APRIL. 
85 
miscellaneous stove and greenhouse plants 
from Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith. A few 
greenhouse Acacias and forced shrubs were ex¬ 
hibited by Messrs. Cutbush and Mr. Young, 
for which the former were awarded first prizes ; 
some small Epacrises were also shown; and 
from Mr. Bull came several handsome varie¬ 
ties of Aucuba japonica, some of which were 
in fruit, and a numerous collection of new 
and rare plants. Some fine fruiting Aucubas 
■were also sent by Messrs Lee. 
At the Floral Committee on the 20th, first- 
class certificates were awarded to Mr. W. 
Paul’s new Hyacinths, Vunxbaak, Sir Henry 
Havelock, and Bird of Paradise, and to his 
Black Prince Pose, a fine deep velvety crim¬ 
son. Of Orchids there was a good dispay, 
and several special certificates were awarded, 
and among Chinese Primulas there were 
several acquisitions, which have been noticed 
in another article. Fruit was confined to 
Black Alicante, Muscat of Alexandria, and 
Lady Downe’s Grapes, of which Mr. Tillyard, 
gardener to J. Kclk, Esq., M.P., exhibited ex¬ 
cellent bunches in beautiful condition. 
At the usual fortnightly meeting Lord H. G. 
Lennox, M.P., presided, and the room was 
crowded with visitors anxious to see the blos¬ 
soms of Amherstia nobilis, which it had been 
notified would form the subject of a lecture 
by Mr. Bateman. These came from Chats- 
worth, where the plant has this year produced 
numerous racemes of its glorious crimson 
blossoms; but though the late Duke of Devon¬ 
shire, a great enthusiast in gardening, made 
it the object of a special mission, and Mr. 
Gibson, now the Superintendent of Battersea 
Park, was successful in introducing the first 
plant of it into this country in 1837, it did 
not flower for the first time in England at 
Chatsworth, but at Mrs. Lawrence’s, at Ealing 
Park. Mr. Bateman, after giving some in¬ 
stances of the poisonous properties of Andro¬ 
meda floribunda, which appear not to be suffi¬ 
ciently known, and commenting on the vari¬ 
ous Orchids shown at the meeting, gave a 
history of the discovery and introduction of 
the Amherstia. He ascribed the non-success 
in flowering it at Chatsworth to the plant 
having been grown in a kyanised tub. Mr. 
Bateman’s remarks were listened to with much 
attention, and on their conclusion it was sug¬ 
gested by the Chairman that it would be a 
graceful act to present the blossoms to Lady 
Hay Williams, the daughter of the Earl of 
Amherst, partly in whose honour it was 
named. Twenty-one new members were 
elected, and seven horticultural societies ad¬ 
mitted into union. With reference to this, it 
may here be stated that the Royal Horticul- 
tural Society now offer certain privileges to 
societies admitted into union with it—viz., 
that of receiving copies of the “ Proceedings ” 
and “ Journal,” a transferable ticket confer¬ 
ring certain privileges as to admission to the 
gardens at Kensington, and purchase of 
tickets; forty orders of admission to Kensing¬ 
ton and Chiswick ; participation in the ballot 
for plants ; a share of the seeds and cuttings 
distributed; and the right of exchanging plants. 
It has also been decided that gardeners may, 
on application to the Assistant Secretary at 
South Kensington, receive the Journal of the 
Society at one-half the charge to the general 
public. 
Royal Botanic Society. —The first spring- 
show of this Society was held on the 17th, 
and being only two days later than the one at 
Kensington, was in a great measure a repeti¬ 
tion of it. It was, however, a very effective 
display, and more extensive than the corre¬ 
sponding show of last year. In Hyacinths 
Mr. W. Paul walked over the course with his 
fine collections already noticed; but Mr. 
Davies, of Stanley Nursery, Old Swan, Liver¬ 
pool, had a set of twelve, among which were 
some very good spikes, though by no means 
equal in quality to the splendid ones from his 
more successful concurrent. Tulips, Polyan¬ 
thus Narcissus, Lilies of the Yalley, Crocuses, 
and Rhododendrons were again shown in great 
perfection hv Mr. W. Paul, and nice collec¬ 
tions of Cyclamens came from Messrs. E. G. 
Henderson and Mr. Wiggins, of Isle worth. 
Of Roses, two groups, the one from Mr. W. 
Paul and the other from Messrs. Paul & Son, 
were of remarkable beauty, and there were 
also some boxes of excellent cut blooms, as 
well as of Camellias. Stove and greenhouse 
plants, both fine-foliaged and flowering, were 
in tolerable abundance, there being exhibitions 
of these from Mr. Williams, Messrs. Lee, and 
Mr. Wheeler, gardener to Sir F. Goldsmidt, 
Bart.; and of new plants, &c., Mr Bull again 
contributed an extensive collection. Forced 
shrubs and Acacias were shown by Mr. Young, 
who also took the first prize for Hyacinths in 
the amateurs’ class, and the second for new 
Hyacinths ; but the best exhibition of this 
kind consisted of a dozen plants of Deutzia 
gracilis from Mr. Reeves, of the Ladbrook 
Nursery, Notting Hill. They were in six- 
inch pots, and were perfect masses of bloom. 
Two new varieties of Chinese Primulas from 
Messrs. E. G. Henderson made their appear¬ 
ance, and both appear to be great acquisitions ; 
one was called Stewarti, and had flowers as 
large as a five-shilling-piece, white, beauti¬ 
fully mottled and striped with purplish crim¬ 
son ; the other was named Mrs. Eyre Crabbe, 
and was smaller than the preceding, but 
double, and the white ground suffused with 
pink. 
Sanvitalia peocumbens. —Messrs. Haage 
and Schmidt, of Erfurt, give, in a recent Number 
of the “ Revue Horticole, ” an account of a 
double variety of this pretty annual, and 
which they consider one of the most valuable 
acquisitions in its way which has been made 
for some years. It sprang up among a bed of 
the single variety; and, after having grown 
