VUGI - T 



25, 



1855.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



rare Cryptoeephalus nitens from Cobham, Kent, was exhi- T first time, 

 bited by Dr. Baly ; and by Mr. H. Doubleday specimens of 

 two distinct species of Noctuidse, generally confounded 

 in collections under the name of Caradrna blanda. 

 Other rare species of Lepidoptera were exhibited by 



Weir, S. Stevens, and Foxcroft. Mr. West- 



567 



Messrs. 



W ood exhibited a living scorpion, imported from Mexico, 



aaion* plants by the Horticultural Society. Also speci- 

 D3 ens C 'of the eggs and living larvae of the dog flea, the 

 former of which are deposited singly and loosely by the 

 females: specimens of the latter, as well as of the 

 livin^ insect in the perfect state, had recently been com- 

 municated by him to Mr. Halliday, and the result of this 

 examination he believed would tend to prove the pro- 

 priety of regarding Pulex as the type of a distinct order 

 and not as portion of the Diptera. He also exhibited 

 specimens of the perfect silk moths, recently under 

 cultivation in Malta, received from Dr. Templeton, 

 where it has unfortunately been found impracticable to 

 rear the insects successfully. Specimens of the true 

 Saturnia Cynthia, which produces the Eria silk of India, 

 received from Major Jenkins, were also exhibited by 

 Mr. Westwood, who considered, from analogy with 

 other domesticated insects and other animals, that there 

 were not sufficient grounds for considering the Malta 

 specimens as distinct from the Indian ones, contrary to 

 "e opinion of Dr. Boisduval, who had described the 

 former under the name of Saturnia Ricini. A discus- 

 sion took place on the great number of moths which, 

 notwithstanding the long hard winter, have appeared 

 during the present summer, during which Mr. West- 

 wood stated that he bad observed these insects to be 

 attracted in vast numbers to the saccharine secretion 

 left by aphides on the leaves and stalks of Beans, and 

 also to Gooseberries which have been cracked by the rain. 



Botanical of Edinburgh, July.-- This meeting was 

 chiefly occupied with a report upon the results of Pro- 

 fessor Balfour's late excursion with the botanical pupils 

 of the University of Edinburgh. We can only find 

 room for the following record of localities for rare 



J fonts: — Diatomella Balfouriana, Bracklin Bridge; 

 ■ittorella laeustris, near Lead-burn ; Galium uliginosum' 

 near Lead-burn ; Jungermannia decipiens, Wilson, near 

 Ardglass ; Eorrera flavicans, Ach,, on Ardglass Downs; 

 Rubus Chamaemorus, Hill South of Hahbie's Howe ; 

 Potamogeton preelongus, Kinghorn Loch ; Eriophorum 

 latifohum, near Crichton Castle ; Saxifraga oppositifolia, 

 Allermuir Burn, Pentlands'; Lactuca muralis, near 

 Musselburgh ; Silene anglica, side of Peebles Railway : 

 Tulipa sylvestris, »—-*-• «%«... * > 



Aberdour 



of the fnnntfmi* rLm «iw^ 4i.~ s l nave 8een the varieties of the great human 



not appear enough in quantity, nor was its range 

 sufficiently high. At each stage on my descent these 

 defects became less apparent, and I came to the con- 

 clusion that when those farthest from the eye are to 

 work, what failed to satisfy will then fill up the interstices, 

 and also attain an altitude that will leave nothing to 

 desire. As it is I could have waited longer, so as to 

 have seen them for the first time in perfection, and I 

 doubt not that thousands have had a similar feeling. 

 Many persons expressed opinions in favour of St. Cloud 

 and Versailles, and in one sense they were right (as now 

 seen), for the quantity of water is in either of these two 

 celebrated gardens more in proportion to the space than 

 that at the Crystal Palace. At those places the trees 

 are grown up, and confine the eye to such limits as show 

 off the waters as occupying the entirety of the middle 

 ground. Whenever the time arrives that our trees 

 have obtained their crowth. and «Kii also the 



activity, 

 at the 



are. 



growth, and 

 lower fountains and cascades are 

 I venture to predict that the water 



when 

 in full 



— ~- works 

 Crystal Palace will take rank far beyond their eel* 

 brated rivals. Give only time for the noble forms of 

 the Deodars and Araucarias to develope themselves 

 repeating their effects "each beyond each," and they 

 will combine with the grand architecture and water in 

 a manner that hitherto no eye— save those of the 

 poet, the painter, and the landscape gardener— can 

 have seen. 



near Ravelrig, Donibristle, near 

 p-u „., Vltleriana dioica, Marsh at foot of Middle 

 £Hdon Hill, Melrose ; Crepisbiennis, field at Luffness • 

 Campanula Trachelium, Luffness ; Lathrrea squamaria' 

 woods near Melrose ; Neottia Nidus-avis, woods near 

 Melrose, near Ay ton Castle ; Carex incurva, near Long- 

 wddry ; Carex (Ederi (true form), Gullane Liuks; 

 Asplenium germanicum, Minto Crags, near Hassendean ; 

 i-ycopodium alpinum, near Tynehead ; Grimmia deusta, 

 **ldon Hills • Sticta scrobiculata, near Melrose ; Cali- 



cium furt 



r """"nweuni, ground in a plantation at Bonaly ; 

 Jorophora polyphylla, Arthur's Seat; Gvrophora pro- 



n,?rni ea ' 8t0 " eS °? the t0 P of Carnethie ; Bryum atro- 

 purpureun, experimental garden (G. Lawson) ; Closte- 



uli Unul *' road bel »nd Edinburgh Academy (G. 

 c£Kw C * m P* nula latifolia, Eaglescairnie Woods, 

 Dr T r\ C *P r, P edh "n Calceolus, Arncliffe, Craven! 

 Plants iU- ^ U8 t . Macla S an ex " il >«ed specimens of 

 K Z t T* • y h,m from the Crin,ea - a "ong which 

 S st S v ,ng ; Convo1 ™^ cantabrica ; Parony- 

 Sb Kis ° * 5 Sa r lvia Horm »°^ ! S'de'ritis sp^; 

 Qum2. Pet T -8ea ; La thyrus tuberosus ; Helianthe- 



L - i Myototis s mUm llirsutum > L - 5 Adoni s aestivalis, 



Sottas of Mote. 



des ff T mi d ' me Me de la region alpine 

 Wejfft * ^mtrique du Sud. By U. A. 



lished n i?- a . 4t0 ' Pari » : Bertrand. To be pub- 

 «wd m 16 parts, at 1 2f. 50c. each part. 



^t,; D noJ l0r n ° f . Peru and Bolivia is fnll of inte- 

 rn rean-nl; • , h as gained more accurate informa- 

 botanist o 'l g lt . <han Dr - Weddcll, a distinguished 



re Won t ° Se f lnteresting traveIs m the Cordilleras 

 (1845, h fiQo W ° i ormer occasions given some account 



Stained in tV an 1850 > P' 55 >' The co P ious materials 

 Wo ^whioh IT v °y a S es form the basis of the present 

 of other tr«l } 0wever , a «gmented with the discoveries 

 ^reux I er8 ' The P lates are executed by M. 



^e part b a f St ° f great b otanical skill 

 ■^ely. of th *7 Iore u s contains Composite plants exclu- 



teriatic of wSf Slngu]ap bi,abi ate race which is so charac- 

 *"* We in t? b ° Uth America - The specific charac- 



arra Deempnf a ' ^ he desc riptions in* French ; the 

 Wted a/ Pt i d is that Proposed by the late 

 orders are tn ? T Jussieu, in which monopetalous 



to take precedence of all others. 



\ 



ISIT 



Gard 



en Memoranda. 



m fce eaui If CaYSTAL Palace.— The progress made 

 *** ^en fn l , 1 ment generally during the past season 

 ktfory ' p *T e magnitude of the place, very satis- 



ftat <m mv 7 l° m -° f the S round became developed 

 f^bs *\JL»a V18U were chaotic, and the trees and 



w 



thread 



j-P^R is p J^me a character. The general 

 * Tel °pe bea?t C l > and time alone ia required to 



T1 «« I saw the display of water works for the 



Arrived at the geological illustrations I found the 

 inimitable Hawkins, to whom so much is due for the 

 restoring the forms, texture, nay very expression of the 

 animals that peopled this world" at its earlier periods, 

 and when the skill of the Infinite produced creatures 

 for the then circumstances, although of magnitudes and 

 kinds that seem to us most strange. I found Hawkins 

 in deep study over some three or four hundred pieces 

 of Portland stone that had once been an exogenous tree. 

 It was found prostrate, and had every piece of it been 

 marked, it could have been put together without diffi- 

 culty, and would have formed an object of great interest, 

 as proving that, although surrounded by endogens, 

 mostly Cyeas gigantea, yet that trees like our Oaks and 

 Elms did then also, as now, clothe the earth. Upon 

 looking over the fragments, the annular layers of growth, 

 the axis, a branch, and also that part where the branch 

 is given off from the trunk, as well as a suppressed 

 branch, were all perfectly distinguishable. If Dr. Lind- 

 ley could find time he would be enabled to arrange the 

 disjecta membra. 



The geological portion of the ground at present is 

 the least finished. The animals have been transferred 

 from the studio in considerable numbers, and have been 

 placed in groups with great skill ; but until the water 

 is introduced in greater volume, and also the ground 

 " licked more together," as the artists' phrase is, we 

 cannot expect a oneness of effect. Where things vast 

 and strange arrest the eye on all hands, it is difficult to 

 speak of one ; but there is a thing of beauty, so exqui- 

 site and rare, that it cannot be passed by — for it becomes 

 "a joy for ever." I allude to the head and neck of the 

 female Irish elk — so much grace and delicacy of ex- 

 pression, and so unlike and yet so true, that I have 

 never yet seen its equal in animal modelling. Vastness 

 will be expressed by the mammoth now in progress, 

 strangeness by many, but beauty is personified by that 

 one female elk. 



On my way back I passed by the new. rootery, which 

 is on a grand scale, and will become very effective so 

 soon as the plants gain character. The rockwork is 

 too little advanced to pass an opinion upon, but its site 

 is well chosen. I have before said that the general 

 keeping is all that could be desired, but there is one 

 portion of the arrangement where the shrubs are made 

 to straggle out of their beds upon the lawn ; this part 

 without an army of gardeners defies subjection. The 

 arrangement is very pretty, very natural, and breaks 

 up roost thoroughly the hard edges of the outline, but 



as the Grass is evenly mown up to these outlying shrubs, 

 so to speak, and is allowed to grow up amongst them, 

 it does give a weedy and unsatisfactory appearance. 



A few words on the interior of the Palace, and I have 

 done. The greatest improvement is occasioned by 

 taking away the shop stalls — they were incongruous and 

 out of keeping in a place devoted to science, literature, 

 and art. The marble basins are now enriched with 

 Victorias, Nymphaeas, Hydrocharis Huinboldti, &c, an 1 

 are seldom to be met with in greater -perfection, the 

 Oxford botanic garden excepted. The Oranges have 

 acquired a healthy hue, and do good service, as do the 

 Pomegranates, as far as their foliage is concerned, but 

 I fear they will not flower as profusely as we see them 

 on the Continent. 



The large introduction of the hard-wooded shrubs of 

 Africa and Australia, to the exclusion of the soft- wooded 

 species, is a decided improvement ; the one class showing 

 evident signs of being too far away from the light, and 

 the other seeming to be perfectly at home and happy. 

 The baskets of plants are even more attractive this than 

 they were the preceding season. Many of the stove 

 plants bear their position well, but there are some that 

 seem to ask for more warmth and a closer atmosphere. 

 The Date Palms that were imported from Egypt as yet 

 show no signs of life, though every care that knowledge 

 could suggest has been bestowed upon them. 



My eye now falls upon what Dr. Lindley terms "the 

 ethnological absurd ities," and I proceed to examine 





they 

 1 further ask myself whether the variety of 

 statures, form, complexion, &c, that the Creator baa 

 stamped upon the varieties of the human race are not 

 worthy fto be noted ; and also whether the dress, how- 

 ever slight, however grotesque in others, is not worth 

 exhibiting upon the form of Nature's mould ?— and, 

 lastly, whether the rude implements, either for war, 

 securing their food, or for any other of their require- 

 ments, implies any absurdity by being aaaociated with 

 the figures and their dreaaes \ My answer is, certainly 

 not. Where then the absurdity I Whv, in placing men 

 of various tribes of full stature in a mimic array of 

 plants in pots to represent the forest jungles made up of 

 trees of gigantic proportions, and overgrown with an 

 entanglement of creepers that occasionally strangle the 

 monarchs of the forest themselves. "Here is the 

 absurdity. 



Would I then do away with the ethnological series! 

 Oh, no ; but increase, and, if possible, fill up the whole 

 series upon the same principle, till Dr. Pritchard's book 

 should be illustrated with t beings he describes, from 

 the first form to the last. This would be a work, as far 

 as I know, never yet attempted, and one worthy of the 

 grandeur of the building, as I can imagine no series 

 more novel, m< r nstructive, and more interesting than 

 such an one, disposed in a long series in an aisle by 

 themselves. Surely a deeper interest must be felt in 

 recognising the members of our own family than in noting 

 those of the inferior races of the creation. A com- 

 mencement is made to illustrate md> portions of the 

 vegetable and mineral kingdom* as afford food, medi- 

 cii.e, or material for the various purposes of domestic 

 economy ; this, when further advanced, will be an ex- 

 tremely valuable adjunct ; already we have a goodly 

 display of cereals that look like those we remember to 

 have seen at the Exhibition of 1 851 , by the Messrs. Law- 

 sons. The natural and prepared cocoa and coffee and 

 tea are in samples large enough to identity the quality, as 

 iar as the eye goes, with their names written legibly 

 upon them. Then we have the gums, the woods, the 

 dyes of commerce, with the names of the trees that 

 produce them, a series of fruits modelled in wax, but 

 they are not so good M I remember to have seen, and 

 must be replaced as soon as specimens more illustrative 

 can be procured. The idea is a good one, and when 

 worked out, as at the museum at Kew, it will become a 

 most useful and interesting gallery, which a man 

 cannot even lounge through without gaining knowledge. 

 But I must return, or 1 shall tire my readers as much 

 as most visitors are fagged after a day of research, and 

 we will descend by the long gallery, whose wall is lat- 

 ticed and which a number of goodly creepers have 

 appropriated for their support. The whole length of this 

 gallery has a border for the growth of the creepers, 

 and 1 would suggest that if it were filled with Hyacinths, 

 Squills, Crocus, Narcissus, Tulips, and the like, it 

 would prove attractive to visitors in February, March, 

 April, and May, and on leaving they would have the 

 grateful remembrance of the effect of a spring pasture, 

 gorgeous in colour, grateful in scent, and sheltered from 

 the winds and variableness of our spring months. 

 William Masters, Exotic Nursery, Canterbury. 



II ^IMMIMI llll | II M r I I I M llll - 



Arundel Castle Gardens. — In addition to the 

 annual opening of these gardens and grounds to the 

 inhabitants of the town and their friends, his Grace the 

 Duke of Norfolk has kindly granted this season another 

 privilege of a novel character, viz., the illumination of 

 the flower gardens, which are now in great perfection. 

 Nearly 3000 lamps were in use on the occasion, and 

 being disposed in straight and drapery lines on the 

 terraces with festoons, wreaths, and arches on the 

 arcades and walls, together with a liberal admixture in 

 the flower beds and by the fountain, the effect of the 

 whole was very striking. Upwards of 3000 visitors 

 promenaded in the gardens from half-past 8 to half-past 

 10 o'clock. The duke's brass band was stationed on the 

 terraces. It is gratifying to add that not the slightest 

 injury was done, and an excellent tone pervaded the 

 gathering. Q. M'Ewen, A ugu&t 22. 



FLORICULTURE. 



National Floeiccltueal Society, August 23.— Mr. Robinson 

 in the chair. Dahlias formed the principal feature of this meet- 

 ing. Twentv-five varieties were entered for the opinion of the 

 judges, and among them some po«tssed both novelty and fine 

 form. Hollyhocks, both Seedlings and named varieties, were 

 also exhibited in irood condition. Of Dahlias, Mr. Holmes, of 

 Homclmrch, sent three blooms of a white-ground variety, strongly 

 tipped with purple. It is large in size, with a full compact 

 centre, and will make a good kind i exhibition. The same 

 exhibitor aJ ent rcassian Beanty, a fancy below the average 

 in quality. Mr. Wheeler, of Warminster, sent Emperor of the 

 Yellows, a yellow slightly tinged with lake ; and Eclipse, a dark 

 plum-coloured kind; the latter was the best of the two, but 

 neither were in good condition. Mr. Keynes, of Salisbury, exhi- 

 bited five variet . The one selected by the judges for reward 

 was 1 nnald, a pale primrose sort, slightly tipped with purple : 

 a full sized compact flower, but rather low in the centre. The 

 others were a fancy, named Mrs. Spary, rather dull in colours; 

 Argo, a large yellow; ( leral Siinpsor a bright orange, with 

 h i centre, but long petal ; and Lord Raglan, buff, which main* 

 rained the character given to it at the previous meeting. Mr. 

 Rawliiigs of Bethnal <.reen, sent 6 blooms of Robert Hogg, a 

 shaded purple, ot medium size, and broad in the petal ; a little 

 ribbii traced from its merits. The same exhibitor also 



sent 3 bloo of Archbishop of Canterbury, a dark purple, with 

 a high centre, and good outline. It was not a largr ize, 

 but very double. A Label of Commendation was awarded 

 it. sambo, also from Mr. Rawlings, was poor. Mr. Salter, 

 of Hammersmith, had a fancy variety ; a striped kind, but 

 the colours were not sufficiently distinct, being red striped 



