102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Angtist 3, 1893. 
- Hippeastrum peocerum. — This is the blue Amaryllis of 
horticulturists, and the Amaryllis Rayneri of " Botanical Magazine,” 
t. 5883. It was introduced by M. Binot from South Brazil about 1863, 
says the “Kew Bulletin,” but it has remained rare in cultivation, 
probably on account of the difficulty experienced in getting it to flower. 
Two plants of it have been flowering in the Sueculent house (No. 5) at 
Kew. The species is quite distinct from the rest of the genus, the 
bulb having a neck 18 inches long and distichous falcate ensiform 
leaves, firm in texture, with a white cartilaginous edge. The flowers 
are borne in an umbel, and they are as large as the Belladonna Lily. 
The colour is bluish-lilac with numerous spots of a darker shade of 
purple. 
-WiDCOMBE Horticultural Club.—S ome members of this 
Society had, on July 24th, the privilege of seeing the Begonias grown 
by the Rector of Newton St. Loe. The visit came as a surprise, for it was 
not included in the printed programme of the Club’s proceedings, but 
was arranged at the invitation of the Rev. E. Lascelles by the energetic 
lion. Secretary of the Club, who is always seeking opportunities of 
increasing its usefulness and of affording instruction and enjoyment to 
the members, about forty of whom with a few friends left Widcombe 
shortly after six o’clock in three well-horsed conveyances for Newton. 
Mr. Lascelles cordially welcomed the party, and after showing the visitors 
all over his beautiful garden, promised to give the members a lecture 
upon his favourite flower—the Begonia. 
- Hanbury Medallion. —According to the July number of 
the “ Kew Bulletin,” the museum of the Royal Gardens has lately 
))ecome possessed of a medallion portrait of the late Daniel Hanbury, 
F.R.S., F.L.S. This medallion is the original model in plaster by the 
late Thomas Woolner, R.A., and was copied in marble for Mr. Thomas 
Hanbury, F.L.S. It is a faithful likeness of the great pharmacologist. 
The ornamentation on the flat surface surrounding the portrait repre¬ 
sents the plants to which Daniel Hanbury gave special attention— 
namely, Liquidambar orientale. Mill, which he proved in 1857 to be 
the source of Liquid Storax, and Ipomoea simulans, a species of his 
own, and described by him in a paper read before the Linnean 
Society in 1869 as the source of Tampico Jalap. Kew is indebted to 
Mrs. Woolner for the gift of this medallion, whieh finds a fitting home 
in a museum greatly enriched by numerous contributions of vegetable 
drugs made by Hanbury himself during his lifetime. 
- Fruit Culture in Russia. —We are informed that “ The 
Russian Society of Fruit Culture is, with the sanction of the Czar, 
organising an international Exhibition to be held at St. Petersburg in 
the autumn of 1894, with the object of showing the present condition 
in Russia of the cultivation of fruit, medicinal plants and vegetables, 
and of the manufacture of their products.” It is also stated that “ A 
congress of pomologists will be convened simultaneously with the Exhi¬ 
bition, and all persons interested in the progress of horticulture and 
pomology, both in Russia and other countries, are invited to take part in 
the Exhibition, which will comprise the following sections : Fresh fruit 
fresh vegetables ; dried fruit and vegetables, preserved or treated by 
other processes ; wine, cider, perry, and other fruit beverages ; Hops 
and medical herbs, seeds, fruit trees and bushes, horticultural imple¬ 
ments and appliances and technicality of production, together with 
literary, scientific, and educational accessories, collections and 
plans.” It is expected that further details will be forthcoming in 
due course. 
- Origin op the Peach.—N othing is now more universally 
accepted than the fact that the Peach is an improved variety of the 
Almond. The Almond has a thin shell around the stone, which splits 
open and exposes the stone when mature. This outer skin has simply 
become fleshy in the Peach, so that is all that gives it its specific 
character. It seems now clear from investigation in the history of 
ancient Babylon that in their gardens, now nearly 4000 years ago, the 
Peach was cultivated then as it is now. It must have been many years 
before this that the Peach was improved from the Almond, and this fact 
goes to show the great antiquity of the fruit. Possibly gardening in 
some respects, at least so far as it relates to many of our cultivated 
fruits, was as far advanced six, or perhaps eight or 10,000 years back as 
it is to-day. Phoenec'ans, many thousands of years ago, as is proved by 
the records, had in their gardens Almonds, Apricots, Bananas, Citrons, 
Figs, Grapes, Olives, Peaches, Pomegranates, and even Sugar-cane was 
in extensive cultivation. Certainly this shows how very far advanced 
these nations were in garden culture these many years ago.—(“ Meehans’ 
Monthly.”) 
- Platycodons. —Not very appreciable, if indeed is there any 
distinction, between the Platycodons and Campanula grandiflora and its 
varieties. Possibly the distinetion is found only in name, and if there 
be none, then the diverse appellations are misleading. At Messrs. Barr 
and Son’s Long Ditton Nursery, various Platycodons are in abundant 
bloom, and at this season most deservedly rank amongst the best of 
hardy garden flowers. The growth is in most cases about 2 feet in 
height, the stems producing numerous side flowers on long stems, 
which are admirable for cutting. Grandiflora, single blue, and 
plenum, double and darker ; album and striatum, also Mariesi, are- 
capital varieties.—A. D. 
- Early Apples. —I specially noted the best six varieties in 
the respeetive dessert and kitchen sections of Messrs. G. Bunyard & Co.’s 
very fine collection shown at the Drill Hall on the 25th ult. The Apples 
for the time of year were wonderfully fine, and all from the open air. 
Mr. Woodward of Barham Court, however, tells me that Apples are 
swelling wonderfully fast since the rains, and that there should be some 
grand fruit at the Agricultural Hall Show. I found of dessert varieties- 
Gladstone, Red Juneating, Red Astrachan, Beauty of Bath, Lady 
Sudeley, and Red Quarrenden to be the best, ripening in about the 
order placed, whilst of kitchen sorts Lord Grosvenor, Lord Suffield, 
Grenadier, Stirling Castle, Peter the Great, and Potts’ Seedling were 
the best. I have seen elsewhere Warner’s King and Emperor Alexander 
very fine too. On the whole, we shall probably find it needful to have 
many of our finest Apples gathered fully a month earlier than usual, or 
they may fall from the trees. The netting of the finest samples will 
become imperative in many cases.—A. D. 
- Death op a Lady Botanist.—T he death is announced, on 
Thursday last, of Miss Anne Pratt, who was born at Strood, near 
Rochester, in 1806. This distinguished botanist published her first 
book when just twenty years of age, entitled “ Flowers and Their 
Associations,” a work characterised by elegance of thought and refine¬ 
ment of diction, qualities that marked all her numerous subsequent 
writings. A devoted student of nature, accurate and painstaking in 
all her researches, she was also gifted as an artist. She made exquisite 
sketches of plants to illustrate her subjects. She was the author of 
“Pratt’s Catechism of Botany,” “The Field, the Garden, and the 
Woodland,” “ Wild Flowers,” “ The Dawnings of Genius,” “ Poisonous 
Plants,” “ Common Things of the Seashore,” and other works. Her 
02 ,us magnum was “ Flowering Plants and Ferns of Great Britain,”' 
which was illustrated with coloured block-printed plates, and forms an 
exhaustive history of all British species, which ever since its appear¬ 
and has taken rank with standard botanical works. The copyright 
expiring in 1879, it was bought by the publishers, Frederick Warne 
and Co., the senior partner of that firm having from the first entertained 
a great partiality for the work, and in 1880, at the age of seventy-three, 
the author, with her eharaeteristic vivacity, revised it, and the work 
was reproduced in a cheaper form. Miss Pratt married in 1867 Mr. 
John Pearless, of East Grinstead, who survives her. 
- History op Whinham’s Industry Gooseberry. — The 
originator of the Gooseberry, which has now become an almost 
universal favourite with the market gardening fraternity, was, says 
the “ Newcastle Chronicle,” Mr. Robert Whinham of Morpeth, himself 
a market gardener. Whinham was born early in this century, and up 
to within a few years of his death, which occurred in 1858, he 
occupied as tenant the Allery Banks Gardens, belonging to the Earl 
of Carlisle, at Morpeth. There it was that he first began cultivating, 
and propagating the Gooseberry. All the time the labour and the 
thought he expended in perfecting hisiventure profited him but little 
in the shape of pecuniary reward. He died a poor man. His grave in 
Morpeth churchyard is practically unknown, and no memorial of him 
exists other than which he established himself by giving his own name 
to the fruic he originated. Attracted as we always have teen by fruit 
culture, it was not without feelings of interest that we paid a visit the 
other day to the very garden which witnessed the early struggles of 
Robert Whinham. Situated on the rising ground to the south-east of 
Morpeth, and in close proximity to the railway, we found the scene of 
his labours. The summer evening was closing in as, escorted by Mr. 
George W. Purdy, the present tenant, we wandered through the garden, 
which is almost entirely given over to the cultivation of Gooseberries, 
the whole area being sheltered and protected by old Apple trees. Mr. 
Purdy’s father immediately succeeded the Whinham family in the 
tenancy, and when he took over the garden he found there bushes of the 
identical berry which must have been some of the very first cultivated 
by Whinham. These bushes had then reached maturity, and some of 
