96 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
One of the most interesting features of the meeting at Kensington was the group of White 
Hyacinths, brought together as were the reels in a former season, for the purpose of facilitating 
comparison. It might have been expected that the variety would be less than in the case of 
the reds, and so perhaps it was ; but there proved to be a very great amount of difference in size 
and tint and form between the various white Hyacinths cultivated for sale. 
-- ^he National Tulip Society held its second meeting on the 4th March, 
at the Falstaff Inn, Manchester. The exhibition this season promises to be one 
of the most interesting meetings the society has held. There are already 54 
subscribers, and the schedule is more liberal than in any previous year ; it is particularly so 
in the case of the small growers, and this feature alone will conduce to its popularity. The 
Exhibition will be held in connection with the National Show, at the Botanic Garden, 
Manchester, on May 26. Entries close on the last Saturday in April. 
-- Several changes have recently taken place in the Superintendence of 
the London Paries , under the control of the Office of Works. Mr. Gibson is 
transferred from Battersea to take the .management of Hyde Park and Kensington 
Gardens, which will afford him a new and more important field for the display of those 
ai'tistic talents which have gained for Battersea Park the position of the first ornamental 
garden of the metropolis. Mr. Alexander Roger will replace Mr. Gibson, at Battersea Park, 
and, if we may judge from what he has already done at Berry Hill, we may hope to see no 
falling-off in this most interesting garden. Mr. Macintyre, an old Kew employg, becomes the 
superintendent of Victoria Park. 
- ££ new Lycopod, which we call Selaginella Martensii divaricata albo- 
lineata , has been sent us by Messrs. Perkins and Sons, of Coventry. The variety 
has the branching, arched habit of its parent, but differs in this, that the curving 
portions of the stems a little below the pallid tips, and just where most exposed by the curve 
to full light, have the stipular leaves entirely, and the lateral ones partially, changed to white, 
this colour being, as we learn, taken on in succession by the young growth as it develops. 
The effect of the variegation is that of a longitudinal white line running along the green 
shoots ; and this effect is, we understand, equally brought out under artificial light, so that 
neat little specimens would be admirable decorative objects for the dinner-table. This is a 
gtyle of variegation we have not before observed in these plants ; it is similar throughout the 
whole plant, and is# we understand, perfectly constant. 
- Et is not generally known that Mesembryanthemums are valuable as late 
autumn and early winter-flowering plants ; they flower most profusely even in 
60-pots, and the brilliant colours of most, and the odd leaf-forms of others, make 
them exceedingly attractive. They require full sunshine to expand their flowers, but even 
when unexpanded their buds are brilliant in colour. One species, M. inclaudens, opens its 
flowers and keeps them open, even in dull ungenial weather. M. conspicuum produces abund¬ 
ance of charming pink flowers; M. aurantiacum, flowers of brilliant orange; M. curviflorum 
has pure white flowers. They are so beautiful and so easy to grow, to say nothing of the 
interest attaching to them, that we should be pleased to see them come once more into fashion. 
- Theodor Hartweg died at Schwetzingen, in Baden, on February 
3. Mr. Hartweg was formerly in the employ of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and was sent out in 1836 as a collector of seeds, roots, and plants. 
After making extensive collections in Mexico, Guatemala, and equatorial America, including 
Quito and Bogota, he returned to England, by way of Jamaica, in 1843. He was sent on a 
second mission to Mexico and California, with the same object, and under the same auspices; 
this journey was undertaken in 1845 and completed in 1848. A record of these travels 
and their results, will be found in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London , and 
in the Journal of the Society. The many fine plants introduced by him, especially in the 
classes of Orchids, hardy trees, and hardy annuals, will long keep up amongst us the memory 
of Mr. Hartweg. He latterly held the post of Inspector of the Grand Ducal Gardens. 
