248 
THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
two rows, of a light green, and about half an 
inch in length. Cones almost as large as 
walnuts, uneven, with short, obtuse scales. 
Seeds small, irregular, enclosed in a cylin- 
drical kernel. 
One of the greatest trees in North America, 
affecting low swampy lands, and growing in 
such situations to the height of 120 feet. It 
is not often tliat a tree of such bulk and sta- 
ture is clad in the particularly elegant foliage 
which characterises this object. In the oak 
we have the roughened and hard foliage which 
bespeaks the mountaineer. In the pine there 
is the same rigidity of leaf and limb ; but 
here all is soft green verdure, beautifully pin- 
nate, and so minutely divided that one might 
reckon the foliage, at first sight, to belong to 
our mosses or ferns. The situations in which 
this tree rises in its native country point 
clearly to the treatment it should have in 
Britain. In rich marshy lands, by the sides 
of rivers and ponds, and wherever there is 
continual moisture, it may be planted with 
every prospect of success. In a great many 
districts throughout England the young shoots 
are killed by frosts, a fact which should have 
led planters long ere now to try it in suitable 
situations by the sea-side, where frosts have 
little or no influence. The species is propa- 
gated by seeds imported in the cones from 
America. They should be sown in the latter 
part of April in very moist soil, and covered 
to the depth of a quarter of an inch. When 
two years old, they may be transplanted into 
nursery lines : they thrive best in a mixture 
of peat and leaves, so situated that no drought 
affects them during summer. Plants tv/o feet 
high are Is. each (1849). 
Varieties : — These are chiefly T. d. nutans, 
which has the leaves curled and tortuous ; 
T. d. sinense, of which one of the finest spe- 
cimens is in Mr. Moore's nursery, East Dere- 
ham ; T. d. patens, which appears to have 
the leaves less expanded than in the species ; 
and T. d. excelsa, a continental variety, dif- 
fering but little from the original. 
2. Taxodhim sempervirens, Lambert (Ever- 
green Taxodium). — Leaves flat, yew-like^ 
dagger-shaped, having beneath a green mid- 
rib, with silver line on each side. Bark 
reddish-brown : young bark striped with 
brown. 
A lofty tree, growing on the mountains of 
the north-west coast of America, to the height 
of 200 feet, with boles six to eight feet in 
diameter at the surface of the ground. The 
bark in old trees is six to twelve inches thick, 
red and smooth ; the timber is beautiful, 
close-grained, light, but somewhat brittle. 
It is quite hardy in England, though liable 
to have its foliage turned brown by severe 
frosts ; it promises, however, to become a 
valuable timber tree in this country. Plants 
one foot high, 7s. 6i. each (1848). 
THE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
One of the most elaborate Reports that has 
ever appeared was laid before the Fellows of 
this Society at their Anniversary Meeting on 
the 1st of May, and judging from the manner 
in which it was received, we are warranted in 
saying that there has been enormous labour 
expended satisfactorily, and the result is 
highly promising as to the future progress of 
the establishment. The Council have applied 
themselves vigorously to the alteration of the 
old bye-laws, and have so modified them as to 
go with the times in all manner of improve- 
ment, instead of clinging with pertinacity to 
rules no longer suited to the age. The Re- 
port has left nothing to desire, no questions to 
be asked ; the detail of expenses is elaborate, 
every item tells for itself ; whether it be the 
purchase of a tent, the payment of a bond, or 
the price of printing, there it stands; and 
we have no longer to see the cost of the 
Shows in a single item, and be left to'guess at 
the details. Everybody knows that two more 
awful days than the first two Shows were 
held on last year have hardly been known. 
The 10th of June Avas certainly alone ; nobody 
can remember such an unceasing rain in June 
as devastated the pleasure-gardens at Chis- 
wick ; and on that day, although the Fellows 
alone amount to a tliausand, (in round num- 
bers,) who are allowed to go in free, there 
were but eight hundred and seventy visitors 
in all. We were prepared, and we believe 
the Fellows in general were, to see an awful 
falling ofi^ in the receipts, and a loss upon the 
year's transactions ; we were, however, agree- 
ably surprised to find, that notwithstanding 
the untoward weather and the depression of 
the times, the Society has not only paid its 
expenses, but reduced a standing debt above 
three hundred pounds. The first point to 
which attention is drawn in the Report is the 
power that was given at the last Annivei'sary 
Meeting to the Council, " to prepare for the 
approval of the Society a set of amended bye- 
laws," upon which the Council acted forth- 
with ; and after bestowing more than ordinary 
pains in the examination of those which 
worked well in other Societies, they produced 
