1880 . ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
47 
admission tickets, to be distributed by the pro¬ 
prietors and subscribers, admitting at any time, 
except on exhibition and promenade days.”—The 
schedule for the great Whitsun show has been issued. 
— 5The veteran gardener at Botliwell Castle, 
Mr. Andrew Turnbull, was recently presented 
with, an address and purse, by a number of his 
friends, at a dinner which took place on January 
28th, at the St. Enoch’s Station Hotel, Glasggow. 
A. B. Stewart, Esq., of Ascog, took the chair. The 
presentation was made by Mr. W. Thomson, of the 
Tweed Vineyard. The address, which was beauti¬ 
fully engrossed on vellum, with a border of Heaths, 
Calceolarias, and the other flowers Mr. Turnbull has 
done so much to improve, painted round it, read as 
follows :—“ Presented to Mr. Andrew Turnbull, gar¬ 
dener, Bothwell Castle, on the completion of his 
50th year as gardener there, along with a gold eye¬ 
glass and purse of 170 sovereigns, by his numerous 
professional and private friends, as a mark of their 
profound respect for his private worth, and their 
high appreciation of his practical ability as a horti¬ 
culturist—more especially the wonderful success of 
his labours in raising many splendid hybrid Heaths, 
Calceolarias, &c.; and with every good wish for his 
future prosperity.” The address was signed by the 
chairman and a number of Mr. Turnbull’s oldest 
friends present, in the name of the 150 subscribei’s 
thereto. 
— sample of a new vegetable, called 
Gilbert’s Cabbage Broccoli, was shown by 
Mr. R. Gilbert, gardener at Burghley, at the 
December meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society in 1878, and to this new Cabbage Broccoli, 
which gave abundant promise of becoming a most 
valuable winter vegetable, the Fruit Committee 
awarded a First-class certificate. The Gardeners’ 
Chronicle states that at Burghley this novelty has 
passed through the late severe weather without the 
slightest injury, and indeed at the end of January 
was, with the exception of Brussels Sprouts, the 
only thing alive in the way of greens. A sample 
received at that time proved on being cooked to be 
mild, tender, and delicious in flavour, the heads 
being of nice size, very solid, and resembling in 
appearance a small Cocoa-nut Cabbage. Mr. Gilbert 
is to be congratulated on the possession of such a 
sterling acquisition. 
— ®iie new red Abutilon Firefly is 
one of a batch of recent seedlings, raised by 
Mr. J. George, of Putney Heath. The flowers 
are of large size and of a much greater depth and 
vividness of colour than that possessed by other 
named varieties. Mr. George states that it was 
raised from a small red variety which had a very 
lively shade of colour—crossed with pollen of the 
single crimson Hibiscus—and he thinks that the fine 
colour obtained is due to this happy inspiration of 
impregnation. 
— ®iie recently issued portion of Bentham 
and Hooker’s Genera Plantarum, which includes 
the Coniferae, being the most recent stand¬ 
ard of authority, will probably settle the names and 
limits of the genera of that order for many years 
hence. As in De Candolle’s Prodromu. s the Cupres- 
sinecv, Taxodiece, Taxece, PodocarpecB, Araucariece, and 
A bietinew, are regarded as tribes of the order Coni- 
ferae. The larger genera of the Coniferse, with one 
important exception explained below, have been left 
almost as they are understood by horticulturists. 
Callitris includes Frenela, Widdringtonia, and some 
other less known names; Fitzroya swallows up 
Diselma; Libocedrus includes the recently published 
Calocedrus; Thuya (the spelling adopted), is made 
to include Biota, Thuyopsis, Chamsecyparis, and 
Retinospora, this being the greatest deviation from 
what may be termed the ordinary nomenclature; 
Sequoia supersedes Wellingtonia; Ginlcgo is retained 
for the Maidenhair Tree, Salisburia; and Agathis 
replaces Dammara. The Abietinece are divided 
into Pinus, Cedrus, Picea, Tsuga,Pseudotsuga, Abies, 
and Larix. With regard to the names Picea and 
Abies, Don misapplied them in Loudon’s Arbore¬ 
tum ; but the authors of the Genera Plantarum 
have correctly returned to Link’s original definition, 
so that henceforth the Piceas will be. the Spruce 
Firs, which have persistent cone-scales, whilst the 
Abies will consist of the Silver Firs, whose scales 
fall with the seeds from the cones. 
— £24E liave received from Mr. Cannell 
flowers of the Continental Fuchsia Jean 
Sisley, which, is a French hybrid, raised 
between F. spectabilis and F. Dominiana. It is one 
of the most brilliant of its race, and must be a 
charming shrub for a conservatory. The flowers 
have a tube, of a brilliant crimson-scarlet, 1| in. long, 
fully half an inch in diameter at the mouth, and 
slightly tapered at the base. The four sepals are 
each just an inch long, crimson at the base and pass¬ 
ing into green at the tip. The four petals are spread¬ 
ing, measuring If in. across the face of the flower, 
roundish-obovate, a little wavy at the edge, and 
of a brilliant orange-scarlet. Altogether, we have 
not previously seen so brilliant a Fuchsia. The 
leaves are largish elliptic, deep, almost olive-green, 
and purplish on the under-surface. 
—- SSIe are glad to see tliat Amies’ Horti¬ 
cultural Manure, of wliicb, from experiment, 
we have formed a very favourable opinion, 
has now acquired a satisfactory position in the 
market. The chemists agree with the cultivators, 
and both have found it a clean, convenient, effectual, 
and cheap fertiliser. The analysis of Dr. Yoelcker 
and Mr. Bernard Dyer show that it comes through 
the chemical test honourably, the per-centage of the 
respective ingredients being as follows 
Moisture 
carbon, aud salts 
Organic 
4'03 
matter, 
of ammonia ... ... ... 22'34 
Phosphoric acid ... ... ... 20'42 
Lime... ... ... ... ... 26'85 
Oxide of iron ... , v . ... 7’10 
Sulphuric acid ... ... ... 7T0 
Alkaline salts and magnesia ... 6T1 
Carbonic acid, &c. ... ... ... l - 34 
Insoluble siliceous matter ... ... 4 - 7l 
Dr. Yoelcker specially notes tl^t it contains in well- 
balanced proportions a high per-centage of phosphate 
of lime (bone phosphate), salts of ammonia (yielding 
about 4 per cent, of ammonia), potash salts, and 
other useful fertilising ingredients, and thus differs 
materially in its constitution from purely ammonia- 
cal manures, which, containing ammonia exclusively, 
or in excessive proportions, are apt to cause over¬ 
luxuriance of the leafy parts of the plants at the 
expense of the proper maturity of their produee ; 
and that as it has no unpleasant smell, it may be 
used without inconvenience, in conservatories and 
other places where strong-smelling compounds are 
inadmissable. To which Mr. Bernard Dyer adds, 
that it contains an ample supply of potash, nitro¬ 
gen, and phosphates, and that in a favourable con¬ 
dition for assimilation by plants. 
