AUGUST. 
181 
OUR MONTHLY CHRONICLE. 
Royal Horticultural Society. —At tho 
Floral Committee of the 27th of June, a re¬ 
markably fine pure white Verbena, with large 
pips and trusses, and smooth in outline, was 
awarded a first-class certificate. It was named 
Beauty of England, and came from Mr. Gill. 
Among seedling Pelargoniums, of which 
several were shown, first-class certificates 
were given to Mr. G. Smith, of Hornsey, for 
Chieftain, bright orange scarlet, fine truss, 
and well-marked horseshoe ; and Nosegay La 
Grande, with large heads of carmine crimson 
flowers. Mr. William Paul sent several of 
his new Nosegays, of-which Duchess and 
Indian Yellow had first-class certificates; and 
Mr. Fleming, of Cliveden, cut specimens of 
several kinds new in colour, and likely to 
prove very useful for bedding. Several Or¬ 
chids were shown, of which Palumbina Can¬ 
dida, which Mr. Bateman identified with the 
Luisia Psyche of Reichenbach, having insect¬ 
like flowers close to the stems, received a first- 
class certificate. Mr. Yeitch, of Chelsea, ex¬ 
hibited another new hybrid Orchid, of Mr. 
Dominy’s raising, obtained between Cattleyas 
Acklandias and Forbesii, for which a first- 
class certificate was given; and a similar 
award was made to Mr. Holland, gardener to 
R. Peake, Esq., Isleworth, for Cyclamen 
Peekianum, with rosy pink flowers, produced 
continuously, sometimes for three years; for 
Asplenium trichomanes Ilarrovii, a pretty 
dwarf form; and to the Rev. W. H. Girdle- 
stone, Ryde, for Athyrium Filix-foemina fissi- 
dens irregulare, found in the Western High¬ 
lands. First-class certificates were likewise 
awarded to Messrs. Jackman’s new Clematises 
Prince of Wales, large, dark purple striped 
with red; Princess of Wales, paler; and ru¬ 
bella, with more red in the purple. Other 
subjects consisted of Solanum vescum, from 
Mr. Mackintosh, of Hammersmith, with 
purplish lilac flowers, succeeded by ornamental 
fruit, and stated to be useful for out-door 
decoration ; seedling Roses from Mr. W. Paul; 
and a handsome Fern, Phymatodes glauca, 
from Mr. Walker, Hornsey. 
At the Fruit Committee, which met on the 
same day, but few subjects were brought for¬ 
ward. The most important was a new Cherry, 
raised by Mr. Ingram, of Frogmore, and 
called Frogmore Early Bigarreau. The fruit 
is large, white where shaded, with a brilliant 
crimson cheek where exposed to the sun ; the 
flesh remarkably tender, instead of firm, as 
in other Bigarreaus, and richly flavoured. A 
first-class certificate was awarded for this; also 
for Oulton Park Hybrid Melon, from Mr. 
Wills, gardener to Sir P. M. de Grey Egerton, 
Bart., a medium-sized, round kind, with 
salmon-coloured, tender, melting flesh, of very 
rich flavour. This was considered a great 
acquisition. 
At the scientific meeting which followed, 
Lord Henry Gordon Lennox, M.P., who was 
in the chair, announced that J. M. Strachan, 
Esq., and Sir Joseph Paxton, had presented a 
number of books to the library, which the 
Society was endeavouring to collect; and 
with the vote of thanks to Lady Paxton, was 
united an expression of the deep regret which 
the Society felt for its loss as well as hers. 
Mr. Bateman, in the absence of the Rev. 
M. J. Berkeley, commented on the principal 
subjects before the meeting, and remarked 
that the blue Clematis lanuginosa would offer 
a good contrast when planted along with 
Clematis Jackmanni. Specimens of coloured 
foliage, consisting of the leaves of the Purple 
Nut, Beech, and Black Maple of Japan, were 
then introduced to notice as being very effective, 
especially the last, and as a contrast to these 
the Golden Yew, Holly, Ivy, Japanese Honey¬ 
suckle, and Golden Bramble. The white 
variegated Acer negundo, and many others, 
might also be employed, and these, it should 
be remembered, were all hardy, and within 
the reach of every one. Major Trevor Clarke 
next offered some observations on specimens 
which he had brought to the meeting. Lilium 
testaceum orexcelsum, though it had the repu¬ 
tation of being tender, had been cultivated 
for some years, and found perfectly hardy in 
his garden in Northamptonshire. The other 
subjects consisted of a Monstera or Philo¬ 
dendron, a Stock raised between Mathiola 
fenestralis and M. incana; and a Gladiolus 
obtained by crossing Gladiolus cardinalis and 
a garden variety, and which was interesting 
as confirming an observation made by the 
Dean of Manchester, to the effect that the 
splendid colours of cardinalis are not fully 
transmitted to the offspring when interbreeding 
takes place in a colder climate than that to 
which the species is indigenous. A cross, re¬ 
marked Major Clarke, which might seem com¬ 
paratively unimportant, might supply a link 
in the chain of the evidences in an important 
investigation, and he urged the Fellows of the 
Society, and others, to bring to its meetings 
objects of scientific interest of every kind, 
whether the results of individual experiments, 
or gleanings from hill or valley, river or 
forest, illustrations of nature’s wild and won¬ 
drous changes. Such objects were too rarely 
seen on the tables of the Society because the 
horticultural mind, improved as it is at the 
present day, has not been turned sufficiently 
in this direction. Mr. Bateman then de¬ 
livered a lecture on Rafflesia Arnoldi, in the 
course of which he stated, on the authority 
of a Belgian horticultural periodical, that 
that singular plant, parasitic on the ro of 
certain species of Cissus, and especially Cissus 
scariosa, had been sown in an incision in the 
bark, and had been flowered in the Garden of 
Buitenzorg, in Java, by M. Tyesman. 
The Rose SI ow, which took place on the 
