216 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ September, 
being only affected in this way, while others had the colour also developed along the course of 
the main veins. 
- ^mong some young Cone-bearing trees of Picea lasiocarpci noticed during 
the last spring at Knap Hill Nursery, and which were accompanied by an 
abundance of pollen, the cones in some were quite green, while on about an 
equal number of others they were of a purple colour, no difference being apparent in the plants. 
Has this or any similar fact been observed before ? Picea grcmdis is also coning this year at 
Knap Hill, for the first time, we believe ; and among others that are producing fruit, no doubt 
the result of the last dry season or two, are Abies Albertiana , Thujopsis dolabrata, and Z’. 
Standishii. The present season seems indeed to be an exceptional one for the fruiting of conifers. 
At Enville nearly all the trees are very heavily laden ; the very small plants of Picea nobilis 
have some exceedingly fine full cones upon them, the large specimen tree of this species 
growing there, upwards of 50 ft. high, is so heavily laden that some cones will have to be 
taken off. 
- JTrom s$me experiments recently made on the Colours of Flowers 
grown in Darkness , by Dr. R. Macdonnell, of Dublin, it appears that of a series of 
Hyacinths flowered in a perfectly dark cellar the green leaves were thoroughly 
blanched, while the flowers of the red variety came quite white ; those of the yellow practically 
so ; but those of the violet-blue sorts were unaffected. 
- fijR. Joseph Douglas has recently pointed out the facility with which 
Vines may be grafted, by simple whip-and-tongue grafting, young wood on young 
ivood. A moderately vigorous young shoot, with the wood firm, was chosen, and a 
scion to correspond, and four out of five grafts thus put on grew away freely. They were 
only bound with matting, and probably clay or grafting wax would better secure the union. 
The advantages of this plan will be patent to all. 
- & winter like the past strongly tests the hardiness of Rhododendrons. 
As a rule, the sorts which have arboreum blood in their veins perish—generally 
root and branch ; while those of the ponticum strain sustain much injury to 
their blossoms. It is only those bred from catawbiense that escape with impunity, and these 
in a greater or lesser degree in accordance with the influence of their ancestors, in cases where 
intermixture of blood has taken place. The pallid, lilac-hued Everestianum and roseum elegans 
are two sturdy and hardy sorts, but some of the higher-coloured varieties also, of quite modern 
date, seem able to brave all weathers with impunity. Among those of this category are the 
rosy Lady Armstrong, the rosy-scarlet James Bateman, the rich crimson Mrs. Milner, and H. 
W. Sargent—all remarkably attractive flowers, together with Mrs. John Clutton, the gem of 
all others amongst the whites, and Caractacus amongst the purplish crimsons. We have here 
half-a-dozen sorts which are comparatively new, and which it would be very difficult to beat, 
taking into account their high and pure colours, their magnificent flower-trusses, and their 
fine hardy Lam-el-like foliage. 
-- K new preparation, called Thymol , lias been proposed as a substitute 
for carbolic acid. It is said to be derived from tlie Thymus vulgaris , tlie Monarda , 
and the Ptychotis , the latter an East Indian umbelliferous plant, and is of a 
similar chemical composition to carbolic acid, but destitute of the very unpleasant smell of 
thi3 popular disinfectant. It is soluble in 300 parts of water, and resembles carbolic acid in 
forming compounds with potash and soda, but diffei-s from it in that these compounds are very 
unstable, being decomposed even by carbonic acid. 
-- ^t a recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, Mr. Begbie, 
gardener to Lady Rolle, Bicton, sent specimens of Araucaria imbricata , showing 
both male and female cones on the same branch. The tree from which this branch 
was taken had still about 30 catkins and 25 cones upon it. “ The present,” he observed, “ is not 
the first time I have observed a similar phenomenon, having witnessed both sexes on one tree 
in the Earl of Shannon’s pinetum at Castle Martyr, near Cork, in the spring of 1867, when 1 
concluded that the tree is monoecious, and not dioecious, as has been generally supposed.” 
