May 12, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



341 



THE CALABAE BEAN. 



I AM very anxious to obtain the Calabar Bean— a vegetable 

 substance just brought before the notice of our profession, and 

 likely to prove of the greatest value: can you give me any 

 information respecting it ? — An Hospital Suro-eon. 



[The botanical name of the plant which yields the Cilabar 

 Bean, or Ordeal Bean of Old Calabar, as it is usually called, is 

 Physostigma venenosum (Balfour), a large leguminous climber. 

 Plants of it were raised some years ago in the Botanic Gardens 

 at Kew and Edinburgh ; but those at the former have since 

 been lost. We have never heard of its flowering in this country, 

 and do not think it is a plant likely to be cultivated in our hot- 

 houses for its seeds. 



The Bean has not yet, so far as we are aware, become an 

 article of commerce; but we believe that it is occasionally 

 brought to the drug markets as a curiosity. We recommend 

 you to apply to Messrs. Allen, Hanbury & Co., of Plough Coutt, 

 Lombard Street, who are likely persons to possess it. 



The current Number of the " Journal of the Pharmaceutical 

 Society" contains a notice of its application as an opthalmic 

 agent ; and further particulars regarding its singular properties 

 are to be found in vol. xiv. of the same work.] 



EOYAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 

 Mat 5th. 



Exhibition of Sculpture. — This is now to be seen at the 

 Kensington Gardens. In the conservatory the statues are very 

 effective, and so are the large groups on the turf before its front. 

 The ranges of busts, &c, in the arcades are not so satisfactory. 

 For instance, the busts are in groups of three, and we observe a 

 very beautiful head of our Saviour placed between busts of Sir 

 Duncan McDougal and Lord Chancellor Truro. There is some- 

 thing incongruous in this. The head of cur Saviour on a some- 

 what higher pedestal, between two such figures as " Purity " and 

 " The Peri," would have seemed to us a more harmonious 

 association. 



There are some beautiful specimens of our native sculptors' 

 art, and they are well worthy of inspection ; and so is the very 

 artistic arrangement of the conservatory-beds. 



Eloeal Committee. — The Committee held a meeting this clay 

 to examine new plants, florists' flowers, &c, Several interesting 

 subjects were brought before them, and the following received 

 then- respective awards : — Mr. Standish sent two new handsome 

 Clematises from Japan, one of which produced large, double, 

 globose, creamy white flowers, about 4 inches in diameter, 

 resembling a fully-expanded rose, with a very delicate perfume, 

 the most superb variety yet seen. The other Clematis has a 

 large, single, deep purple flower, which, although not so perfect 

 in form as some other varieties in cultivation, is decidedly an 

 acquisition. Both of these plants were awarded a first-class 

 certificate. 



Mr. Wm. Paul exhibited a flower of a new Hybrid Perpetual 

 Bose Lord Macaulay, with remarkably handsome fsliage, and of 

 great merit. A first-class certificate was awarded. Messrs. 

 Veitch sent several interesting new plants, among them Cassiope 

 fastigiata, a hardy plant resembling the Ericas both in habit 

 and flower ; Ourisia Pearcei, also a hardy plant of dwarf habit, 

 with bright crimson flowers in form resembling the Pentste- 

 mons ; Steneogastra sp., an interesting plant bearing white 

 terminal clusters' of flowers, well suited for a specimen plant ; 

 Sarmienta repens, a very pretty flowering plant with bright red 

 flowers ; and Rhododendron Picotee rosea, one of the hand- 

 somest early-flowering varieties, with deep purpliBh-carmine 

 intensely spotted flowers, and very free blooming. These each 

 received a first-class certificate. Browallia sp., which had been 

 exhibited at a previous meeting, from its improved appearance 

 and the exquisite specimen shown had a second-class certificate. 



Mr. Bull sent a very interesting and new form of Athyrium 

 Filix-fremina, which was renamed sagittatum from the form of 

 its fronds — one of the most interesting of the endless forms of 

 this British Fern ; also Mimulus Marvel, a seedling hybrid 

 between the old Mimulus Gaiety and Mr. Veitch's Mimulus 

 cupreus. We cannot speak too highly of the result of this 

 cross. A first-class certificate was awarded to this and the 

 Athyrium. 



Mr. Batley, Rugby, sent a box of cut Roses, which received 

 a special certificate. 



Mr. Sherratt, gardener to J. Bateman, Esq., sent specimens 

 of six varieties of Moutan Pffionies, of first-rate quality, and of 

 which the pure white were much admired ; and with them a 

 handsome spike of Ccelogyne pandurata, to which a special 

 certificate was awarded. 



Mr. Treen, Rugby, sent a box of cut Roses in very fine 

 condition. Among them were some remarkable specimens of 

 Tea Roses, particularly of our old favourite Devoniensis. A 

 special certificate was awarded them. 



Many other plants were placed before the Committee. Mr. 

 Kinghorn sent two Azaleas — a double white, with small, compact, 

 but greenish flowers ; also a seediing resembling Criterion. Mr. 

 Earley, of Digswell, sent a specimen of Adiantum macro- 

 phyllum, also Athyrium informe. Mr. Standish, a small Japanese 

 plant, Rhaphiolopsis elegana, very promising, and when again 

 exhibited it will doubtless receive a high award. Mr. Watson, of 

 St. Albans, sent four seedling Dractenas, one of which was named 

 Veitehii, but not , differing from other well-known varieties. 

 Messrs. Veitch sent two species of Scutellaria, a rose and a white 

 coloured variety ; Calceolaria punctata, a novel form of this 

 family; and Rhododendron Mrs. Buller; Ourisia coccinea, 

 much surpassed by Ourisia Pearcei ; and Mr. Treen, Rugby, cut 

 specimens of Verbenas, among them a fine seedling Dr. Temple. 

 i Mr. Bull sent six seedling Zonale Pelargoniums, among them 

 Spark and Radiancy, promising kinds ; also a Petunia The 

 Bride, and Thuja occidentalis globosa ; and Mr. Watson, a 

 seedling Zonale Pelargonium Advancer, very similar to Mrs. 

 Milford. 



Fruit Committee. — Mr. Nash in the chair. Prizes were 

 offered for the best three dishes of dessert Apples, the first of 

 which were obtained by Mr. Hall, gardener to Captain Tyrrell, 

 Fordhook, Ealing, with Bess Pool, Golden Russet, and Cluster 

 tiolden Pippin ; and the second by Mr. Green, gardener to Mrs. 

 Honeywood, Mark's Hall, Kelveden, with very fine specimens 

 of Cockle Pippin, Ashmead's Kernel, and an unknown and 

 worthless variety. 



A seedling Melon called Golden Gem was exhibited by Mr. 

 Rodgers, gardener to J. Noble, Esq., Taplow. Its great merit 

 is its earliness, and it will no doubt prove a valuable sort ; but 

 the fruit had been too long cut, and the flavour was passed. In 

 Cherries, Mr. Freeman, gardener to the Earl of Derby, Knows- 

 ley, and Mr. Slater, gardener to the Earl of Cawdor, Stackpole, 

 Pembroke, both sent fine dishes ; but as in both instances it 

 was desired by the exhibitors that the fruit was not to be tasted, 

 no award was made. Exhibitors should bear in mind that at 

 the Fruit Committee meetings it is essential that all fruit should 

 be tasted, and that every member present should partake of it. 



Mr. Thomson, of Archerfield, sent a bunch of the Archerfield 

 Early Muscat all but ripe. It required about another week to 

 be perfectly so. The Committee considered this excellent variety 

 still maintained the high character that they have always given 

 it whenever it has been before them. 



Messrs. Downie, Laird, & Laing, of Sydenham and Edinburgh, 

 sent three fine large heads of Broccoli, said to be a hybrid 

 variety ; but the Committee considered it wa3 not superior to 

 other late varieties in cultivation. 



WINTERING NIEEEMBERGIA GRACILIS. 



I quite agree with Mr. Robson in considering damp to be 

 more fatal to tins plant than a moderate degree of cold. I have 

 never, however, seen it survive the winter out of doors, and 

 unprotected it will not do so here, even in mild winters like the 

 last. A number of plants that were left standing in the beds 

 where they had flowered the preceding summer are quite dead. 



For the' last two winters our plan has been to winter the Nie- 

 rembergia out of doors under a shelter of Privet hedge. A shallow 

 trench is first dug out, in length and breadth proportioned to the 

 Btock of plants ; the trench is then filled with finely-sifted coal 

 ashes, and in this the pots (60's) containing the plants are 

 plunged a little below the rim ; a row of Spruce Fir branches 

 is next stuck along in front of the plants, and here they remain 

 from November till March. Since adopting this method we lose 

 comparatively few of the plants, which cannot always be said of 

 those wintered in cold pits and frames, the damp confined air of 

 those structures acting most injuriously on the plants, denuding 

 them of their leaves, save a few at the extreme tips of the shoots, 

 and not unfrequently killing large numbers of them outright. 

 The list of killed and wounded is thus sometimes considerable, 



