i3i 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 29, 1859. 
duster measuring fifteen inches across; tire corollas white, 
yellow in the centre, haring measured six inches across, with a ; 
tinge of blush on the lobes ; and the bud, just before expansion, 
is of the same length. The leaves have their charms too: the | 
largest of them a foot long, including the short, thick petiole, 
are much puckered on the superior surface-—that is, swollen or 
blistered in the areoles of the network, and these reflect a strong 
light. Nor docs this include all the beauties of the plant. The 
corymb, long before it is developed, is enclosed within a scaly bud, 
if I may so call it, six inches long and nearly four inches in 
diameter, very much reSembling a Pine-cone or the flower-head 
of some South African proteaceous plant; and the large deci¬ 
duous scales are richly coloured too, almost white below, deep- 
rose in tho centre, and tipped with green. Somewhat similar but 
smaller scale-buds envelope the infant foliage, which, too, is red 
when it first bursts forth. Such a Rhododendron well merits 
the name of the lato Mr. Nuttall, given to it by its discoverer, 
Mr. Eooth ; and we know that but a little before his lamented 
death, ono of the last sources of pleasure he derived from the 
vegetable creation, which he had so long and so successfully 
studied, was the information of his namesake having for the first- 
time flowered (at Kew), and the sight of the large drawing above j 
referred to. The species was discovered by Mr. Booth in the ! 
‘ Duphla Hills, at Merc Patao, about Seram’s village, on the 
banks of the Papoo, Bhotan, growing in swampy grounds, 
among Yews and Oaks, sometimes epiphytically on trees, and at 
an elevation of from 4000 to 5000 feet above the sea-level.’ We 
have seen a drawing of a specimen in tho possession of Mr. 
St-andish which flowered on the Continent; and Lady Dorothy 
Nevill informs us she has a plant showing flower at this time 
(October, 1859).”— (BotanicalMagazine, t. 5146.) 
Bryophyllum proliferum ( Proliferous Bryophyllum). 
Native of Madagascar, a crassulaceous plant more curious than 
beautiful.— (Ibid. t. 5147.) 
IIoya Cumingiana (Mr. Cuming's Hoy a). 
A climber, native of the Malay Islands, imported by Messrs. 
Low, Clapton Nursery. Flowers yellow, purple in the centre.— 
(Ibid. t. 5148.) 
Dissotis Irvingiana (Hr. Irving's Hissotis). 
Sir W. Hooker says :—“ From tropical Western Africa, whence 
I received specimens from the late Dr. Irving, gathered in 
Abeokuta, and, more recently, both seeds and specimens from 
the late Mr. Barter, while Botanist to the Niger Expedition. 
Both these travellers have since fallen a sacrifice to the climate; 
the former more especially in the cause of humanity, the latter 
to tho love of science and the arduous duties under his energetic 
friend and most successful commander of the Expedition, Dr. 
Baikie. During upwards of two years’ exposure to the climate, 
Mr. Barter enjoyed excellent health, under the most perilous and 
trying circumstances, and it is only recently that the news of his 
death has reached England, from a rapid attack of dysentery, at 
Rabba, and while surrounded with comparative comforts :—the 
first death that has occurred (such have been the care and attention 
devoted to health) among Dr. Baikie’s small party. Our readers 
will be glad to learn, that on the official news of the death of Mr. 
Barter having reached the Foreign Office, the First Secretary of 
State'of that department, Lord John Russell, immediately gave 
instruction for a successor to be appointed; and Mr. Gustave 
Mann, one of 1 lie very intelligent Hanoverian gardeners of the 
Royal Gardens of Kew, will sail on tho 24th of this month for 
Lagos, where preparations are making for his ascent of the 
Quorra to Rabba, where Dr. Baikie awaits his arrival.”— (Ibid, 
t. 5149.) 
Cattleya fe'cuiLLEEiANA, var. concolor (Svhtiler's Cattleya, 
whole-coloured variety), 
Imported from Brazil by Messrs. Backhouse and Son, York 
Nursery. Flower reddish-purple, margin of lip white.— (Ibid, 
t . 5150.) 
VARIETIES. 
Travellers’ Fare in the Piedmontese Alps. — The hot 
springs of St. Didier, though not sulphurous, are, with the good 
baths and hotels established there, a considerable rival to the 
attractions of Courmayeur for the Italian visitors. Embosomed 
in shady trees and fragrant meadows, under the high overhang¬ 
ing precipices of the Cramont, with the snow-peaks of Mont 
Blanc closing in the view and diffusing a delicious coolness, the 
pure air must bo an indescribable relief after the hot glare of 
Turin, and the endless dusty roads, Mulberry Pollards, and 
Maize fields of the plains; especially to invalids whose system 
requires bracing. To these attractions it must be indebted for 
its popularity rather than to the very mild virtues of its waters, 
the principal of which is, that they constantly supply ready baths 
of hot water, which issues from a spring in the ravine of the 
Doire, at a temperature of 95°. It contains, I believe, no iron, 
and very slight traces of magnesia or other salts. The little 
party at Bertolini’s were pleasant, well-informed people, who 
wisely preferred the quiet of the “Royal” to the crowded 
“ Angelo,” where, at the table-d’hote, some sixty to eighty people 
sat down daily, in full dress, which seemed to occupy most of 
their time, as their costumes were changed half a dozen times a- 
day. Along with this taste for dress, so strangely out of place 
here under Mont Blanc, the Turinese seemed to take an especial 
pleasure and pride in keeping up their barbarous broad Italian 
dialect, which one would have imagined the refinement of the 
capital would long since have banished for the pure Tuscan. 
Bertolini’s great ambition was to get the custom of English 
travellers in preference to his own countrymen; and, notwith¬ 
standing much that unfortunately may too truly be said as to 
the grumbling, discontented, and exacting behaviour of many of 
the former, we found here, as elsewhere, that they were far sur¬ 
passed in these qualities by the Piedmontese, and their company 
greatly preferred, not for the supposed long purse only. Ber¬ 
tolini’s efforts to please and to provide liberally for his visitors 
deserved every praise. He treated us more like guests, and, 
what always contributes to the well-doing of an hotel more than 
anything else, he attended to everything himself. The difficulty 
of providing not only luxuries, but even necessaries, at Cour¬ 
mayeur, is greater than would be at first imagined, and the hotels 
are dependent on Turin for the greatest part of then- supplies. 
The table-d’hote on our return seemed absolute luxury after our 
late fare, and E-made a note of our first dinner. The usual 
soup was followed by slices of sausage, the a nnoble dish of 
I Potatoes came in to be eaten with butter, next followed boiled 
j fowls, and a puree of Tomatoes; then in successive relays, 
chamois au vin de Madcre, pickled trout with Lettuces, stewed 
, “cousses” or small Pumpkins, roast hare and salad, Haricots in 
their pods boiled entire, roast mutton with “ poivrons ” or large 
| Capsicums, stewed Pears, Grapes, Peaches, and confectionery, 
; and good Aostan wine, with sparkling water from La Yictoire,— 
the charge only four francs a-head. Chamois are not scarce here, 
and when served at table may be relied on as the genuine animal, 
instead of the goat’s flesh palmed off on unsuspecting travellers 
at every hotel in Switzerland, though it does not require much 
experience to tell the difference. We saw the one of which we 
partook as it was brought in by a chasseur from the Allee 
Blanche. It was a fine buck, but tho price asked, fifty francs, 
was enormous, though he took something less. The bouquetin 
has already been mentioned, but its flesh is very rarely to be had 
anywhere, the penalties against its destruction being so heavy. 
Hares are abundant, especially the Alpine species, which are wlute 
in winter. The brown hare is, however, much the better eating, 
the other being lean and dry, like the Alpine hare of our own 
Highlands. Ptarmigan are found on the high mountains, and 
black game are plentiful in the season, which is, however, late, 
not commencing until October ; the young birds being hatched 
| so far on in the season. I was assured that in the forests they 
get up thirty or forty at a time, and was strongly urged to return 
for the “ cliasse.” Bears and wolves are not yet extinct, but 
keep lower down the valley, among the dark forests of the Yal 
d’Aosta. The trout with which our table was constantly sup¬ 
plied came all the way from the Lacde Tignes, a small mountain 
loch, high up in the Iseran district. Twice a week a man brought 
them in a creel on his back, by a short cut across the mountains, 
to the Little St. Bernard, and thence to Courmayeur. His load 
- varied from four kilogrammes* to eight, and even occasionally 
; ten. For carrying them he got fifty sous and his food, whatever 
I the weight of liis load. The competition between the two hotels 
had raised the price, which was then fifty sous to three francs 
per pound, so that they are an expensive luxury, yielding little or 
no profit. But I was told here, as elsewhere in the Alps, that 
j “les Anglais” invariably asked for trout the first thing, asso¬ 
ciating them, I suppose, as a matter of course, with mountain 
streams, utterly regardless of glaciers and ice-water; so that an 
idea apparently prevails that an Englishman cannot possibly get 
* A kilogramme is 2 lbs. 3 ozs. 11-5 drs. avoirdupois. 
