CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
285 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, AND ORIGINAL NOTES. 
Death of Dr. Gardner. — A letter has 
recently been received in London from Lord 
Torrington, Governor of Ceylon, announcing 
the sudden death, from apoplexy, of Dr. George 
Gardner, superintendent of the botanic gar- 
den, Peradenia, Kandy, Ceylon. This zealous 
naturalist was a pupil of Sir W. J. Hooker, 
when Professor of Botany in the University of 
Glasgow. Soon after leaving Glasgow, he 
undertook the enterprising journey recorded 
in his Travels in the Interior of Brazil. He 
penetrated on this occasion as far west as the 
tributaries of the Amazon, and from near the 
equator to 23° of south latitude. He made 
abundant collections of plants ; and we are 
indebted to him for many of the noble orchids 
now flowering in this country. The wonder- 
ful parasitic vegetation of the grand tropical 
garden of Brazil attracted his particular at- 
tention, and he set a worthy example to many 
practical botanists engaged in exploring that 
floral region at this moment. Upon his 
return from Brazil, about five years since, 
he was appointed to the office of Superin- 
tendent of the Botanic Garden at Kandy, 
Ceylon. Since then he has been actively em- 
ployed in preparing materials for a Flora of 
that country, and undertook frequent excur- 
sions for that purpose. " The literary part of 
my work," says Dr. Gardner, in a recent letter 
to a correspondent of ours, ' : progresses but 
slowly ; but materials are accumulating in 
abundance, and soon I hope to sit down to it 
in good earnest. I have just returned from a 
month's tour, made in company with Sir 
Emerson Tennent through the interior of the 
northern half of the island." Dr. Gardner's 
attention was not, however, confined to botany. 
Whilst searching for plants, the land and fresh 
water mollusca, living more in concealment, 
did not escape his quick eye. The loss of so 
indefatigable and sound a naturalist in the 
prime of life (we believe he was not much 
above thirty) will be seriously felt ; and it is to 
be hoped that his collections and manuscripts 
will be carefully preserved. — Athenaeum, u 
The Funebral Cypress. — The intro- 
duction of a new hardy evergreen tree into 
this country is an event that is seldom 
noticed at first in the manner it deserves. 
This arises from our being in general imper- 
fectly acquainted with the history of such 
plants ; and the result is most unfortunate, 
for till experiment has decided whether such 
a plant is hardy or not, nobody knows what 
to think or do — the seedlings are neglected, 
put aside, or ruined by being cramped in pots, 
and at last, when their value is discovered, 
the race has become almost extinct, and the 
constitution of the survivors is, for the most 
part, ruined beyond recovery. This has most 
especially been the history of Conifers ; and 
Cryptomeria is a striking example of the 
practice. Of this fine species thousands of 
seedlings were distributed by the Horticultural 
Society ; and where are they now ? The 
greater part have perished, because the public 
was unacquainted with the value of so beau- 
tiful an evergreen. There was no certainty 
that it was hardy, and now that experience 
has 6hown that our winters will no more 
touch it than they will a Spruce Fir, the old 
stock is gone, and fresh supplies must be 
sought in China. It was the same with the 
Araucaria of Chili, with the Deodar, and with 
many others. An acquisition of the highest 
interest, lately received by Mr. Standi sh, of 
the Bagshot Nurserj', will undergo the same 
fate, unless the history of it, and the certainty 
of its being still more hardy than Crypto- 
meria, shall be pointed out, so as to leave no 
room for misapprehension. We allude to the 
Funebral Cypress. This plant was first men- 
tioned in Lord Macartney's Voyage as grow- 
ing in a place called " The Vale of Tombs, 
near the Tower of the Thundering Winds," in 
the province of Zhe-hol ; which is a moun- 
tainous district, lying in latitude 41° 58' N. 
in Chinese Tartary, and has a far more 
rigorous climate than is ever known in 
England. The plants found in this province 
consist of hardy northern forms, oaks, elms, 
ashes, willows, pines, elders, sophora japonica, 
together with herbs of northern habits, calcu- 
lated to bear severe frost, such as aster?, 
paeonies, Solomon's seal, pinks, &c. In the 
foreground of the landscape representing " the 
Vale of Tombs," is a specimen of Funebral 
Cypress, much resembling a weeping willow : 
and the weeping tree so commonly repre- 
sented in Chinese paper-hangings and porce- 
lain, is evidently the same species. The 
seedlings in the Bagshot Nursery were raised 
from cones lately procured by Mr. Fortune, 
while at Shanghae, from a place 200 miles to 
the north of that port. We have also received 
a dried specimen of it, which enables us to say 
that it must be a plant of the greatest beauty. 
It may be best described as a tree like the 
weeping willow in growth, with the foliage of 
the savin, but of a brighter green ; it is, how- 
ever, not a juniper, as the savin is, but a 
genuine cypress. It has long been a subject 
of regret that the Italian cypress cannot be 
made to endure our climate, and to decorate 
our burial-places : but we have now a finer 
tree, still better adapted for the purpose. — 
Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Ornamental Garden-Pots. — If -we may 
judge by the prevailing taste of the present 
