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THE OABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



[November 24, 1888. 



first taught mathematics at Bayorme, and was after- 

 wards engaged in commercial pursuits at Paris and 

 Nancy, and retired to Biarritz in 1865, where, until 

 his death in 187-1, he occupied himself in arranging 

 his numerous notes on natural history. Many of the 

 drawings were executed by his daughter. A short 

 note on Mr. Ducourau's career is given in the 

 Gourrier cle Bayonne, a copy of which is before us. 



The Gardeners' Royal Benevolent In- 

 stitution. — At a meeting of the committee, held 

 on Thursday, the 15th inst., it was determined to 

 hold the fiftieth annual general meeting of the 

 subscribers at Simpson's, Strand, on Wednesday, 

 January 16 next, and to add on that occasion four- 

 teen pensioners to the list, five without election, 

 under Rule 6, and nine by election among the sub- 

 scribers. The voting-papers will be issued on or 

 about December 15. The usual annual friendly 

 dinner of the members will take place after the 

 meeting, and the Very Reverend S. Reynolds 

 Hole, Dean of Rochester, has consented to preside. 

 A special committee has been appointed to con- 

 sider the best manner of celebrating the year 

 1889, that being the fiftieth, or Jubilee Year of ihe 

 Institution. On November 28, 1888, B. R. Cutler 

 will enter upon his seventieth year, and in January 

 will complete his forty-sixth year as Secretary of the 

 Institution. 



Type WRITERS.— Type writing seems to be 

 making advances in this country, some of our 

 nurserymen having adopted the system, and most of 

 the United States firms correspond in this manner. 

 Editors would often be glad if more of their corre- 

 spondents wrote by machinery. The Remington Co. 

 held a meeting at Anderton's Hotel lately, when the 

 latest improvements in their machine were demon- 

 strated to members of the Press. In the new pattern 

 (No. 5) the action is simplified, and new characters 

 are introduced. 



CYPRIPEDIUM INSIGNE SANDER/E. — A small 

 plant with a single growth and one flower of this 

 superb variety realised 70 guineas by fair compe- 

 tition, without reserve, at Messrs. Protheroe & 

 Morris' auction rooms, on Friday, November 16. 

 It is a fine and distinct variety, the like of which has 

 not been seen, or anything resembling it. It will be 

 best described by saying that it is a C. insigne with 

 clear, citron-yellow, waxlike, and shining flowers, 

 the upper third of the dorsal sepal being pure white, 

 the only and almost imperceptible marking being 

 some ten or twelve brown dots, like fly-spots, up the 

 median rib of the same. 



The Copley Medal.— The Copley Medal of 

 the Royal Society, the highest award in the gift of 

 the Society, has this year been awarded to Professor 

 Hoxley. 



The Weather Plant.— We have had so many 

 inquiries about this, and our friends have sent us so 

 many newspaper-cuttings referring to it, that we 

 think it right to state that the plant in question be- 

 longs to the same family as the extraordinary Goose- 

 berry and the Blue Rose. All plants, to be precise 

 all protoplasm, is sensitive to physical impressions, 

 in some instances more so than others. That the 

 plant in question should be able to forecast the state 

 of the weather and give presage of earthquakes is 

 nothing compared to what is narrated in old books 

 as to the sensitiveness, if we remember right, of 

 some species of Oxalis the leaves of which closed 

 at the approach of the wicked and vicious, but re- 

 mained unaffected in the presence of the pure and 

 virtuous. The Weather Plant is no other than the 

 well-known Abrus precatorius, sometimes called the 

 Paternoster Pea, the seeds of which are like small 

 beans but of a brilliant scarlet, with a patch of black 

 at one end. They are used for beads and rosaries 

 (whence the name), and also for diamond weights, the 

 weight of the Koh-i-noor having been ascertained by 

 their means. The pinnate leaves of the plant are, no 

 doubt, sensitive to light, heat, electricity, or any 



other force that would alter the tension of their 

 protoplasm. The statement that an observatory has 

 discarded both aneroid and mercurial barometers in 

 favour of the Weather Plant as an indicator of forth- 

 coming weather is one of those statements that we 

 should receive with an open mind, so that what 

 passed into one ear might speedily escape by the 

 other! When we receive information from some 

 other source than newspaper gossip we shall be 

 bound to accord the matter more consideration. 



The Gardeners' Orphan Fund.— On Wed- 

 nesday, the 14th inst., a grand concert, promoted by 

 the gardeners in and around Chesterfield, was given 

 in the Stephenson Memorial Hall, Chesterfield, the 

 proceeds of which are to be handed over to the 

 above fund. In addition to the usual attractions 

 the large hall was very tastefully decorated with 

 autumnal foliage and flowers. The concert was 

 under distinguished patronage. The decorations 

 were ably carried out by the committee under the 

 direction of Mr. Owen Thomas, of Chatsworth (the 

 local hon. secretary to the Bund), assisted by Mr. 

 Poster, chief Orchid grower at Chatsworth. The 

 chair was taken by the Hon. and Rev. R. E. Adder- 

 ley, Vicar of Chesterfield, who spoke in very 

 favourable terms of the objects of the Society. A 

 ball was given in the same hall on Friday, the pro- 

 ceeds of which are also to be added to the fund. 



Industrial Exhibition, Paris,— We read in 



the Devon and Exeter Gazette of November 20, that 

 awards have just been made at the Industial Ex- 

 hibition now being held in Paris in connection with 

 the manufacture of cider and perry, and the result is 

 eminently satisfactory to the county of Devon, con- 

 sidering that the competition was an open one. The 

 first prize (Diploma and Gold Medal) has been 

 awarded to Messrs. Robert Veitch & Son, of the Royal 

 Nurseries, Exeter, for a collection of Apples suit- 

 able for making cider. These Apples were collected 

 from cider districts, and included all the standard 

 varieties, as well as some new sorts raised by leading 

 cider-makers. The. second prize for cider has been 

 awarded to Mr. Charles Hasi, of Exeter, as also 

 another prize for Apples used in the process of 

 manufacture. 



Institute Road.— The road long-talked of 

 across the whilom Royal Horticultural Gardens at 

 South Kensington, is now an accomplished fact. All 

 the better — the sooner the memory of the " Com- 

 missioners and all their works " is banished from the 

 minds of horticulturists the more charitable they are 

 likely to feel towards their oppressors. 



CHERRIES. — Our English Home, as quoted in 

 Notes and Queries (1861), p. 14S, contains the fol- 

 lowing: — "Cherries grew in Holborn in the same 

 century (thirteeth) ; Henry III. ordered them to be 

 planted at Westminster; and Giles de Andenaed, 

 the Royal Gardener in the reign of Edward I., also 

 planted some Cherry trees in the same garden." 



The Late Mr. COURT.— The "New York 

 Florists' Club at a recent meeting adopted a resolu- 

 tion of sympathy and condolence on the occasion of 

 the death of Mr. Court. 



Board of Agriculture.— The Government 



proposes to withdraw their proposed Bill for the 

 establishment of an Agricultural Department, but 

 hope to reintroduce it another session. 



The Natural History Museum.— Accord- 

 ing to statements in the House of Commons, the 

 Museum will shortly be opened in the evenings, 

 thanks to the possibilities of electric lighting. 



The Flower Trade.— No. 61 of the Cobden 

 Club Leaflets, says a contemporary, has some very 

 wholesome truths for English flower growers ; but 

 it is, perhaps, just a trifle hard on them in some of its 

 criticisms. The flower trade of London, it is pointed 

 out, is estimated at the value of £5000 a-day, and the 

 fact that the whole of this very considerable business 

 is not done exclusively by English growers seems to 



be attributed entirely to neglect and want of energy. 

 This is hardly fair, because it cannot be denied that the 

 growers of the Riviera have a very decided advantage 

 over our own people in the matter of climate. But, 

 says the leaflet, " if we have not the suitable climate 

 we can make it." That is true to a certain extent, 

 but only to a certain extent. To make the climate 

 of Southern France under English skies is rather 

 troublesome and expensive, and, moreover, cannot 

 be entirely accomplished at any price. It is always 

 possible to get a certain degree of heat and moisture, 

 but unfortunately it is not always possible to get 

 sunlight, and without that floriculture is grievously 

 handicapped. There are, however, some important 

 suggestions, and many curious and interesting facts 

 embodied in this little leaflet. Otto of Roses, we 

 learn, is exported from one locality in Roumelia to 

 the value of £41,000 a year, and it has been calcu- 

 lated that to make this there are grown in that one 

 place alone no less than 10,104,000,000 of blooms. 

 Roses grow there, and are dealt with very much as 

 Hops are in Kent. 



Chrysanthemum Conference at Shef- 

 field. — Advantage was taken of the presence of so 

 many Chrysanthemum fanciers at Sheffield to bold 

 a conference on the evening of Friday, the 16lh 

 inst. Mr. John Wright was voted to the chair, and 

 having briefly opened the proceedings, he stated that 

 was the first meeting of Chrysanthemum growers in 

 conference, which he thought was a fitting accom- 

 paniment to the first Provincial Show of the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society. Papers were read by Mr. 

 W. Tunnington, of Liverpool, whom the Chairman 

 introduced as an authority on the incurved Chry- 

 santhemum ; and Mr. Molyneux. 



The Chrysanthemum Centenary.— a cor- 

 respondent writes: — "Whilst no one can question 

 the right of the National Chrysanthemum Society to 

 lesd in the proposed centenary celebration of the 

 Chrysanthemum, it would be very interesting if 

 that body would inform the public what grounds it 

 has for assuming that 1789 was the exact year in 

 which the Chrysanthemum was first introduced into 

 England. The evidence on that point should be 

 incontestible. I hear that, owing to the needs of 

 Jhe case, the celebration must be deferred to 1890, 

 which so far may be a wise step, as it will leave the 

 exact date of the introduction of the Chrysanthe- 

 mum here less open to question, whilst it will give 

 ample time for the promoters of the celebration to 

 deal with the matter in a broad spirit. It would be 

 an excellent idea could Chinese and Japanese gar- 

 deners be imported over here early in the year for 

 the purpose of producing examples of their methods 

 of culture of what is now the most popular of garden 

 flowers." 



The Collection of Chrysanthemums in 



the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 Chiswick, numbering about 2300 varieties, is now in 

 fine condition for inspection and criticism. The 

 plants are arranged in the great vinery, and the 

 arrangement is such that while they form a gigantic 

 bank of flowers extending the whole length of the 

 house, every plant is easily accessible for ascertain- 

 ing its name and character. This display is as 

 creditable to Mr. A. F. Barron as any he has 

 accomplished. 



Colnbrook Chrysanthemum Society.— 



This Society, which has its home on the borders of 

 Middlesex and Bucks, seems to exist very much for the 

 benefit of one exhibitor. Judging by the prize list pub- 

 lished, which shows that this favoured individual had 

 no competitor in the ten open classes, was placed 1st in 

 ten others, with invariably only one competitor, and 

 came 2nd only once, thus presenting a sort of Gar- 

 deners' Benefit Society, rather than a good Iccal 

 Chrysanthemum Society. It is fair to the Society 

 to say that, in the amateur, small gardener, and cot- 

 tager classes, the competition was fairly good. Very 

 considerable reconstruction seem; needful in the 

 case of a Society of this nature, as it is absurd to 



