490 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [June u.uw. 
has been very vocal this summer. It arrived before the cuckoo 
this season, as it sometimes will. The cuckoo was unusually late, 
hut I did not note the precise time. I have had repeated evidence of 
the curious fact (questioned or denied by some naturalists) that there 
are nightingales fond of taking up a position in a spot close to a 
busy thoroughfare, where they will sing by day uninterruptedly if 
well sheltered by a hedge or thick shrub. But of course to hear a 
chorus we must go to places more retired—woods, for instance, ©r 
some of the deserted chalk quarries overgrown with wild plants, 
which seem very attractive to them.—J. R. S. C., Gravesend. 
most lovely of the section in which it is included, and, moreover, 
one of the most useful. Its narrow, fresh-green, tapering, grass¬ 
like leaves in dense tufts are alone pretty, but when bearing its 
numerous bright-blue-veined flowers on stems 3 feet or more high 
it is unrivalled. Clumps of this species have a fine effect in any 
damp or shady place, and it is one of the freest to flower. The 
German Irises, with I. lurida and others of that group, are also 
now in fine condition. 
§§1 PTES® 
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IBS. 
At a General Meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, held last Tuesday, G. T. Clark, Esq., in the chair, the 
following candidates were elected Fellows—viz., W. Arkinstall, 
Mrs. J. Cockburn Hood, Capt. R. Dallas, Augustine W. Dufrene, 
John H. Fisher, H. F. Partridge, J. T. Peacock, James Quick, 
Joseph B. Lathu-Pathy, James Savage, John 0. H. Taylor, George 
Williams. 
- A State Concert having been fixed for Wednesday the 
27th, H.S.H. the President of the Royal Botanic Society 
has, with the consent of the Council, postponed the Evening Fete 
from Wednesday, June 27th, to Thursday, June 28th, to enable 
himself, Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary Duchess of Teck, 
and others to attend the Fete. Tickets issued for the 27th will 
be available on the 28th. A Special Promenade will take placo at 
the Gardens on the 27th. 
- A HORTICULTURAL Exhibition will be held at Ostend 
from the 12th to 16th of August of the present year, when gold, 
silver-gilt, and silver medals will be offered in 165 classes for plants, 
flowers, and fruits. Forty-six gold medals are offered, including 
one by the King of the Belgians for fifty miscellaneous plants, and 
one by the Queen for twenty Orchids in flower. In addition 
the hotel-keepers of Ostend will give a prize value 500 francs to 
the exhibitor who contributes most to the beauty of the Show. 
- The following hint on Lawns in hot weather may 
be useful before the summer is over :—Where soil is thin or 
exhausted, heat and drought soon tell on lawns. Where there 
is any danger of the turf turning brown it will be found a good 
plan to raise the machines, so as to leave a good shading for the 
roots. It is not bareness, but smoothness and greenness, that 
constitutes the beauty of lawns. It will be well, too, to keep off 
the box and allow the cut grass to remain, thus further shading 
the ground. But nothing is so effective as a thorough soaking 
of water, unless it be a “ soaking ” with a little nitrate of soda 
in it, or sprinkled over the surface and watered in. When this 
is done spring begins again. 
- The Pelargonium Society will hold its ninth annual 
Exhibition at South Kensington on Tuesday, the 26th inst., and 
holders of tickets for the Show will have free passage through 
the Fisheries Exhibition. The schedule of twenty-six classes pro¬ 
vides for all known sections of Pelargoniums, and in addition two 
prizes of £5 each are offered for the best hybrids of Pelargonium 
oblongatum and Geranium pratense. The Royal Horticultural 
Society supplements the list of prizes, amounting to £150, with 
the offer of a Banksian medal for the best specimen Pelargonium. 
- Relative to fruit prospects in East Lothian a cor¬ 
respondent states that all the smaller fruits are looking very well in¬ 
deed, promising heavy crops. Apricots are very thin, so are Plums. 
Pears are good, and Apples show very well, but it is too soon to 
predict with certainty as to the crop of fruit that will follow. 
- Especially noteworthy is Iris sibirica, one of the 
- In the west end of London this season a surprising 
number of Marguerites are employed both in pots, in the 
windows and conservatories, and in boxes. Indeed, some of the 
latter contain no other plants ; but this, which graceful though it 
be, becomes somewhat tiring in such abundance. In one of the 
most fashionable thoroughfares we recently observed that quite 
three-fourths of the window-boxes were partly or entirely filled 
with plants of this Chrysanthemum. It must, however, be ad¬ 
mitted that these are preferable to Sunflowers in similar profusion, 
though doubtless the latter would be more in accordance with the 
taste of some so-called sesthetic people. 
-The monthly meeting and dinner of the Horticultural 
Club was held on Tuesday at their rooms, Henrietta Street, 
Co rent Garden, and was numerously attended. The following 
gentlemen were admitted as members :—J. H. Mangles, Esq., 
Valewood, Haslemere ; E. G. Loder, Esq., Floore Weedon ; Dr. 
Henry Bennett, The Ferns, Weybridge ; and Henry Stevens, Esq., 
Byfleet. It was unanimously resolved that a life member’s sub¬ 
scription of ten guineas be given to the Gardeners’ Benevolent 
Institution. Most of those present afterwards adjourned to the 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society at Burlington House. 
- In the neighbourhood of the metropolis Strawberries 
are very promising, the show of flowers being very great, and 
indicating the probability of a very large crop. Most small 
fruits, such as Black and Red Currants, with Gooseberries, are 
good, though Raspberries are far from satisfactory in most 
gardens. Apples are abundant, Pears only moderately so, and 
Plums very scarce. 
- In the note respecting the Darlington Rose Show 
on page 450 it was inadvertently referred to as one of the 
National Rose Society’s exhibitions, a mistake which was caused 
by the similarity between the schedules. The two societies are, 
however, affiliated. 
- Mr. Muir sends the following note on Weigela rosea : 
“ In the pleasure grounds here there are many plants of this in 
beautiful condition at present. The largest of them are about 
10 feet high and 12 yards or more in circumference, and a mass 
of closely formed racemes of the pretty Foxglove-shaped rosy 
flowers. They are widely different in habit from the Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, Lilacs, Spiraeas, and Deutzias; but although some of 
those are very showy they are not more attractive, and certainly 
much less graceful, than the Weigela, which should be in every 
garden. It is perfectly hardy, will succeed close to the sea or 
far inland, and in ordinary good soil.” 
- Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ Calceolarias were recently 
noted, and a word of praise is merited by the Gloxinias at 
Reading, for though they are not at their best, yet they are 
so extremely vigorous that good evidence is afforded of what 
may be expected. The handsome plants shown by Mr. Farey at 
the Reading Show last month, which were grown from Messrs. 
Suttons’ seed, not only proved the high quality of the strain, but 
also how much can be done by liberal and skilful culture. This 
is made the rule in the Reading nursery, all plants from which 
seed is to be saved being treated as liberally as possible in regard 
to the supply of heat, moisture, and stimulants. As a result, 
flowers of unusual size and substance are produced, and the 
