284 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 26,1884. 
with massive pure white spikes of beautiful flowers 6 feet in height. 
They were associated with choice evergreens, which showed them to 
advantage, so much so that I am sure were they generally planted in 
such positions they would give the utmost satisfaction.” 
- At the last meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural Society of 
Ireland a new SCAELEt-flesh Melon from The Gardens, Stradbally 
Hall, Queen’s County, and raised there by Captain Cosby’s gardener, Mr. 
Taylor, was placed on the table. It was considered, both as regards 
handsome appearance, size, and flavour to be of exceptional merit, and 
was unanimously awarded a first-class certificate and also the Society’s 
bronze medal. Mr. Taylor will perhaps oblige us with the name of his 
Melon which received such a signal mark of approval. 
- “ The English Botany ” (G. Bell & Sons, Covent Garden).— 
Part 87 of this work continues the description and illustration of native 
Cryptogamous plants, concluding the Equisetacese and commencing the 
Characere. Eleven plates of Equisetums are given, together with ten 
plates of Nitellas, beautifully executed. The descriptive matter is very 
full, and contains a great number of references and synonyms. 
- Hull Chrysanthemum Society. —We are informed that the 
Committee of this recently organised Society are endeavouring to have 
a satisfactory exhibition in November, and with that object liberal prizes 
are offered, including the handsome one of £10 as the first prize for 
forty-eight blooms. The Chairman of the Society is Mr. Geo. Bohn^ 
son of Mr. H. G. Bohn of Twickenham, whose death was announced in 
our issue of the 28th ult. Some of the most influential gentlemen of the 
neighbourhood are supporting the Society, of which Mr. R. F. Jameson, 
Queen’s Dock, is the Honorary Secretary. 
- Celandine. —“A Surgeon,” in answer to “A Herb Lover,” 
states that he believes the basis of Celandine to be salicylic acid. That is 
all he knows about it. He has no doubt it may be had from any chemist. 
- Teitomas. —These are among the showiest of autumn-flowered 
perennials, and seem to be generally very fine this year, but nowhere 
have we seen them in better condition than with Messrs. Heath & Son, 
Cheltenham, where hundreds of their brilliant spikes are now in 
perfection. 
- The Essex Field Club Cryptogamic Meeting.— The fifth 
annual Cryptogamic meeting of the Club will be held on Friday and 
Saturday, the 3rd and 4th of October, in Epping Forest. It is intended 
to devote the Friday to collecting specimens, and to their exami¬ 
nation and arrangement by the experts, and on the Saturday to hold 
an exhibition of fresh and preserved botanical specimens, microscopical 
objects, drawings, &c. The exhibition will be confined to subjects from 
the vegetable kingdom, but not necessarily to the Cryptogamia, although 
that division will hold a very important place. The exhibition will be 
opened at four o’clock on Saturday, October 4th, in the large ball-room 
attached to the “Roebuck Inn,” Buckhurst Hill. 
- Weight of Fruits. —Mr. R. Begbie, Ravensbury, Ascot, Bucks, 
writes“ Having read in the Journal of Horticulture, page 262, a 
request by one of your coiTespondents in reference to the greatest weight 
of Peaches, it may be recorded that when I was an apprentice, and in 
charge of the forcing department in the gardens of Lord Blantyre at 
Erskine House, Renfrewshire, many years since. Noblesse Peaches 
were grown and exhibited in London which weighed 1 lb. each. Black 
Hamburgh Grapes were shown at the same time from flued hot walls 
weighing about 4 lbs. per bunch, and with only herring-nets in front as 
protection. The gardener then, and for many years previous, was the 
late Mr. George Shiels, a most excellent fruit-grower and a leader in 
other branches of gardening.” Mr. Thos. Elsworthy, Court Hey Gardens, 
Liverpool, also] writes :—“ It may be interesting to your correspondent 
to know that in 1881 I gathered six Peaches, which weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz.; 
the largest weighed 13f ozs. The variety was Walburton Admirable, which 
I consider one of the best late Peaches we have.” 
- Theips on Dahlias. —Thrips seem to have to have this year 
infested the Dahlia blooms in a remarkable manner, many flowers being 
full of them and rendered useless. Standing in the vicinity of some 
large beds recently, clouds of thrips were observed hovering overhead. 
This is one of the incidents of a hot dry season. 
- Stewed Lettuce. —“F. S. R.” wishes she could endorse Mr, 
Luckhurst’s experience of his vegetables this year. She never was so badly 
off owing to drought. She would also be greatly obliged if Mr. Luckhurst 
would publish the receipt for stewing Lettuces as recommended in the 
article referred to. 
- “ M. S.” writes:—“ No collection of herbaceous plants, how¬ 
ever small, should be complete without Senecio pulcher. Flowering 
at this season, when the number of showy flowers is fast declining, leaves 
no doubt of its usefulness. Grown in the ordinary bed or border it does 
fairly well in stiff soil, but where the soil is light, sandy, or stony, unless 
in complete shade its success will not be satisfactory. Its favourite 
situation, however, is in the marsh or bog, where it is not unusual for it 
to attain 5 or 6 feet in height, with large beautiful-coloured flowers from 
2 to 3 inches across. In the latter position, too, it has the advantage 
of flowering a little earlier than in the border, thereby giving a longer 
period of flowering before it succumbs to the early frosts. Owing to its 
lateness in flowering it rarely has time sufficient to ripen seed in this 
country ; but it may be freely propagated by cutting the root into small 
pieces and placing them in pots or pans in a slightly heated frame. It is a 
native of Buenos Ayres, and is perfectly hardy in sheltered places 
outside.,, 
-Amongst the few Alpine Calceolarias none is more suitable 
or more hardy for rockery cultivation than the handsome C. plantagineum 
when grown in a nice sunny position with free gritty soil on a gentle 
slope. It sends up at this late season numerous beautiful pale sulphury- 
yellow flowers, which are very welcome now, as most of the early things 
have gone past. The leaves are broad, oval, coarsely toothed, quite 
glabrous, and shining, in which it differs widely from the pretty hybrid 
between it and C. Fothergillii, and called Kellayana, which is also an 
extremely valuable plant in its way, though, owing to the damp and wet, 
more difficult to cultivate with us than the above. A cool shady corner 
should be chosen for C. Kellayana, and any extra attention will be sure 
to be repaid by the display of curiously marked flowers. A good com¬ 
panion to the above is the pretty dwarf Erodium Reichardi, quite at home 
scrambling over the small rongh stones, and displaying its charming 
white, reddish-veined, star-like flowers—quite a contrast against the dark 
rosettes of kidney-shaped leaves. It proves hardy in shady well-drained 
nooks, though its increase is very slow until fairly established. 
- Cassia fistula and Poinciana regia. —On our visit to Hapu- 
tale last year we found Cassia fistula blazing with golden blossoms below 
Koslanda, and again in approaching Belihuloya from Haldummulla. The 
natives use not only the pods but the bark as medicine, and from their 
inveterate habit of barking the trees it is difficult to preserve the 
specimens of Cassia fistula, now scattered about Colombo. There are 
fine specimens in several gardens in Colombo. One grown from seed 
which we brought from Batticaloa in 1861 was a few months ago simply 
a mass of gold. This and the Madagascar tree (Poinciana regia) form 
splendid contrasts of rich green, scarlet, orange, and bright yellow. 
Gamble, in his “ Manual of Indian Timbers,” writes of this tree, which is 
widely distributed in India and Ceylon, from sea level to 4000 feet:— 
“The wood is very durable, but rarely of sufficiently large size for 
timber. It makes excellent posts, and is good for cart, agricultural 
implements, and rice-pounder.=. The pulp of the pods is a strong 
purgative; the bark is used in dyeing and tanning, and the gum as an 
astringent. It is a very handsome tree, having long pendulous racemes 
of bright yellow flowers, and a long, straight, cylindrical, indehiscent 
pod often 1 and 2 feet long. It is often cultivated for ornament.” This 
“ Indian Laburnum,” with Bougainvillea climbing up its stem, ought to 
be in every garden in Colombo .—{Ceylon Observer 1) 
- Dried Apricots. —California fruit-growers have discovered 
that Apricots bleached with sulphur fumes and then dried in the sun are 
superior to those that are dried in any other manner, or that are canned. 
They regard this fact of very great importance to the whole State. It 
enables every fruit-culturist, however limited his means, and however 
small the product of his orchards, to dry his own fruit for market, and 
makes him independent of the canning factories. It is also stated that 
fruit can be prepared in the same manner more cheaply than in any 
other, that its weight is better preserved, and that it is of superior 
flavour. Large dealers in dried fruit say that the market for such 
products of California orchards will always be greater than the supply 
can possibly be. The United States alone will readily take all the fruit 
of the kind and quality now being produced by the sun-drying process 
that California can ever raise. Many thousands of Apricot trees have 
been planted within a recent date in orchard form in South California. 
