1868 . ] 
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. 
47 
of raising novelties. It is to him that we are indebted, amongst fruits, for 
the following excellent varieties :—British Queen Pear ; Gipsy King Apple; Frogmore Early 
Forcing and Early Bigarreau Cherries ; and John Powell, Rifleman, Cockscomb, Fairy Queen, 
Mr. Radclyffe, Prince Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Frogmore Late Pine Strawberries. 
Among flowers, the beautiful new Rose Miss Ingram, which last year enchanted everybody ; 
and Princess Alice, one of the first of the really good Pink Zonal Pelargoniums, may be 
specially noted as having been raised by him. 
- <©ne of the kings of the vegetable kingdom—the acknowledged 
king of Monocotyledons—the great Dracama Draco, or Dragon tree, at 
Orotava, is no more. A furious gale last autumn levelled to the ground 
that immense crown which had grown and flourished for sixty centuries. 
The storm of July 21, 1819, had deprived the tree of a part of its head, but still it remained 
a striking object of wonder. In February last, still in excellent health, its immense crown 
was covered with innumerable panicles of scarlet fruits, and the huge trunk, although com¬ 
pletely decayed in the interior, sustained vigorously the spreading mass of fleshy branches 
and sword-like foliage. On the west side, where the ground was sloping, a solid wall had 
been built under about one-third of the trunk, but on the other side two or three half-rotten 
staves propped the more projecting branches, and in this neglected state the hurricane found 
it, and wrought its destruction. An excellent photograph of the tree, as it appeared a few 
years since, is published in Professor Smyth’s Teneriffe. 
- JJBt. Hooker has pointed out, in a recent communication to the 
Linnean Society, that the true Fuchsia coccinea is a totally different species 
from that which is so extensively cultivated in all regions of the globe 
under that name, but which is the F. magellanica of Lamarck, a species 
common in Chili and Fuegia. F. coccinea w T as introduced in 1788 ; it was 
published in the Hortus Kewensis , and is now only known from living speci¬ 
mens in the Oxford Botanic Garden, and from dried ones taken from the 
Hew plant, in the Banksian and Smithian Herbaria. 
- ^IThe Agave dasylirioides, a rare Mexican species, is now in bloom in 
the Conservatory of the Royal Botanic Society. It has long, pendulous, 
strap-like, spineless foliage, from amongst which issues the flower spike, 
about 10^- feet in length, something in the form of a gigantic whip, the 
thong of which measures some 18 inches in circumference, and is densely 
packed with green flowers, from which the stamens conspicuously protrude. 
- Cue fine collection of Cyclamen persicum, shown by Mr. J. Wiggins, 
gardener to W. Beck, Esq., Isleworth, was a principal feature of the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Meeting on the 21st ult. The plants were only 
fourteen months old, from seed, but strong, and surmounted with heads of 
profuse bloom from pure white through intermediate shades to dark rose. They were 
a pretty sight; and seeing how freely they bloom, and what a long time the flowers will last, 
they are certainly invaluable for winter decoration, and especially for window gardening. 
- 3Ihe new Japanese Chrysanthemums deserve special mention, as 
being likely to become attractive for conservatory decoration. Mr. Salter 
has many varieties still in bloom, thus carrying on the Chrysanthemum 
in-door season as far as the end of January, and probably for some time 
later. A contemporary (Card. Chron ., 1867, 1288), notes four types as 
observable in this new race, and distinguishes them as the Echinate or Porcupine-flowered; 
the Radiate-flowered; the Actinioid or Thread-flowered; and the Flat or Ribbon-flowered. 
