica. It is a handsome sort with no scent, deciduous, and 

 quite hardy. As to the complaint of shortness of stalk, you will see by the 

 specimens sent that no complaint can be made of this variety. [The length of 

 the stalk of the leaf was eleven inches, and of the flower ten inches.] 



English Jojcrnal of Horticulture. 



A Hindu Club has been formed at Madras, India, which holds out-door 

 meetings at various places, including the Government Farm and the Horticul- 

 tural Gardens. At these establishments the members have shown great zeal in 

 examining and obtaining descriptions of the various grasses, cereals, and other 

 plants. 



