C8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f January 24, 1880. 
finally wish you many years of health and prosperity, and a happy 
existence in your own garden to carry on the good work.” 
-Leeds Professional Gardeners’ Friendly Benefit 
Society. —The annual dinner of the Professional Gardeners’ Friendly 
Benefit Society took place on January lGth, at the Green Dragon Hotel, 
Leeds, and proved highly successful. Mr. Wharton, the President) 
occupied the chair, and among the numerous company present were the 
following guests :—The Mayor of Leeds (Alderman Ward), Councillors 
Battle, Kettlewell, and Loe; Messrs. If. Hicks (Manchester), James 
Turner (Manchester), W. Atkinson (Sheffield), Edwin Elliott (Hud¬ 
dersfield), Pearson (Chester), Joseph Bradley, William Green, McDonald) 
and Richard Beckwith. An apology for inability to attend was received 
from Sir George Morrison. The annual report, as read by the Secretary 
(Mr. William Sunley), showed great cause for congratulation on account 
of progress made during the twenty-two years existence of the Society - 
The income for the past year was £125, and the expenditure for the same 
period £80, leaving a saving of £45, which, added to £865 (the savings 
of the twenty-one previous years) made the total amount placed to the 
Society’s credit £910, and represented £7 15s. in value to each financial 
member, and a net gain of Cs. lOd. to each member for the year. The 
total number of hon. members was 20, and that of financial members 
117. Altogether the prospect for the Society was one of prosperity and 
stability. As a token of his services in largely contributing to bring 
about these results, Mr. William Sunley had (the report added) been 
recently presented by the members with a testimonial and handsome 
gifts. The loyal toasts having been honoured, Mr. William Harrison 
proposed *' The Mayor and Corporation of Leeds,” and, in responding) 
the Mayor made special reference to the difficulties under which gar¬ 
deners had to labour, and, alluding to local affairs, gave expression to 
the belief that the Corporation did not get the full results which, by 
larger expenditure, they might get, from a horticultural standpoint, out 
of Roundhay Park, especially in connection with the greenhouses. 
Councillors Loe and Kettlewell also replied to the toast, the former 
speaking of his long connection with the Society as an honorary member> 
and the latter, in referring to the improvement being made by the Cor' 
poration in laying out Spencer Place, expressing the hope that Round- 
Lay itoad and the other roads out of the town would ere long be planted 
with trees. Mr. Thomas Jamieson (Treasurer) gave “ The Honorary 
Members and Guests,” to which Messrs. Green, Hicks, and Atkinson re¬ 
sponded. Mr. Robert Featherstone submitted “ The Town and Trade of 
Leeds,” and Messrs. W. Hunt, J. F. Ryder, and Atkinson spoke in 
acknowledgment. Councillor Battle proposed “ Success to the Profes¬ 
sional Gardeners’ Friendly Benefit Society,” and dwelt upon the value of 
such societies generally ; and Messrs. Joseph Smith and James Inman 
replied to the toast. 
- Royal Meteorological Society.—The anniversary meet¬ 
ing was held on Wednesday evening, the 16th inst., at the Institution 
of Civil Engineers, 25, Great George Street, Westminster, Dr. W. Marcet, 
F.R.S., President, in the chair. Mr. Maxwell Hall, Mr. G T. Livesey, 
M.Inst.C.E., Mr. E. W. Priestlay, B.Sc., Mr. J. Radcliffe, and Rev. J. R. 
Stratton were elected Fellows of the Society. The Report of the 
Council showed that a large amount of work had been done during 
the past year, and that considerable progress had been made in the 
investigation of one of the most interesting and hitherto neglected 
branches of meteorology—viz., thunderstoims. Forty-nine new Fellows 
were elected last year, the total number on the books now being 535. 
After the Report had been adopted, the President delivered an 
address on “ Fogs,” which he illustrated by a number of interesting 
lantern slides. Fogs and clouds are one and the same thing. A cloud 
is a fog when entered into, and a fog seen from a distance, suspended in 
the air, becomes a cloud. After describing the various kinds of fog— e.g., 
Tiver, sea, Newfoundland, radiation, town, &c., fogs—Dr. Marcet referred 
to London fogs. Dr. Tyndall has accounted for them by assuming 
each particle of condensed vapour to be covered by coal smoke. These 
fogs usually accompany a high barometer, and are frequently dry in 
their character. It is a well known fact that cold air on the tops of 
hills being heavier than the air below, slides down the slopes, so that the 
lower parts of hill sides are actually colder than the plains at some 
distance from the hills. Now London, in the Thames valley, is sur¬ 
rounded by hills— to the north, Highgate, Hampstead, and Harrow ; 
in a westerly direction, Putney and Wimbledon; and in a more 
southerly direction, Clapham and Sydenham. The air is colder on 
these hills than in London with its millions of inhabitants, its coal fires 
and factories, hence it is heavier and will have a great tendency to 
slide down the hills towards the town and the river. Should the air in 
town be on the point of saturation, and the cold air from above 
saturated with vapour, it is obvious that the increased cold from above 
will produce a precipitation of moisture, and it will come to pass that a 
fog is produced. If the hill tops be not only colder than the air below, 
but enveloped in a fog, it stands to reason that the fog below will be 
all the denser, and especially in the neighbourhood of water, such as 
the river Thames and the ornamental waters in the parks. The following 
gentlemen were elected the Officers and Council for the ensuing year. 
President.—William Marcet, M.D., F.R.S., F.C.S. Vice-Presidents.— 
Francis Campbell Bayard, LL.M. ; Henry Franci Janford, F.R S., 
F.G.S.; William El is, F.R. A.S. ; Richard Inwards, F.R.A.S. Treasurer.— 
Henry Perigal, F.R.A.S., F.R M.S. Trustees.—Hon. Francis Albert 
Rollo Russell, M.A.; Steven William Silver, F.R.G.S. Secretaries.— 
George James Symons, F.R.S.; John William Tripe, M.D., M.R.C.P.Ed. 
Foreign Secretary.—Robert Henry Scott, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S. Council.—- 
Edmund Douglas Archibald, M.A. ; William Morris Beaufort, F.R.A.S., 
F.R.G.S.; Arthur Brewin ; George Chatterton, M.A., M.Inst.C.E. ; Wil¬ 
liam Henry Dines, B.A.; Frederic Bernard Edmonds ; Charles Harding; 
Baldwin Latham, M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S. ; Capt. John Pearse Maclear, R.N.; 
Edward Mawley, F.R.H.S.; Henry Southall; Charles Theodore Williams, 
M.A,. M.D., F.R.C.P. 
THE JAPANESE IRIS. 
This exceptionally handsome Iris (I. Kaampferi or I. laevigata) is a 
native of Siberia and Japan, and in the last-named country it has been 
cultivated for many years. It is remarkable that while the Europeans 
have been occupied in increasing the forms of the “ English ” and 
“ Spanish” Irises, the Japanese appear to have given equal attention to 
I. Kasmpferi, and they now possess a large number of magnificent 
varieties, of which many have been introduced to this country during 
recent years. The graphic description of the Iris gardens at Hori Kiri 
Japan, which appeared in the Journal for March 20th, 1879, was 
especially interesting, and the following passage has special reference to 
the Irises “ At last we arrive at the gardens, and then we obtained 
a full view of Iris in all her virgin glory, her head bright with rainbow 
hues as in classic ligend of old. I had expected to see a grand sight, 
but I was completely astounded with that which now met my eyes. 
Thousands and thousands of plants are arranged in sunken beds flooded 
during the summer months with pure fresh water, and cut out with due 
regard to effect with grassy raised paths between, and hedged in by 
grass-clad knolls. Of course gorgeous bedding-out is no novelty to an 
Englishman who has seen the London parks, but this sight in early 
June was so thoroughly unique, so absolutely astounding, that I could 
only look on in wonder and amazement. Semi-double Irids there are 
here in abundance, seme looking more like immense double Petunias 
impaled on long stalks than anything else, and many others having six 
immense outer petals, forming an almost perfect circle with an inner 
row beautifully reticulated and shaded with a great variety of colour 
from light rose and lavender to the deepest crimson and cobalt.” From 
the beautiful varieties of this handsome species now in cultivation we 
can readily imagine what a grand effect would be produced by massing 
the plants as described above. 
This Iris has been dignified as “ the finest of the genus ” by several 
good authorities, and it undoubtedly has just claim to that honour. In 
the type the falls are of a deep rich purple hue, marked and relieved by 
a streak of gold at the upper portion, while the standards have a tinge 
of blue. Handsome though it be, has been far surpassed by the grand 
varieties introduced within the last seven or eight years. Messrs. E. G. 
Hendeison & Son, Pine Apple Nurseries, Maida Vale, exhibited the first 
variety shown in this country—viz., the one named Edward George 
Henderson, which was submitted to the Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society in July, 1874. It had large regular flowers, the 
standards and falls being nearly of equal size and spreading horizontally, 
of a deep purple tint marked with gold. It attracted considerable 
attention, and a first-class certificate was awarded for it by the Com¬ 
mittee. Since then numerous varieties have been sent out by Messrs. 
Ware, Barr, Bull and Veitch. There is now a great diversity of colburs 
from the purest white to the richest blue and purple tints imaginable, 
and this combined with the regularity of form and great size of the 
blooms render the progeny of Iris Kasmpferi unsurpassed in its family. 
They have been frequently and not inaptly compared to Clematis 
flowers, to which in the great size and glowing tints of the perianth 
division they certainly bear some resemblance. 
I have seen a collection of Japanese coloured drawings on rice paper 
representing an astonishing diversity of forms of Japanese Irises, the 
colours rich and delicate, ranging through a large number of tints. The 
