May 2, 1689. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
357 
number of Lc Jardin. “ I was quite surprised,” he said, “ to see, 
when visiting M. Dugourd at Fontainebleau, at this period of the 
year about 20,000 Hellebores still in full bloom, and they have been 
thus flowering since about the 15th of November. The Helleberus 
is not, then, the winter flower of short duration that it was repre¬ 
sented to be not so very long ago. Among the seedlings obtained 
by M. Dugourd there are some extremely pretty varieties, the colours 
varying in all the shades of white and red, petals pure or spotted, 
plants dwarf or tall, inflorescence scanty or free ; in short, varieties 
for all tastes. It is from H. c.iucasicus, guttatus, orientalis, atro- 
rubens, &c., that these varieties appear to have issued. The old 
Christmas Rose appears to have varied very little.” 
Saxifragas. —We have heard much, but not too much, about 
these lately. Can Mr. Leonard tell us anything about florellenta ? 
It is a pink flowered species from, I believe, the Maritime Alps. I 
can remember seeing it in bloom but once, and that, if I recollect 
rightly, was at Tottenham. It is a rare and beautiful Saxifrage.— 
W. P. W. 
Events of the Week. —The annual meeting of the Linnean 
Society will he held in their Burlington House Booms on Thursday, 
May 2nd. On the same day Messrs. Protheroe & Morris will sell the 
concluding portion of the late Mr. Peacock’s succulents at Sudbury 
House, Hammersmith. This firm will also have sales of Orchids at their 
Cheapside rooms on Friday, May 3rd, and Tuesday, May 7th. The 
Scottish Primula and Auricula Society’s third Exhibition will be held in 
the Calton Convening Booms, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, on Wednesday 
May 8th. 
- The Weather. —The weather has been much milder of late 
in the south, bright and dull days with rain alternating. Fruit blossom 
is opening rapidly, Plum and Cherry trees being covered with expanded 
flowers ; also early Pears. Writing from Perthshire, “ B. D. ” states :— 
“The weather during the week has been very variable, generally 
dull, milder towards the close. Saturday, 27th, was a beautiful day ; 
heavy rain, accompanied by a slight thunderstorm, occurred in the 
afternoon.” 
- Signs of Summer. —Mr. E. Molyneux writes from Swanmore, 
Hants : — “ This (April 27th) is the first spring day we have had here ; 
it has been delightfully warm after a heavy rain. To-day I have heard 
the cuckoo and nightingale, and seen swallows for the first time. This 
is later than usual, as we generally have the cuckoo by the 15th, and 
the nightingales are heard by the 20th. I do not remember seeing the 
grass grow so fast as it does now ; trees I think are breaking into leaf, 
while vegetation in other ways is slow.” 
- The Cuckoo near London.—“ T.” writes :—“ It is customary 
at this season to record the first appearance of the cuckoo in various 
parts of the country, but I have not observed that anyone has taken 
the trouble to note how near this welcome visitor comes to town. On 
Sunday morning about 8.30, from the garden of my house in Clapham 
Park, I heard the cuckoo again and again, very distinctly, and certainly 
not far off. Some of the houses hereabout have grounds extending for 
10 or 12 acres, and even more, with shrubberies and bits of wilderness 
that afford good shelter for living things that delight to be ‘ in shadiest 
covert hid ;’ but after all Clapham Park is for the most part within the 
cab radius of four miles from Charing Cross. The nightingale, I am 
told by the gardeners, has been heard here. I well remember hearing 
it a few years ago in the grounds of the reservoirs at Stoke Newington, 
which are about the same distance from the City on the northern side. 
There, too, the brilliant sight of a kingfisher haunting the big stones of 
the margin of the lake is, or certainly was, common enough.” 
- Narcissus minimus.—I herewith enclose a flower and a leaf 
of the true Narcissus minimus. As you will observe it is little more 
than half the size of the one figured in the Journal. I think few indeed 
have seen the true minimus. The plant generally sold for it is nothing 
more than a small form of N. minor.— James Percival. 
- Mr. P. Barr writing on this subject says :—“ There are three 
Narcissuses men continually knock their heads against—viz., N. minor, 
N. nanus. N. minimus, and the error commenced with the ‘ Bot. Mag.’ 
where N. minimus is figured as N. minor, and in Sweet’s work N. minor 
is figured as N. pumilus. I set the three before Mr. Baker, and added, 
1 Will these names do ? ’ He said they would, so I settled the question, and 
have three good names for three distinct plants. The Narcissus which 
does duty for N. minor is N. nanus, and for N. minimus N. nanus. It is 
a convenient little Narcissus. I do not say it is done intentionally, but 
very few growers know the three. Now they are from necessity 
compelled to learn and read up a little on Daffodils)’ 
- Gardening Appointment. —Mr. H. Mitchell, for the last eight 
years gardener to Sir Geo. Elliott, Bart., M.P., Aberaman House, Aber- 
dare, has been transferred to take charge of The Friars, Newport, Mon¬ 
mouthshire. 
- Camellias at Walton Lea.— All who have visited, the 
gardens at Walton Lea, near Warrington, know how admirably 
Camellias are grown there by Mr. W. Kipps, the healthy well-formed 
pyramidal specimens being from 10 to 15 feet or more in height. We 
are informed they have been very beautiful this season, and recently 
when Mr. Crossfield opened his gardens to the public for two hours 
on two consecutive afternoons, 2000 persons passed through the houses' 
each day—practical evidence that his kindness was fully appreciated. 
- The schedules of Provincial Horticultural Societies 
continue to arrive, and we have now several before us awaiting notice. 
The thirty-seventh season of the Brighton and Sussex Horticultural 
Association will be distinguished by a Bose Show on July 10th and 11th, 
and a general Show on September 11th and 12th this year. At the 
Bose Show nineteen classes are provided, with prizes ranging from £5 
to 5s. At. the September Show seventy-seven classes are enumerated for 
plants, cut flowers, and fruits, the prizes varying from £10 to 2s. Gd. 
This is usually an excellent Show, but of late years it has not been quite 
so well supported by visitors as might be expected in a town like 
Brighton. The Secretary is Mr. E. Carpenter, %, St. James Street, 
Brighton. The classes at both Exhibitions are open to all competitors. 
-' The Darlington North End Horticultural Society 
announce a Show to be held on August 17th this year, that judging by 
the schedule will be of a most varied character. In the horticultural 
department 112 classes are devoted to plants, cut flowers, fruit, and 
vegetables, the prizes being of small amounts, 30s. to Is. Then there 
are also classes for the following, taken in the order named :—Pigs, 
goats, artisan’s work, fine arts, “ chipping and filing contest,” “ ladies’ 
industrial work ” (articles of clothing, &c.), a school department for 
girls and boys, and sections for rabbits, cats, cavies, and pigeons. The 
Secretary is Mr. G. H. Hutchison, 5, Denmark Street, North Boad, 
Darlington. 
- When raised early Bicinuses are apt to become tall and un¬ 
healthy. Sown now singly in 1-inch pots and set in a heated frame or 
warm house the seed germinates quickly and the plants grow rapidly, 
being quite strong enough to place out at the end of May or in June. 
No plants can be more easily raised, and Castor-oil Plants, as they are 
generally termed, are noble subjects for the flower garden. Any light 
loamy soil suits them. E. Gibsoni, which has dark purple stems and 
leaves, and only attains a height of about 3 feet, is one of the most 
ornamental, and the taller growing sanguineus tricolor, borbonensis 
compactus, and macrocarpus are also well worthy of cultivation. 
- The Tom Thumb Varieties of Tropieolums are very 
showy and well adapted for bedding in hot or poor positions where 
perhaps most other plants will fail. Planted or sown on rather rich 
ground more leaves that flowers will form, and in all cases they ought 
therefore to be grown on poor firm ground. The surest way to secure 
even lines or masses is to raise the plants under glass, any cool shelf 
answering for the purpose, and transplant to where they are to flower 
early in June. The Tropasolums of a climbling habit are most suitable 
for covering archways, pillars, verandahs, and porchways. The yellow 
flowering Canary Creeper belongs to this section, while the different 
varieties of Lobbianum, with their scarlet, crimson, and orange scarlet 
flowers are remarkably showy. These may be raised similarly to the 
Tropseolums, and ought not to be grown in strong soil, otherwise they 
grow too vigorously.—W. I. 
- Fruit and Flowers for the Hospital. —There are many 
people who cannot give money but who would willingly spare fruit, 
flowers, evergreens, shrubs, &c., from their gardens if it would help the 
Grosvenor Hospital for women and children. Will you very kindly 
permit me to say to them that we need a plentiful supply of such 
things for sale or decoration at the A1 Fresco Fayre and Floral Fete 
