252 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 22 
[ from six to eight inches across, or any other size they 
please. 
Proposals are out for tho establishment of a Society 
of Amateurs only , for mutual protection against worth¬ 
less flowers, to decide among themselves what novelties 
they shall buy, and to receive at their meetings, for their 
judgment, any specimens which raisers choose to send; 
moreover, to report to their members quarterly, at least, 
the subjects they approve, and in what degree. 
South London Society. —At the general meeting for 
the choice of officers, there were only six nurserymen 
candidates to fill up six vacancies. This is given as a 
reason why the partner of an amateur (who was rejected 
for another candidate,) was not also rejected as well as 
the exhibitor of his tulips. The unlooked-for, but appa¬ 
rently unavoidable re-election, has given great umbrage 
to some of the most distinguished and liberal members. 
Ranunculus growing is not unlikely to become more 
general than it has been for some years. 
Messrs. Tyso, Airzee, Lightbody, Head, Lockhart, and 
Groom, will, we believe, favour us with blooms of some of 
their best, and they have raised some very beautiful novel¬ 
ties, and we shall take some pains to let all likely amateurs 
have a sight of them. The planting time of the show 
varieties, for the June exhibitions, is from the first to the 
third week in February. 
HOOKER’S GOLDEN CANE. 
Chrysobactron Hookerii. —This new addition to our 
Lilyworts belongs to the section of Anthericads (Anthc- 
ricecc ), and is intermediate between Anthericum and 
Asphodel, indications which, with our wood-cut, will 
readily stamp its characteristics on the mind of every | 
gardener; add to this, our literal translation of the name 
itself, and the impress of the plant is indelibly fixed in 1 
the memory. The name is derived from Chrysos, gold, 
and baktron, a cane, in allusion to the scape, or flower- 
stem, and the colour of the flowers. All the Lilyworts 
are six-stamened (Hexandrous), and referred to the first 
order of the sixth class in the system of Linnaeus, Alex¬ 
andria Monogynia. 
Hooker’s Golden Cane was discovered in New Zea¬ 
land, by Mr. Bidwell, who sent it to the Royal Botanic 
Garden, at Kew, in 1848, where it flowered for the first 
time last summer. It is, and was, kept in a cool frame 
all the winter. It is a native of boggy places. There 
is one other species known, 0. Rossii, which is a native 
of Lord Auckland’s Islands. — Botanical Magazine, 
t. 4602. B. J. 
THE DUNG-BED. 
Despise not, ye gentlemen of our time-honoured-craft 
•—ye who would keep us perpetually in hot water —a 
few words of advice to young beginners and small 
gardeners on this relic of by-gone gardening, this strong¬ 
hold of our Abercrombies, Speechlys, Forsyths, &c., &c. 
Not all the iron in Birmingham, and all the water of 
the Thames, have been able as yet to drive the old hot¬ 
bed from the garden. What the next seven years may 
do it is impossible to say, but it may, nevertheless, be 
conjectured, that however excellent the atmosphere of ! 
fermenting materials may he, people will begin to find i 
other uses for manurial matters, unless the Peruvians 
should generously place their far-famed guano within 
reach of all; a consummation rather unlikely to occur. 
As, therefore, the dung-bed’s requiem may not yet be | 
sung, we must still cultivate acquaintance with it. 
About the details of “working” the dung, &c., much 
was said last spring by the The Cottage Gardener; 
and we may now deal with the subject more in the 
abstract, casting a glance at important details for the 
sake of new readers. 
General Policy. —We would fain render this signifi¬ 
cant; and the aspirant who (with an undue amount of 
enthusiasm, we may lament rather than blame) thinks 
more of making early dung beds for cucumbers, melons, 
&c., than of providing liniugs for them, will find himself 
in an awkward predicament before the early spring has 
passed away. He certainly may meet with a little 
genuine sympathy from The Cottage Gardener, from 
men who have passed through this trying ordeal in 
their younger days, enabling them full well to appre¬ 
ciate the-anything-but-agreeableness of a false position, 
and who, of course, are enabled to meet his lamenta¬ 
tions in the querist’s column. Let every one, therefore, 
“ take stock ” before he appropriates his frames, pits, 
&c., for the spring; look well at the amount of ferment¬ 
able materials, present and prospective. 
And here, by a timely forecast, means may be taken 
to economise hot manure, and other fermentative mate¬ 
rials used as linings, by laying by all boughs and 
branches of evergreens, tho primings of the shrubbery, 
&c., such should be preserved in a most miserly way, for 
their use is very considerable. 
The wind is the greatest enemy to the dung-bed, and 
those who are short of warm manure should keep their 
linings constantly sheltered by protectors, and these 
may be boughs or branches stuck all over them. Nor 
is economy the only object; a covering of some kind as 
protective of the linings, is of eminent service in pre¬ 
venting sudden fluctuations, and too severe depressions 
