PEOCEEDINGS. 



li 



and beautiful examples of this kind of fruit. It was stated 

 that the tree which produced them never failed to ripen a 

 good crop of excellent Mangoes every year. 

 Banksian Medal: To Mr. Henderson, of the Wellington 

 Road Nursery, St. John's Wood, for Vriesia splendens, 

 with a long feather-like spike of scarlet floral leaves ; Beau- 

 fortia purpurea, a small Swan River shrub, bearing little 

 round tufts of purple flowers ; Eriocnema marmoratum and 

 aeneum, two Melastomads, more remarkable for their hand- 

 some, variegated, and velvety green foliage than for the 

 beauty of their flowers ; and an attractive yellow-blossomed 

 annual, named Microsperma bartonioides. The latter was 

 stated to be a profuse bloomer, and to be valuable for deco- 

 rating greenhouses in autumn when gay flowers are a desi- 

 deratum. 



Miscellaneous Subjects of Exhibition. Mr. Henderson 

 sent Achimenes longiflora alba or Jaureguia, JEclimea ful- 

 gens, the bright salmon-coloured Geranium called " Beauty 

 of the Parterre," brilliant cut flowers of two kinds of hybrid 

 Gladiolus, a blue Convolvulus from St. Catheiine, Messrs. 

 Veitch's variety of Gesnera picta, which is stated to be a 

 better kind than that sent out from Kew, and an unripe 

 example of the Serpent Cucumber (Trichosanthes colu- 

 brina). Mr. Dobson, Gardener to J. Foster, Esq., Bays- 

 water, had a small collection of Achimenes, consisting of 

 longiflora, venusta, Skinneri, and grandiflora. A curiosity, 

 in the shape of a Pine-apple, was exhibited by Mr. Steers, 

 Market-Gardener, Teddington. It was an example of one 

 of those Pine-apples, or rather masses of Pine-apple (for 

 one mass will often fill a peck measure), which are to be 

 found in the markets of Batavia, and in which the pips 

 possess the peculiar property of elongating and producing 

 second fruits. In the specimen shown, only two of the pips 

 near the base had pushed and were forming lateral fruit ; 

 but these furnished sufficient evidence that the peculiarity 

 would be retained under cultivation in this country. No- 

 thing can be stated as to its quality, for the fruit was not 

 cut up. Mr. Middlemiss, Gardener to A. Pott, Esq., of 

 Bentham Hill, Tonbridge Wells, sent two large coarse- 

 looking Melons, affected with a disease which has been pre- 

 valent this season, and which exhibited itself in putrid spots 

 here and there over the surface of the fruit, which appeared 

 to be in a state of rapid decay. It has been suggested that 

 injudicious watering may have had something to do with 

 the production of the evil ; but Mr. Middlemiss stated that, 



