70 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
GAEDEN GOSSIP. 
HE annual general meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society was held in the 
Council Room, South Kensington, on the 13th ult., the President, Lord 
f Aberdare, in the chair. The Council reported that the Scientific, the 
Fruit, and the Floral Committees had met during the year without 
intermission, and worked assiduously at their respective branches; and under their superin¬ 
tendence and direction, much valuable work had been done both in the garden at Chiswick, 
and at the meetings at South Kensington ; they stated that they would continue to encourage 
the fortnightly meetings which form so great an attraction to all lovers of flowers, fruit, and 
horticulture generally, and at which may bo seen all the novelties that have been collected 
by commercial or private enterprise. “ The agreement entered into with her Majesty’s Com¬ 
missioners in April last authorised the Society to bon’ow £7,000 upon their guaranty of 
repayment, in case they resumed possession of the gardens. The Council have borrowed upon 
this security £5,000, which enabled them to pay outstanding liabilities, prizes and medals; 
so that on December 31 last, the Society had a balance in hand more than sufficient to pay 
all their outstanding liabilities. The Society may be said to have commenced this year 
without debt or liability (except that attaching to surplus income in respect of debentures), 
which has not been the case for very many years past.” At the ballot which took place, the 
following gentlemen were elected;—Sir Charles Strickland, Mr. H, J. Elwes, and Mr. T, 
M. Shuttleworth, new Members of CouncilLord Aberdare, President; Mr, Henry 
Webb, Treasurer; Dr. Kobert Hogg, Secretary ; Mr, H. Campion, Mr. Henry Webb, and Mr. 
William Houghton, Expenses Committee-men; and Mr, J. Lee, Mr. Henry Little, and Mr, 
James West, Auditors, 
- opening of the Amsterdam International Horticultural Exhibition 
and Botanical Congress is fixed for April 12, Those who intend to exhibit must 
notify their intention before March 1; and will have to send in before March 15, 
in duplicate, forms properly filled up, and which will be supplied to them. The articles must 
be forwarded carriage-free, and addressed to the Board of Commissioners of the International 
Horticultural Exhibition, Palace of Industry, Amsterdam, on April 6, 7, or 9. A jury, to 
consist of competent Dutch and foreign scientific gentlemen, will assemble on April 10, at 
11 o’clock a.m. to award the prizes; and the exhibition will be open to the public from April 
13 until May 2. The secretary is Mr. J. B. Groenewegen, 
- JtN Dietz’s Portable Heating Apparatus^ for warming small greenhouses, 
passages, &c., we appear to have got a very useful contrivance, much superior to 
the lamps sometimes recommended for a similar purpose. The apparatus is 
intended to be worked by means of paraffin oil. There is a burner in the centre near the 
floor, and over this a vertical tube or boiler, crossed by numerous smaller tubes ; this is 3 feet 
high. On either side is a vertical tube of the same height, and these are connected with the 
boiler-tube by five horizontal tubes, making the extreme width 2 feet; at the base is another 
horizontal tube, the whole length foiming a reservoir for the oil. The apparatus holds about 
2 gallons of water, and with an inch wick burning about a quart of oil in 24 hours, this water 
is heated to about 200° F. in three-quarters of an hour. The escape of vapour from the heated 
water may be checked by a condenser, or when desired, it can be allowed to pass into the 
house unchecked. The apparatus is of block-tin, with ornamental cast iron feet. For garden 
use, in the case of the small conservatories attached to suburban residences, it seems very 
much to be preferred over those airangements where the heating is effected by gas. 
-^HE Cactus and other Tropical Succidents is the name of a neat little 
treatise on succulent plants in general, by H. Allnutt (200 Fleet Street), which 
being issued at a low price, is just the thing to put into the hands of those who 
are commencing to grow or to study these interesting and peculiar types of vegetation. The 
work, which will readily drop into the pocket, consists for the most part of extracted matter, 
but the author honestly avows the fact, and acknowledges the source whence it is derived. 
In this way the writings of Loudon, Jackson, McIntosh, Thompson, McElroy, Hi})berd, 
Griudon, and Croucher, all reliable authorities, are laid under contribution, and the latter 
gentleman furnishes specially for the present work some useful instructions how to destroy 
