so 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 17. 1890. 
mate averages for June :—Mean temperature, 571°. Rainfall, 2’26 
inches. Sunshine, 157 hours. A very dull month, without any warm 
summer weather. The greater part of the rain fell in the last week.— 
Joseph Mallender. 
caused by the unsuccessful attempts of the insect to pierce the wall of 
the ovary. If these observations are confirmed, we have here one of the 
most remarkable instances of parthenogenesis yet recorded in the 
vegetable kingdom.— (Nature.') 
- Sale of Leigham Court, Streatham,—O ne of the mcst 
picturesque and best kept gardens in the metropolitan district, Leigham 
'Court, Streatham Hill, has just been sold for £92,000, and has been 
purchased by a building company for the erection of small houses. 
The garden comprises sixty-six acres, is laid out in a most tasteful 
•style, and has for some years been under the charge of an experienced 
and skilful practical gardener, Mr. E. Butts, who has kept it in 
admirable condition. Vineries, Peach and p T ant houses, a charming 
fernery, conservatory, with pits, &c., constitute the glass. The garden 
includes a fine old orchard, rosery, &c., and is stocked with choice 
shrubs and trees. Lei f ham Court has been the residence of Mrs. 
Treadwell for a long period, and was originally taken by the late Mr. J. 
Treadwell, a successful railway contractor, one of those who amassed a 
large fortune at the time the railway fever was at its height. Many will 
regret the loss of this beautiful garden. 
- Apple Growing in Nova Scotia. —While the whole of Nova 
■Scotia may be regarded as adapted for Apple culture, about one-half, 
comprising those counties fringing on the Bay of Fundy, possesses 
special advantages in climate and soil for fruit growing. Of this part 
the three counties, Hants, Kings, and Annapolis, form the pick of the 
province. Here is the centre of the Apple industry, covering at present 
a strip of country about two to two and a half miles wide on each side 
of the Windsor and Annapolis railway that traverses the district, some 
eighty miles long, which last year produced some 300,000 barrels of 
fruit of the first quality, worth on the spot some 650,000 dollars. Of 
this area only about one-thirtieth is planted, and one-sixteenth is bear¬ 
ing, although the one-thirtieth is rapidly approaching the bearing 
period ; its ultimate possible yield may therefore be imagined. It is 
•only during the last few years that Nova Scotian Apples have earned a 
reputation on the London market, and ever since hundreds of acres of 
new land have been planted annually with tens of thousands of trees.— 
••(American Cultivator.) 
- Proposed Memorials to the Late Mr. G. Deal and 
Mr. B. S. Williams. — I am pleased to see Mr. Sharman has pro¬ 
posed what I myself had thought of — viz., starting an Orphan 
■Fund Memorial to our late Chairman, Mr. Deal, showing how highly 
his services were appreciated by those who had the pleasure of work¬ 
ing with him in this good cause, and in doing this we must not 
forget it was to his far-seeing care we did not encumber our limited 
finances with bricks and mortar, &c., and so make it many years ere 
the orphan could reap the benefit intended from this scheme. Thus 
to our lamented friend we owe much of the successful working of the 
.Institution. Mr. Findlay has proposed a similar testimonial to Mr. 
Williams as an approximate means of leaving on record to those who 
succeed us in the profession how such men were esteemed by those 
who had enjoyed many years of close friendship. I am sure, having 
known him long and well, nothing would be more in keeping with 
his life than trying to lend a helping hand to the fatherless little 
ones of those who have not been equally successful in life as those we 
now hope to memorialise. Cannot we make an effort and raise a 
goodly sum for this cause, thus forming a fitting sequel to two good 
and useful lives ? I need hardly say I will help this scheme in every 
•way that I can.— Charles Penny. 
- Ficus Eoxburghii. —Some very remarkable observations on 
the production of the ripe figs of Ficus Roxburghii, Wall., have 
recently been published by Dr. D. D. Cunningham, F.R.S., of the 
Indian Medical Service. The species is dioecious, the male receptacles 
-or figs containing perfect male flowers with pollen, together with im¬ 
perfect or atrophied female or “gall-flowers,” which never produce 
seed ; the female figs contain perfect female flowers only. Both kinds 
of fig are visited by the “fig insect,” usually a species of Eupristis, for 
the purpose of laying its eggs in the ovary. This is effected in the 
“ gall flowers ” of the male figs ; but in the female figs the efforts of the 
insect to deposit its eggs within the ovary are frustrated by the great 
-thickness of the wall of the ovary. It is very rare to find more than a 
very few grains of pollen in the female figs ; and, according to Dr. Cun¬ 
ningham, the embryo-sac in the female flowers retains, up to the period 
•of the visits of the insect, the character of a uninucleate cell. The full 
development of the embryo in the female flowers is brought about 
simply by hypertrophy of the tissues, the result of the stimulation 
- The Physic Garden, Chelsea.— It having been stated in 
the British Medical Journal and other public papers that the Apothe¬ 
caries’ Company are about to sell this garden, which was presented to 
them in 1721 by Sir Hans Sloane on condition that “ it should at all 
times be continued a physic garden, for the manifestation of the power 
and wisdom and goodness of God in creation, and that the apprentices 
might learn to distinguish good and useful plants from hurtful ones,” 
it is thought desirable that the earliest opportunity should be taken to 
call public attention to the matter. The garden, although not open to 
the 'public, can be seen by passers-by for 150 yards along the Embank¬ 
ment, on which side it is enclosed by a dwarf wall and railing. It still 
retains its original formal character, and its Cedar, which has for many 
years been one of the many landmarks on the river bank. Should this 
scheme be carried out Chelsea will lose one of its characteristic features? 
and another open space will be lost to the public for ever. It is sug¬ 
gested that some scheme might be devised in connection with the 
Polytechnics or City Guilds so that more persons might have the oppor¬ 
tunity of availing themselves of the garden for the study of botany, or 
that it might be utilised in some other way so as to prevent its being 
covered with houses. The future of the garden being a matter of deep 
interest to the inhabitants, a meeting was arranged to be held in the 
Town Hall, King’s Road, Chelsea, on Wednesday, at five o’clock, to 
elect a committee to watch the matter. The Right Hon. the Earl of 
Meath, Chairman of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, was 
announced to take the chair. 
Memorial to the Late Mr. B. S. Williams. 
Mr. Bruce Findlay proposed last week what many have 
been discussing at London horticultural meetings—namely, the 
desirability of commemorating the late Mr. B. S. Williams in some 
suitable way. Mr. Alfred Outram, 7, Moore Park Road, Fulham, 
is also taking steps to ascertain the general opinion as to the form 
this should assume. A Committee meeting will be probably called 
at an early date to discuss the subject, as all are agreed that some¬ 
thing must be done. The majority with whom I have conversed 
respecting it think that a fund should be raised, and a Williams 
Memorial medal and prize be offered alternately in London, Man¬ 
chester, and Edinburgh, any balance remaining to be divided 
amongst the horticultural charities. To facilitate the work of 
collection it might be desirable to form committees in each of the 
cities named, and we know what Mr. Findlay could accomplish in 
Manchester alone.— Lewis Castle. 
A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants. 
Part 6 of Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons’ admirable work on 
Orchids, chiefly occupied with the genera Coelogyne, Epidendrum, 
and Calanthe, but also includes Spathoglottis, Phaius, Thunia, 
Chysis, Pleione, Diacrium, Nanodes, Arundina, Bletia, Brough- 
tonea, and other small genera. The part contains 134 pages, with 
numerous illustrations, and owing to the varied character of the 
matter it is one the most interesting yet issued. The character of 
the work is well maintained, the descriptions, references, history, 
and culture are disposed of in a most satisfactory manner—a com¬ 
bination of scientific accuracy with a popular style, wherever the 
subject admits of free treatment, distinguishing what will always 
be valued as a standard book of reference upon Orchids. 
As an example of the style we extract the following account of 
the peculiar Nanodes Medusae now placed as a sub-genus under 
Epidendrum. The illustration has been kindly furnished by Messrs. 
Yeitch & Sons, and faithfully represents the chief characters of 
the flowers. 
Nanodes. 
Nanodes was founded by Lindley upon a small-flowered species 
introduced from Rio de Janeiro in 1829 by the Horticultural Society 
of London, with which Reichenbach afterwards joined the far more 
