320 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ April 25, 1865. 



sent also a small collection of other Orchids. Mr. George 

 Smith, Hornsey Koad, had Pelargonium Stella Variegatum. 

 This received a certificate last year. Messrs. Low sent a 

 beautiful collection of Orchids, for which a special certificate 

 was given. Among them « ere tine plants of Dendrobium Dal- 

 housianum, a xery handsome Orchid — first-class certificate; 

 Erica fragraus from the Cape of Good Hope, with close, 

 erect, bright pink flowers, delicately scented, a very useful 

 variety — first-class certificate ; and Phalisnopsis sp. pul- 

 chella (?) from Moulmein, a very small but beautifully- 

 marked flower. From W. Marshall, Esq., came a collection 

 of Orchids and other plants, a fine specimen of Phalainopsis 

 grandiflora, Odontoglussum Bluntii, said to be the 0. Alex- 

 andiw, but not yet proved to be so, a very pretty Orchid — 

 first-class certificate ; Tropa'olum. &c. A special certificate 

 was awarded for the collection. Mr. Parsons sent Gymno- 

 gramma Parsonsii, a very curious golden and crested Fern — 

 iirst-class certificate ; and G. Cooper, Esq., Dendrobium 

 aobile, Sophronitis grandiflora, and Azalea Eoi des Doubles. 

 Messrs. B.ickhouse, York, exhibited a new Anemone, Stellata 

 fulgens, most brilliant in colour, but a tender plant — first- 

 class certificate ; and Mr. Williams, HoUoway, Pteris sp., 

 five-lobed fronds, a very pretty Fern — second-class certifi- 

 cate; a fine cut head of fiowers of Ehododendron Nuttallii, 

 with gigantic creamy white flowers as large as dinner 

 tumblers — special certificate ; Amaryllis refulgeus, a fine 

 bright dark scailet flower, rather deficient in form — second- 

 class certificate ; Bletia sp. ; Sophronitis grandiflora, a fine 

 specimen — special certificate. In Mr. Williams's collection 

 were some beautiluUy variegated Aloes, and a special cer- 

 tificate W.1S awarded for it. 



3Ir. J. ^'eitcli sent four varieties of his beautiful new 

 Primula cortusoldes. These plants, fi'om Japan, are said 

 to be hardy, aud will be must useful among other spring 

 flowers: three of them, P. alba, nearl3' v.-hite ; P. grandi- 

 flora, pale pink; and P. anioena, dark rose, received each a 

 first-class certificate Seedling Kbododendron Honryanum, 

 with only one large white flu wer, was likewise shown by the 

 same firm. A special certificate was awarded for Mr. Veitch's 

 collection, whicli contained many beautiful and rare plants. 

 Kr Ayres, Biggleswade, exhibited two seedling Zcnate Pe- 

 largoniums and four seedling Conifers named Thujas, but 

 proved to be Jittinusporas, iwo of which — Lambertiana and 

 prona — reci-ived first-class certificates. Messrs. A. Hender- 

 son & Co., Pine Apple Plaf:e, exhibited a new Begonia of a 

 climbing 1 a''it, very suitnhle for baskets ; Eriocarpus reticu- 

 ata, O 1 anai dactylifolium, andAnadenia pulchella. Those 

 plants I y some mistake were not entered, and, consequently, 

 not brouiilit belori; the Fh'i:il Committee. Lady Dorothy 

 Nevill exhibited the curious Nardoo plant, Marsilia macropus. 

 This plant is said to be eaten as a salad by the Australian 

 canBibals. 



Fbuit Committee. — A collection of finely-coloured Apples, 

 consisting of upwards of sixty varieties, and all of them in 

 an excellent state of preservation, was shown by Mr. Kivers ; 

 but as he expressly stated in a letter accompanying the col- 

 lection, that they were intended for the scientific meeting, 

 and not for the Committee, they were not adjudicated on. 

 From Lidy Dorothy Nevill came fruit of the Loquat (Erio- 

 botrya juponica) ; and from Mr. Lee, Clevedon, near Bristol, 

 three di^lies of Apples, one of which resembled the Holland- 

 bury. Koundway Magnum Bonum, which had previously 

 been submitted to the Committee and received a first-class 

 ceriificate. was again shown by Mr. Turner, of Slough ; and 

 Mr. Melville, gardener to the Earl of lioseborry, Daliueny 

 Park, Elinburgh, sent two kinds of Sprouts, one of them 

 called Tom Tliumb being very dwarf, but neither of them 

 equal to Brussels Sprouts. 



At the scientific meeting held on the 18th inst., W. Wil- 

 son Saunders, Eaq., presided, and the award'j of the Floral 

 Committee having been read by the ICev. Joshua Dix, the 

 Bev. M. J. Berkeley proceeded to point out and comuient 

 on the most remarkable of tlio objects exhibited. He first 

 directed attention to tho fine collection of Apples sent by 

 Mr. Itivers, wlio accounted for their high colour and excellent 

 l>reaervation, Cr»t, by their having been kept in a cool cellar 

 with a temperature of'H'' all tho winter, and second, by the 

 ■soson having been dry, and their being produced in an open 



exposure. The fruit of the Eriobotrya japonica or Loquat, 

 from Lady Dorothy Nevill, was then briefly alluded to; also 

 the Marsilia macropus or Nardoo plant, on the fruit .or 

 sporangia of which the expedition of Burke and Wills lived. 

 Spores were allied in their nature to tho pollen of Phajno- 

 gams, and Mr. Berkeley mentioned as a curious fact that the 

 pollen of a species of Typha was sold for food in the bazaars 

 of the East. Dendrobium Dalhousianum, Odontoglossuni 

 Alexandra), and a species of Bletia, which was of interest 

 li-om its being likely to pi-ove nearly, if not quite, hardy, 

 and the magnificent spike of Phaltcnopsis grandifiora from 

 the garden of Mr. Marshall, of Enfield, were then pointed 

 out, and with respect to the last Mr. Berkeley mentioned 

 that the stem of the Bornean PlialsEnopsis is always brown, 

 whilst that from the Phillipines is green. In reference to 

 variegated Yuccas, it was remarked that if plants grown in 

 heat were removed to a cooler temperature the variegation 

 was more marked in consequence of the chlorophyll being 

 more fully developed in the cold. Mr. Berkeley, in speak- 

 ing of Gymnogramma Parsonsii, stated that spores taken 

 from the normal parts of Perns usually produced seedlings 

 of the usual character of the plant, whilst those from ab- 

 normal parts produced abnormal plants. With reference to 

 the new red Bougainvilltea, he believed that it was the result 

 of a cross between B. speciosa and B. glabra, the bracts of 

 the former being obtuse, whilst those of the latter were 

 cuspidate. A plant of considei-able interest was that sent 

 by Mr. BuU as the Mustard-tree of Scripture (Salvadora 

 persica), and which was the only species in the genus. He 

 had his doubts, however, whether this pl.mt was really the 

 one alluded to in the parable, for the name of one plant was 

 sometimes in the course of time transferred to another, 

 thus the old Primrose was our Daisy, and the old Eglan- 

 tine was certaiuly not our Sweet Briar. Dr. Koyle, how- 

 ever, who was the botanist that had bestowed most atten- 

 tion on the plants of Scripture, considered the one before 

 them to bo the true Mustard tree. It certainly grew to 

 be a tree 20 feet high on the shores of Lake Tiberias, 

 where the parable was spoken ; but Dr. Hooker had in- 

 formed him (Mr. Berkeley) that when in Palestine ha 

 saw Sinapis nigra all over the country, that it there 

 grew 10 feet high, and that the Salvadora, on tho contrary, 

 was a rare plant ; and he (Mr. Berkeley) thought that 

 the balance of evidence was in favour of the Mustard of 

 Scripture being the same as our own. Mr. Veitch's new 

 Primulas and Ehododendron, Messrs. Backhouse's Anemone 

 fulgens, Mr. Williams's head of Rhododendron Nuttallii, a 

 Euphorbia from Mr. Wilson Saunders, Mr. Bull's Mimulus 

 having the calyx coloured like a second corolla, and other 

 l)lants were also pointed out to the meeting. 



The Chairman then begged to say a few words with regard 

 to the plants which he had himself sent. Tho Amaryllis, 

 he said, had been discovered by Dr. Welwitch who, like Dr 

 Livingstone, had started to make observations in the interior 

 of the continent of Africa, but departing from the other 

 side. Welwitch, however, was seized with illness and could 

 not cross, but singularly enough he and Dr. Livingstone 

 met, .and near there this brilliant Amaryllis was found. 

 Mr. Saunders said, he had likewise sent some Aloes in 

 bloom, for it was generally thought that these plants were 

 of little interest, but they" were not understood. The com- 

 mon mode of cultivation was to starve them out of existence, 

 but this was a great mistake, for under liberal treatment 

 and with a moist atmosphere they produced some of tho 

 finest of flowers. He had also sent a leaf of Kemusatia vivi- 

 para remarkalile for its great size and short duration. On 

 fir.it starting into growth the leaf is rolled up like n piece of 

 paper; it tlien begins to exjjand but is very fiabljy, it ac- 

 quiies solidity by degrees, but in six weeks from its appeai- 

 auc^B il dies down and the plant smks to rest. 



M.ijur a. Trevor Clarke, who pusseases nearly every kind 

 of Cotton grown in this counti-y, od'ered some observations 

 on its culture. Discarding the distinctions of annual and 

 biennial, he said that for cultural purposes tho Cottons 

 might be divided into two distinct races, that of the eastern 

 and that of the western heuiisphere, and each uf these races 

 was divisible into two sections, tho early and the late- 

 Howering. Of the early-Huwering kinds of the South Ame- 

 rican type (Goasypium barbadense), those most likely to 

 come into the hands of amateurs, were the Sea Island, the 



