August is, 1864, ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



127 



private establishments. If the market gardeners were not 

 met there, they would try to excel each other in the cheap- 

 ness and goodness of the fruit, as they do in all other things, 

 and in a short time the market would have a regular supply 

 at half the present cost of spring fruits, which is not at- 

 tempted now on a scale large enough to compete with the 

 great number of private establishments which send the best 

 of their things, and pocket their losses, and the public have 

 in consequence a very limited supply. I daresay it answers 

 the purpose of the fruiterers very well, but it is very detri- 

 mental to the public. 



" 9. And now, sir, before I close my letter allow me to say 

 a word or two about what is done in the sale way by the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. It is quite legitimate and 

 right to propagate and distribute any new plants (which it 

 has brought into the country), to Fellows, but I object in 

 ioto to buying new plants, cultivating them, and balloting 

 for them ; this is, allow me to say, an infringement of the 

 legitimate business of the nurserymen, who can do it much 

 better and cheaper than the Society can. — I am, sir, yours 

 very truly, Joseph Paxton." 



" PEOCEEDISTGS 01-' TBTE EOTAL HOETTCULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



The August, September, and October Numbers, all in one ! 

 of the "Proceedings of the Royal Horticultural Society," 

 have come to hand, and we thus learn that, on the 28th of 

 August, there is to be a " Show of the trial flowering plants 

 and fruits at Chiswick, with promenade." Now as the 28th 

 of August is a Sunday, and not a Saturday as announced, 

 it would be as well if the Assistant Secretary informed the 

 Fellows which is the day on which the promenade is to take 

 place. We are told, also, that there is to be, on the 7th of 

 September and following days, a Show of out flowers of all 

 the autumn-blooming florists' flowers. As the Crystal Palace 

 Company have also for some time announced then' great 

 antumn Flower and Fruit Show for the same days, would 

 it not have been to the interests of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society if another occasion had been chosen for their 

 autumn Show ? Greater lights always outshine the less, 

 and we know what chance the South Kensington Show 

 will have against that at the Crystal Palace, when both 

 are held on the same day. Is the Assistant Secretary away 

 wool-gathering again? 



GAEDENIjTO IB" INDIA. 



Pekhaps it may interest your readers to hear something 

 of the plants usually seen in gardens in India. I shall 

 speak only of central India and the N.W. provinces, Bengal 

 Presidency. And first about Roses. 



There are not many Roses generally known. I had but 

 fourteen kinds, and few people, I believe, were in possession 

 of half that number. I had pink and crimson China, white 

 and pink Gallica (frorn which Rose water and attar are pro- 

 cured), the Bourbon (called in India " Rose Edward"), 

 Multiflora, Microphylla, Dog Rose, Hill Rose (a beautiful 

 evergreen double white climber), white and yellow Tea- 

 scented, Musk, a very small cluster Rose blooming only in 

 hot steaming weather, and the double yellow Cashmere 

 Rose. This did not bloom with me, but, judging from the 

 leaf, I suppose it to be the Persian Yellow. 



The Tea Rose is worth all the others put together. I only 

 speak of the white — Devoniensis I think it was ; the yellow 

 had not bloomed with me before I left India. From No- 

 vember to April the Tea Rose was a picture of beauty. 

 Dming the hot season it was not worth looking at, but in 

 the cold nothing could exceed its beauty and luxuriance. 

 I took notes of one that I had especially cared for. When 

 two years old it was 4 feet in height and 12 in circumfer- 

 ence. One morning in February I counted ninety-one 

 blossoms fully opened. The centre of some was blush, of 

 others yellow, and those a day old were edged with the 

 loveliest lilac. The buds were innumerable — I should rather 

 say I became tired of reckoning them when the number 

 reached six hundred : there certainly were more than double 

 that number. A native in charge of one of the public 

 gardens came one day to see one of my Tea Rose trees. 

 He went on his knees to examine it, and for some minutes 



said nothing but "How beautiful ! how beautiful it is!" 

 He was really fond of flowers, and had never seen it before. 

 I wish I could make Tea Roses grow with me now, but they 

 constantly die off. I suppose I cannot get out of the Indian 

 way of treatment. 



Many of your readers, probably, have relations or friends 

 in India, and perhaps would be glad to know what seeds 

 would grow easily there if sent from Europe. Stocks grow 

 splendidly ; so do Camellia and Rose-flowered Balsams. 

 Petunias will take possession of any ground in which they 

 are sown, but they seem to have new varieties every time 

 they bloom. Verbenas also spring up self-sown. Salvia 

 patens grows well, as do many others of the same genus — 

 one is a native of India. In the hills Pelargoniums bloom 

 beautifully. A gentleman once told me his plants usually 

 had eleven in each bunch of flowers ; indeed, I saw many of 

 his with that number. Fuchsias also grow well; but almost 

 any flower will succeed in the hills. 



No one can have an idea of the splendour of the Camellia 

 and Rose Balsams in India. Of course the climate is suited 

 to them, but these varieties are unknown except to a few. 

 I have seen plants 3 feet high and the same in diameter 

 loaded with enormous blossoms, so that scarcely a leaf was 

 visible. 



I must now tell of a sight I once witnessed and which I can 

 never forget. At a station in Bundelcund I one year had 

 some superb beds of Stocks. They were from German seed, 

 and I do not think there were a dozen single-flowering ones 

 in as many beds. One morning I had just left the garden, 

 when I was recalled hastily and eagerly by a servant. Much 

 surprised at the man's apparent excitement, I ran quickly 

 to the treiliswork at the entrance where he stood, making 

 signs to me to come as quietly as possible. He whispered, 

 "Look at the 'Ishstocks!'" as he called them. There 

 were ten or twelve large beds full, each with distinct colours. 

 There, balancing themselves in the air, many with their 

 long bills inserted in the blossom, were multitudes of tiny 

 birds, looking like living gems, fluttering and glancing in 

 the sunlig-ht. I suppose they were humming-birds, but it 

 is impossible to give an idea of the beauty of the sight. 

 They showed to most advantage on the white Stocks, almost 

 every blossom of which had a ruby and emerald or sapphire 

 birdie enjoying itself amazingly to all appearance. There 

 were about thirty plants in each bed, and the spikes of 

 flower a foot in length, and all covered with these living 

 gems. I stood in silent admiration, until, all at once, they 

 disappeared as suddenly as they had come. The native (an 

 old man), assured me he had never even heard of them 

 before. They were never, to my great regret, seen again 

 during our residence there. 



The shrubs, bulbs, and climbers at this station were very 

 beautiful — more so than at any place where I had previously 

 been. I cannot conclude without saying that I believe the 

 Bourbon Rose is a native of India. I have trespassed too 

 much on your space to give my reasons now. If these scat- 

 tered notes are acceptable I shall be happy to add to them 

 at some future time. — Tea Rose. 



[We shall be glad to hear further from you on this 

 interesting subject.] 



ISfEW APEICOTS. 



I have the pleasure to send you a small box of fruit con- 

 taining three varieties of Apricots, and one early Pear. 



No. 2. Royal de Luxembourg, you already know. [This 

 is a variety of the Peach Apricot, having a covered channel 

 on the back of the stone, and a bitter kernel. It is smaller 

 than the Peach Apricot, and very richly flavoured.] 



03 is De Joughe's Sweet Kernel Apricot, the seedling tree 

 of which produced in 1863, 5330 fruit. This year it has 

 more, and we have already gathered 1530. 1 have fruit on 

 trees four or five years old, and upwards of thirty seedlings 

 from the same varieties. 



[De Jonghe's Sweet Kernel Apricot is a small fruit about 

 the size of what is cultivated in this country under the name 

 of Breda. Judging from the shoot which Mr. De Jonghe has 

 sent, the tree is a prodigious bearer. The shoot is a forked 

 one, and on a space not more than 7 inches long there are 



