152 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 25, 1886. 
number of volumes of the Journal of Horticulture to the Society’s 
library. Mr. T. Garnett, one of the members of the Society who attended 
the annual dinner of the Barnsley Paxton Society on the previous Tues¬ 
day evening, gave a report of the proceedings, from which it seemed that 
they were of a very encouraging and satisfactory character. 
- A paper on “ Insectivorous Plants” was recently read 
before the Wakefield Naturalists’ Society, hy Mr. P. F. Lee of Dews¬ 
bury. There was a good attendance. Mr. G. Parkin presided. Mr. 
Lee mentioned a number of plants, both British and foreign, which pos¬ 
sess the animal-like attribute of utilising organic matter as food, as an aid 
to the ordinary method of vegetable nutrition, and then explained how this 
peculiar process is carried on. He pointed out how the plant captured its 
living food, and how by means of glandular secretions a process of diges¬ 
tion was set up in a manner singularly analogous to that which charac 
terises animal life. A discussion ensued in which Messrs. Spurling, 
Garnett, and Fallas took part, and a vote of thanks was given to Mr. Lee 
for his paper. 
- “ H. S. O.” sends us some handsome blooms of Dendrobium 
Wardianum, large, highly coloured, and borne in triplets. He also 
sends blooms of Cattleya Trianae and the beautiful C. Warscewiczii 
delicata, all showing excellent culture. Remarking upon the treatment 
of the Dendrobium our correspondent writes as follows :—“ We have 
here about sixty plants and divide them into four batches. They give us 
a constant succession of bloom for four months—viz., from the beginning 
of the year until the end of April. They receive plenty of heat and 
moisture while growing, and a good season of rest. When growth is 
finished they are removed to the vineries and hang there until the flower 
buds are prominent, and during this time very little water is needed. They 
can then be brought into bloom as required by taking them back to 
warmer quarters. If thought desirable, the blooming period may be 
prolonged by removing them to a cooler and drier house as soon as the 
blooms are well open, but if the young growths are somewhat advanced 
this treatment does not benefit the plants.” 
- Royal Aquarium, Westminster. —The Directors of the 
Royal Aquarium have accepted a scheme submitted hy Mr. Richard Dean 
of Ealing for a series of four horticultural exhibitions to take place 
during the coming season—viz., a display of Hyacinths, Tulips, &c., and 
cut Daffodils on Tuesday, March 30th, and Wednesday, March 31st; a 
great artistic Rose exhibition on Friday, June 25th, and Saturday, June 
26th ; a Strawberry fete and exhibition on Friday, July 2nd, and Saturday, 
July 3rd; and a great display of table decorations, bouquets, &c., on 
Friday, August 20th, and Saturday, August 21st. Liberal prizes are 
offered, and schedules of prizes can be obtained of Mr. Richard Dean, 
Ranelagh Road, Ealing, the Superintendent of the shows. 
- It is not often any new designs in Garden Rakes are 
advanced ; the Rev. J. Harding Cole, Woodview, Co. Cork, has, however, 
introduced a rake that is quite new. The inventor has found this imple¬ 
ment extremely useful, and we doubt not it will be found equally 
serviceable by others, both gardeners and amateurs. The sample before 
us is strong and well made. The rake is described in the prospectus 
as follows :—“ In using the rake on gravel walks, there is always 
experienced a want of something with which to extract or remove any¬ 
thing which the teeth of the rake will not catch, such as growing weeds. 
This important desideratum is now supplied by the ‘ Weeding and Hoeing 
Rake,’ in which each extreme tooth forms a chisel-shaped steel cutter or 
grubber, capable of eradicating any weeds with facility and without 
injury to the implement. To give better effect to these cutters a curve is 
given to the back of the rake. These improvements largely extend the 
utility of the implement, not only in raking gravel walks, but also in 
many gardening operations, such as weeding, hoeing, opening drills for 
seeds, and thinning. As a hoe it is an extremely useful and handy garden 
tool, by reason of its narrowness, for working between plants, loosening 
the soil, &c., and the penetrating power afforded by its shape, at the 
same time, collecting the weeds as a rake, thus doing the work of two 
implements together,” 
- The current issue of the “ Botanical Magazine ” gives 
coloured plates of the following plants—T. 6858 represents a bold hand 
some Orchid, Lissochilus Saundersoni, but which is little known 
in this country. It is described as “ a native of Natal, and was first 
made known hy a drawing sent to Kew by the late Mr. Saunderson in 
1867, from which Reichenbach’s specific description was drawn up. , . 
L. Saundersoni of Harvey is quite a different plant, referable to the genus 
Cymbidium. For plants of this majestic Orchid, the Royal Gardens) 
Kew, are indebted to Mr. Lyle of Natal, who gave them in 1879.” It 
produces fine lanceolate arching leaves, 3 or 4 feet long, and 3 to 4 inches 
broad. The scape is 6 or 7 feet long, bearing the flowers on a foot length 
from the apex, and they somewhat resemble the larger Zygopetalums in 
general form. The sepals are greenish, the petals broad and white, and 
the lip purple with darker veins. 
- In t. 6859 is given a figure of Calotropis procera, an 
Asclepiad, which inhabits western and central India, “ where it is known 
for its medicinal properties as Mudar. . . . The inner bark yields a 
strong flax, from which halters, lines, and ropes are made ; the silky hairs 
are used to stuff mattresses ; the acrid milky juice, mixed with salt, is 
employed to remove hair from hides. Pieces of the roots are in common 
use for tooth-brushes, and gunpowder charcoal is made of the wood.” The 
drug “ Mudar ” is prepared from the bark of root, 6tem, and branches, 
and is used as a tonic, a substitute for ipecacuanha. The flowers are 
nearly an inch in diameter, white on the outer surface, purple at the 
upper half of the lobes, and white at the base. They are borne freely in 
umbels from the axils of the leaves, which are elliptical and bright 
green. It forms a shrub 6 to 10 feet high. 
- The two following plates, t. 6860 and t. 6861, are devoted to 
Synthyrsis reniformis, a Californian plant with long racemes of small 
pale violet flowers and reniform leaves ; and to Rhynchanthus longiflorus, 
a Zingerberaceous plant of little beauty, but interesting botanically. 
Calotropis gigantea is shown in t. 6862 ; it is a near relative of C. 
procera already noted, but is much stronger in habit. The flowers are 
more curious and les3 attractive. It is applied to nearly the same uses as 
C. procera, but “ the strong silky flax yielded by the inner bark of C. 
gigantea is finer, and used for making the robes of native princes, as also 
for bow-strings, fishing lines and nets, for which latter purpose its inde¬ 
structibility in water recommends it.” 
- Like Mr. G. A. Sala and other visitors to the metropolis of 
New South Wales, Mr. J. E. Taylor, Editor of Science Gossip, seems to 
have become quite enamoured of the Sydney Botanical Gardens 
He says—“ There are many trees of special note growing in the grounds, 
the principal of which, perhaps, is a magnificent Norfolk Island Pine 
(Araucaria excelsa)—a tree very abundant in the larger gardens and 
shrubberies of nearly all Australian towns. There are also fine specimens 
of the well-known Australian proteaceous plant, Grevillea robuBta — 
perhaps the largest and most attractive of this singular order. Merytas, 
with their broad and showy foliage, the Maidenhair-leaved Salisburia 
from Japan (a coniferous tree, which has been in existence ever since the 
carboniferous period), the singular Mauritian Palm, the Bloodwood of 
Norfolk Island (Baloghia lucida), the Osage Orange of America (Maclura 
aurantiaca), the Moreton Bay Chestnut (Castanospermum australis) with 
its deep green foliage and bright scarlet flowers, the Tulip-woods of 
Eastern Australia (Harpallia pendula), the Randia macrophylla from 
Lord Howe Island, besides Bananas, Bamboos, multitudes of species of 
Palms, New Zealand Cabbage Trees, Domblyas, Pterospermas, Nephe- 
liums from China, Eleocarpus from India, Brexias from Madagascar, 
Lactarias from the Queensland bush, Sacred and other Fig trees from 
India, Sciadophyllums from New Guinea, Botryodendron from Norfolk, 
Island, Cycads and Zamias, Strelitzias from the Cape, a vast number of 
species of Pines, Erythrinas from the West Indies (just bursting into 
their singular scarlet blossom), and many others too numerous but not too 
unimportant to mention unless in a botanical inventory make up the 
diversified and wonderfully combined arboreal foliage with which the 
diversified surface of these beautiful gardens is clothed. Floral parterres 
and patches are gay with flowers whose manifold colours offer a rich feast 
to the eye. The rocks and rocky places are covered with the grotesque 
forms of Cactuses and Aloes. Climbing plants from all parts of the world 
have been trained to clamber up and festoon trees and shrubs of a less 
conspicuous character. All that botanical and horticultural art and skill 
can do, combined with perhaps the most picturesque situation in the 
world and a most delightful climate, have made the Sydney Gardens a 
place worth coming to the antipoles to see. 
PALMS AND OTHER PLANTS FOR INDOOR DECORATION. 
I CAN strongly recommend “A Thinker’s” advice (page 132) to grow 
Kentias for the above work. We have two plants nearly 10 feet high in 
12-inch pots that have done an immense amount of work. They have 
