zs/7i^' 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
I 
REVIEW. 
Garden Almanaclcs for 1850: — "The Gardener's Al- 
manack," by G. W. Jolinson (Stationers' Company). 
" Glenny's Garden Almanack," (Cox, King "William 
Street, Sti-and). "The Agricultural and Horticul- 
tm-al Almanack and Diary," by M. M. Milbum, and 
a Practical Gardener (Groombridge). 
The first of these annuals is the best-looking book, and 
contains a goodly proportion of useful reference matter 
in the various depai-tments of gai-dening ; but it bears 
evidence of hurried or careless preparation, in certain 
uncorrected particulars, the materials for correcting 
which must be within reach of its editor. — The second 
contains a variety of sound, usefiil, practical informa- 
ation, conveyed in the peculiar and well-known style of 
the author, and is perhaps rather less querulous than 
usual ; and so far is improved. The list of florists' 
flowers is the important featui-e. — The last-named is the 
cheapest, and is this year improved in appcai'ance, 
though in this respect there is stUl room for improve- 
ment. One half is devoted to agricultural information, 
the remainder to horticidtui'al matters. The peculiar 
featm-e of this almanack is the descriptive list of new 
plants inti-oduced or made known dm'ing the year, 
which in itself is worth more than the cost of the book. 
They may aU be consulted with advantage as remem- 
brancers, and should bo found on the table of all gar- 
deners and garden amatem's. 
EXTRACTS AND MEMORANDA. 
Victoria rcgia. — The blossoming of the Victoria regia, 
which has taken place at Chatsworth, is one of the great 
features of the year 1849, as far as horticultm-e is con- 
cerned. This plant, made knoisTi some few years since 
by Sir R. Schombm-gk, and of which seeds have been 
inti-oduced, on some few occasions, within the last two 
or thi'ee years, was raised in some quantity at Kew, in 
the spring of 1849; and one of the plants obtaiaed by Mr. 
Paxton, has produced flowers and ripe fruit. Its pro- 
gress was remarkably rapid. It had germinated by 
March 23rd ; was ti'ansferred to Chatsworth on August 
3rd ; was planted in its tank on August 10th ; showed 
its fii-st flower-bud on November 1st ; expanded its first 
flower on November 8th; and had ripened seeds by 
December 10th. Mr. Paxton's mode of culture has 
been thus explained : * — In a hothouse, a tank was con- 
structed three feet deep and twelve feet square, warmed 
by hot water. This tanlc was afterwards enlarged to 
about nineteen feet square, by the addition of a shallow 
ledge nine inches deep and thi'ee and a-half feet wide, 
heated by a triple row of small lead pipes. In the 
centre of the t.ank was placed a large hillock of soil — 
burnt loam and peat. Mr. Paxton attaches great im- 
portance to the hmning of the soU, by which means 
weeds and insects were desti'oyed, as well as all such 
matters, as would have been ready to enter into fer- 
mentation or rapid decomposition, when in contact with 
water heated to eighty-five degrees. The water was 
thus kept perfectly ti-auslucent ; and in order to keep 
it in motion, there was added at one corner a wheel, 
• Gardeners' Chronicle, 1849, p. 739, 
over which water was caused to drop continually with 
force enough to keep the wheel constantly revolving — 
the water thus continually flowing in, and the sui'plus 
flowing out by means of a small pipe near the bottom. 
The water was kept heated to about eighty-five degrees. 
The flower itself, when it fii'st opens, resembles the 
white water-lily, of a dazzling white, with its fine 
leathery petals forming a goblet of the most elegant 
proportions ; but as the day advances it gradually ex- 
pands, till it becomes nearly flat. Towards evening a 
faint blush becomes visible in the centre ; the petals fall 
back more and more ; and at last, about six o'clock, a 
sudden change occiu's. In a few minutes, the petals, 
becoming more recurved, airange themselves in the 
form of a snow-white hemisphere, whose edge reposes 
on the water, and the centre rises majestically at the 
summit, producing a diadem of rosy points. Shortly 
after, the expansion of the central parts proceeding, 
these points fall back ; the stamens unfold in an inte- 
rior coronet, the stigmas are laid bare, a grateful per- 
fume rises into the air, and the great object of the 
flower, the fertilization of the seeds, is accomplished. 
Then fold inwards the petals, the flower closes, the fair- 
est of vegetable textures becomes wrinkled, decay be- 
gins, and the flower staUi withdraws itself beneath the 
water, as if to veil the progress of corruption. 
Ifew Banlcsias. * — I lately foimd the beautiftil blood- 
red Banksia ; it is allied to B. verticillata, having ten to 
fomleen leaves in a whorl, and is the most beautiful 
species of this coimtry [Australia]. It well deserves 
the name of Jloribunda, for when one set of flowers is 
fully blo'wn, the cone above is prepai'ed to bloom in 
two or three weeks, and a third in succession, stiU 
higher on the branch, is considerably advanced. I hope 
to send abundance of seeds of this noble Banlcsia, and 
also of another very fine species, the B. Broionii of 
Baxter, which is verticUlate, though not so described by 
Mr. Brown ; its leaves are beautifiilly pinnate, like those 
of B. decurrens. One species found, diu-ing my last 
excursion, had very large flowers, varying in colom- 
fi-om p.Tle pink to rose, and setaceous glaucous leaves. 
The natives tell me of a Banlcsia with blood-red flowers, 
which grows in the interior, and, compared with which, 
B. ffrandis is but a pigmy. I shall do my best to dis- 
cover it. — J. Srummond. 
New Conifers, f — It was on the Kio de los Animos, in 
Southern California, that Mr. Fendler found his magnifi- 
cent Binus (Abies) concolor, a species as yet iinkn o-iyn 
in Em'ope ; along with his P. irachi/ptera, which seems 
to be the same as P. Benthamiana. And on the high 
mountains near the city of Santa Fe, the same ti'aveller 
found his Pinus JlexiUs, of which the name only has 
reached us. 
Obituary. — December 28th. — Mr. William Loddiges, 
of Hackney, the last of the old fh-m of Conrad Loddiges 
and Sons. Mr. Loddiges has been well known as one 
of the most persevering cultivators of his day, and a 
most amiable and kind-hearted gentleman. He was in 
his seventy-thii-d year. The business now rests in the 
hands of Mr. Conrad Loddiges, a nephew of the de^ 
ceased. 
* Kooh, Journ. Bot., i., 375. + Botanical Magazine, 
