JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 3, 1883. 
flowers, however, Professor E. Morren refers it to the above 
genus. It is a strong-growing plant, with leaves nearly 3 inches 
in diameter, and about 2 feet long, and arching or drooping, 
deep green on the upper surface, with darker irregular fine 
transverse lines, the under surface being streaked transversely 
with fine but closely set purplish brown lines. The flower stem 
is a foot or more in height, the bracts being large deep crimson, 
and the flowers pale yellow. 
- Several good specimens of the rare and beautiful Fern 
Brainea insignis, are now very conspicuous in the fernery at 
Kew. They mostly have stems 3 or 4 feet high, with fine crowns 
of handsome arching pinnate fronds 2 feet or more in length, the 
pinnae narrow, lanceolate, and dark green. These plants were 
imported about two years since from Hong Kong, of which island 
the species is a native, and there it was originally found by 
Mr. Braine, after whom it is named. This Fern is also remark¬ 
able for the quickness with which the spores germinate. Mr. J. 
Smith records in his “ Historia Filicum ” that some have been 
observed to germinate in forty-eight hours. Some of the Kew 
plants are now showing spores. 
•-- The following gardening appointments have been 
made through Messrs. John Laing & Co., Forest Hill:—Mr. J. 
McKenzie, late gardener to Mrs. Platt, Stoberry Park, Wells, 
Somerset, has been appointed in the same capacity to A. V. Somer¬ 
ville, Esq., J.P., Dinder House, Wells, Somerset. Mr. A. Camp¬ 
bell, late gardener to A. Peterson, Esq., Gipsy Hill, Norwood, 
has been appointed gardener to It. Melville, Esq., Hartfield 
Grove, Hartfield, Sussex. Mr. Clayton of Grimston Park informs 
us that his foreman, Mr. John Rose, succeeds Mr. Atkins as 
head gardener to Sir Robert Loyd Lindsay, Bart., Lockinge 
House, Wantage. 
- C. M. Major, Esq., Cromwell House, Croydon, writes :— 
“ I see in your last issue a notice of Rhododendron Nuttalli 
being in flower at Highfield. The way in which you speak of it 
leads me to believe that it might interest your London readers 
to be able to examine one nearer home, as I have a specimen 
with three trusses of bloom, also showing seven flowers in a 
truss, the diameter of the truss being 12 inches. When the 
Sikkim Rhododendrons were first introduced, as I believe, by 
Messrs. E. G. Henderson of St. John’s Wood about thirty years 
ago, I purchased several of the varieties, and I still have some of 
the original plants, although I regret to say that they are be¬ 
coming too large for my accommodation. R. Dalhousiae, R. Wightii, 
and R. Aucklandii are flowering well, and should any of your 
readers be in my neighbourhood it will afford me much pleasure 
to be able to show them a beautiful sight.” 
■- An International Horticultural Exhibition is 
to be held at Lille, France, from September 1st to 9th 
of the present year, and will be the tenth organised by the Cercle 
Horticole du Nord. The schedule enumerates 185 classes, in 
which gold, silver-gilt, and silver medals are offered as prizes 
for a great variety of plants, flowers, fruits, and miscellaneous 
objects of horticultural interest. In addition, prizes of 100 francs 
are offered to French and foreign exhibitors who contribute most 
largely to the beauty of the Show. 
- Messrs. W. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, thus describe 
the new Afghan Yellow Rose, Rosa egle “This interest¬ 
ing novelty has been recently introduced from Afghanistan by 
Dr. Aitchison, and is described as being in many respects not 
unlike Rosa pimpinellifolia, but the prickles are all of one kind, 
instead of large one3 interspersed with smaller bristly ones, and 
the flowers are yellow. This Rose, Dr. Aitchison says, is one of 
the commonest shrubs in some parts of the country. The flowers 
are not large, being about an inch in diameter, but they are 
368 
exceedingly numerous, and are borne on short lateral shoots all 
along the branches.” 
- An unpretentious but pretty hardy plant is SAXIFRAGA 
CYMBALARIA, a native of the Caucasus, which is now familiar to 
many as an occupant of rockeries and similar positions ; but it is 
rarely seen so usefully employed as is the case in the conservatory 
at Leigham Court, Streatham, the residence of Mrs. Treadwell. 
Mr. E. Butts, the gardener there, employs it for decorative pur¬ 
poses during the winter, and his method of treatment is worth 
noting. A few seeds are sown in pans or boxes in autumn, and 
the young plants so obtained are pricked out into GO-size pots of 
light soil. In these the plants grow strongly, forming dense 
conical bushes 6 to 8 inches high, their small but numerous bright 
yellow flowers showing well in contrast with the rich green leaves, 
which closely resemble the widely known Linaria Cymbalaria, 
the common Toad Flax. These little specimens are freely em¬ 
ployed as a marginal row along the shelves, and have a most 
pleasing appearance. 
- Referring to Mr. Grant Allen’s letters on the Forms 
of Leaves, which have recently appeared in Nature, Sir John 
Lubbock writes as follows to the same periodical :—“ Mr. Grant 
Allen’s letters open up a number of interesting questions, but for 
the moment I will only refer to his suggestion with reference to 
the reason why water plants so often have their leaves cut up into 
fine filaments. He tells us that this is because the proportion of 
carbonic acid held in solution by water is very small, and that, 
therefore, for this amount there is a great competition among the 
various aquatic plants. The question has already been asked on 
what grounds Mr. Allen makes his statement with reference to 
the proportionate amount of carbonic acid. Without entering on 
this point, I would, however, venture to suggest that the reason 
for this tendency in the leaves of water plants is mechanical 
rather than chemical. It is, of course, important for all leaves to 
present a large surface for the purposes of absorption with as 
little expenditure of material for purposes of support as possible. 
Now delicate filaments, such as those of water plants, present a 
very large area of surface in proportion to their mass. On the 
other hand, they are unsuited to terrestrial plants, because 
they are deficient in strength and unable to support themselves 
in air. Take, for instance, a handful of the submerged leaves of 
an aquatic Ranunculus out of the water, and, as everyone knows, 
the filaments collapse. This seems to me the real reason why 
this form of leaves is an advantage to water plants. It is, perhaps, 
for the same reason that low-growing herbs, which are thus pro¬ 
tected from the wind, so often have much-divided leaves.” 
- The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society having invited 
the American Pomological Society to hold its next meeting 
at Philadelphia, the nineteenth session of this Association will be 
held in that city, commencing Wednesday, September 12 th, 1883, 
at 10 o’clock A.M., and continuing for three days. The session 
will take place at the time of the fifty-fourth annual Exhibition 
of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. All horticultural, 
pomological, agricultural, and other kindred associations in the 
United States and British provinces are invited to send dele¬ 
gations, and all persons interested in the cultivation of fruits 
are invited to be present. The following gentlemen will 
prepare papers for the above meeting :—Hon. P. J. Berckmans, 
President of the Georgia Horticultural Society ; Prof. T. J. Burrill, 
Illinois Industrial University, on Diseases of Plants ; Prof. J. L. 
Budd, Iowa Agricultural College, on Experimental Horticulture 
west of the Lakes ; Col. N. J. Colman, Editor of th q Rural World, 
Missouri, on Utilising our Fruits ; Prof. J. Henry Comstock, 
Cornell University, on Insects of the Orchard ; Dr. W. G. Farlow, 
Prof, of Cryptogamic Botany, Harvard University, on Uredineae 
(Rusts and Mildews) ; Chas. A. Green, Editor of the Fruit-Grower, 
