nOHTlCUI/rUHAL SOCIKTY OK LOXDOX, 



43 



perfect maturation of a fruit, wliich tilled the air of the hot- 

 house with its fragrance, especially in the morning, and during 

 the hotter part of the day. As the Vanilla plant flowers in 

 great abundance at Li^ge, advantage has been taken of this cir- 

 cumstance to convert it to commercial purposes, and it appears 

 that the abundance of excellent fruit, which it may be made to 

 produce, renders it of some importance in this respect in a 

 country where Vanilla is in much use. The first crop obtained 

 in the commencement of the present year from a single plant 

 consisted of 54 ripe pods, and the second crop shews signs of 

 amounting to more than 100. Professor Morren states that 

 the Vanilla thus successfully cultivated by him is T. planifolia, 

 and not the V. aromatica of the Hortus Kewensis. 



From Mr. Thomas Naylor of Brixton, flowers of Piccotees» 

 Carnations and Heartsease. 



From the Society's Garden, a collection of various plants in 

 flower, among which the Calandrinia discolor, was particularly 

 conspicuous. This species is hardy during the summer, when 

 it becomes an object of great beauty in the flower garden. It 

 resembles C. grandiflora, but its flowers are four times as large, 

 and they ha\e the valuable property of not closing when the sun 

 is absent ; on the contrary they remain fully expanded even in 

 the most cloudy weather. There was also a fruit of the Trinidad 

 Pitch Lake Pine, weighing 5 lbs. 12oz. It is known to pine 

 growers that this variety has the reputation of acquiring as 

 much as 26 lbs. weight in the Island of Trinidad, but there is 

 an opinion that its quality is not good. It appeared however 

 from the specimen now exhibited that its flavour is much above, 

 rather than below, the average of Pine Apples, and that it is 

 a very valuable variety. 



The following Medals were awarded ; 



The Silver Knightian to James Bateman, Esq., for Mormodes 

 pardina, and to Mrs. Lawrence, for her Heaths. 



The Silver Banksian to Messrs. Chandlers for Campanula 

 fragilis ; to Mr. Thomas Naylor for Piccotees ; to Mr. Thomas 

 Hogg for Carnations j to Mr. Errington for his Nectarines ; and 

 to Mrs. Lawrence for Crassula coccinea. 



The following Presents were announced ; 



The Naturalist, No. 23, of Vol. 3, by the Editor, Neville 

 Wood, Esq. 



Figures and Descriptions of the British Flowering Plants, No. 

 73, by the Editor, Mr. William Baxter. 



Harrison's Floricultural Cabinet and Florist's Magazine, for 

 August, by the Editor. 



The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion, No. 15, by the 

 Author, J. C. Loudon, Esq. 



