17G 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Novembxik, 
sequence of tlie profusion of its crimson flower- 
spikes. In suitable situations, such as the margins 
of lakes, &c., it grows from three to four feet in 
height; in drier but somewhat shaded spots about 
half that size. We recently saw it in great beauty 
on the borders of the lake and in other situations at 
Pendell Court, Bletchingley. The variety oxyphyllum 
is of the same habit, but the blossoms are white. 
Both plants are most desirable perennials, and 
worthy a place in the most select collections. 
— ©ONSiDEEABLE advance lias been made 
amongst tbe Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums. We 
saw the other day, at Swanley, a new variety 
named Mrs. Cannell, which bears an immense truss of 
large-sized flowers of a deep mauve-purple, quite 
novel as to colour and general character, but a true 
Ivy-leaved variety, and one which will create a 
sensation amongst raisers when distributed. The 
hybrid Ivy-leaved variety Diadem, which has rosy- 
pink flowers, and St. George, in which they are of a 
salmony-scarlet, are both decided acquisitions. 
— ®HE last new Australian Palm, Aeeca 
Alic^, has been dedicated by Baron Mueller, 
in the Gartenjlora, to the memory of the late 
Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse. It was 
discovered by the indefatigable Mr. Walter Hill in 
north-east Australia, about 10 miles north of Trinity 
Bay, and transferred by him to the Brisbane Botanic 
Garden, where it has flowered and fruited. This new 
Palm will prove a welcome addition to our limited 
number of species suitable for small houses, inas¬ 
much as it grows only about 10 ft. high, and throws 
up several stems from the same root. The pinnately 
divided leaves are about 4 ft. long, and the slender 
stems 1 in. to 2 in. thick. Areca AHcas is allied to 
A. oxycai’pa, a native of the Celebes, and A. triandra, 
of the Malay peninsula, Java, and neighbouring- 
islands. We are not aware that this Palm has yet 
been introduced into European gardens; but if it 
has not, it doubtless soon will be, now that it has 
fruited under cultivation. 
— JToe tbe Tripoli section of Onions, 
Mr. G. T. Miles recommends tbe selection of 
the best portions of the garden, where the soil 
has been well enriched and deeply trenched. The 
early batch should be sown at the beginning of 
August, in ch-ills, a foot apart, the Queen being an e.x- 
cellent kind for this purpose, and one which should be 
grown in every garden, as being the earliest and best 
in cultivation. The White Naples forms a good 
kind for the next sowing, wDich should be made 
about ten days later. The Giant White Tripoli, if 
it can be obtained true, is the largest and a still 
later variety, and this will come in properly, if sown 
at the same time as the AYhite Naples. 
— Samples of Waterproof Tree and 
Plant Labels have been sent ns by Messrs. 
Fisher, Clark, and Co., of Boston. They are 
neat and strong, and pencil-writing remains uu- 
afllected when they are soaked in water. A good 
cheap label is a very useful article to nurserymen and 
others who have to send out plants under names, and 
these will be found to quite answer this description. 
— En a letter on the Potato Crop pub¬ 
lished in the Standard, the variety called 
Sutton’s Magnum Bonum is strongly recom¬ 
mended as a disease-resisting variety. The writer 
(“ Naturalis ”) believes that our only remedy 
against disease is to return to uatiu-al propagation, 
by crossing the best and strongest-growing varieties. 
This system has brought us, he says, at least 
one magnificent potato, Sutton’s Magnum Bonum, 
which he has grown five years, and which has 
this year again come out untouched by disease, a 
result which he attributes to its vigorous constitu¬ 
tion, and hard woody stems. Mr. • Shirley Hibberd 
adds that the variety referred to, raised by a gardener, 
is the most valuable ever brought into cultivation, 
for in this disastrous season it has escaped the blight 
entirely, and is notable for its fine quality and high 
productiveness. At Straffan House, Kildare, the 
gardener, Mr. Bedford, finds this the most prolific 
variety he has grown, the flavour good, and the ero}! 
freer than any other from disease. 
— 0'he Eev. George Kemp, Eector of St. 
Alpbage, London Wall, E.C., a Fellow of tbe 
Eoyal Horticultural Society, and for several 
years a much esteemed Vice-President of its Fruit 
Committee, died suddenly at Edinburgh, on August 
2nd. 
- m - Peter S. Eobeetson, senior part¬ 
ner of tbe firm of P. S. Eobertson and 
Co., nurserymen and seedsmen, Edinburgh, 
died suddenly on September 16th. Mr. Eobert¬ 
son was born at Comrie, in Perthshire, on Novem¬ 
ber 4th, 1818, and served his apprenticeship as a 
gardener at Buchanan Castle, Drymen. He came 
to the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens in 1837, and 
leaving there, in 1843, was for the next sixteen 
years with Messrs. Peter Lawson and Son, before he 
commenced business on his own account. He was 
a kind and firm friend, and a most upright man. 
— John Caie, for many years gardener 
at Inverary Castle, died on September 22nd. 
He commenced bis gardening career in tbe 
Glasgow Botanic Garden, then under the manage¬ 
ment of Mr. Stewart Murray, and in 1835 he ini¬ 
tiated, or was one of the first to carry out, the bed¬ 
ding system, at tbe Dowager Duchess of Bedford’s 
garden, Bedford Lodge, Oampden Hill. In 1856 
he removed to Inverary, in the service of the Duke 
of Argyll. “ Mr. Caie,” writes an old friend, “ was one 
of the most original of thinkers and cleverest of 
gardeners.” He was one of the originators of the 
West London Gardeners’ Association for Mutual 
Instruction, a society which did great good in 
its day. 
— ^Jeofessoe Fenzl died on September 
2ytb. For many years this eminent and amiable 
botanist held tbe post of Professor of Botany 
in the University of Vienna, sometime in conjunc¬ 
tion with the late Professor Unger, and he was also 
Director of the University Botanic Garden in the 
same city. 
— .^ohn Miees, Esq., F.E.S., died at bis 
residence, Addison Eoad, Kensington, on 
October 1 7tb,in bis 91st year. Mr. Miers was 
a botanist of high repute, and, through his travels in 
South America, especially familiar with the plants 
of Chili and Brazil, on which he has published many 
learned dissertations, especially in the Linnseau 
Society’s Transactions. He was a most kind-hearted 
and estimable man, and his labours were justly appre¬ 
ciated by the Emperor of Brazil, by whom he v-as 
created a Commander of the Order of the Pose,— 
fitting honour for a botamst. 
