650 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 18, 1884, 
- Me. W. H. Williams, Hon. Sscretary of The Wilts Horticul¬ 
tural Society, informs us that the date of the above Sjciety’s Show for 
next year is fixed for Thursday, August 20th, and will he held at 
Salisbury. 
- “E. B., Streatham,” writes :—“ The weather here to-day 
December 13th, has been remarkable for the middle of December. 
The temperature outside has been over 50°, rising to 66° at mid¬ 
day ; and although there has been but little sunshine the day has been 
particularly light. Thrushes have been singing as if it had been spring ; 
and in the pleasure grounds I discovered a beautiful flower of General 
Jacqueminot Rose fully expanded, such as would have been welcome in 
the month of July.” 
-The St. Peter’s Hammersmith and District Gardeners’* 
Amateurs’, and Cottagers’ Improvement Society has just been 
formed. It is proposed to hold monthly meetings for reading papers and 
discussing subjects of gardening interest. It is also proposed to hold a 
Chrysanthemum Show next year. The Hon. Secretary is Mr. H. J. 
Farrow, 62, Black Lion Lane, Hammersmith. 
- The Committee appointed by the Council of the Royal Botanic 
Society of London, Regent’s Park, to award the silver and bronze medals 
for BOXES FOR THE CARRIAGE OF CUT FLOWERS BY PARCELS POST, 
report that they advertised certain conditions to be complied with in 
competition for such medals. Eight manufacturers submitted sample 
boxes of cardboard, wood, and metal, both folding and rigid. The Com¬ 
mittee awarded the silver medal to Messrs. R. Hall & Son, of Hammet 
Street, Minories, for a tin box, 15 by 9 by 6 inches, well made and strong, 
capable of holding about 2 lbs. of cut flowers ; and the bronze medal to 
Mr. J. W. Hoffman of 54, Junction Road, for a small tin box, with lifting 
frame, furnished with elastic bands to hold single flowers or sprays, the 
ends of the stalks dipping into damp moss at the bottom of the box. 
- An excellent photograph of the late George Bentham is given 
in the December number of the Joiirnal of Botanyy together with a full 
account of his life and labours as a botanist. 
- Mr. M. M. Ballou gives the following description of Ceylon 
Vegetation in the American Cultivator of the 29th ult. :—“ The 
forest and jungle of Ceylon abound in valuable woods. Here we have 
the Ebony, Satin Wood, and Calamander Trees, the latter the most highly 
prized of all the cabinet woods, and of which some beautiful samples 
may be seen in the Escurial, near Madrid. The entire family of the 
Palm is found in great perfection, as well as fragrant Balsams, tall 
Ferns, and the singular but valuable Indiarubber Tree, with a large 
share of its twisted roots above ground. The Bamboo, next to the Cocoa- 
nut the most useful of all trees to the dwellers in the tropics, increases so 
rapidly here, that by actual measurement it makes 12 inches vertical 
growth daily, or half an inch per hour. It has even been said that it can 
be seen to grow, which is almost a fact. The writer saw one group of the 
Bamboo, less than ninety days old, which exceeded 90 feet in height. 
Mingled with these woods are fruits and flowers of many varieties. At 
the north we have distinctive forests of Pine, Cedar, Oak, &c., and our 
fruits are cultivated in orchards, but tropical verdure and vegetation are 
more promiscuous. The Bread Fruit Tree particularly interests one with 
its deeply serrated feathery leaves and its Melon-shaped fruit, weighing 
when ripe 3 lbs. or more. The tree forms a natural food supply to the 
natives, and three or four trees will nearly support a family, at least keep 
them from hunger, the trees bearing for nine months of the year and 
growing to a height of 50 feet. The Palm asserts its predominance 
everywhere, and next in abundance is the Banana, bending under the 
weight of the rich yellow fruit, always dominated by the tall Cocoanuts, 
with half a ton of constantly ripening nuts in every tufted top. Mingled 
with these are flower-bearing trees 30 feet in height, including the red 
Rhododendron and the scarlet-blossomed Cotton Tree, while flowers less 
pretentious catch the eye in all directions among the undergrowth. The 
sacred Lotus, as thick as Pond Lilies with us, floats upon the shadejj 
pools and perfumes the air.” 
ANTIREHINUMS. 
The principal reasons vhich may be advanced in favour of a 
more extensive cultivation of these plants are their general usefulness 
and beauty. The fact that they will provide a quantity of bloom 
during the greater part of the year, that they are easily cultivated 
and will adapt themselves to any variety of soil and position, and a 
little care exercised in the selection of varieties will ensure blooms 
that for beauty and variety may satisfy the most fastidious tastes. 
Many varieties will almost vie with herbaceous Calceolarias in beau¬ 
tiful blending of yellow and orange grounds with pink, scarlet, and 
crimson spots and stripes added to rich scarlet and deep crimsom 
seifs. One other favourable character is that they are perfectly 
hardy, need but little trouble, and that position and soil are to a 
certain extent immaterial. 
There are three modes of treatment, which for convenience may 
be divided into annual, biennial, and perennial. First as annuals. 
For cottage garden purposes, also for small villa gardens where the 
glass shelter is sufficient to produce plants which will afford a good' 
supply of summer bloom, and where quantities of cut flowers are 
needed, and shrubbery borders, banks, and other places are required- 
to look gay, there is no simpler or more effective plan than to sow 
seed where it is required to bloom in March or April, the sowing to 
be effected in finely pulverised soil with the seeds barely covered. 
These will soon spring up, and the plants will be in bloom from mid¬ 
summer onwards until severe frost sets in. 
Where a longer season of bloom is desired the biennial process- 
may be added. For this purpose the best plan is to sow in July, 
prick the seedlings out in prepared beds, and plant in their permanent 
quarters any time from November to March. From this sowing, also 
by potting on sturdy bushy plants and placing them in a cold pit or 
frame, a supply of winter and early spring blooms may be obtained, 
when, if the strain is a good one and some pains are taken in stopping 
and training, a batch may be placed in the conservatory which would 
be very effective, particularly when it is borne in mind that they 
W'ould be had at a time when flowers are scarce. 
Under the third heading of perennials I propose to deal with 
cuttings, and herein lies the whole secret of success as regards quality. 
As to the cuttings themselves, if these are taken off in September 
they will strike readily in a cold frame under a handlight or in the 
shade of a fence or hedge. They should be repotted when struck 
into large 60’s, ready for planting in the spring. Plants so treated 
are most satisfactory in habit and profusion of bloom, and supposing the- 
cuttings have been well selected the best results are thereby attained. 
It is in this matter of selection that the difference between a group- 
of good flowers and a lot of undecided colouring, ragged uncouth 
habit, and general confusion of quality and mediocrity appears. These 
selected cuttings will supply just such colours as are most desired. 
From them seed should be saved for previously mentioned purposes.. 
Improved varieties will be constantly appearing, and so between the 
processes of sowing seed and taking cuttings, saving seed from these,, 
sowing and cutting again, vigour, habit, and beauty are obtained 
and maintained, and can be extended to a degree scarcely thought of. 
One word as to soil. Antirrhinums grow and blossom on old 
walls, and it is a fact that while they will thrive amazingly in good 
soil they can maintain their own fairly well in the midst of extreme 
poverty. During the past dry season they have been invaluable for 
cut bloom. They are generous too. You may cut and come again, 
the oftener the better, as you thus prevent seeding and develops the 
strength of the plant to flower-producing purposes. In conclusioa 
let me add that although I have recommended Antirrhinums as 
border plants, still in certain positions they are worthy of a bed, and. 
will afford no mean ornament when so arranged.— Robert Catt. 
NOTTS HORTICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 
The general monthly meeting of the members of the above Society 
was held at the Mechanics’ Institution on Wednesday, December 10th, 
when Mr. C. T. Musson, F.R.H.S, Junior Lecturer on Botany at the 
University College, Nottingham, delivered a lecture upon “The Minute 
Structures of Plants,” which was illustrated by the microscope. Mr. 
J. H. Walker of Hardwicke House Gardens, Nottingham, was unanimously 
voted to the chair, and there was a good attendance of gardeners and 
others interested in horticulture. The Chairman in opening the business 
of the evening took occasion to allude to the loss the Society had sustained 
through the death of the late Mr. Henry Frettingham of Beeston, and 
upon the motion of Mr. James Don, seconded by Mr. N. German, a lettes 
of condolence was directed to be sent to the widow and relatives of the 
deceased gentleman, who was for some time one of the Committee of the 
Society. 
The Lecturer at the commencement of his remarks observed that a 
careful study of the life history of plants ought to be the basis of all 
botanical research. He described the protoplasm and the nucleus of plant 
cells, and said that protoplasm was chiefly composed of the four elements 
—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen—and they corresponded very 
closely with the “ sarco ” which formed the constituent substance of the 
human frame. He then spoke of the cell walls of plants, and explained 
their formation and functions. He observed that the action of the 
so-called Sensitive Plants was due to irritability of protoplasm. He 
showed how the various organs of plants fulfilled their work so as to 
insure vitality and growth, and he said that as a result of the activity of 
the protoplasm many chemical compounds were found in the cells of 
plants. He then explained how it was possible by microscopic examina- 
