430 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
its branches drooping to the ground. — Wm. 
JElpkinstone. 
Watering Plants. — It may be well to 
bear in mind, that the object of watering 
plants in pots, is to place the roots in an 
equal!// moistened condition; and therefore 
the constant drippings which are too often in- 
dulged in, wetting only the surface of the soil, 
and leaving the mass of the roots as dry as 
before, is not the proper way of performing 
the operation. — M. 
Hybrid Alstromerias. — The Hon. and 
very Rev. the Dean of Manchester (Mr. Her- 
bert), lately saw at Ghent, in the nursery of 
Mr. Van Houtte, two beds of hybrid Alstro- 
merias, of very great beauty. Mr. Herbert 
speaks of them, in a recent number of the 
Gardeners' Chronicle, as being of " every tint, 
from scarlet to lemon colour, and from crimson 
to pale pink, variegated with white. It would 
have been difficult to find two plants, amidst 
the great number then in bloom, of which the 
flowers were exactly similar ; some being as 
remarkable for the delicacy, as others were for 
the brilliancy of their hues. Another very 
long bed of younger plants, raised from the 
last year's seed of the former, was in vigorous 
progress. The foliage of all the plants was 
nearly similar, the average height of the inflo- 
rescence being, I should think, between twelve 
and eighteen inches. Mr. Van Houtte informs 
me that he purchased the whole from the per- 
son who raised them ; and from their appear- 
ance, I should pronounce them mules between 
A. Hookeriana and haemantha. I cannot assert 
that A. pulchra and aurantiaca may not have 
been in part concerned in their production, 
but I rather attribute it to Hookeriana, and 
one of the best varieties of hasmantha, such as 
Barclayi. They were planted in a mixture of 
vegetable earth, or strong soil with the Ghent 
sand ; and in some parts the plants seemed to 
have suffered from the compost being too light 
and sandy. I do not recollect having ever 
seen a bed of flowers so beautiful." Mr. Her- 
bert is perhaps better acquainted with the 
species of Alstromeria, and indeed of bulbous 
plants generally, than any other botanist in 
this country; and is therefore well qualified to 
form an opinion of any improvements in the 
appearance of these plants. 
New Orange Lily. — In the nursery of Mr. 
Van Houtte, of Ghent, is a new Lily, which, 
in the opinion of the Hon. and Rev. W. Her- 
bert, is the finest Orange Lily that has been 
produced. It has been raised from Lilium 
atropunctatum, fertilized by a strong growing 
Orange Lily called L. croceum, by Mr. Van 
Houtte. " The plants were of middle growth, 
with very florid head* ; and the flowers very 
large, brilliant, and exhibiting a good deal of 
diversity. This variety will be a great acqui- 
sition to our gardens, seeming to be veiy 
healthy and vigorous." 
Berheris dulcis. — It is not common to 
see this plant full of fruit. If left to itself, it 
grows with long rambling shoots ; it flowers, 
but produces no berries ; but if the shoots are 
stopped, a bushy plant is produced, and plenty 
of fruit. At Messrs. Paul's nursery, Ches- 
hunt, there are several plants covered with 
berries, treated in this way. 
Award of Prizes. — The Metropolitan 
Society, which hardly professes to give many 
prizes, but whose awards carry more weight 
than those of any other Society in the kingdom, 
actually gives ten in each class, for the most 
unimportant florists' flowers. The plan is, 
to make but ten per cent, difference between 
any two prizes that are next each other ; to 
drop, in fact, but two shillings in the pound, 
or one tenth. Thus they award 20s., 18s., 16s., 
14s., 12s., 10s., 8s., 6s., 4s., and 2s.; so that 
growers of all classes are strongly encouraged 
to correspond and compete — and few are dis- 
appointed. The object, in fact, is to draw 
growers of all pretensions into the same class, 
and not to deter them by hopeless prospects. 
Suppose, there were only these prizes, 21. 10s., 
II. 5s., and 11., three good growers take all 
chance away from their inferiors ; whereas, 
by the more liberal mode of dividing the sum 
among twenty, a less ambitious, and less 
pretending grade would cheerfully contend for 
the honour of taking some of the numerous 
prizes, for the fourth prize is 14s. And then, 
with this Society, the money is quite a secondary 
consideration with almost every shower. There 
is, however, in this mode of arrangement a 
first-rate lesson for Horticultural Societies. 
Supports to Plants. — There has been a 
good deal of ill-natured remark about the 
mode of propping up Roses, Geraniums, and 
such like plants, and perhaps some of it has 
been deserved. No one will deny that the 
Geranium is greatly distorted, to obtain a 
great mass of bloom, and that plants so excited 
are necessarily propped at every shoot, to 
prevent their hanging about the pot. But 
what is the effect of the supports ? Bad. 
Who can look at the forest of props in one of 
the modern large plants, without regretting 
that they were ever permitted to be so treated? 
First, because the character of the plant is 
destroyed ; second, because there are no sides 
visible for the props; thirdly, the bloom is 
totally destroyed, as to individual character, to 
produce a mass out of character. We strongly 
urge the managers of shows to have a class 
of Geraniums, one year old, with no obligation 
to have more than one truss. We should get 
Geraniums the second year better than the 
seedling year, for it would be a moral certainty 
that the size of the individual flower and truss 
