44 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 23. 
All applications for grafts must be received by the 20th of 
I>ecember in each year, otherwise they cannot be attended 
to. Communications to be addressed to Robert Hogg, 
No. 13, Gilston-road, Brompton, London.” 
The following letter is from a correspondent, but, as 
it is anonymous, we should not have inserted it thus 
prominently if we had not had the opportunity of trying 
the scythe he mentions, and found it fully meriting 
all the praise bestowed upon it:— 
“ I purchased, in June last, one of Boyd's Self-adjusting 
Scythes, which deserves all praise. I find I can now cut my 
own lawn, and for this, and its various novelties and utilities, 
recommend it very strongly to the notice of your subscribers. 
Its price, 10s. 6d., is so moderate as to bring it within the 
reach of all. My old scythe used to hang over my pear 
tree to be out of harm’s way; and having encountered all 
the rough winter weather, in the following spring, on 
requiring to use it, I found it half-decayed, and as ricketty 
as though it had been in wear for a century. But with 
Boyd’s scythe I do no such thing, neither do I fear my 
children or domestics getting injured by it, as when I have 
done using it I shut it up, and stow it away under my kitchen 
stairs, where it is kept free from exposure to weather, and 
likely to last out three of the old-fashioned ones.”—C. T. W. 
There is an improvement yet needed in the scythe, 
and that is, that the iron hook which, to hold the blade 
firm, passes through a hole in its heel, should be 
fastened to the handle, and regulated by a screw, 
instead of being nailed as at present. 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
Mr. Weeks exhibited a flower of the Victoria regia 
at the Horticultural Society’s last meeting, one flower of 
upwards of fifty that had been produced in his heated 
pond in the open air. A good deal has been said of Mr. 
Weeks having protected the plant in the night the first 
few months it was planted out, and some writers have 
attempted to show that there was something like decep¬ 
tion. We confess we never saw anything like deception, 
and we consider any such inference quite unjustified. 
We protect tender plants under glass to be bedded out 
when they can stand the warmer climate. Mr. Weeks 
has done immense service by showing that the Victoria 
regia, by protection during the severer weather, will 
afterwards flourish in the open air. He was awarded a 
silver medal, and deservedly. 
The Odontoglossum grande is one of the most showy 
and hardy of the orcliideous tribe, and it has been said 
will bloom in the open air in summer time. Mr. 
Jackson, of Kingston, flowers them in a cool house. 
We have read a great deal about “ orchids for the 
j million; “the million orchids” would have been a 
better title. To have carried out the notion of “ orchids 
for the million,” would have been to describe only those 
; which require no stove, and not much trouble. We 
should just as soon expect “piano-fortes for the million” 
as orchids. II they are not the most difficult family to 
manage, they, at least, require what not one person in a 
million can provide. Whoever shows the world a list 
of those which require but little trouble, and less money, 
will be doing a real service. Mr. Jackson, of Kingston! 
has done his part with the magnificent subject we have 
noticed. 
Messrs. Lucombe, Pince, & Co. have produced a beau¬ 
tiful variety of ZEschynantlius. The tube is a bright j 
yellow inclining to orange, and the lip broad and bright 
red. The flowers are of the full size, if not larger than 
any we have. 
Mr. Fleming, who used to distinguish himself as 
one of the most successful exhibitors at the exhibi' 
tions held through one of our hardest winters—Mur¬ 
phy’s winter—at the Egyptian Hall, and who owes his 
present engagement to the meeting of her grace the 
Duchess of Sutherland there, has just given a proof of 
his skill at the Horticultural Society; he showed at the 
last meeting a Queen pine 7 jib weight, besides three 
others of the respective weights of 6 fb 14 oz., 5 tb 15 oz., 
and 5 lb 10 oz. Mr. Fleming’s father was in the same 
noble service year’s before, but the son had lost sight of 
the family in other service at the time we mention, and 
the meeting was as fortunate for the employer as the 
employed. 
Great efforts will be made, we understand, to apply 
class showing to Dahlias next season, by which the 
flowers must stand or fall by their merits, irrespective of 
size and of each other. The question to be discussed is, 
shall there be more than one of a sort win? The 
northern florists adopt class showing, to place varieties 
where they range in point of excellence, and, therefore, 
do not allow the same flower to come in twice, if there 
be enough varieties to take all the prizes. The Cam¬ 
bridge people allow the best flowers to win all through, 
so that one variety may win all through a class. 
The National Floricultural Society on the 9th inst. 
had very few things shewn, and fewer people to look at 
them. 
Mr. Drummond’s Dahlia, Boh, was exhibited in not very 
good order, but had a certificate, and in the deficiency of 
novelties deserved it. Sir Ji. Whittington, another of beau¬ 
tiful pinky-purple, was in better condition than we had seen 
it before, and will prove an acquisition; but it had no 
certificate. Queen of Whites shewn tolerably, but too open. 
Kossuth, a tolerable red-and-white fancy, was not noticed. 
Tom, a scarlet with pale sunk eye, not noticed. Alice, a 
dead rose colour, very striking on that account, but shaky 
in the centre, was also passed unheeded; it is under 
medium size, but pretty. A new Statice from Mr. Drum¬ 
mond, more robust and of far better habit than Arborea, 
with a flower double the size, was awarded a first-class 
certificate. Miss Mathews, a fancy dahlia of Bragg’s, was 
shewn in worse condition than we have seen it; this is a 
red-and-white fancy flower, of which there are already so 
many, but upon most of which it is an improvement. The 
character of the new dahlias generally is not first-rate. 
Most of them are too open, the petals do not cover each 
other enough, and the centres are inclined to be sunk, while 
the faces are flat. At present we see nothing to beat Scarlet 
King, Whittington, Boh, Triumphant, Sir F. Thessiyer, and 
Dr. Frampton. The last and the first-named, perhaps, are 
the best; but the last is very desirable indeed, now that 
there is some chance of an improved taste as to size. It 
will not do next season to depend on measure. E. Y. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS, BIOGRAPHIES, AND CULTURE. 
Oleander-leaved Andromeda (Leucothde ( Andromeda ) 
Neriifolia).—Botanical Magazine, t. 4593.—In mytho- 
