10 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 4, 1894, 
- We learn from the “Victorian Naturalist” that Baron von 
Mueller has withdrawn from the directorship of the International 
Academy for Botanic Geography of Le Mans. 
- A New Park for London. —It ia reported that a new park 
for the south-east of London has been secured by the purchase of the 
Hilly Fields, Lewisham. The area of this open space is 45 acres, and 
the sum paid £43,300. 
- Mr. W. C, Drummond, a well-known florist, and the pro¬ 
prietor of the Bath and Park Lane Nurseries, recently died at Charles 
Street, Bath, at the age of seventy-seven years. Forty years or so ago 
Mr. Drummond was a Dahlia cultivator and exhibitor. 
- Mr. George Hawkins, who was gardener to the late Colonel 
Turheville at Ewenny Priory for eighteen years, desires us to state that 
he is now gardener at Hendrefoilan, near Swansea, Mrs. Turheville 
having taken this residence, formerly the home of the late Mr. 
Dillwyn, M.P. 
- Mr. F. Burvenick, sen. —We learn that a Royal Resolution 
of December 3rd, 1893, decreed the Civic Cross of the first-class to Mr. 
Burvenick, Professor at the State School of Horticulture, Ghent, in 
recognition of the valued services he has rendered to the school during a 
career of more than thirty-five years. 
- Early Strawberries. —Mr, E. Parry, The Gardens, Castle- 
mans, Twyford, Berks, sends us some Vicomtesse H^ricart de Thury 
Strawberries, as a sample from a dish that he gathered on New 
Year’s Day. It is a very good sample indeed, the fruits being quite as 
large as many as we have seen gathered in March. 
- Conveying Fruit.—A ccording to a circular issued by Mr. 
Marshall Stevens, manager of the Manchester Ship Canal, whieh was 
formally opened on Monday last, a saving of from 63 . 3d. to 10s. 9d. per 
ton will be effected by sending fruit through the canal from Liverpool 
to the large towns in the Manchester district. The trade of imported 
fruits will therefore be favourably influenced by the change in transit. 
- Primulas A. F. Barron and King of the Purples.— 
These double-flowered varieties are valuable for giving flowers for 
cutting, as they last a long time in water. The colour of the first-named 
is pleasing—white, edged and suffused with lilac ; the flowers are very 
double. King of the Purples is a good companion, and should be 
grown. So free is this Primula that it sometimes flowers itself to death, 
as it were.—E. 
- The Death of the Rev. Dr. Gordon took place recently at 
Birnie, Morayshire. Dr, Gordon, who was ninety-three years of age, had 
the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him by the University of Aberdeen 
in 1859, and made considerable botanical, geological, and antiquarian 
researches. He published, in 1839, “ Collectanea for a Flora of Moray,’’ 
and contributed a series of papers on botanical and other matters to 
various magazines. 
- Technical Education in Northumberland. —We under¬ 
stand that a most useful course of lectures in horticulture is now being 
given at different centres in Northumberland under the auspices of the 
County Council. The course consists of four lectures, embracing in¬ 
struction in all branches of a subjeet so necessary in rural districts, and 
illustrated by numerous diagrams and lantern slides. Mr. Jas. Wilson, 
jun., F.R.H.S., St. Andrew’s, is the lecturer. 
- Messrs. Dobbie & Co.’s Employes.—W e are informed that 
on Friday last the annual social meeting of the employes of Messrs. 
Dobbie & Co., Springfield Nurseries, Rothesay, N.B., was held in the 
Lesser Public Hall, Mr. Robert Fyfe presided, and there was a large 
attendance, numbering over 120. Addresses were delivered by the 
Chairman and Mr. W. Cuthbertson and others. Songs, readings, and 
instrumental selections were also given, and an enjoyable evening was 
spent. 
- Winter Flowering Pelargoniums.— In one of the green¬ 
houses attached to Lord Clifford’s garden in Devonshire I noted some 
remarkably well flowered Pelargoniums during the middle of November. 
So profusely were they bloomed that a mention of their names may be 
an advantage to others who require similar masses of colour at that time 
of the year. The sorts I observed were Sophia Birkin, round flower, 
compact truss, free, mottled salmon in colour; Souvenir de Carpsia, 
semi-double, rose; Belle Nancienne, oculated, semi-double; Guillon 
Mangilli, double, cerise; aud the well-known varieties. Favourite, 
Rev. F. Atkinson, Col. Holden, and Dr. Jacoby were exceedingly well 
flowered.—E. M. 
- The Paintings in the North Gallery at Kew it is stated 
will not be on view for some time to come. At the instance of the 
Director of the Royal Gardens the charming paintings of the late Miss 
M. North were recently examined by experts, and it was considered 
desirable to take precautions to protect them from atmospheric 
influences. The pictures are now being cleaned, varnished, and glazed,. 
BO that they will be preserved. 
- Death of Mr. R. Spruce. —We regret to learn of the death, 
which took place on December 28th, at Castle Howard, Malton, of Mr. 
Richard Spruce, the botanist and traveller, aged sixty-six years. The 
deceased was the son of a schoolmaster on Lord Carlisle’s estate, and 
his early botanical researches led Sir William Hooker, Humboldt, and 
other leading scientists to take an interest in him. In 1849 he was sent 
to South America in the interest of Kew Gardens, and his missioa 
developed into an important scientific and commercial investigation, 
extending over fifteen years. Mr. Spruce was one of the pioneers in 
the introduction of the quinine-yielding tree into India. 
- The Flora of Greenland. —We have to acknowledge the 
receipt of a pamphlet entitled “ A Contribution to the Flora of Green¬ 
land,” by Mr. William E. Meehan, and reprinted from the Proceedings 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. The author 
accompanied an expedition to Greenland in 1892, and made collections 
of plants in various parts of the country. He says :—“ The abundance 
of Lichens is characteristic of the Flora of Greenland. Rocks supposed 
from a distance to be naturally coloured are found on closer inspection 
to derive their hue from a complete investiture of some Lichen. Mosses 
are even more abundant than Lichens. They grow in such vast 
quantities in spots that their light or dark greens are visible often for 
some miles away, brightening the otherwise bleak shores wonderfully. 
Their persistence in growth under apparently adverse circumstances is 
also remarkable. No obstacle save the sea seems sufficient to stop their 
progress. Even dead glaciers have been and are being buried under the 
steady march of these cryptogamous plants. Mosses fulfil the same duty 
in Greenland that other forms of plant life perform in more favoured 
climes, and the amount of rich vegetable matter being deposited by 
them may be of great value in the future to that great arctic island.” 
Many flowering plants and trees were also noticed by Mr. Meehan, and 
these are described in paragraphs similar to the five that follow. 
- Papaver nudicaule. —Common everywhere in Greenland, 
A remarkably variable plant. On the table land, back of McCormick 
Bay (Prudhoe Land) a white flowered form is somewhat common ; it 
has a more compact habit and smaller flowers than the yellow or more 
prevalent form. On Wostenholm Island the compactness of growth is 
particularly marked. The number of petals varies, and the margins are not 
unfrequently fimbriate. In the vicinity of Disco the peduncles are hairy. 
At Upernavik forms with hairy and smooth peduncles grow together. 
- Draba hirta. —Varying remarkably in different localities. 
At Disco more tall and slender than at Etah. In company with Papaver 
nudicaule, Dryaa, several Ranunculi and other flowers, with a luxuriant 
growth of some Hypnum, it formed a striking feature in the flora of a 
“ Nunatak,” or snowless peak, arising out of the Verhoeff glacier. 
- Lychnis apetala. —Remarkably variable. Sometimes with 
quite showy petals. Flowers often singly on scapes, at others in five- 
six flowered capitate heads, and again with flowers scattered along the 
stems. One specimen at Inglefield Gulf close to the front edge of a 
receding glacier, which spot had been covered by solid ice within a year 
or two. 
- Betula NANA. —Common in company with the arctic Willow 
at Disco and southwardly, growing about 6 inches high, and forming 
tufts of several feet radius. It is found from Cape Farewell to Ducks 
Islands, the south border of Melville Bay. This is probably its limit. 
I found it no further north. Saved for fuel by the South Greenland 
Esquimos. 
- Salix arctica. —Average height 6 inches, but spreading 
often to 6 leet in circumference of its branches. But its short stem 
grows quite thick. At Disco I saw one with the short trunk as thick as 
one’s wrist, hanging from a crevice in a rock. Grows at all altitudes 
from the beach line close to the ice cap. In Inglefield Gulf found large 
old plants up to within 20 feet of a receding glacier, and on a spot 
which had certainly been covered by ice less than two years before. 
There were no lateral or medial moraines to bring the plants, and all 
the facts on the spot led to the conclusion that the Willows had been 
buried when the glacier flowed over the spot, and had been dormant 
until the ice receded. Professor Heilprin coincided with me in this 
conclusion. Catkins used for tinder, 
