194 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 9. m 2 . 
to thirty trusses of bloom each, all of good size, form, and sub¬ 
stance. They are blooming at present better than those struck 
last spring. 
The varieties are as follows : Pink. —Mrs. Leavers, Lady Shef¬ 
field, Evening Star, Mrs. Lancaster, Master Christine, and Florence 
Durrant. Scarlet. — Vesuvius, Sir John Moore, Mrs. Whitley, 
Colonel Seeley, Livingstone, David Thompson and Dr. Karl Koch. 
Salmons. —Pioneer, Marmion, Leopard, and Fairest of the Fair. 
White. — Madame Vaucher. Purplish. — Caxton and Mrs. A. 
Rogers. Crimson Tinted with Orange. — Dr. John Denny. White 
with Pink centre. —Miss Gladstone.—C. H. Stephens, Lyne, 
Sussex. 
DEATH OF COUNT KERCHOVE DE DENTERGHEM. 
To those who during the past thirty years have visited the great 
horticultural gatherings in Belgium, and especially in Ghent, the 
name and presence of Count Kerchove must be familiar. Ever 
since 1848 he was a member of the Royal Society of Agriculture 
and Botany of Ghent. In 1859 he became Honorary President, 
and in 1875 President of the Society. The services he rendered 
to Belgian horticulture were not merely of an honorary and 
patronising character, for the Count was himself an ardent and 
intelligent horticulturist, and the ample means with which he 
was endowed was liberally expended in promoting the pursuit he 
so much loved. The Winter Garden erected by Count Kerchove 
in his town garden at Ghent is an evidence of his devotion to 
horticulture and a monument of his good taste and enterprise. 
This immense building is 164 feet long, 68 feet wide, and 42 feet 
high, and it contains upwards of 2100 square yards of glass. It 
is a right princely structure, and is filled internally with rock- 
work arranged in a perfectly natural and picturesque style, with 
cascades and pools of water, all planted with Palms, Ferns and 
other conservatory plants. 
Count Kerchove was Burgomaster of Ghent and representative 
of the town in the Belgian Parliament. He was a man of great 
good sense ; kind yet decided as a magistrate, and sincere and 
hospitable as a friend. His loss will be severely felt in Ghent, 
where he was born in 1819, and where he died on the 21st ult. 
He leaves behind a successor in the person of his eldest son, 
Count Oswald Kerchove de Denterghem, who is even a more 
ardent horticulturist than his father. 
A correspondent, “ D.,” asks if any of our readers can 
state “ where the small hampers or baskets for sending flowers 
by post can be obtained ?” We shall be glad to hear from those 
who can answer this question. 
- “ We send you one bloom of the Swanley White Violet, 
this must be the best of all whites.” So'writes Mr. Cannell, and 
the flower we received is certainly the finest of its kind we have 
seen. It was exactly l£ inch in diameter, and contained forty 
petals, imbricated, and constituting a neat and well-formed 
flower. 
- In the article by “ D., Peal," in the last issue of the 
Journal, page 178, “the dozen of amateur growers” should be 
the “doyen”— i.e., the oldest. 
- A CORRESPONDENT writes “ I should like to point out 
a slight mistake made by Mr. Taylor a week or two ago when 
alluding to the value of Petroleum Oil as an Insecticide. 
He mentioned an ordinary wineglass as holding one ounce ; it 
has a capacity of about two ounces. I find an ordinary eight- 
ounce doctor’s bottle a very useful measure. These are now very 
generally graduated into eight or sixteen divisions, representing 
ounces or half ounces.” 
- We learn that a young gardener at Kew, Mr. Philip 
MacMahon, has been appointed to the Curatobship of the 
Hull Botanic Garden ondhe recommendation of Mr. J. Smith. 
We understand he has had experience in several good gardens, 
having served in Lord Ardilaun’s garden, Ashford House, Galway ; 
Lord Denbigh’s, Newnham Paddox, and several others ; and he 
will thus bring some good practical knowledge to bear upon the 
improvement of the Hull Garden. 
- “ F. W. B.” writes—" Clematis calycina is now lovely, 
its greenish-yellow bells dangling like Lilies from its graceful 
twining stems. It is a real winter Clematis of great value, its 
flowers being chaste in form, distinct and pleasing in colour, and 
lasting long in water when cut.” 
- We are informed that the Caterham Horticultural 
and Cottage Garden Society will hold their annual exhi¬ 
bition on July 26th, when prizes will be offered in seventy classes 
for plants ; cut flowers, fruit, and vegetables about equally divided 
between gardeners and amateurs and cottagers. The prizes are 
not large, but their number (three being offered in nearly every < 
class) compensates to some extent for this. The Secretary is 
Mr. A. Habbitts, Essendene Road, Caterham. 
- In the General Horticultural Company’s Hammersmith 
Nursery we recently noticed a fine stock of the useful Lilium 
longifolium advancing fast. They are grown in frames near a 
house originally devoted to Roses planted out, and their position 
appears to suit them very well. This fine Lily is much valued 
for decorative purposes, and the large quantity grown proves the 
extent of the demand. The ornamental-foliage section of Begonias 
is also largely represented by some of the best varieties in cultiva¬ 
tion ; while miscellaneous plants employed for decoration, such as 
Spirmas, Selaginellas, Palms, Roses, Hydrangeas, Azaleas, and 
others, are grown in thousands, and all appear in excellent con¬ 
dition under the charge of the Manager, Mr. Gray. 
S! 
- We have previously referred to the abundance of Acacia 
Flowers in Covjbnt Garden Market, especially noting the 
beautiful A. dealbata, which has been more plentiful this season 
than we have noticed before. The greater portion of the supply 
is obtained from the Paris markets, where the flowers are sent from 
the neighbourhood of Nice. Another form is now represented 
largely in the florists’ shops—namely, Acacia longifolia magnifica, 
which has close spikes of bright yellow flowers and lanceolate 
leaves. These Acacias do not flower in a small state in England, 
and it is only in a few establishments where sufficient space can be 
afforded them that the flowers can be obtained in large quantities. 
In such houses as the temperate house at Kew, however, they 
succeed admirably, growing strongly and flowering profusely, and 
no large conservatory or winter garden should be without some 
examples of them. 
- We have received from Messrs. Hunt & Company of 
Birmingham what they describe as a sample of their new 
Aphicide. We think they have made a slight mistake. We 1 
have received no “aphicide,” but a handy appliance for distri¬ 
buting aphicide or insecticide in form of spray to plants attacked 
with insects. One end of the instrument is placed in a bottle 
of the solution to be used, and the other in the mouth of the 
operator, the insecticide being blown on the plants. It is a ; 
handy article for those having wdndow plants, and for amateurs 
to use in their small greenhouses, as it answers its purpose of 
distributing spray satisfactorily. 
- “R. P. B.” writes—“As regards Amaryllises, Mr. Garret, 
Whittinghame Gardens, a week ago favoured me with a number 
of blooms from seedling plants. Two of them are very good 
indeed, the colours being rich and the petals broad. He informs 
me that the plants are grown in 5-inch pots, and many have two 
spikes'with four, five, and six blooms on each. Evidently the 
system of growing these from seed is the right one, and under 
