382 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 10, 1888. 
very chaste ; Mollere, purplish lilac, with orange base ; and Wouver- 
manns, rich purplish magenta ; five hundred plants in the bed having a 
remarkable effect. Some of the Tulips have been a little checked by 
the prolonged cold, but notwitlistanding the display is very rich and 
good. The Rhododendrons promise to flower well this year, and at pre¬ 
sent an unusually rich orange form of Berberis Darwini is in full 
beauty. In the kitchen garden the blossom on most of the pyramid 
trees in the choice collection of fruits is abundant, and the high keeping 
of the garden reflects the attentive and continuous care of Mr. T. Taylor,, 
the gardener. Unfortunately the prolonged indisposition of Mr. McIntosh 
prevents his fully enjoying his garden. He has not been able to visit 
London for five years, but has the advantage of weekly calls from 
his good friend and neighbour Mr. G. F. Wilson, and it would not be 
easy to find more earnest patrons of gardening than these two gentle¬ 
men are, whose names are so familiar in the horticultural world. 
- A^’■ excellent idea of the beauty of well-grown Caladiums 
can be gained by an inspection of the large collection in Messrs. Laing 
and Co.’s Stanstead Park Nursery, Forest Hill. Some dozens of varieties 
are represented of all sizes, from the dwarf red and green minus erubcscens 
and the white variegated argyrites, a few inches high, to giants with 
leaves 20 inches long by 15 inches wide. They are most diversified in 
colours and markings, some having white semi-transparent leaves of 
great delicacy, others are boldly veined with red or crimson, or green, or 
white, and some are most peculiarly spotted, blotched, or marbled. The 
range of variation is astonishing, and as i foliage plants, when grown in 
an open sandy soil, a high temperature, and well supplied with water, 
there are few plants can equal these during the early summer months. 
- Active preparations are being male for the Tuberous 
Begonia Exhibition both indoors and out. About 100,000 seedlings 
have been dibbled out in pans or boxes, and when large enough and the 
weather is safe— i.e., early in June, the plants will be placed out of 
doors. A space of ground of about an acre has been cleared for these, 
and when arranged in their respective colours in long borders and 
bearing their large flowers, the Stanstead Begonias will be amply worth 
another visit. 
• - Parliament Square, Westminster, has at the present time a 
very bright floral display, two dozen Beds of Tulips being in their 
best condition. There are twenty-four beds, circles and oblongs alter¬ 
nately, and each bed is planted with one variety, the colours in the ad¬ 
joining beds being well contrasted. The varieties are Comte de Mira- 
beau, white ; Globe Rigaud, purple feathered ; Moliere, purple ; Keyzers 
Kroon, red and yellow ; Joost Van Vondel, dark rosy crimson, very large 
flowers ; Brutus, bright scarlet, small flowers ; Proserpine, deep rose, 
handsome ; Vermillion Brilliant, rich vermilion; and Yellow Prince, 
bright clear yellow. 
- At the ordinary meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society, to 
be held at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Wednesday, the 
16th inst.ant, at 7 P.M., the following papers will be read :—*“ Report of 
the Wind Force Committee on Experiments with Anemometers con¬ 
ducted at Hersham,” drawn up by G. M. Whipple, B.Sc., F.R.Met.Soc., 
and W. H. Dines, B.A., F.R.Met.Soc. “ On the Measurement of the 
Increase of Humidity in Rooms by the Emission of Steam from the So- 
called Bronchitis Kettle.” *This paper will be in type before the meet¬ 
ing. Any Fellow wishing to take part in the discussion can obtain a 
copy on application to the Assistant Secretary. 
- Messrs. Carter & Co. desire to say they have been re¬ 
quested to supply lawn seeds for the requirements at the forthcoming 
Italian Exhibition, also that they are sowing lawn seeds at the Anglo- 
Danish Exhibition, South Kensington. 
- Mr. Joseph Mallender sends the following Summary of 
Meteorological Observations at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, 
Notts, for April, 1888 :—Mean temperature of the month, 43-4°. 
Maximum on the 28th, 60-3° ; minimum on the Gth, 23 2°. Maximum 
in the sun on the 28th, 122-6° ; minimum on the grass on the 9th, 16-2°. 
Mean temperature of air at 9 A.M., 44'2°. Mean temperature of the soil 
1 foot deep, 42-7°. Nights below 32°, in shade ten, on grass seventeen. 
Total duration of sunshine in month, eighty-four hours, or 20 per cent, 
of possible duration. We had six sunless days. Total rainfall in month, 
1-49 inch. Rain fell on sixteen days. Average velocity of wind, 12-6 
miles per hour. Velocity exceeded 400 miles on seven days, and fell 
short of 100 miles on one day. Approximate averages for April:— 
Mean temperature, 46-4°. Rainfall, 1-66 inch. Sunshine (seven years) 
132 hours. A dull, cold, and rather windy month, with average rainfall 
and much N.E. wind. Mean temperature the same as last year, but 
lower than any other recent one except 1879. Vegetation very late. 
- Mr. E. Squelch, The Gardens, Boigne Grove, Maidenhead, 
writes to say he Commenced Cutting Asparagus in the open air on 
April 24th and some on May 1st. The beds are in full bearing. They 
were a fortnight earlier last year. He asks if this is remarkably early 
for the exceptionally cold and late spring ? 
-Plantations in Bengal and Burmah. —At a meeting of 
the Royal Scottish Society of Arts last week in the Hall, 117, George 
Street, Mr. J. N. Inglis, C.E., read a paper on “ Plantations Producing 
Fuel and Timber for Building Purposes in Bengal and Burmah.” He 
remarked so great was the demand for wood for building purposes in 
Ben;ial, that in the last quarter of a century trees'seldom arrived at 
maturity before the axe was laid upon them, and large tracts of the 
country along the railway and inhabited parts were bare of trees. Trees 
and shrubs were now planted round every village. Famine, which was 
unknown in former years, was becoming a painful reality; but if a 
country was sufficiently wooded, it was almost certain to obtain the 
requisite rainfall. Referring to the plantations on the banks of the 
canals in Burmah, Mr. Inglis said that the cost of planting a tree and 
bringing it to maturity was about 153., and that it was sold by the 
Government to be used for building purposes at about £6. 
- A VALUABLE paper, describing a new method of extraction of 
the ALKALOIDS FROM CINCHONA bark by cold oil, as used at the 
Government Cinchona Factory in Sikkim, was lately drawn up by order 
of t’ne Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and has now beerf issued. Dr. 
King, the Superintendent of the Sikkim Plantation, carried on a long 
series of experiments on an acid and alkali process of manufacture, by 
which he succeeded in producing an excellent quinine. He never, how¬ 
ever, succeeded in recovering much more than half of the amount con¬ 
tained in the bark on which he operated. The acid and alkali process 
had, therefore, to be abandoned as wasteful and inefficient. A process 
depending on the maceration of the bark in spirit was next tried, but, 
after much experiment, it was in turn abandoned. During a visit which 
Dr. King paid to Holland in 1884, he obtained some hints as to a process 
of extraction by means of oil. Benefiting by the advice of some 
chemical friends, Mr. Gammie, the resident manager in Sikkim, has 
been able to perfect this process, with the result that the whole of the 
quinine in yellow bark can be extracted in a form indistinguishable, 
either chemically or physically, from the best brands of European 
manufacture. This can be done cheaply, and the Bengal Government 
has caused an account of the matter to be printed, in order that private 
growers of Cinchona may be enabled to take full advantage of the pro¬ 
cess, and that a permanent reduction in the price of quinine may ensue. 
—(A’tffare). 
- A REPORT by the American Consul at Mayence, on Forest 
Culture in Hesse, has been lately issued in the Consular Reports of 
the United States. The writer discusses the organisations and functions 
of the department having the care of forests, the duties of the various 
classes of officials employed in forest cultivation, the economical results 
of the system pursued, the coarse of instruction followed in the schools 
of forestry, the organisation and methois of the institution for experi¬ 
mental forestry, and the degree and amount of control assumed by the 
State over private forests. 
-The Wakefield Paxton Society.—T here have been two 
meetings of this Society recently. At the first Councillor Milnes, the 
President, was in the chair, and Mr. Brown, gardener at Hatfield Hall, 
occupied the vice-chair. Mr. W. K. Woodcock of Sheffield read a long 
and very able paper on “ Garden Literature, Past and Present.’’ Coun¬ 
cillor Howden, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Woodcock, kindly 
promised to defray the cost of certain works on horticulture which 
Mr. Woodcock recommended should bo added to the Society’s library. 
Mr. B. Whiteley seconded the motion. Mr. Squire Pickersgill of Bond 
Street presented three beautiful quarto volumes to the Society, and on 
the motion of the President, seconded by Mr. H. Oxley, he was accorded 
a very hearty vote of thanks for his kindness. At a special meeting 
subsequently, when there was a very good attendance, the same two 
gentlemen presided. The Rev. F. D. Horner of Kirkby Lonsdale, and 
formerly vicar of Normanton, delivered an exceedingly interesting 
lecture on “ The Auricula,’’ and it was listened to with the greatest 
