30 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
This led me to the conclusion that the plant 
was not able to carry such a quantity of bloom, 
the first of which expanded in February, and a 
succession of which continued to open for some 
time. This plant had just commenced making 
its new growth when the disastrous frost in 
the early part of May occurred, and cut very 
severely ; but it fortunately broke back, and I 
have no doubt will bloom well this season. 
Camellias in pots generally receive very in 
different treatment. They are potted in bad 
soil, and during the summer months when 
turned out-doors very often want for water ; 
then of course the buds drop speedily. Camellias 
blossom freely enough out-doors in the south, 
but the flowers are apt to be damaged by 
rain and frost. They succeed best in a 
cool house, and planted out in a well-drained 
border, the soil being composed of turfy loam, 
peat, and sand. They should at all times receive 
plenty of water, and when the buds are formed 
they will be benefited by having weak liquid 
manure.— Geo. Potts, Jun., Red Rice Gardens. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
GjVl) XHIBITIONS and meetings have been 
J fixed for the following dates : — Royal 
(S~r ? Horticultural Society : Great Sum¬ 
mer Show, May 28-31; Provincial Show at Preston, 
July 10-13. Fruit and Floral Committees, January 
15; February 19; March 5, 19; April 2, 16; May 
7, 21; June 4,18 (this being also a Rose show and the 
Pelargonium Society’s show) ; July 2, 16; August 
6,20; September 17; October 15; November 19; 
December 17.— Royal Botanic Society: Spring 
Shows, March 27, April 24. Summer Shows, May 
22, June 12, July 10; Evening Fete, June 26. Mr. 
Anthony Waterer’s exhibition of Rhododendrons 
to open about June 1, and Messrs. Carter and Co.’s 
exhibition of flowering and fine-foliaged annuals to 
be on view during June and July.— Crystal Palace : 
National Auricula Society’s Southern Show, April 
25; Great Flower Show, May 24-25 ; National Rose 
Society’s Show, June 29 ; Autumn Fruit, Flower, and 
Potato Show, September 26-27.—The Royal Man¬ 
chester Botanical and Horticultural Society : 
Floral meetings, March 19, April 30 ; National Horti¬ 
cultural Exhibition, June 7-14; National Rose So¬ 
ciety’s Show, July 6; Cottagers’ Show, August 3; 
Chrysanthemum Show, November 26. 
— ®he Royal Horticultubal Society bas 
just appointed as Assistant-Secretary an able 
and zealous officer, in the person of Mr. S. Jen¬ 
nings, who is favourably known for his horticultural 
work at Calcutta, Allahabad, &c., and his author¬ 
ship of a book on Orchids. The want of an active 
and acting head to take the general management 
of the Society’s affairs, has long been felt. Whether 
the change comes soon enough to resuscitate the 
Society remains to be seen. We wish Mr. Jennings 
success, but it will be no easy task to conciliate 
those who are mainly interested in horticulture, and 
those who care simply for bands, promenades, and a 
playground for their children. The regeneration 
of the Society must depend on its being made 
national instead of local, and if it initiates and 
carries through work which can be recognised by 
the public as worthy of support, there is little doubt 
that support will be forthcoming. May wise counsels 
prevail. 
— 2The tenth quinquennial International 
Horticultural Exhibition at Ghent is fixed 
to open on March 31, and continue to April 7 
next. The schedule is very full and complete, and 
comprises upwards of three hundred classes, in 
each of which two, and in most instances three, 
prizes are offered. The citizens of Ghent are adepts 
in the art of organising a first-class show, and the 
cordial and hospitable reception given to English¬ 
men at these gatherings is well known. The Van 
Houtte Memorial Prizes, to consist of two Silver 
Cups, offered by the English Committee for Stove 
and Greenhouse Flowering Plants, will be first 
competed for on this occasion. 
— ®he Horticultural Club has recently 
changed its home, and removed from Adelphi 
Terrace to new and much superior quarters in 
Arundel Street, Strand, under the same roof as 
the Temple Club. Here it may be hoped it will 
meet with such support as will make it a horticul¬ 
tural power, should any public movement for the 
advancement of horticulture become necessary. 
— 2The National Rose Society’s Shows 
for 1878 are fixed to take place as follows :— 
The Metropolitan Show at the Crystal Palace, 
Sydenham, on Saturday, June 29; and the Pro¬ 
vincial Show at Manchester, on Saturday, July 6. 
— M* Audoynaud, of Montpellier, after 
experimenting on Potash Manures for Vines, 
arrives at the conclusion that sulphate of 
potash and chloride of potassium have a marked 
influence on the development of the Vine, and 
nitrate of potash still more so, while carbonate of 
potash is less efficient; and that potash should 
enter into the composition of manures for the Vine, 
that which exists already in the soil not being 
usually in a fit condition to be readily absorbed. 
Hence the utility of wood-ashes as a dressing for 
Vine borders. 
— ®he Screw-pine Scale ( Aspidiotus 
Pandani ) has recently been observed in our hot¬ 
houses as very persistently attacking plants of 
Pandanus filiformis. Signoret describes it as living 
exclusively on Pandanus utilis, but the above case 
shows that its predilection is generic, not specific. 
Moreover, it wanders a little from its special genus, 
being found at home on the Cinnamon tree in the 
same collection. It is a round, flat, blackish-brown 
scale, with a whitish nmbo in the centre. The 
female under the scale is rounded, of a whitish- 
yellow colour, and the characteristic clusters of 
secretors (called filieres by Signoret) on the termi¬ 
nal segment are four in number, each consisting of 
a very small number of openings. The isolated 
filieres are peculiar long hairs, pointed at the 
extremity. 
— Amongst Mr. W. Paul’s New Roses, a 
fine H.P., named May Quennell , stands out 
