JULY. 
167 
height, bearing fifty carmine-coloured flowers. 
A plant thirty years old flowered last year in 
the Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg. The 
flower-stem began to show itself in June, 
1862; the first flower opened early in April, 
1863, and in the course of three weeks came 
out in succession. The flower-stem was about 
17 feet high, whilst the plant which flowered 
with Loddiges in 1833 produced one 26 feet 
high. The plant succeeds in a light loam 
with a winter temperature of from 45° to 50°. 
It dies after flowering, but before doing so 
generally sends up suckers, by which it can 
be propagated .—(Journal de la Socitte hnpe- 
riale et Centrals d’ Horticulture.} 
r 
New' Trees and Shrubs. —M. Villevielle 
of Manorque (Basses Alpes), has obtained a 
red-flowered variety of the Robinia Pseud- 
Acacia, or Locust Tree, which is said to be 
very ornamental, and as fragrant as the 
common white type, which is known to every 
one. A hardy Ceanothus raised between 
C. Americanus and azureus is about to be 
sent out by M. Dauvesse of Orleans. It is 
very free flowering, bearing, from June to 
October or November, long panicles of pale 
blue flowers, changing to deeper blue. The 
long duration of the bloom will, doubtless, 
render it a favourite for planting in shrub¬ 
beries. M. Dauvesse has also a white- 
flowered Spirsea Fortunei, which is said to 
contrast well with the normal rose-coloured 
form; a variety of the Osage Orange, or 
Maclura aurantiaca, with white variegated 
leaves; and a Maple with elegantly cut 
foliage. 
Oak Silkworms. —A fourth species of these 
has just been introduced into France. It is 
called Bombyx Roylei, and comes from the 
Himalayas, on the borders of Cashmere. The 
cocoon is larger than those of the other kinds, 
and in colour a pretty light grey. The worm 
feeds on the leaves of Q,uercus incana, and 
CALENDAR OF 
CONSERVATORY. 
Here little need be added to the directions in 
previous Calendars. Keep a sharp look-out for 
insects. Syringe freely all plants not in flower. 
GREENHOUSE. 
Hardwooded Plants .—Attend to the young 
stock in pits and frames; there will be every 
now and then some plants that will require 
shifting into larger pots ; turn them round 
occasionally, and stop and train the young 
shoots. Towards the end of the month, if the 
weather be fine, the lights may be left off 
during the night. Attend to large specimens 
out of doors ; see they do not suffer for want 
of water in dry weather, nor from excess of 
water in wet weather. Softwooded Plants .— 
See directions in previous Calendars. 
will, probably, live on the common Oak. 
Coming from so elevated a region it is likely 
to prove hardy in this country. The Yara- 
Mai, a Japanese Silkworm, fed on Quereus 
pedunculata, yields a strong but rather coarse 
silk at the rate of 2 lbs. of silk to 24 to 28 lbs. 
of cocoons. 
The Weather in May, variable as our cli¬ 
mate is, was most unusual. The day tempe¬ 
rature in the third week ranged from 80° to 83°, 
which, with one exception, is higher than it 
has been during the last thirty-seven years ; 
and the night temperature in the last week 
was equally extraordinary, falling to 25° on 
the 29th, and 28° on the 30th. The result 
was that whole fields of Potatoes were black¬ 
ened, and Dwarf Kidney Beans and Scarlet 
Runners crippled and destroyed. At Worksop 
the thermometer fell as low as 20° on the 
morning of the 1st of June, and the young 
growths of shrubs were severely damaged. 
OBITUARY. 
Lady Grenville died in London on the 
13th of last month at the great age of ninety- 
two. She had been to the Regent’s Park 
Show on the llth, was taken ill the same 
night, and only survived till Monday. Thus 
to the last she showed she was. constant to 
that love of horticulture in which she had 
delighted throughout a life which had been 
prolonged far beyond the ordinary limits of 
human existence. Her name is inseparably 
associated with Dropmore and its noble 
pinetum. 
M. Xavier de Bavay died at Vilvorde 
(Belgium) on the llth of May, aged thirty- 
three. He superintended the extensive nur¬ 
series established by his father at that place, 
and the government school of fruit-tree cul¬ 
ture in connection with them. He was like¬ 
wise the author of some manuals on that 
subject. He had long been in declining 
health. 
OPERATIONS. 
FORCING. 
Melons .—Give abundance of air when the 
fruit are approaching maturity; keep the 
atmosphere dry; attend to late crops; thin 
shoots, water, &c.; still keep up a regular 
bottom heat. Peach .—When the fruit is all 
gathered in the early house, give the trees a 
few good heavy syringings to clear them of red 
spider, &c.; keep the foliage in a good healthy 
state as long as possible ; by this mean3 the 
wood will be properly ripened, and this is a 
point of the utmost importance, as on it de¬ 
pends in a great measure the success or failure 
of next season’s crop. When late crops of 
fruit are swelling, water must be supplied 
liberally, and where it is ripening it should be 
withheld. 
