December 2 :i. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
221 
Daphne indica rubra. —By far ttie largest spcciiiien of 
this 1 ever saw was liere in full hloom, in a square 
wooden box. I should think it was live feet through, 
and it looketl like a second-sized specimen of the Azalea 
iiulica at a May show. It was sent by Mi’. Edmunds, 
gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, Chiswick House. 
Anianjllis reticulata. —A fine-grown plant, with two 
scapes, bearing four large reddish flowers each. I 
notice this to show how little some of the best gar¬ 
deners in this country know about the names of bul¬ 
bous plants, for it is really a hybrid llippeastmm. 
worked from II. aulicuni. It is quite excusable to call 
them Amaryllis, because the species were published 
as such before our knowledge of them was complete ; 
but to confound any of the breed of aulicum, to the 
third or fourth generation, with reticulatum, or any of 
its crosses, as far as we know them, shows how little 
the affinity of bulbs is understood among us. 1 have 
not seen the true reticulatum these eighteen years, but 
1 can give a sign by which a schoolboy could tell it at 
once from any of the 400 or fiOO species belonging 
to the order, and also from the more than 4000 varie- 
1 ties into which they have branched out, and that sign 
is the large white eye at the bottom of the ymrianth, or 
flower leaves : there is not a single plant in the whole 
order with this conspicuous mark but itself The 
hybrid bulb before us is from aulicum, or an early 
cross from it, by the pollen of equestre, or some of its 
early crosses; and here are the signs— aulicum has a 
large gi’een eye and a smooth eyelid, or margin ; equestre 
has the green eye in the form of a star, with a fringed 
eyelid. Now, the plant in question has a large green 
eye, not exactly as in aulicum, nor quite a star like 
equestre; it has a fringed eyelid, or partly fringed and 
partly notched; the sepals in aulicum are as stiff’ as 
wax, and upright; equestre has them wavy, and so has 
this hybrid, but in a less degree; the colour is just 
intermediate between the two. 
There is a distinct class of dwarf Melastomads on the 
secondary ranges of hills in the East Indies, which are 
more herbaceous-like than the rest of the order; and 
they are easily known, from wanting the ribs on the 
leaves, which is one of the most characteristic features 
of Melastomads. Roxburgh is the best authority for 
them. We hardly know any of them in England; we 
have just got one of them in our Dictionary, an annual, 
and a second appeared at this meeting from the garden 
of the Society, and a charming little thing it is; you 
would take it to be a cross between some dwarf small¬ 
leaved Begonia and a rose-leaved Melastoma. They 
call it Sonerila orhiculare; it is just the sort of thing for 
an amateur; and although the very leaf of a Melastomad 
reminds us of a stove and damp atmosphere, the Sone- 
rilas will do with the same treatment that suits Begonias, 
and they are just as easily increased. Make a memo¬ 
randum of this also. 
Brugmansia, or rather Datura sanguinea. When 1 
first wrote about keeping all the Daturas out in the 
open ground, from year to year, 1 was met in more than 
one quarter with, “Don’t you wish you may get it?” 
Well, wo had beautiful blossoms up from Dorsetshire 
of the red Datura, that has been growing out-of-doors 
there ever since it was introduced, with hardly any 
protection at all; and if it is cut down, or any of them 
injured by frost, up they come next year like Fuchsias, 
and flower as abundantly. This 4 was told by the 
gentleman who sent them, the Hon. W. F. Strangways, 
who has always helped the Society to a knowledge of 
his halt-hardy gardening. We had a whole tray full 
of cut flowers from the open gi’ound at this meeting, 
some of which 1 told of last February, such as Azara 
integrifolia, Litliosqmrmum rosemarinifolia, Edwardsia 
macrocarpa and grandijiora; this last ripened seed this 
autumn, at the Bury St. Fldmund’s botanic garden, on 
the open wall. In addition, we had to-day the Spanish 
Convolvulus cneorum, with large white flowers; Veronica 
Andersonii, with lilacy-bluc flowers in long rouna 
spikes; and ono of the honey shrubs from the Cape, 
Frotaa melifera, with a beautiful flower-bud, shaped 
like a sharp-pointed cone, all from the open ground. 
Mr. Bince, of Exeter, sent two new conifers, one a 
young plant, looking like some glaucous African cypress, 
the other a sport from the Chinese arbor-vita, as it 
appeared to me, with a bluish shade, which, if it keeps 
true, will make a very distinct thing. From Plymouth, 
there were Lemons, from an open wall, in the garden 
of .1. Lockyer, Esq., of South Wembury House, as fine- 
looking as any from abroad. From the garden of the 
Society we had a large collection of ifiants, besides 
the Bush Mallow, and Sonerila, such as winter- 
flowering Heaths, a large collection of Chrysanthemums, 
Manettia bicolor, Triomph de gand Tropreolum, and 
others, with one of the best winter-flowering plants 
belonging to the Justicias or Justicia-looking plants, 
with crimson-scarlet flowers, and the name of it made 
every face in the room smile. Those who hear them¬ 
selves, night after night, abused, and called everything 
but senators, without moving a muscle, and even the 
lecturer himself, whose jaws seem as if made of cast- 
iron, could not resist the general twitter on his pro¬ 
nouncing the words, “ Sericographis Ohiesbreghtiana." 
There was also a good specimen of Camellia Donkelaeri, 
and lots upon lots of the Pomjwne Chrysanthemums, 
and a few of the old ones, but that class was lost 
“ betw’een two stools ” this season. 
1 forget if 1 ever told that her Majesty Queen 
Victoria, and her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland, are 
two of the most keen competitors at these shows. 
There is no mistake about them; it is like diamond 
cut diamond to see her Grace beating her Majesty, and 
her Ma.jesty beating the Duchess. The Queen was 
victorious this time by heavy odds, or full twelve 
ounces in a 7 lb. H oz. Pine Apple, of the smooth-leaved 
Cayenne, against a (ilb. 12 oz. Providence. The gallant 
Colonel Baker, of Salisbury, entered the lists with a 
beautiful Cayenne Pine, 0 lb. 11 oz. There were several 
more fine-looking Pines, and the Grapes were excellent 
—the best Muscats from Mrs. Maubert, of Norwood, 
and the finest St. Peter’s Grapes from Mr. Davis, of 
Oak Hill, near Barnet. Nothing could exceed the 
colour and bloom. But, of all the fruit, a splendid dish 
of the trae old Golden Pippin, from Mr. Snow, attracted 
most notice. They wore from an east wall, and the trees 
are as healthy as the Downton Pippin. D. Beaton. 
THE INFLUENCE OF THE BEAUTIFUL. 
“ I KNOW that there are many of the poor who possess 
fine feelings, and have a keen sense of the beautiful, 
but such feelings are sufi'ered to rust out and die, 
because their ])ossessors arc too hard pressed to procure 
themselves any gratification. Else, why is it that we 
so often see the Geranium or Rose tree carefully nursed 
in an old, cracked tea-pot in the poorest room, or the 
Morning Glory planted in a box, and twined about the 
window? Do not these shew that the luiman heart 
yearns for the beautiful in all ranks of life?” Such 
ideas are not new to the readers of this work. If they 
do not always mirror themselves from the surface of its 
pages, it is because every one feels that the strong 
under-current is ever flowing in that direction. Next 
to the pleasure of expressing strong-felt convictions, is 
the delight of finding that these are in unison with the 
opinions of the gifted and the good. The above extract 
is culled from a beautiful short sketch of the “Tea 
Rose,” from the pen of the able, right-hearted American 
writer, Mrs. Stowe. I have long felt, and said, that the 
