xxxii 
ilOYAL HOKTICTrLTimA.L SOCIETF. 
GENERAL MEETING. 
W. W. Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 
Mr. Berkeley read a letter from Mr. Smee relative to a Fungus 
which was destroying Willows in his garden, specimens of which 
were produced ; but as it was only in the mycelioid state of growth, 
it was impossible to say precisely what the perfect plant would 
prove. It might possibly be Trametes suaveolens. 
Professor Thiselton Dyer called the attention of the meeting to a 
drawing of a tropical fruit from Dr. Moore. It appeared to be that 
of Lucuma ohovata, a native of Temperate Peru, and cultivated in 
Chili. It had fruited this year, probably for the first time in thi& 
country. 
According to Professor Pasquale, the volcanic ashes brought 
at the last meeting, from containing sodium chloride, were 
injurious to the foliage of plants at the time of the eruption. Dr. 
Flight had been so kind as to examine a portion. A considerable 
portion was soluble in water, and the two chief salts were sodium 
chloride and calcium sulphate (common salt and gypsum). There 
is a little soluble silicate also. There is certainly ammonia (not 
much), I suppose in the state of chloride. Of phosphoric acid the 
merest trace, still a trace. Of potash, which I looked for sharply, 
there is none. Of course I have only examined the watery 
extract." This threw some light upon the usefulness of the ash as 
manure. Onions contain allyl sulphide ; their tissue also contain 
abundance of minute crystals of calcium oxalate. The calcium 
sulphate would supply both the sulphur and the calcium, which 
the Onion invariably contains. It would conduce, therefore, to its 
vigorous development. 
Mr. r. Antoine had sent for the Lindley Library a beautiful and 
interesting work, illustrative of the Winter Garden at Vienna. 
August 21, 1872. 
FLORAL COMMITTEE. 
A First-class Certificate was given to Mr, Wilson, gardener to 
W. Marshall, Esq., for L(Blia elegans Marshallm ; to T. R. Tufihell, 
