420 Wcsl LoJidoii Gardeners' Association. 



wall into the conservatory where it had plenty of space to run along, and it 

 made great progress during the season. Last winter it was kept in the con- 

 servatory, and w'ithin a few inches of the glass ; but it did not seem to be in 

 good humour, for three or four months ; yet it kept its leaves and young 

 shoots in their natural colour, and about the middle of last May it showed 

 strong flower buds on the ends of the last season's wood, and now some of 

 the flowers are expanded, and beautiful objects they are. The flowers have 

 long tubes like those of the Brugmans?«, and wide undulating limbs like the 

 flowers of the Brunsfelsk undulata, and are of the colour and texture of the 

 flowers of the Magnoh'a grandiflora. You must excuse this homely way of 

 describing its flowers ; it will answer the purpose I have in view better than a 

 long string of Latin adjectives. These flowers are produced on the very top 

 of the side shoots in clusters, one or two only opening at a time, so that each 

 truss keeps a long time in flower. For my own part, I like large flowers and 

 large foliage, especially for climbers, and I can never make up my mind to the 

 papilionaceous climbers from the South Sea Islands, as conservatory climbers : 

 their flowers are generally so small as to be lost in a lofty house ; they are 

 much better fitted to be grown in pots, and trained into fancy shapes. The 

 Beaumontia, treated in this way, will be a great acquisition to the conservatory 

 climbers ; and if it will prove a regular flower under this system, no plant can 

 be more deserving of a place. The amateur and young gardener must bear in 

 mind that it flowers on the ends of last year's wood, and they must not 

 shorten these till after the flowers are over. I was too ambitious last summer 

 to get my plant to run as long as possible, and for this purpose 1 repeatedly 

 pinched off the tops of the strongest lateral shoots ; these, of course, do not 

 flower this season, but, being cut in to one or two eyes, they will make good 

 flowering shoots for next season. If I had more time [which we hope you 

 will soon have] I would mention several other old plants which I think might 

 be tried in this way with advantage. — D. Beaton. Kingsbury, Kilburn, June 27. 

 Mushrooms growing in the same Soil luith Truffies. — Paris, Academy of 

 Sciences, June 16, 1840. A letter was read from M. Gasparina, stating that 

 in certain parts of the kingdom of Naples the country people had remarked, 

 that, when a certain spot produced mushrooms in great abundance, there were 

 always to be found near the surface of the soil black irregular solid substances, 

 which they called mushroom stones, and which they beUeved promoted the 

 growth of the fungous plant. M. Gasparina, suspecting the true nature of this 

 substance, examined several localities, and ascertained that they were a species 

 of truffle, sometimes of enormous dimensions, and in one instance attaining 

 the size of a child's head, six or eight years old. This specimen was now 

 produced before the Academy. (^Lit. Gaz., June 20.) 



Art. n. The West London Gardeners' Association Jbr mutual 

 Instruction, 



Monday Evening, March 30. 1840 — Mr. Thomas Keane read his paper 

 " On the Forcing of Melons,^' which explained his system as follows : " Before I 

 begin the general treatment of the melon, I shall say a few words about the 

 sort of place I would recommend for growing them in, which would be pits in 

 preference to frames. The pit to be constructed 6 ft. in height at the back, 

 4 ft. at the front, and 5 ft. in breadth. 3h ft. in depth at the back, and 2i ft. in 

 front, with both ends the same, would be a receptacle to contain linings of 

 dung, the breadth of which would be 2 ft. 3 in.: the dung, when it ferments, 

 to communicate the heat to the pit through pigeon-holes. This cavitj', or dung- 

 container to be covered over with a wooden shutter, hung by hinges to a piece 

 of wood laid on the outside of the walls ; and so hinged to the wood as to 

 be easily taken off or put on, for making or renewing linings, or for any other 

 purpose. In the back or north side of the pit, I would have a chamber, or 

 vacant space, of about 4 in. in breadth, worked through it from top to bottom, 

 to cause a circulation of heat to ascend and descend, which, in a great measure. 



