290 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES.—REVIEW. 
Iffisnllnnrmts Jlntirra. 
Testimonial to Mr. Munro. —This project was started by a few friends of Mr. Mnnro to present him, on his 
retirement from the Curatorship of the Garden of the Horticultural Society of London, after a service of thirty 
years, with a slight token of esteem and respect, and a half-crown subscription was entered into for the purpose. 
This was immediately warmly responded to ; not only by gardeners, hut by some of the nobility and gentry of the 
land. On Dec. 23, the Committee and a few friends dined together at Stevens’s Hotel, Hew Bond Street, Mr. 
Glendinning acting as chairman and Mr. Edmonds (of Chiswick) as vice-chairman, and on that occasion Mr. Munro 
was presented with a handsome Gold Watch and Chain, hearing the following inscription :— u Presented to Mr. 
Donald Munro, F.L.S., by 260 of his friends, as a token of respect and esteem, on the occasion of his retiring, after 
thirty years’ servitude, from the Curatorship of the Gardens of the Horticultural Society of London. December, 
1850.” In presenting the watch, Mr. Glendinning pronounced a very high eulogium upon the character of Mr. 
Munro, not only as connected with his scientific and professional attainments, hut also for his estimable qualities 
in private life. 
It affords us much pleasure to add that the Council of the Horticultural Society have granted Mr. Munro a 
pension for his long servitude, which will enable him to pass the remainder of his days in ease and comfort. This 
is a just tribute to merit, and alike honourable to the giver as to the receiver. To other societies who have old 
servants, and to the employers of gardeners also, we say,—go and do likewise. A balance sheet of receipts and 
disbursements will, we believe, he forwarded to each subscriber. 
Caledonian Horticultural Society.- —Dec. 5.—The office-bearers for 1851 were elected, and various prizes 
awarded for fruits, flowers, and vegetables, sent in for competition. The silver medal offered by the Society for 
the best collection of dried specimens of British plants, including Filices, was awarded to Mr. John Anderson, 
journeyman, Edinbm'gh Botanic Garden, his collection containing 640 species correctly named, and arranged 
according to the natural system; a second prize, with certificate of merit, was voted to Mr. William Smith, 
journeyman, Experimental Garden, for a collection containing about '520 species and varieties, likewise arranged 
according to the natural system; Messrs. P. Lawson and Son, prize of two guineas, for the best collection of dried 
specimens of Hardy Perennial Herbaceous Plants, was awarded to Mr. Thomas Fairley, journeyman, Edinburgh 
Botanic Garden, who produced a most excellent collection, containing 1,859 species and varieties, arranged ac¬ 
cording to the natural system of Lindley, as given in the last edition of the Vegetable Kingdom. Among the other 
articles exhibited were fruit of Saracha viscosa, with a sample of jam made from it, from Stewart B. Hare, Esq^ 
Lochrin House; a plant of Cupressus torulosa from Mr. John Wilkie, gardener, Garvald House, accompanied by 
a communication mentioning its hardiness at Garvald, at an elevation of 1,200 feet; a large coloured drawing of 
A ictoria Regia, by Mr. Jaffrey, Warriston Lodge ; and specimens of the Glen Dwarf Drumhead Cabbage—stated 
to he a valuable variety for agricultural as well as garden purposes—from Mr. Handasyde, Glen Nurseries, 
Musselburgh. 
- 1 - 
llrnirra. 
Encyclopaedia of Gardening , comprising the Theory and Practice of Horticulture , Floriculture. Arboriculture , and 
Landscape Gardening. By J. C. Loudon, F.L.S., H.S., &c. A new edition, corrected and improved by 
Mrs. Loudon. London: Longman and Co., 1850. 
As a standard work, Loudon’s u Encyclopaedia” has long held a high position in Horticultural literature, 
and it must be confessed no other book in the English or any other language supplies such an amount of informa¬ 
tion on the subjects upon which it treats. In the present edition, some of the objectionable parts have been 
expunged, and, so far as relates to the history and science of gardening, it is much improved, having received 
assistance from the writings of Dr. Lindley, and also personal assistance in Geology from Professor Ansted; 
in Chemistry, from Professor Solly; and in Entomology, from J. O. Westwood, Esq. To these parts, and 
also to the history of Gardening, a great quantity of new matter has been added ; and we wish we could say as 
much for the cultural part ; but truth compels us to assert that that department is neither so full nor yet so modern 
as it ought to have been. For illustration, under the head Pine Apple the only new matter is an article from 
Mr. H. C. Ogle on the Hamiltonian system—but not a word is said of the large Pines grown at Gunnersbury, or 
those at Mr. Purdy’s, Bayswater, or at Trentham, and no notice is taken of Mill’s treatise, or of the Meudon system 
of growing that fruit. Again, under Melons, not a word is said of Duncan’s, Mill’s, or Moore’s systems, or of 
the splendid Melons grown in Ireland by Mr. Walker, or those produced from Trentham. In Vines the greatest 
novelty is the Coiling system, now seventeen years old ; and in Cucumbers the works of Smith, Allen, Weedon, 
Mills, Duncan, Ayres, or Moore, are unnoticed, though the last three are allowed to he the best on the subject. 
These are grave omissions, and such as ought not to have occurred in a new edition of a standard work. The 
empiricisms of such authors as Nicol, Maw, and Abercrombie, though valuable in their day, are now “ gone out,” 
and though they may serve for comparison with better systems, they should not have been retained to the exclu¬ 
sion of modern improvements. The lists of fruit and vegetables have been revised by Mr. Thompson of the 
Horticultural Gardens, and generally the selections are very judicious, and the best kinds in each list being indi¬ 
cated by a special mark, makes them still more valuable. The work is profusely illustrated, and beautifully 
got up ; and, as a whole, is an authority which every gardener should fortify h im self with.—A. 
/ c 
