THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
the sepals being sufficiently broad to be well imbri¬ 
cated. The colour is a French-white, and there¬ 
fore somewhat wanting in purity, but the fine quali¬ 
ties of the flower in other respects amply atone for 
this deficiency, and no one who plants it could pos¬ 
sibly be disappointed if the plant thrives. It is by 
no means a novelty, being a Continental variety sent 
out some years since. 
— ®he beautiful Hyacinthus candicans 
is yet but little known, and its extreme hardi¬ 
ness has been unsuspected. Seed sown in the 
summer of 1876 in the open ground germinated 
freely, and the little bulbs were left exposed to the 
severe frosts of the succeeding spring, and were 
found to be quite fresh, and throwing out roots iu 
the month of March. This proves that the H. 
candicans is not only hardy, but more hardy than 
most of our spring bulbs. 
— 5The Messrs. Ottolander, of Boskoop, 
have sent out a coloured figure of Clematis 
Sieboldia, described as a hybrid, raised at 
Boskoop, between C. lanuginosa and C. patens. 
The flowers are 8-sepaled, something over 7 in. 
across, of a deep purplish-mauve colour. It very 
closely resembles such English varieties as Princess 
of Wales, Robert Hanbury, and others of the same 
stamp. 
— Ht appears that Dracaenas are liable to 
catch the Cucumber disease, some plants grow¬ 
ing in a house infested with the disease having 
D O 
had their roots attacked by minute thread-like 
worms, similar to, and probably identical with, the 
very minute vibrios usually found in diseased 
Melons and Cucumbers. This may serve as a hint 
not to plunge valuable plants into Cucumber beds. 
— St circular lias been issued by S. Bar- 
low, Esq., and the Bev. F. D. Homer, the 
honorary secretaries, calling a general meeting 
of the members of the National Auricula (northern 
section), Royal National Tulip, and National 
Carnation and Picotee (northern section) Societies 
on February 5, at 2 p.m., at the old “ Bull’s Head,” 
Manchester, to arrange the dates of this year’s ex¬ 
hibitions, and the schedules of prizes, and to consider 
the plan of judging, and other matters connected 
with the management of the above Societies. 
— Analysis has shown that Apples con¬ 
tain a larger amount of phosphorus, or brain- 
food, than any other fruit or vegetable, and on 
this account they are very important to sedentary 
men who work with their brain rather than their 
muscles. They also contain the acids which are 
needed every day, especially for sedentary men, 
the action of whose liver is sluggish, to eliminate 
effete matters, which if retained in the system, pro¬ 
duce inaction of the brain, and indeed, of the whole 
system, causing jaundice, sleepiness, scurvy, and 
troublesome diseases of the skin. 
— ®he Arbutus-leaved Pear, Pyrus arbuti- 
folia, appears to be but little known, although 
it is one of the most beautiful of our autumn- 
tinted trees. A good specimen of it presents a 
gorgeous spectacle, the flame-coloured upper sur¬ 
faces of the leaves being very brilliant, 
©bttwarg* 
—- Septimus Holmes Godson, Esq., died 
at 14 Butland Gate, on November 16, in his 
79tli year. He was one of the oldest Fellows 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, and sat for 
many years on the Council. 
— fSPt. Bobert Foulis died at Fordel, 
Fifeshire, on December 21, in his 80th year. 
He was for a little over half a century gardener 
and forester at Fordel. In February, 1876, he was 
awarded the Neill Prize by the managers of the 
Royal Caledonian Society. 
— ftlR. W. J. Eggleton, head gardener to 
Lord Vernon, Sudbury Hall, Derby, died on 
December 22, at the early age of 33. He was 
highly respected by the gardeners in Staffordshire 
and Derbyshire, and was himself a very successful 
Grape and Peach grower. 
— Samuel Cooper, Esq., of The Hollies, 
Timperley, Cheshire, died on December 24. He 
was a keen lover of all that was beautiful in 
Nature, and a most enthusiastic florist. He pos¬ 
sessed an extensive collection of stage and alpine 
Auriculas, Tulips, and Pinks, and has exhibited at 
the exhibitions of the National Societies for many 
years. He frequently related at the social reunions 
of the florists the delight with which he carried home 
his first prize—a saucepan—from a Pink show. Mr. 
Cooper was a liberal supporter of all the Northern 
floral societies. 
— ®tie Bev. John Fountaine died at 
Southacre Bectory, Norfolk, on December 28, 
in his 63rd year. He was an ardent horti¬ 
culturist, especially enthusiastic in the orchard- 
house culture of fruit-trees, and was the author of 
a pamphlet, The Improved Method of Growing Fruit 
upon the Orchard-Mouse Principle, and the inventor 
of the orchard-house railway, with the design of 
which visitors to Chiswick are familiar. 
— m . Thomas Moffatt died on January 
4, in his 91st year. He was gardener to the 
late Viscount Sydney, at Frognal, for a period 
of twenty years, and then w'ent to Clumber Gardens, 
where he served three Dukes of Newcastle. He 
was the oldest Fellow of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and was appointed by that Society as one 
of a committee of three to select a site for the new 
garden about to be formed, when Chiswick wag 
selected as the most eligible. 
— fftR. Andrew Murray, F.L.S., died at 
Bedford Gardens, Kensington, on January 10, in 
his 66th year. As an entomologist and a botanist 
—conifers being his specialty—Mr. Murray has long 
been known as an indefatigable worker, while to 
horticulturists he was well known from his long 
connection, official and otherwise, with the Royal 
Horticultural Society. His stores of information 
were very varied, his reasoning original, and cha¬ 
racterised often by much quaint humour in the 
expression. Economic entomology occupied of late 
much of his attention, and the arrangement of the 
collections at South Kensington and Bethnal Green 
Museums was his work. 
