MARCH. 



41 



MEMOIR OF THE LATE MR. H. BURN, OF TOTTENHAM PARK. 



Tub late Mr. Bum was, we have heard him say, a native of the banks of the Tweed ; 

 hut on which bank of that border stream we bavc no information. On visiting London, he 

 was for some time under the ]ate Mr. John Henderson and Mr. Malcolm, and at an early 

 age was appointed gardener to the late Marquis, at that time Earl, of Aylesbury, at East 

 Sheen, when, after a short residence, he was removed to Tottenham Park, the principal 

 residence of the family in Wiltshire. This was in 1811 or 1812, and this situation lie 

 filled up to within six months of his decease, when he retired to a most comfortable residence, 

 given him by the present Marqius at Chisbury, within a short distance of the place where 

 he had spent so many years of his life. Mr. Burn was well known as a successful raiser of 

 many valuable kinds of hardy Bhododendrons and Azaleas. The first scarlet Bhododen- 

 dron (arboreum) which bloomed in England was at the Grange, in Hampshire ; and pollen 

 from the first head of flowers which opened, was given by Lord Ashburton to Mr. Burn and 

 the late Mr. Gowen, F.H.S., then Secretary to Lord Carnarvon, and from that individual 

 head of bloom we may, in a great measure, date the commencement of our present race of 

 hardy scarlet Ehododendrons, as the best hybrids of the Tottenham Park and Highclere 

 collections have been successively crossed with hardy kinds, until the lich colour of the 

 original Nepaul arboreum has been obtained on plants as hardy as catawbiense or maxima. 

 The Ehododendrons, both at Tottenham and Highclere, have long been noted, and many 

 of them are now immense specimens. One great object of his labours in this line was to 

 get a scarlet Rhododendron which would not bloom before July — a result, we believe, yet 

 undecided. Mr. Burn raised a batch of very valuable hardy Azaleas, between the deep 

 orange A. chinensis and the older varieties with fragrant flowers. The largo size of the 

 blooms of these hybrids, and more vigorous habit, combined with the fragrance of the Old 

 Pink Nosegay, constitute them great acquisitions, as are also some exceedingly fine crosses 

 between A. coccinea and calendulacea hydrids and chinensis. We have only space to notice 

 the above portion of our late esteemed friend's labours, and must pass over, therefore, what 

 we had otherwise intended to say of his general practice. Our friendship extended over 

 the last twenty-five years, and we write feelingly of the warm-hearted generosity which 

 characterised his life, and gained for him troops of friends ; for no man in his sphere of life 

 was more respected either by employers or friends. Our latest visit to him was on the 

 last day of October. It was a bright sunny day, balmy and mild as May ; and on driving our 

 friend through the fine plantations of Tottenham, many of which he had planted, lighted 

 up as they were by an autumn sun, which even in their decay constituted them a glorious 

 landscape, we could scarcely repress the forebodings, which were so soon to become 

 realised, that our friend would shortly rest beneath the shadow of those trees whose growth 

 he had witnessed for half a century. And so it was, that on December 20th, "was interred 

 in the beautiful churchyard of St. Katherine's, Tottenham Park, the remains of our long- 

 esteemed friend, Henry Burn." 



AWARDS OF THE FLORAL COMMITTEE OF THE ROYAL 

 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



(Continued from page 29.) 

 Fuchsia Hugh Miliar. — August 13, Messrs. Veitch & Son, Exeter and Chelsea.' — A 

 dwarf, vigorous, free-blooming, and showy decorative variety, with very large, pale pink, 

 long-tubed flowers, having a large reddish-purple corolla. A variety of distinct character. 



_ Euchsia Universal. — September 24, Mr. G. Smith, Hornsey Road.— A fine double 

 variety of the Gdobosa character, free-blooming and bold ; the flowers large, with coral sepals, 

 and dark violet full corolla. 



Gesnera Refulgens.— September 11, Mr. W. Bull. — A fine stove perennial, with the 

 broad leaves mottled with green and rich brown, and clothed with purplish-red hairs, as in 

 67. cinnabarina. 



Gladiolus striatus pormosissimus. — August 13, Mr. Standish, Bagshot. — A blush 

 white variety, striped abundantly and irregularly with bright crimson purple. 



Graptophyllum hortense. — November 12, Messrs. Veitch & Son, Exeter and Chelsea. 

 — A curious and pretty stove soft shrub ; a variety of the well-known caricature plant, in 

 which the leaves are suffused with red, and the grotesque blotches are of a pinkish-cream 

 colour. 



Hollyhock. Countess Russell.— August 27, Mr. AV. Chater, Saffron Walden.— A 

 large, well-proportioned flower, of a deep peach blossom, or bright light pink, both showy 

 and fine in properties. 



