15G 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 20. 
wards of 20 blooms upon it, was exhibited by Mr. 
Munnock, gardener to C. Druce, Esq., of Denmark- 
hill. This is another good winter-flowering plant of 
great beauty. It possesses also the good quality of 
lasting a long time in flower, and is easily cultivated, 
requiring very moderate heat, in a mixture of rough 
loam and peat well drained. 
Stove Plants. —Mr. May, gardener to Mrs. Law¬ 
rence, sent three plants of the fine Aphelandra au- 
rantiaca, with several spikes of fine deep orange- 
coloured blossoms. This is a good winter plant, but 
rather difficult to cultivate, requiring a bark stove 
and a high temperature. A specimen of Vriesia spe- 
ciosa came from Messrs. Jackson and Son. This 
beautiful plant is better known as Tillandsia splen- 
dens. It was shown in good condition. The leaves 
are in form something like those of the pine-apple, 
but have no spines. They are beautifully barred on 
the under side with broad brownish purple stripes. 
The flower-stem rises from the centre clothed with 
scarlet bractes, arranged in two rows and flattened in 
form, looking something like, as the Secretary, Dr. 
Lindley, remarked, a scarlet feather. The flowers 
are yellow, but inconspicuous. The colour of the 
bractes was not quite up to the mark, no doubt on 
account of the dark season of the year. 
Greenhouse Plants. — A dwarf Chrysanthemum, 
two feet high and two feet through, was exhibited by 
Mr. Moore, of the Chelsea Botanical Gardens, to 
show the mode by which it had been managed to 
procure dwarf plants. It had been struck from a 
cutting very early in spring, and stopped and potted 
repeatedly. The result was, the dwarf plant full of 
flowers as exhibited. A new hybrid heath, Erica 
elegantissima, with short crimson, tipped with white, 
bunches of flowers, was sent by Mr. E. G. Hender¬ 
son, of St. John’s Wood Nursery. This promises to 
be a valuable addition to our winter-blooming heaths. 
Eruit. —A large basket of Muscat of Alexandria 
grapes was sent from the gardens of — Nash, Esq., 
of Bishop Stortford. These were finely swelled ber¬ 
ries of the most beautiful amber colour ; they were, 
indeed, perfection itself. A new pine was exhibited 
by Mr. Wilmot, market gardener, Isleworth. It was 
named the Prince Albert pine, weight olbs. (ioz. 
Its shape was in the way of the old Enville; flavour 
good, and the cone not faulty, as the generality of 
black pines are at this season. Pie had also a fair 
specimen of the Blood pine, weight Olbs. 12oz., more 
remarkable for its singular dark colour than any 
other quality. There was a large dish of the fruit of 
Bentliamiafragifera (a plant from Nepaul); the fruit 
is not eatable, but very ornamental. Those were 
grown against a wall in Devonshire. The fruit is 
something like overgrown raspberries, of a dull red 
colour, and must be very handsome on the tree. The 
Chairman stated that he had seen them growing in 
Devonshire and the West of England. They are 
hardy enough to stand the open air in that part of 
the country, but not more northwards. 
In miscellaneous matters relating to gardening, 
there was exhibited a good kind of label lor naming 
hardy shrubs or trees, used, as we understood, in the 
Arboretum at Derby. It is made of a peculiar kind 
of pottery ware. The names are painted on a sloping 
face, and burnt into the material. It appeared to be 
excellent for the purpose, having the two good quali¬ 
ties of durability and legibility; but the expense was 
against it, each costing Is. 3d. 
From the garden of the society there was, as usual, 
a table covered with plants, consisting of some large 
plants of Chrysanthemums, well flowered; a good 
Manettia bicolor, a plant useful as a winter flower; 
and a plant in flower of Abronia umbellata. This 
promises to be a good bedding plant. It has pink 
flowers, arranged in umbels in the way of verbenas, 
and has an agreeable perfume. 
The rooms were ornamented by a collection of wax 
flowers from Mrs. Dorville, 191), Oxford-street, artiste, 
as was stated, to her Majesty the Queen, and jiatron- 
ised by the Duchess of Sutherland. These were ex¬ 
hibited in glass cases, and were exceedingly creditable 
to the artist, both for their exquisite modelling and 
beautiful colouring. Mrs. Dorville appears to have 
brought the art of thus imitating flowers to the 
highest perfection. We particularly noticed the 
following, as being so like the real flowers as almost 
to deceive a connoiseur:— Hoya carnosa, with a long 
branch of leaves and branches of flowers. Sophroni- 
tis grandiflorus, an orchid fastened to a natural log ; 
the leaves and pseudo-bulbs, as well as two flowers, 
well imitated. The art of imitating, and, as it were, 
immortalising, flowers in wax, is a most elegant and 
pleasing amusement for ladies. We have the pleasure 
of Mrs. Dorville’s acquaintance, and have often seen 
with great delight her large collection of wax flowers. 
We consider them well worth inspecting, and are 
sure she will have great pleasure in showing them, 
in her usual pleasing manner, to any respectable party 
who may think fit to honour her with a call. 
The exhibition of so many orchidaceous plants in 
flower in the month of December proves the great 
value of these plants as abundant producers of beau¬ 
tiful flowers at this season of the year. This tribe 
of plants, indeed, flower all the year round, more or 
less. In that respect they are far superior to any 
other, except, perhaps, Cape heaths; and they have 
the advantage even of that fine tribe of plants in 
the size and splendour, as well as exquisite fragrance, 
of various species. It was with a view to show this 
superiority of orchidaceous plants that we were in¬ 
duced to fill the space this week allotted to us with 
the foregoing notice of the meeting in Regent-street; 
and, as a further proof, we subjoin a list of orchids 
now in flower under our care at Pine-Apple-place. 
We hope this will induce numbers of our readers, 
who may have the means and opportunity, to com¬ 
mence growing them. By our own feelings and ex¬ 
perience we can assure them that they will never 
regret cultivating, as far as may be prudent, this most 
interesting tribe of plants. 
ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS NOW IN FLOWER AT MESSRS. 
Henderson’s, pine-apple-place. 
Epidendrum cuspidatuni (pointed 
Angriscum bilobum (two-Iobed 
Angrrecum) 
Barkeria Skinneri (Mr. Skinner’s 
Barkeria) 
Brassavola nodosa (knotty Bras¬ 
savola) 
Brassavola canaliculata (chan¬ 
nelled B.) 
Cyrnochcs vcntricosa (swollen- 
lipped swan flower) 
Cypripedium barbatum (bearded 
lady’s slipper) 
Cypripedium insigne (noble lady’s 
slipper) 
Cypripedium venustum (charming 
lady’s slipper) 
Dendrobium chrysantlium (golden 
flowered Dendrobium) 
Dendrobium heterocarpum (vari¬ 
ous podded Dendrobium) 
Dendrobium nobile (noble D.) 
Epidendrum auritum (eared Epi¬ 
dendrum) 
Epidendrum cochlcatum (shell- 
flowered E.) 
Epidendrum fragrans(fragrant E.) 
Grobya amherstise (Lord Am¬ 
herst’s Grobya) 
Loelia autumnulis (autumn-flow¬ 
ered Lrelia) 
Leptotes bicolor (two-coloured 
Leptotes) 
Oncidium ciliatum (fringed Onci- 
dium) 
Oncidium crispuin (curled flow¬ 
ered O.) 
Oncidium divaricatum(severedO.) 
,, macropterum (large¬ 
winged O.) 
Oncidium ornithorynchum 
(beaked O.) 
Oncidium Suttoni (Captain Sut¬ 
ton’s O.) 
Phaloenopsis amabilis (lovely moth 
flower) 
Sophronitis violacca (violet So- 
phronitis) 
Stanhopea oculata (eyed Stan- 
liopea) 
Stenorhy nchus speciosus(showy S) 
Thus, there are 28 species in flower here in the month 
