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September 8, i88i. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 228 
Killarney Lakes, Ross Island, is covered with Osmunda regalis. 
There is about 10 acres of it in one spot; no other Ferns are near. 
All seem to give place to their more princely and royal compeer. 
Many of the fronds are over 5 feet high.” 
- “ In the same place, called The Meeting of the Waters, 
immortalised by Moore, near the old Bridge of Weir, the water 
is skirted with a fringe of Osmunda regalis, not very high, which 
here and there peeps out a bunch of common Erica, forming, as 
it were, one grand natural bouquet, which would be hard to 
imitate. The Killarney Fern (Trichomanes radicans) is becom¬ 
ing very rare.” 
-Messrs. James Yeitch & Sons have received from 
Mr. Me Lachlan an example of his strain of Cockscombs, the 
head measuring 2 feet 9 inches from tip to tip, and 18j inches in 
breadth. In richness of colour, too, the head was one of the 
finest we have seen. 
- We regret to learn that the veteran florist and well-known 
raiser of Carnations, Mr, E. S. Dodwell, is compelled by ill 
health to remove from his present residence, 11, Chatham Terrace, 
Larkhall Rise, Clapham, S.W. His surplus Carnations and 
Picotees, including unbloomed seedlings, also his garden appli¬ 
ances of various kinds, are otfered for sale, andjnust be disposed 
of early in October. 
- Messrs. Clay & Levesley of 174, High Street, Homer- 
ton, desires us to state that, in order to facilitate their expanding 
business, they have erected offices at their works, Temple Mill 
Lane, Stratford, London, E., where all communications should be 
addressed. 
- In reference to the recent Manchester International 
Show, Mr. Bruce Findlay informs us that on Saturday the 27th 
ult., when the weather proved bright for a few hours, about fifteen 
thousand persons visited the Show, the total number being about 
40,000, which, considering the very unfavourable weather that 
prevailed during the greater part of the time, was a much larger 
company than could have been expected. We learn that medals 
were awarded to Messrs. Leech Bros, and Hoyle of Manchester, 
for the best mowing machine and the best garden seat. We are 
also informed that Messrs. R. Halliday & Co. of Manchester were 
awarded the gold medal for general collections of hothouses, 
frames, boilers, &c., not Mr. R. Holiday, as stated in the report. 
- Mr. Charles Turner of Slough announces that he 
intends exhibiting a large collection of Dahlias at South 
Kensington next Tuesday. All the chief sections will be well 
represented by selected varieties. 
•- “In the Botanic Gardens, Belfast,” writes a correspon¬ 
dent, “ is a Bougainvillea glabra that fills a curvilinear 
house, 30 feet by 20 feet. It is trained on a wire trellis. When 
in full bloom, as it was at the time of my visit, it is very 
handsome.” 
- The same correspondent observes —“ At Killarney 
House, the seat of the Earl of Kenmare, the gardens and pleasure 
grounds are undergoing most extensive alterations and improve¬ 
ments. Miles of walks are being made ; new carriage drives 
in every direction, adding much to the charm of the lakes, the 
resort of so many visitors during the summer. Rhododendrons 
and Pines grow very freely. The extent of the planting may be 
judged from the fact that seedling trees sufficient to plant over 
4 acres of nursery ground are bought every year. These are 
planted out the following year in their permanent quarters. The 
whole is under the charge of Mr. Kelly, who, in addition to his 
abilities as a general gardener, seems to be skilled in the art of 
landscape work.” 
-We have received particulars of the following recent 
gardening Appointments —Mr. R. Billiald, late foreman at 
Leighton Hall, Welshpool, succeeds Mr. Salter as gardener to 
A. Sillem, Esq., Laurie Park, Sydenham ; Mr. John Bottrell, late 
foreman at Trentham, succeeds Mr. Harris as gardener to Lord 
Yernon, Sudbury Hall, Derby; Mr. Thomas Hill, late foreman at 
Brodsworth Hall, Doncaster, succeeds Mr. Woolley as gardener 
to H. Berens, Esq., Sidcup, Chislehurst; Mr. Henry Downing, 
recently gardener to Lord Huntingfield, Heveningham Hall, Yox- 
ford, succeeds Mr. Smith as gardener to A. Brassey, Esq., Heythrop 
Park, Chipping Norton ; Mr. H. Wilson, recently in the service 
of J. E. Barton, Esq., Prescot House, Stourbridge, as head gar¬ 
dener, succeeds Mr. Downing in the same capacity to Lord 
Huntingfield, Heveningham; Mr. Alexander Todd, late gar¬ 
dener to H. Miles, Esq., Ham Green, Bristol, has been appointed 
to a similar position in the service of J. Theobald, Esq., The 
Bedfords, Havering, Romford, Essex ; and Mr. R. H. Taylor, late 
gardener at Kingwell Hall, Bath, has been appointed gardener to 
James Watson, Esq., Langley House, Slough. 
- In the course of Sir John Lubbock’s excellent address 
at York on the opening of the Jubilee Meeting of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science, he made the follow¬ 
ing remarks upon the Alternation of Generations, which 
are not devoid of interest to horticulturists :—“ It has now been 
shown by Bassett, and more thoroughly by Adler, that some 
species of insects are double-brooded, the two broods having 
been considered as distinct genera. Thus an insect known as 
Neuroterus lenticularis, of which females only occur, produces 
the familiar Oak-spangles so common on the under sides of Oak 
leaves, from which emerge, not Neuroterus lenticularis, but an 
insect hitherto considered as a distinct species, belonging even 
to a different genus, Spathegaster baccarum. In Spathegaster 
both sexes occur; they produce the currant-like galls found on 
Oaks, and from these galls Neuroterus is again developed. So 
also the King Charles Oak Apples produce a species known as 
Teras terminalis, which descends to the ground and makes small 
galls on the roots of the Oak. From these emerge an insect 
known as Biorhiza aptera, which again gives rise to the common 
Oak Apple. It might seem that such inquiries as these could 
hardly have any practical bearing. Yet it is not improbable that 
they may lead to very important results. For instance, it would 
appear that the fluke which produces the rot in sheep passes one 
phase of its existence in the black slug, and we are not without 
hopes that the researches in which our lamented friend Professor 
Rolleston was engaged at the time of his death, which we all so 
much deplore, will lead, if not to the extirpation, at any rate to 
the diminution, of a pest from which our farmers have so grievously 
suffered.” 
- The following observations upon Dimorphism in Plants 
in another portion of the President’s address are noteworthy— 
“ It had long been known that the Cowslip and Primrose exist 
under two forms, about equally numerous, and differing from one 
another in the arrangements of their stamens and pistils ; the one 
form having the stamens on the summit of the flower and the 
stigma half way down ; while in the other the relative positions 
are reversed, the stigma being at the summit of the tube and the 
stamens half way down. This difference had, however, been 
regarded as a case of variability ; but Darwin showed it to be 
a beautiful provision, the result of which is that insects fertilise 
each flower with pollen brought from a different plant; and he 
proved that flowers fertilised with pollen from the other form 
yield more seed than if fertilised with pollen of the same form, 
even if taken from a different plant. Attention having been 
thus directed to the question, an astonishing variety of most 
beautiful contrivances have been observed and described by 
many botanists, especially Hooker, Axel, Delpino, Hildebrand, 
