1879. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
189 
jirize-wiuncru for the year 1877 shonld be paid, leav¬ 
ing a balance of .£00, the Society being then entirely 
free of debt. The London Exhibition of ISSO is to be 
held at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on July 3, 
but in the case of the Provincial Exhibition, the 
committee was desirous to receive applications from 
any other towns, other than Manchester, which 
might bo willing to I’oceive the Society. Amongst 
the prizes announced was a niedal from the pro¬ 
prietors of the Journal des Roses for 24 Roses, three 
of each, full-blown, half-blown, and in the bud. 
— ^The West of Scotland Pansy Society 
has just been established, for promoting 
the cultivation and exhibition of Pansies 
in the district having Glasgow for its centre. 
A committee, representing about forty towns and 
villages, was iirst formed, out of which the executive 
committee has been chosen. The principal office¬ 
bearers, aided by a strong executive committee, are : 
•—Hon. President: Lord Provost Collins, Glasgow. 
President: Bailie Goodwin, Kirkintilloch. Vice- 
Presidents ; Bailie Storrie, Whiteinch, Partick; 
Peter Lyle, Kilbarchan. Treasurer : Mr. McIntosh, 
Dennistown, Glasgow. Secretary: Mr. McCrorie, 
Kilbarchan. 
— ®HE arrangements of the Royal Botanic 
Society for 1880 include Spring Exhibitions on 
March 24th and April 21st ; Summer Exhibi¬ 
tions on May 19th and June 16th ; and an Evening 
Fete and floral exhibition on Wednesday, June 30th. 
The special exhibitions include Roses by Mr. William 
Paul, from May 5th to 12th ; Rhododendrons and 
American plants by Mr. Anthony Waterer, daily in 
Juno; and flowering and fine-foliaged Annuals, by 
Messrs. James Carter and Co., in June and July. 
— ffon a general crop, the Champion 
Potato is highly spoken of on all sides. It is 
a round Potato, with very deep eyes, and, 
according to some, only second-rate in quality ; but 
then it is very productive, and relatively little 
affected by disease, and these two latter qualities go 
far to outweigh slight defects in its appearance. 
— ^The Cape Senecio speciosus, which has 
been confounded with S. concolor, has lately been 
introduced by Mr. W. Bull, and proves to be 
a very handsome half-hardy plant, having a thick 
fleshy root-stock, ■with several radical, and a few 
cauline, pinnatitidly-lobcd, oblong-oblanceolate bluut- 
ended leaves, which are thick and fleshy, and covered 
with viscid hairs, as are also the stem, bracts, and 
involucres; the hairs on the branches of the stem 
and involucre are sometimes very long and shaggy. 
The stem branches in a corymbose manner, and bears 
from 3-10 radiate flower-heads l^- inch in diameter; 
both ray and disk being of a beautiful bright purple. 
It succeeds well in the open air during the summer 
months. 
— ®HE Oatalpa speciosa, an ornamental 
tree from the Central States of the American 
Union, is stated to be considerably hardier than 
the C. bignonioides. Professor Sargent’s distinctive 
characters of this species or variety are : the more 
gradually tapering leaves, larger white flowers, 
larger and more compressed seed-vessels, often 10 to 
20 iiichc.s long, and shorter, broader seeds, with 
wings of equal -swdth at their rounded ends. The 
bark is also of a darker hue, and more deeply fur¬ 
rowed, and the wood is considerably heavier. The 
tree is taller and handsomer than C. bignonioides. 
and it bears tlio severest winters without injury iqi 
to 12“ N. lat. Professor Sargent has sent seeds of 
C. speciosa to Dr. Bolle. 
— ®iiE Acer Ginnal.v of the Amoor 
country, is a handsome hardy tree, which puts on 
the richest autumnal tints. In the sunlight the 
decaying leaves are of a singularly beautiful, glow¬ 
ing, ruby-rod. The contrast between the autumnal 
tints of this species and those of the better-known 
North-American A. rubruni, is very marked, the 
latter displaying but little deep colour, only a leaf 
or two here and there being pai’tially or nearly en¬ 
tirely crimson, while the prevailing tint is a bright, 
clear, golden-yellow. 
— ^Imongst recent Botanical Appoint¬ 
ments, we may note that,—Dr. II. Trimen 
has been appointed Director of the Ceylon 
Botanic Garden, in the room of Dr. Thwaites, who 
retires on a pension ; Professor Drude, of Gottingen, 
has been appointed Professor of Botany at Dresden, 
in succession to the late Professor Rcichcubach ; 
and Count Solms Laubach bas succeeded to the 
chair at Gottingen, vacated by the death of Professor 
Grisebach. 
— ®HE fruit of Ptelea teifoliata has 
been found by Mr. Charles Baltet to make 
equally as good a bitter for beer as hops. At 
a recent agricultural exhibition at Chalons-snr- 
Marne, Mr. Ponsard exhibited a sample of beer in 
which Ptelea fruits were substituted for hoi)S. The 
quality and flavour of this beer are reported as 
equal to the best Strasburgh beer. In the United 
States this tree bears the name of hop-tree. In this 
country it usually fruits very copiously, even while 
quite young. 
— ®HE showy Senecio pulchee, Tyernian’s 
Groundsel, may be propagated freely by root- 
cuttings, but the Rev. J. T. Boscawen writes that 
he found this too expensive, and therefore had re¬ 
course to au old plan of his when a boy of raising 
seed by planting it when um-ipe, or even green, and 
he was beyond expectation successful. This fact, he 
observes, should be known, as one cannot raise too 
much of Tycrman’s Groundsel. 
— NEW ornamental Willow, Salix vitel- 
LINA BEITZENSIS, is recommended in the Ham- 
burger Garten Zeitmg^ and now that the 
planting season is approaching it may be useful to 
quote the recommendation. This novelty is said to 
have the bark of the young shoots coloured red, like 
those of Cornus alba fsihiricaj, and if so, the plant 
must afford a fine winter contrast to those of the 
golden Willow. It is in the hands of M. Spilth, of 
Berlin. 
— SThe Hypericum oblongifolium is an 
evergreen, free-blooming, hardy flowering shrub, 
of good habit, and bearing pretty flowers. 
It is a native of Nepal, and does not appear to 
be as well known or as generally grown as it de¬ 
serves to be. It forms a low-growing, round-headed, 
branching shrub, of from two to four feet high, with 
oblong, smooth leaves, somewhat crowded towards 
the extremities of the brauchlcts, every one of which, 
from midsummer to the end of October, bears a 
corymb of large golden flowers of considerable sub¬ 
stance and fine waxy texture. It is a choice subject 
for the front parts of shrubbery borders. 
