514 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bottom of it. Horticulturally, the paper had been very interesting. 

 Effective sub-tropical gardening was easy on the Lake, and especially 

 on some of the islands. But the climatic advantage of Maggiore over, 

 say, the Lower Thames Valley was not so great as one would suppose, 

 though the former had the advantage of more certain weather and 

 temperature conditions, owing to- its Alpine shelter. Still, the relative 

 florescence was not far from contemporaneous, that of Magnolia 

 grandifiora, for example, being closely so. Bananas, especially Musa 

 Basjoo, did better in the open than on the Thames. It was claimed for 

 Olea fragrans that its perfect habitat was on the shores and islands of 

 Maggiore ; Salvias flourished splendidly and had the best colourings ; 

 and there were many plants of an old flower which he much missed 

 nowadays in our gardens — the Ga'zania — which had been seen by him 

 to bloom best in Cyprus, and which, in its orange colouring, was 

 perfect, though it closed early in the afternoon. Sir Albert said 

 that he had been enabled by Mr. Wilks to make a large distribution 

 of his Shirley Poppies — as also he had made and received many 

 exchanges oif other seeds and plants, for comparative experience in 

 growing — on Maggiore, and they were most coveted and flourished 

 exceedingly. He might mention one such place not far from the 

 Lake — Desio — the fine English-looking home of H.E. Signer Tittoni, 

 lately Italian Ambassador in London, where very much of what he 

 had spoken might be observed. 



Mr. Martin Deed seconded the vote, which was carried with 

 acclamation. 



[Figures 178 to 190 are from photographs taken in Madame Tzikos 

 de Leger's garden.] 



