February 10,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 113 
- We are informed that a meeting of the Executive Com¬ 
mittee of the Reigate Rose Association was recently held at 
the house of the active President, G, Baker, Esq., when it was 
determined to recommend that the annual Show be held at 
Reigate on Tuesday, July 5th, 1881. 
-- “ W. J. M.” writes—“Will some of your correspondents 
state how their outdoor Veronicas fared during the late frost, 
such as V. Hulkeana, V. decussata, V. salicifolia, and V. pingui- 
folia, as I am collecting information in reference to nominally 
hardy, half-hardy, and tender shrubs that are usually grown in 
open borders ?” 
- One of the grandest displays of PHALiENOPSlS Schil- 
lebiana that has ever been produced in this country may now 
be seen in the nursery of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons at Chelsea. 
When it is stated that there are nearly five hundred flowering 
spikes and quite eighteen hundred expanded flowers in one house, 
some idea may be formed of the striking and charming effect 
produced. The plants are mostly small, having only been im¬ 
ported last year, and they are grown in small pots, saucers, and 
baskets, some on the stages, and others suspended from the roof. 
The foliage is as fine in its way as the flowers, and the healthy 
rope-like roots are such as Orchid growers delight to see. Both 
as a floral spectacle of extreme richness and as an example of 
superior culture the collection is alike remarkable, and is certainly 
worth a long journey to witness. There is a great difference in 
the tints of the varieties, some being extremely soft and others 
rich, while many of the blooms are of great size and substance, 
and altogether the display is magnificent and unique. The 
plants will remain in beauty for another week or ten days, fogs 
permitting. 
- In another house in the nursery we were fortunate in 
seeing one of the finest new Calanthe that has ever come 
under our notice—C. Sandhurstiana. This was raised and grown 
by P. H. Gosse, Esq., F.R.S., of Sandhurst, Torquay. It was the 
result of a cross between Limatodes rosea and Calanthe vestita. 
One of the spikes contained nearly fifty flowers, but they were 
so closely set on the stem and all round it that it was difficult 
to count them. The prevailing colour of the richer form was 
rich rosy crimson, the others being a few shades lighter. Mr. 
Gosse has been fortunate in adding a variety of such striking 
merit to this valuable genus of terrestrial Orchids. 
- The increased and growing export .Apple trade in 
America has, says the “ American Cultivator,” been larger than 
ever before, amounting to 425,000 barrels in 1880, against 176,000 
barrels for the previous year. The bulk of the Apples exported 
have been of the Baldwin variety, and many of them have come 
from New Hampshire, where the crop was especially large and of 
excellent quality last season. Some farmers in that State have 
realised handsome sums from their Apple orchards. 
- Mr. Alexander Angus, who for the last four years has 
been foreman in the fruit department of the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens, Chiswick, has been appointed gardener to 
Chas. H. Wilson, Esq., M.P., Warter Priory, Pocklington, York¬ 
shire ; and Mr. Robert Castle, late gardener at Derwent Lodge, 
Kensington, has succeeded Mr. W. Iggulden as gardener to Captain 
Wingfield, Orsett Hall, Romford, Essex. Mr. Orchard, late 
gardener to F. W. Harris, Esq., Coombe House, Croydon, has 
been appointed gardener to J. Galsworthy, Esq., Coombe Leigh, 
Kingston-on-Thames. 
- In the Orchid house at Kew may be seen a very fine 
example of Dendrochilum glumaceum. It is now making 
a fresh set of pseudo-bulbs, and each growth or pseudo-bulb 
bears a beautiful arched spike of flowers—altogether no less than 
fifty-two spikes. The individual flowers are not very showy, but 
when all are fully expanded the plant is very elegant. The colour 
of the flowers are creamy white, but what they lack in colour is 
more than balanced by the delicious spicy perfume they exhale. 
The flowers last at least three weeks in good condition, thus 
rendering the plant very desirable. It thrives well at Kew potted 
in fibry peat and sphagnum moss. 
- Sir Robert Christison, Bart., recently read a paper 
before the Edinburgh Botanical Society on the growth of 
wood in 1880, which contained a description of several interest¬ 
ing observations. It appears that the growth was even less than 
in 1879, deciduous trees, except Oaks, being most affected, and 
evergreen Conifers least. The small extent to which the growth 
of Oaks, particularly the Hungary Oak, had been influenced, was 
stated to be very remarkable. In some further observations upon 
the season of growth in trees, it was remarked that with fine 
deciduous trees in fine seasons the growth of wood was nearly 
confined to the months of June, July, August, while the same 
number of evergreen Conifers commenced growth a month earlier, 
but concluded it about the same period. 
- Mr. Walter Hill, Director of the Brisbane Botanic 
Garden, writes as follows upon the uses of the Casuarinas or 
Beefwoods of Australia :—“ Casuarina equisetifolia (Swamp Oak). 
•—Found growing in great abundance near salt-water marshes 
and inlets. The wood is coarse-grained and beautifully marked. 
It is used for purposes where lightness and toughness are required. 
Casuarina torulosa (Forest Oak or Beef wood).—A small tree, occu¬ 
pying large tracts of land in the open forest. The timber is much 
used for fuel. It is close and prettily marked, and gives hand¬ 
some veneers. Casuarina glauca (The River She-Oak).—A robust 
tree of general occurrence on the borders of rivers and creeks. 
The timber is strong and tough, used for staves and shingles. 
Casuarina Cunninghamiana (Scrub She-Oak).—A small but hand¬ 
some tree ; timber hard, close, and prettily marked.” 
—— We have received Part 24 of the work on “Familiar 
Garden Flowers,” now being issued by Messrs. Cassell, Petter, 
Galpin, & Co. It contains coloured plates of Narcissus in- 
comparabilis and Tropseolum peregrinum, accompanied by in¬ 
teresting descriptive and historical notes. 
THE COMPASS PLANT. 
In the “ Botanical Magazine ” for January Sir Joseph D. Hooker 
gives the following interesting particulars concerning the Compass 
Plant of America (Silphium laciniatum), of which many re¬ 
markable and even exaggerated accounts have been published 
lately. 
This noble plant was introduced into Europe in 17S1 by 
M. Thouin, and flowered for the first time in the Botanic Garden 
of Upsala in Sweden. It has been in cultivation in Europe ever 
since, though its name and fame as the Compass Plant of the 
prairies is of comparatively modern date, it having before that 
borne the popular names of Turpentine Plant and Rosin-weed, 
except amongst the hunters and settlers in the western States. 
With regard to the history of its reputed properties as an indicator 
of the meridian by the position of its leaves, I am fortunate in 
having recourse to my friend Professor Asa Gray, now in England, 
who has most kindly furnished me with the following very inter¬ 
esting account of this matter: — 
“ The first announcement of the tendency of the leaves of the 
Compass Plant to direct their edges to the north and south was 
made by General (then Lieutenant) Alvord, of the U.S. army, in 
the year 1842, and again in 1844, in communications to the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science. But 
the fact appears to have long been familiar to the hunters who 
traversed the prairies in which this plant abounds. The account 
was somewhat discredited at the time, by the observation that 
plants cultivated in the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, U.S., did 
not distinctly exhibit this tendency. But repeated observation 
upon the prairies, with measurements by the compass of the 
directions assumed by hundreds of leaves, especially of the radical 
