Janoary 17, 1865. ] 



JOtTKNAL OF HOKTICULTTJEE AiTO COTTAGE GARDESTEE. 



61 



the memory of man. Water was sold for a penny a-gallon, 

 and cattle driven some miles to water ; mining and other 

 operations were almost at a stand for the want of water ; 

 and in some parts of Lincolnshire the grass was almost 

 burnt up, and they had to feed the cattle with the crops 

 that were growing for their winter supply. The corn harvest 

 was secm-ed in fine condition, but Turnips were quite a 

 failure in some parts. The prevailing winds were fi'om the 

 north-west. 



September. — We had in Lancashire a copious supply of 

 rain, which fell on twenty-two days, the amount being 

 3.39 inches, or 0.043 inches less than the average. The 

 mean temperature was 55'^. 12, or 0°.4S4 above the average. 

 The prevailing winds were from the south-west. 



CMober was veij di-y. Kaiu fell on only nine days, the 

 amount being l.SS inches, or 1.-129 inches less than the 

 average of the last ten years. The mean temperature was 

 50°32, or 0°.64S above the average. The preva ilin g winds 

 were from the east. 



November. — This was a very mild wet month. The Dahlias 

 and other plants had received no check until the night of 

 the 2nd, when they were all cut down by the frost. The 

 temperature on three nights only was down to freezing- 

 point. The mean temperature of the month was 41°. 92, or 

 1*.S6 above the average of the last ten years. Eain fell on 

 fifteen days, the amount being 2.97 inches, or 0.639 inches 

 above the average, it being the first month above the 

 average since June. The barometer fell to 2S.4S inches at 

 4 P.M. on the 14th, which was the lowest point it reached on 

 any day in the year. The prevailing winds were from the 

 east. 



December was very dry. Eain fell on ten days, the amount 

 being only 1.S9 inches, or 0.603 inches below the average of 

 the last ten years. The mean temperature was 3S'^.60, or 

 0°.275 below the average. The prevailing winds were fr-om 

 the S.E. and S.W. 



The mean temperature of the year was 48°. 123, or C.IOS 

 above the average of the last ten years. The total amount 

 of rain was only 30. 2S inches, or 2.894 inches below the 

 average. It fell on a hundred and forty-eight days, or 

 32.3 days less than the average of the last ten years. The 

 prevailing winds were from the east on seventy-seven days, 

 and from the south-west on seventy-three days. — Willi am 

 Cabb, Clayton Bridge, near Manchester. 



POETEAITS OF PLA]N"TS, FLOWIES, AND 

 EEUITS. 



LissocBiLTTS HoESFALLii (Mr. Horsfiill's Lissochilus). — 

 Hat. ore!., OrchidaceiE. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. Na- 

 tive of Old Calabai-, Western Africa. Elowers pui-ple and 

 pinMsh white. — (Bot. Mag., t. o4S6.) 



DoMiBETA BuKGESSLE (Miss Burgcss's Dombeya). — Nat. 

 ord., Byttneriacese. Linn., Monadelpiiia Polyandria. Native 

 of Natal, &e., in South Africa. A charming conservatory 

 dwarf tree 8 to 10 feet high. Flowers in corymbs, white 

 with crimson rays. — (Ibid., t. 5487.) 



DENBKOEnjM Paeishu (Jlr. Parish's Dendrobium). — Nat. 

 erd., Orchidaceas. Linn., Gynandria Diandria. Native of 

 Moulmein. Flowers rose colour. — (Ibid., t. 548S.) 



Pkoustia PTEEFOLiA (Pear-lcaved Proustia). — Nat. ord,. 

 Composita? (Mutisiaces). Linn., Syngenesia labiatiSorte. 

 Introduced from Chili by Messrs. Veitch & Son. A green- 

 house climber rendered beautiful by the rosy-coloured fea- 

 thered pappus on the fruit. Flowers in July. — (Ibid., f. 5489.) 



S•WAx^-so^^A occidentalis (Western Swainsonia). — Nat. 

 ord., Leguminiferae. Linn., Diadelphia Decandria. Intro- 

 duced by Mr. W. Thompson, of Ipswich, from Western Aus- 

 tralia. Flowers purple; "cannot fail to prove a great or- 

 nament to our greenhouses."— (Jilt?., t. 5490.) 



Vallota EXrsiiA. — Scarlet, with whitish throat. Mr. W. 

 Bull, King's Eoad, Chelsea, had awarded for it a first-class 

 certificate by the Floral Committee of the Eoyal Horticul- 

 ttttal Society. — (Floral Mag. pi. 225.) 



CtEMATis jACE3Li2nni. — ^We noticed this last month. — 

 {Ibid., pL 226.) 



Calceolaeia. — Bird of Paradise. Flowers crimson edged 

 with orange. Will be sent out next spring by Mr. WU- 

 iiams. Paradise Nursery, HoUoway.— (ftid., pi. 227.) 



Teee Cabnations. — Delicaiissima, pink, barred with crim- 

 son. Victoria, light crimson, flaked with dark crimson. 

 Princess Alice, bright yellow, flaked and barred with crim- 

 son. In the possession of Messrs. E. Henderson & Son, 

 Wellington Eoad Nui-sery.— (Itid., pi. 228.) 



PELARGONi'DTa:. — Indian Telloie. " The acquisition of new 

 colours amongst the varieties of so popular and useful a 

 flower, caniiot be otherwise than agreeable to those who 

 follow up the parterre system of flower gardening. So 

 much progress, indeed, has been made in this dfrection, that 

 the term " Scarlet Pelargonium " is now made to stand 

 sponsor for varieties furnishing a long catalogue of colours, 

 running through the various shades of scarlet, crimson, rose, 

 pink, salmon, and white. With this progress the name of 

 Donald Beaton wiU ever be associated in the annals of flower 

 gardening. For many of the later years of his life he de- 

 voted himself with much zeal to the cross-breeding of the 

 Pelargonium, mainly with the view of raising new varieties 

 adapted to supply the wants of the flower gardener ; and 

 we need do no more than refer to Stella, Cybister, and Lord 

 Palmerston, to show that his labours were rewarded by a 

 fair share of success. Up to the close of his life Mr. Beaton 

 continued these cross-breeding experiments, and a largo 

 number of seedlings, bloomed and unbloomed, were left at 

 the time of his death. From these, starting from the vantage 

 ground ah'eady gained, a great further advance was ex- 

 pected, and has since been realised. Some few choice sorts 

 had been selected by him for distribution shortly before he 

 was taken fr-om amongst us, and among them was the variety 

 called Indian Tellow, of which we now give an Olustration. 

 The whole of the seedlings just referred to, bloomed and 

 unbloomed, have passed into the hands of Mr. W. Paul, of 

 Waltham Cross, and it is fr-om the plant as bloomed by him 

 during the past summer that our drawing has been made ; 

 while among the more juvenile batch of seedlings many- 

 choice novelties have appeared, of which the public will 

 hear more in due time. Thus, from the ordinary race of 

 scarlets, the bedder-out wfll have acquu-ed amongst Pelar- 

 goniums, besides the pinks, roses, salmons, and whites he 

 already possessed, a variety of tints which will be invaluable 

 to him — passing off in one direction towards orange and 

 yellow, and in the other towards purple-rose or magenta. 

 These novelties, many of them, combine the prolific bloom 

 of the Nosegay race with the better-shaped blossoms of the 

 more ordinary kinds ; and it is to this race of what may be 

 called semi-Nosegays that our present subject belongs. 



" Beaton's Indian Yellow Pelargonium is a variety of free 

 growth and of dwarfish habit. It has, as will be seen, zonate 

 leaves, and its flower-trusses are well furnished ; the latter 

 were, indeed, rather thin at the time of its first appearance 

 in public, but, as the more natural season of bloom came 

 round, this meagreness was altogether lost, and the plants 

 bore well-furnished trusses as much as 4 inches across, and 

 containing fifty or more of the large well-formed blossoms. 

 The colour has a strongly marked shade of Indian yellow, 

 which is at once apparent when the plant is brought into 

 contiguity with either a pm-e scarlet or one of the magenta- 

 tinted race. The colour may be described as an orange 

 scarlet, with a suffusion of golden yellow, or a wash of the 

 same colour overlaid. The vai-iety, indeed, is a most unex- 

 pected and valuable addition to the materials for the parterre, 

 all the more welcome as being the first of this colour which 

 wOl be placed within reach of the flower gardener." — (Florist 

 and Pomologist, iv. 1.) 



TASTVTAiVT.AA^ G^AHDENEBS' AND AMATEUES' 



HOETICULTUEAL EXHIBITION. 



The spring show of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, under 

 the auspices of the Gardeners' and Amateurs' Horticultural 

 Society, took place in the Alliance Eooms, Hobart Town, 

 on the 26th of Octo'oer, 1S64, and was in all respects suc- 

 cessful above the average of these periodical displays. The 

 collection of flowers was excellent both as regards the 

 number, quality, and variety of the exhibitions, and the 

 same remark may, with almost equal truthfulness, be applied 

 to the other divisions of the Show. The fact that the 

 season is what is generally described as a late one, rendered 

 the floral coUeetion and, in a minor degree, the vegetables. 



