580 Proceedings of the London Horticultural Societg. 



From Mrs. Randolph, of 2. Bridge Street, Westminster, specimens of arti- 

 ficial flowers prepared from feathers of the natural colour. These were sin- 

 gularly well executed imitations of flowers, the brilliancy of the colours 

 being quite equal to those of natural specimens. 



From Petty Vaughan, Esq., a small collection of apples grown at Hallo- 

 well, Maine, United States, in about 44 r \° N. lat. Some of these specimens 

 were not so large as they are sometimes produced in America, but their 

 colouring indicated a much greater degree of sun heat than has been ex- 

 perienced of late in England. Of those in the collection the Boston russet 

 proved a good apple in this country, and the Rhode Island greening also suc- 

 ceeds well. The Newtown pippin is sometimes good in warm seasons and 

 situations ; but more frequently its character becomes so much altered, that it 

 is difficult to believe it the very same variety as the imported fruit. 



Feb. 19. 1839. — Ordinary Meeting. Read, a letter to the secretary from 

 Mr. W. B. Booth, upon the mode of constructing wire fences for training 

 espalier fruit trees upon, and for other purposes. 



Exhibited. From Mr. Beaton, gardener to Thomas Harris, Esq., a very 

 remarkable collection of cactaceous plants, chiefly imported from Mexico 

 and the Spanish Main ; also a fine crimson-flowered inga, and two specimens 

 of a testudinaria from Mexico. Among the former plants was Cereus se- 

 nilis of various lengths, from a seedling 2 in. high, and supposed to be 

 eighteen months old, to 5 ft. 3 in. ; and it was mentioned that the Duke of 

 Bedford had recently received one of these plants 7 ft., and two others 10 ft. 

 long each; others were said to be expected as much as 14 ft. long, and of a 

 woolly as well as hairy appearance. Connected with this collection the fol- 

 lowing note from Mr. Beaton was read to the meeting: — 



" At a meeting of the Horticultural Society, held on the 19th of June, 

 1838, I exhibited a collection of Cacti, amongst which were two or three 

 seedlings which I thought at that time were those of Cereus senilis, having 

 raised them from seeds received under that name from Mexico, but I have 

 since ascertained they were those of a species of Echinocactus. It will be re- 

 collected by the Horticultural Society that those seedlings were destitute of 

 the hairs peculiar to C. senilis, which gave rise at the time to an opinion that 

 the hairs were not produced on C. senilis until a certain period of its age, or, 

 at least, not in the seedling state. I am glad to be now enabled to correct this 

 opinion, by exhibiting a dried specimen of a seedling C. senilis, which I have 

 received from Mexico, by which it will be seen that the hairs are produced in 

 that species along with its spines in the seedling state." 



Cuttings of the following fruit trees were distributed : — 



The winter crassane pear, an excellent bearer as a standard or dwarf. 

 The Shobden Court pear, a variety raised by the late president ; it pos- 

 sesses a flavour partaking of that of melon and pine-apple. The royal 

 hative plum. This sort resembles the reine Claude violette in appear- 

 ance and high flavour, and ripens considerably earlier. Knight's large green 

 drying plum, a sort as large as the Washington, and superior to it in point 

 of flavour ; it fruited for the first time last season ; its merits as a preserving 

 plum are not yet known, but as a dessert fruit it will doubtless rank high. 



March 5. 1839. — Ordinary Meeting. Cuttings were distributed of the 

 following fruit trees, viz. : — The Reine Claude violette plum; one of the 

 few purple plums of which the flavour will bear comparison with that of the 

 green gage. The nelis d'hiver pear; not a large sort but high-flavoured, 

 syn. la bonne Malinoise. The Louise bonne pear of Jersey ; very dif- 

 ferent from the old Louise bonne of the French, which is quite worthless in 

 this country, This will succeed as a standard even in the north of England, 

 where it answers better as such than the Marie Louise ; season October. The 

 Downton nonpareil apple ; larger than the old nonpareil, of a brisk, sharp, 

 yet rich flavour ; hardy and a good bearer. 



Ordinary Meeting. — March 19. 1839. Read, a paper by Mr. Philip Con- 



