1878 . ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
175 
GAEDEN GOSSIP. 
f HE meeting of tlie Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society on October 15 was a 
most attractive one, the council-room 
aucl spacious vestibule being quite filled. The show 
of Grapes from Messrs. Lane and Son, of Great 
Berkhanistead, of Pine-apples (the new variety Lord 
Carington) from Mr. Miles, and of Apples and Pears 
from Mr. Goldsmith, Messrs. W. Paul and Son, 
Messrs. Paul and Son, Messrs. Veitch and Sons, and 
Mr. Lane, were very meritorious. Amongst plants, 
the most remarkable was a finely bloomed Vanda 
ccerulea, from Mr. Smith, gardener to C. Lane, 
Esq., Badgemore, Henley-on-Thames, the same plant 
which was last year awarded a gold medal, and 
which this year was again shown in perfect health, 
with five spikes, bearing 87 flowers—a notable feat 
in orchid-growing. No higher award could be 
given than the plant had already received. First- 
class Certificates were given to Anthurium Scherze- 
rianum album, from Messrs. Veitch and Sons, the 
spathes now assuming some size, and attesting the 
ornamental quality of good varieties. To Lastrea 
aristata variegata, from both Messrs. Veitch and Sons 
and Mr. Bull, a fine Japanese evergreen fern, with 
a yellow-green bar down the costa, forming on the 
dark ground-colour a pretty variegation. To Bo- 
marea Carderi,' a grand, warm greenhouse climber, 
with a great branching inflorescence of pale rosy 
flowers of much beauty, and having foliage rivalling 
that of Lapageria; both Mr. Bull and Mr. Green, 
gardener to Sir G. Macleay, exhibited this. To 
Lastrea crinita, from Mr. Bull, a stately robust 
hothouse fern, with a stout erect caudex, and bi- 
pinnate fronds set shuttlecock-fashion, and having 
thick stipes, bristling over with subulate scales. To 
Mamillaria sphacelata, from Mr. Boiler, Kensa.1 New 
Town, a tufted species, with oblong stems 3 in. to 
4 in. high, and 2 in. in diameter, covered with tufts 
of radiating white hair-spines. To Pernettya mu- 
cronata lilacina, from Mr. Davis, of Hillsborough, 
a variety with pretty pale rosy-lilac berries; it 
was accompanied by several other forms, with 
berries varying much in colour. A Botanical 
Certificate was given to Messrs. Veitch and Sons 
for Phahxnopsis violacea, a singular plant, with 
broad glossy green drooping leaves, and whitish 
flowers tipped with green, the curiously shaped 
lip purple, as also is the inner margin of the two 
lateral sepals near the base. From the same col¬ 
lection came Phalcenopsis Esmeralda, with spikes 
of small purplish flowers. Messrs. Veitch also 
showed a hybrid Cattleya Mastersoniana, with rosy 
sepals and petals, and a remarkable quadrately 
expanded lip, the front lobe of which was purple. 
Pretty groups were shown by Mr. Williams, who 
had quite a display of Pleiones; by Mr. Bull, and 
others. Messrs. Laing and Co. had a fine display of 
Begonias, and Messrs. Veitch and Sons had a largo 
and most interesting group of young plants of 
hardy evergreen shrubs, a basketful of each. Messrs. 
W. Paul and Son sent several boxes of beautiful 
Cut Roses, and Mr. R. Parker had a very large and 
showy collection of cut specimens of hardy herbaceous 
plauts. From Mr. Sage, of Ashridge Park, came a 
handsomely grown pot vine, with eleven excellent 
bunches ; and a First-class Certificate was given to 
a high-coloured apple, grown at Chiswick, and named 
Baumann’s Red Winter Pearmain. 
— Since Burnt Clay is a material of 
great value in the amelioration of heavy clay 
soils, a brief explanation how the operation of 
burning is carried out, may be useful to the inex¬ 
perienced. About London the work is done at any 
convenient season, but preferably in autumn and in 
dry weather. The soil is dug out to a depth of 6 in. 
or 8 in., then a thick layer of brushwood is placed 
on the ground, and over that a layer of fine breeze 
or coal; this is followed by a layer of clay, then 
more breeze, followed by more clay, and so on, 
until a heap or ridge is formed. The brushwood is 
then ignited, and this fires the breeze or coal, and 
the whole heap gradually becomes a burning 
smouldering mass. Care must be taken that the 
fire does not burn through at any point. The cost 
in the neighbourhood of London is about 3s. a yard 
— “ Uoscobel ” is the title of a little book 
published by Simpkin and Marshall (London) 
and Lowe (Shifnal), and giving an account of 
Boscobel House, and the Royal Oak in an adjoining 
field, in which King Charles II. took refuge after 
the battle of Worcester. The author is the Rev. 
H. G. De Bunsen, Rector of Donington, in which 
parish the house is situate. Of the house it is said 
that it is the same house, and very much in the 
same condition, as when Charles II. visited it. It 
seems to have been built for the purpose of hiding 
Popish recusants, and was called Boscobel from the 
Italian bosco bello, because it was seated amongst 
fair woods. Of the tree, we read that it stands in 
the field adjoining the garden, and is surrounded by 
a substantial iron palisading, but whether it is the 
identical tree in which the King took shelter, or 
whether it is another which stood by its side, or has 
sprung up since, is a moot point, and the different 
records relating to this matter form the principal and 
most interesting part of the little book. Stukeley’s 
evidence (1776), to the effect that “the oak is in the 
middle [of the enclosure], almost cut away by 
travellers,” and that “ close by its side grows a very 
thriving plant, from one of its acorns,” seems to 
show that the original tree is not that which now 
bears the name of the Boscobel Oak, an engraving 
of which is given in the Gardeners’ Chronicle for 
October 19, 1878. 
— ®he following mixture is said to be a 
sure remedy for Destroying Green-fly on 
plants :—Soft soap, lb., dissolved (not boiled) 
in soft water ; strong tobacco (common shag), 2 oz., 
boiled for an hour with 1 oz. of bitter aloes; 3 
gallons of warm soft water. Mix thoroughly, and 
then dip or syringe the plants affected with fly. 
These ingredients are inexpensive, and easily 
obtained, and the mixture thoroughly efficacious. 
— ®tie Bossin Cabbage Lettuce was 
found to stand best, among tlie large number of 
varieties tried at Chiswick this season. It 
was singular to note that while heads of all other 
varieties had bolted off to seed, the Bossin was as 
unbroken as when it was hearting-in. It is not a 
taking-looking lettuce, being somewhat large and 
coarse, with brownish-tinted fringed leaves. Of its 
standing qualities there can be no doubt, and after 
all, it is the inside of a lettuce that salad-eaters aro 
most concerned about. 
— ®iie Golden Japanese Bos is described 
by Mr. Syme as being remai’kable for the bright¬ 
ness of its colour; indeed, it is the brightest 
golden plant in his collection. Quantities of it, from 
8 inches to 1 foot in height, grouped together, look 
like a mass of burnished gold. This box, retaining, 
as it does, much of its brightness and beauty 
throughout the winter, when there is such a paucity 
