a 
212 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. 
[Aprin 1, 
‘and the blossoms are produced from its axils. One,,and some- 
times two or three flowers accompany each leaf, and their num- 
ber, duration, and frequent succession ‘are quite remarkable. 
Their colour is a superb, deep scarlet, and they are spotted inside 
with dark, blood-coloured spots. should be potted in a mix- 
'e of very turfy loam, not too much reduced, and well-decayed 
open leaf-mould. Turfy heath-soil and moss, freely incorporated, 
would likewise probably be appropriate. It must be kept in a 
‘warm stove. As the branches root, almost spontaneously, around 
every leaf, it can be propagated with the greatest ease by cuttings, 
and might also doubtless be increased by leaves.—Paaton’s Maga- 
zine of Botany, ‘ 
PAULO/VNIA IMPERIALIS. Imperial Pauloynia. (Hardy Tree). 
i Didynamia i i: This is one of the 
finest of Dr. Siebold’s introductions from Jhpan, where it grows 
to the height of 30 or 40 feet, with a trunk from two to three feet 
in diameter. Its leavesare excessively handsome, and its flowers, 
which were last year produced i i Plants, at Paris, 
in the Garden of 
are very like those of Catalpa syringzefdlia’ in shape, besides 
being borne in similar panicles at the extremities of the branches. 
When first received at Paris, it was nurtured with great tender- 
ness, and placed in a greenhouse; but after being put in the open 
ground it grew more vigorously, and though protected for a year 
or two, was to need no artificial shelter. 
Whether it will succeed as well in England, without covering, is 
it will be advisable to cover it partially for the first two or three 
years, especially if the autumn been unfavourable for 
ripening its wood; afterwards it may be left unsheltered. In 
covering it, provision should be made for giving it a good deal of 
air, and for exposing it on those days when no danger from cald 
exists. Above all things, it should be kept as dry as practicable 
in winter, that the plant may not begin growing too early in 
spring. It may be propagated by cuttings.—Pazton’s Magazine 
of Botany. 
Oncipium suave. Sweet-scented Oncidium. (Stove Epiphyte). 
Orchidacee, Gyndndria Mondndria.—A Mexi i 
faint and agreeable odour.— Botanical Register. 
ita in the flowers being 
much larger, while the bract is not longer than the ovary ; and 
om L. gigantea in the very short bract, ribbed tubercle, and 
rounded, not acuminate middle, segment of the lip.—Botanical 
Register. 
Oncipium BicALLosum. Two-warted Oncidium. (Stove Epi- 
i on; 
ynandria Monandria.—. 
Mr. Hartweg. The 
flowers are fully two inches in diameter, which is four times the 
size of O. Cavendishianum ; the’ 
labellum has two very 
small lateral lobes, and for its crest it has a pair of distinct 
tubercles, the posterior double, the anterior three-lobed, and the 
two separated by aconsiderable space. The flowers are, more- 
over, slightly scented, which is not the case with O. Cavendish- 
ii im. Many plants are doubtless in the country ; but no one 
has succeeded in flowering them excep man, who sent 
a fine specimen to the last meeting of the Horticultural Society. 
It is a stove plant, and requires to be grown in a mixture of 
turfy peat and potsherds; so that the whole may be efficiently 
drained. A smaller pot, inverted in the one in which it is potted, 
allows the warmth to rise through the soil, and makes the whole 
lighter than when it is drained at the bottom with potsherds, It 
may also be grown suspended from the rafters of the house like 
other air-plants, provided it is kept moist enough during the 
wing season. Like all these plants it requires a humid at- 
mosphere, a liberal supply of water when growing, and partial 
shade during bright sunshine in summer. A night temperatur 
of 60° in winter and 70° in summer will be amply sufficient for 
its growth.— Botanical Register, 
PHILIBE/RTIA GRANDIFLORA. Large- flowered Philibertia. 
e Clit i Penténdria Monogynia. 
—this pretty twining plant is a native of Buenos Ayres, orrather 
of Tucuman, whence its seeds were originally sent to the Glasgow 
and Glasnevin Botanic Gardens by Mr. Tweedie, It varies a good 
deal in the colour of its flowers and in the quantity of down that 
covers them; in wild specimens it soon becomes woolly; but 
these differences do not appear to be specific. It is a pretty 
slender greenhouse creeper, well adapted for training up the 
Taiters of the greenhouse, or over ornamental trellis-work 
ixed toa pot. Like most other plants belonging to the order 
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It is easily increased by cuttings treated in the ordinary way, and 
utumn. When i 
small but curious fresh.water shell, and two plants which 
Ihad not seen before. In about 11 or 12 miles we 
reached a permanent spring, called Yoolgan, where there 
is excellent grass. A few miles from Yoolgan we reached 
einart, a Tea-tree swamp, where there is grass and 
water to be had throughout the year ; the night threat- 
ened to rain, and having covered our house with Tea-tree 
bark, determined to stop until it cleared up; this 
took place about ten o’clock, when we visited a brush- 
wood swamp, where we shot several specimens of a beau- 
tiful kangaroo with a dark-coloured fur, overtopped with 
silvery hairs, called by the natives Marnine. On the top 
of a hill north of the swamp I found two distinct species 
of Dryandra new to me, also a fine Eucalyptus in flower, 
distinguished from the Matilgarring of the natives, the 
Eucalyptus macrocarpus of Sir W. J. Hooker, by having 
lengthened recurved flower-stalks ; the flowers are rose- 
coloured. On the 25th we proceeded on our journey ; I 
observed two new species of Acacia near Yeinart, and 
found some curious aquatic plants in pools of water 
among rocks at Badgee-badgee. From some mutilated 
specimens of plants brought home by a portion of the 
party, with accounts of others left behind, I determined to 
visit the new river myself, after botanizing a day in the 
vicinity of the Mouranpool, where I found a fine glaucous- 
leaved Anadénia, specimens of the blue kangaroo, and 
several small new quadrupeds—one of them apparently a 
true rat, almostas large and mischievous as the Norway rat. 
On the 27th, I found a species of the common poison, 
which I had not seen before, and a beautiful Conosper- 
mum, with panicles of blue flowers varying to white. I 
was informed that a plant like Horehound, but with scarlet 
tubular flowers, about an inch long, grew on the top of 
a stony hill to the north where I found the plant, which 
belongs to Scrophularinese. I also found a Manglesia, 
allied to tridentifera, but having the leaves more divided ; 
with a beautiful blue climbing species of Pronaya, on the 
top of the same hill. On the 28th, I fell in with two 
splendid species of Everlasting flower ; one, with golden- 
yellow flowers varying to white, having the flowers in 
heads different from any I have seen before, and which 
will, I think, form a new genus of Composite ; the other, 
with pink flowers, growing two feet high, something like 
Lawrencella rosea, or Rhodanthe Manglésii, but if possible 
finer than either. Nine or ten miles to the north of 
Boorbarna, we crossed a curious country, covered with 
what I consider a variety of quartz, which breaks with a 
conchoidal fracture, but having much the appearance of 
flint ; in many places the pieces were large, with sharp 
angles. This tract produces some interesting plants; a 
splendid Calothamnus, with leaves 9 inches long, and 
showy scarlet flowers, of which I got plenty of specimens. 
With regard to a new Banksia, allied to Aquifolium, which 
had been found here, I was not so fortunate as to procure 
specimens. After crossing several miles of this quartz 
formation, we came upon an extensive flat of strong 
clay, covered with Eucalyptus and some curious 
Acacias, We crossed a brook running strong to the 
west, and in about two miles from this, we made 
the river we were in quest of at a place called by 
the natives Murarine. Near it I found a splendid 
plant, which I expect will prove to be a species of Sola- 
num ; it grows two or three feet high, with large purple 
wers, and a calyx like brown velvet; the leaves are 
irregularly shaped, acuminate, about two inches long, and 
aninch and a half wide at their broadest parts ; the stems 
are prickly, and all the leaves covered with down, as in 
Lasiopétalum. I am uncertain about the genus, not 
having seen the seed-vessels, but whatever that may be, 
it is one of our finest Australian plants. In about four 
miles further to the north we reached two fresh-water 
lakes, called Dalarn and Maradine. Ducks and water- 
hens were here in thousands, and I found a fine B&ckia, 
with a curious new plant belonging to Composite, but not 
yet in flower. The appearance of the country about these 
lakes, and the plants about them, which are generally met 
with at no great distance from the sea, seem to prove that 
the lakes are at no great distance from it, and that the 
Darling Range does not extend so far to the north. No 
hills of any description appeared to the west. From the 
top of a hill to the east, two other remarkable ones ap- 
peared, about 30 miles to the north; one of them was 
On the 29th we returned on our track for about seven 
miles, until we reached the first running river we met on 
our journey to the north. Our guides agreed to take us back 
bya different route, and to take us to a hill where a 
curious kangaroo called ‘* Damar” would be met with. We 
therefore ascended this river, and soon came upon a 
grassy country; three or four miles up we stopped 
to dine at a place called Nugadrine ; several pairs 
of beautiful falcons were flying over us, one of which we 
succeeded in shooting. We travelled on for 10 or 11 
miles through a fine grassy country, and met with a large 
tribe of natives, several of whom had never seen white 
men: before ; they were friendly, and offered us some of 
their favourite root, the Wyrang, which grows abundantly 
among these grassy hills. In the morning of the 20th, we 
started for our station on the Moore River; and travelled, 
nearly the whole day, over the most splendid grassy coun- 
try I have ever seen in Australia; the hill-sides, as far as 
we could see in every direction, were covered with beau- 
tiful grass, and of a golden colour, from the flowers of the 
beautiful Everlasting described above, which is only found 
in the richest soil. After reaching our station, I em- 
ployed myself in drying specimens. A beautiful new 
Dryandra, discovered on the top of a hill near the Mouran 
pool, was shown to me; I have named it Dryandra flori- 
bunda, from its numerous blossoms, which almost hide 
the leaves; it grows 12 or 15 feet high, and in such 
abundance, that the side of the hill actually appears of a 
golden colour for several miles, 
beautiful species yet known. 
RURAL SONNET. 
Tjconsider it the most 
APRIL, 
Tue equinoctial gales are lull’d to rest. 
‘he early singing-birds uplift their strains, 
And timid April, by the sun caress’d, 
Now, with her breath of Violets, walks the plains : 
And, when her lord, like some enam: 2 
Ww, 
eart-certain of his truth, 
Smiles through her tears for bliss to share his yow. 
The days extend—in many-tinted gre: 
The buds unfurl their foliage—and the trees 
Which, promptest, bloom along the rural scene, 
Show, like some ’deck’d regatta, in the breeze. 
The swallows re-appear—and, hour by hour 
Both still and moving life mark Spring’s engendering power. 
Jones, Inner Temple. 
The Gypsum Experiment. — The following has been 
published by Professor Henslow, in further explanation of 
his views :—Mr. Hitchcock's Experiment: 1 went to the 
ground, accompanied by the experimenter, his brother, 
and my own gardener, and there found that preparations 
had been made by shooting down a tumbril-load of soil 
under the name of “good ditch stuff,” a tumbril-load of 
littered straw, a tumbril-load of clean and fresh horse- 
dung, two pails of house-urine, with a ditchfvl of water 
to dilute it, and a bushel of gypsum in a sack. ver 
these materials was presiding a labourer, apparently some- 
what puzzled to account for our proceedings. The first 
step was to mark out two spaces, each five feet square, 
and upon them to place a bottom of the “good ditch 
stuff’ half a foot thick. It should seem that clean straw 
is a scarce commodity in Hitcham just at present, and so 
we were obliged to put up with such as had been soaking 
in a cow-yard for two months amidst all the e¢ ceteras of 
that description of locality. Some sort of rough calcu- 
lation had been made of the amount of this straw, and 
also of the horse-dung, by weighing a bushel skep of each ; 
but I looked grave at the idea of our being satisfied with 
any estimate obtained by weighing only a single bushel, 
and so the steelyards were sent for. It is not necessary 
to weigh the whole of the materials used, but four or five 
basketsful at least should be weighed in order to obtain 
an average for measuring out the rest. I suppose itis 
not necessary to remind any one not to forget to deduct 
the weight of the‘basket in making his calculations ; but. 
I find it is right just to hint that the weight of a basket- 
ful should not be altered afterit has been prepared, in order 
to coax the average. Let each be filled by guess as nearly 
alike as may be, and weighed; and then the whole weight, 
divided by the number of basketsful will give the average 
for further estimate. ur zeal, however, on the present 
occasion was sufficient to keep us warm enough for three 
hours, and through two or three snow-storms, until we 
had weighed out the whole of the materials and completed 
our task. Webegan with the dunghill to be gypsumed, 
and placed it to the S. of the ungypsumed, and finished one 
first before we began with the other. Two basketsful of 
the straw were spread over the bottom, each weighing be- 
tween 40 and 50lbs. * Then two basketsful of the horse- 
dung were spread out, each weighing somewhat less than 
the wetted straw. A pint of gypsum was then sifted 
over the horse-dung; and the coarser particles of the 
&ypsum which did not pass through the hair sieve were 
preserved in order that they might be weighed and de 
ducted from the weight of a pint of gypsum, for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining the exact weight of the gypsum used. 
A gallon of liquid, half urine and half water, was then 
poured over this first layer of materials through the rose of a 
watering-pot. Seven layers were thus prepared insuccession, 
except that the topmost had only two gallons of water, 
there not having been any urine left. The whole was then, 
covered over with two basketsful of the wet straw. The 
other dunghill was then prepared in the same way, except 
that no gypsum was used, but the amount of materials em- 
ployed was exactly the same. The two stood now about 
three feet high, and their appearance was such tbat it was 
presumed they would certainly attract any one curious in 
Cucumbers to step out of his way to examine them. The 
experimenter was also of opinion that they would be ob- 
jects of curiosity to his cows; and therefore he thought fit 
to inclose them with hurdles, lest these gentle quadrupeds 
should amuse themselves by poking them into the neigh- 
bouring ditch. I think it right to record his precaution here, 
because it seems that a cow is a very inquisitive and experi- 
menting creature. I well remember that a cow once made a 
tolerably successful attempt at devouring a waistcoat of 
my own, which I had thrown off in a field whilst I was 
occupied in chasing the splendid swallow-tail butterflies, 
which no one, with the feelings of a naturalist can ever 
possibly resist running after in the districts about Cam- 
bridge, where they are to be met with. My waistcoat 
looked very much as if it had visited the cow’s first 
stomach, and required only a little further ruminating to 
render it sufficiently digestible for being re-swallowed. 
But, besides the precaution against. cows, the experimenter 
found it necessary a day or two afterwards to protect our 
hillocks against the rooks, who had taken a fancy to them, 
and were doing their best to pull them to pieces. A 
covering of ‘‘ good ditch stuff ’’ stopped their proceedings. 
In this condition, then, the hills are intended to repose 
until next October, when they are destined to be applied 
to land reserved fora Wheat crop. Mr. Pilgrim’s Expe- 
riment : Here I found two bottoms, each 7 feet by 5, had 
been already prepared of fresh turf and mould. There 
were also on the ground two tumbril-loads of very wet 
litter from the farm-yard, two months old; two tumbril- 
loads of horse-dung, with a little litter also intermixed ; a 
supply of mixed house-urine and much rain-water, some- 
what high in odour, which had been collected in a tank. 
Forty pounds of ready-sifted gypsum_was an improved 
