December 7, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4S7 



rotundifolia, colchioa, and caucasica. These are handsome 

 pyramids 6 to 8 feet high, and have been carefully pinched 

 and tended. For lawns and prominent places in shrubberies 

 such specimens as these are highly ornamental. Arbutuses 

 are largely grown, and thrive admirably ; and of Ivies many 

 thousands are grown in pots ready for removal at any season. 

 Evergreen Oaks are similarly grown, and the pots plunged in 

 the soil. This is done to ensure the safe removal of speci- 

 mens which otherwise would not succeed, these being the 

 most "ticklish" to transplant of all evergreens. The speci- 

 mens thus grown are, like the Laurels, large and well furnished. 

 There are ornamental-flowering and drooping deciduous trees ; 

 also Conifers, Yuccas, and other subjects completing the stock 

 of this well managed and favourably and pleasantly situated 

 nursery. 



In extent it is small, but a wide trade connection is asso- 

 ciated with it, and its business tone is manifestly brisk and 

 healthy. Neither is it likely to show any abatement so long 

 as the experienced head continues to direct in the prompt and 

 able manner which has won for him the confidence of many 

 friends and supporters, metropolitan and provincial. — Yisitok. 



KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



December 6th. 



Fruit Committee. — Henry Webb, Esq., V.P. in the chair. Mr. 

 Bland, of Fordham near Soham, sent a seedling Apple of good 

 quality, but not of greater merit than many others in cultivation. 

 Messrs. Merryweather & Son of Southwell sent a new kitchen 

 Apple called Bramley's Seedling, of large size and excellent 

 quality. It was highly commended. Mr. P. Grieve, Culford 

 Gardens, Bury St. Edmunds, sent a seedling Pear which was 

 not of sufficient merit to receive a certificate. Rev. A. RaWBon, 

 The Vicarage, Bromley, Kent, sent a seedling Pear, raised by 

 crossing Seckle and Forelle. It is of the form of Figue de 

 Naples, and has a yellowish flesh of delicious flavour similar to 

 that of Seckle. The fruit was rather decayed, but was thought s"o 

 good the Committee desired to see it again. D. P. Bell, Esq., 

 Clive House, Alnwick, sent a bunch of a seedling Grape with 

 the following communication: — "The Vine was raised a few 

 years ago, and is a cross with Black Morocco, and a Beedling 

 raised, I understand, at Wortley. It is a free grower, a heavy 

 cropper, and has a strong constitution. It is not liable to shank, 

 nor the berries to scald as Lady Downe's does, its keeping pro- 

 perties are quite equal to Lady Downe's, and its colour uniformly 

 better. Since the Vines were planted six yearB ago it has been 

 excessively cropped until this year, but it has never failed to 

 colour its fruit as well as the specimen now shown." 



The banch is large and heavily shouldered with a stout stalk. 

 The berry stalks are Btout, and the berries large aad roundish 

 oval, frequently with sutural furrows. Skin quite black and 

 membranous, covered with a fine bloom. Flesh firm, tender, 

 very juicy, and sweet. It was unanimously awarded a first-class 

 certificate. This is a far superior fruit to Alicante, and will no 

 doubt prove to be a late-keeping variety of great value. 



Mr. Bennett, Rabley, sent a brace of Rabley Cucumbers, Toma- 

 toes, and Strawberries. Mr. Ollerhead, gardener to Sir H. Peek, 

 Bart., Wimbledon House, sent two fine Shaddocks, and was 

 awarded a letter of thanks. Mr. Miles, of Wycombe Abbey 

 Gardens, brought a Pine Apple of conical shape like the Enville, 

 of tender flesh and delicious flavour, which was much admired, 

 and a vote of thanks was awarded to Mr. Miles, who promised to 

 bring another frnit, and to furnish full particulars respecting it. 

 Henry Webb, Esq., of Bedstone Manor House, Redhill, sent 

 dishes of Glou Morceau and Vicar of Winkfield Pears. The 

 former was of excellent flavour. Also a dish of Passe Colmar. 

 A vote of thanks was awarded. 



Floral Committee. — W. B. Kellock, Esq., in the chair. This 

 was the closing meeting of the year — the last of a series of 

 horticultural gatherings of the greatest importance in the 

 advancement of the art which they were instituted to foster. 

 Nearly all the meetings of the year have been good meetings — 

 many of them excellent, both as regards the subjects exhibited 

 and the assemblages of horticulturists. This was also a success- 

 ful meeting. The magnificent group of Orchids exhibited by 

 Sir Trevor Laurence, Bart., M.P., Burford Lodge, Dorking, was 

 alone worth a journey of a hundred mileB to see. The collection 

 consisted of about thirty plants in various sizes. A noble plant 

 of Zygopetalum Mackayi was i feet in diameter, and had twenty 

 robust spikes ; .Calanthe Veitchii was in such condition both 

 for vigour of spikes and the rich colour of the flowers that we 

 have seldom Been equalled and never surpassed ; Odontoglossum 

 Insleayi leopardinum had twelve spikes ; and Cypripedium 

 insigne, a grand variety, was 3 feet in diameter. Dendrobium 

 primulinum giganteum was very conspicuous ; the two stems 

 were covered with flowers from the root to their tips, the plant 

 having forty flowers. Epidendrum vitellinum majus, Odonto- 

 glossum cordatum superbum, O. Pescatorei, 0. constriotum, 



0. gloriosum, O. roseum, with Masdevallias, Sophronitis, very 

 superior ; Tricopilias, and the curious Restrepia antennifera 

 completed this remarkably fine collection. The plants were 

 grown by Mr. Spyers. 



Messrs. Veitch & Sons, the Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, 

 alBo exhibited about thirty plants of Orchids, alike interesting 

 and beautiful. A conspicuous plant of Lfelia anceps occupied 

 the centre of the group. Lfelia albida in two varieties was very 

 lovely. Cypripediums — Sedeni inBigne, Maulei, very fine ; Har- 

 risianum, Crossianum, and Schlimmii album were in great 

 beauty. Amongst the smaller plants were the striking Odonto- 

 glossum cirrosum, also 0. Rossii majus, and 0. nevadense. 

 Amongst the Masdevallias were Barlseana Tovarensis, ignea 

 rubescens, &c. Lycaste Skinneri alba was very pure. These 

 with others formed a group which deservedly attracted great 

 attention, and for which a vote of thanks was awarded. Messrs. 

 Veitch also exhibited Poinsettia pulcherrima amcena altogether 

 softer in colour than the species, the bracts being also broader, 

 more regular, and more closely arranged. The heads were 

 about a foot in diameter. 



Mr. Denning, gardener to Lord Londesborough, Londesborough 

 Lodge, Norbiton, exhibited Oncidium Londesboroughanum, a 

 splendid flower with a broad lip of the brightest yellow, and 

 broad and stout richly marked petals and sepals, which add 

 greatly to the beauty of the flower. The long arching spike had 

 ten expanded flowers, and as many more to open. It is a most 

 distinct and valuable addition to the family, and worthy of bear- 

 ing so good a name. A first-class certificate was unanimously 

 awarded. 



A box of twenty-four varieties of cut blooms of zonal Gera- 

 niums was sent by Mr. Cannell, Swanley Nurseries, Kent, 

 which for size, substance, and brightness of colours have not 

 been surpassed at any Bummer show. The varieties were Rev. 

 J. Atkinson, Eros, Circulator, Alice Spencer, Alonzo, Sir C. 

 Campbell, Heartsease, Haveloek, A. Henderson, Sybil Holden, 

 New Life, Peabody, Jealousy, Sir G. Woleeley, Imogene, White 

 Clipper, Mabel Eden, Astarte, Marguerite Ponton, Dr. Sharpe, 

 De Lesseps, Mr. J. F. Fenn, and VaneBsa — a brilliant display, 

 and which merited the vote of thanks awarded. 



Mr. Mann, the Nursery, Brentwood, exhibited plants of zonal 

 Geranium Earl of Beaconsfield, a dwarf and very profuse- 

 flowering variety, a little brighter and larger in flower than 

 Vesuvius. 



Mr. Ollerhead, gardener to Sir W. Peek, Bart., Wimbledon 

 House, exhibited plants of Plumbago rosea, which had been 

 struck from cuttings in the spring, and the plants trained on the 

 back wall of a Melon house. The plants were in 8 inch pots, they 

 were 7 feet high and 3 feet in diameter, and were covered in 

 every part with fine spikes of lovely-coloured flowers. Mr. Oller- 

 head also exhibited shoots 6 feet high surmounted with flowers 

 of Euphorbia jacquinifeflora, from plants planted in a Pine pit. 

 They were exceedingly vigorous ; and Mr. Parker, Exotic 

 Nursery, Tooting, exhibited cut blooms of the sweet and charm- 

 ing aquatic Aponogeton diBtachyon, which had been grown in 

 the open water ; also flowering plants of Iberis semperflorens 

 and Streptocarpus Greenii delicata. 



A remarkable collection of pressed Fern fronds and autumn 

 leaves was exhibited by Mr. Howard, 29, King Street, Covent 

 Garden. Many of the specimens were pressed last year; the 

 colours were admirably preserved. They had been prepared in 

 America by Mrs. Reed Watson, East Windsor Hill, Conn. A 

 vote of thanks was awarded for them. 



DIOSPYROS KAKI. 

 My friend Dr. Voelcker has been kind enough to have the 

 fruit of the Diospyros Kaki analysed in his laboratory. The 

 quantity of tannic acid it is shown to contain is quite sufficient 

 to account for the wry faces of those who first tasted it. Let 

 us hope, as is probably the case, that other varieties contain 

 more sugar and less of the astringent principle. 



Water 84'61 



Albuminous compounds (containing nitrogen) 0"62 



Crude woody fibre 2*11 



Tannicacid 232 



Sugar, pecten, <£e 9S9 



Mineral matter (ash) 0*42 



100-00 



— G. F. Wilson. 



CAPE PELARGONIUMS. 

 I want to establish a good collection of this beautiful tribe 

 of plants, perhaps some of the contributors of the Journal 

 can assist me in doing so. I have some — namely, ardens, 

 echinatum, filipendulifolium, flexuosum, gibbosum, macro- 

 rhizon, quinquevulnerum, reniforme, semperflorens, and tetra- 

 gonum. Theee were all I could obtain of a nurseryman in 



