16 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ January, 
of this tree is admirably displayed at Chiswick, 
where Mr. Barron has planted it at intervals of 
about 15 ft. on each side of a new road at the 
west end of the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Gardens. The tree combines elegance with 
symmetry in a very shaking manner, and the 
bright refreshing green of its graceful foliage adds 
much to its beauty. The Robinia Bessoniana forms a 
perfectly globular head, after the style of R. inermis, 
but is much freer in growth, larger and more 
feathery. This beautiful tree is perfectly hardy, as 
it did not sustain the slightest injury by the severe 
frosts of last winter; and it is not too much to say 
that healthy handsome specimens, such as those 
referred to, would add to the beauty of every lawn 
of suitable extent and every pleasure-ground in the 
country. 
— fiftR. Turner lias been successful in 
raising some useful Perpetual-flowering 
Carnations from tlie variety A. Alegatiere. 
They have the dwarf habit characteristic of that fine 
variety, and are varied in colour and form ; but the 
most interesting part of the result of this attempt at 
seedling-raising is the fact that -while the seeds 
were only sown last January, the plants have been 
each producing from six to a dozen flowers, and 
freely putting forth side growths up the stem, thus 
unmistakably showing their perpetual-flowering 
character. 
— ®he Council of tlie Royal Caledonian 
Horticultural Society have very properly 
awarded the Neill Prize for the biennial 
period 1878-80 to Mr. David Thomson, gardener 
to the Duke of Buccleuch, Drumlanrig, one of the 
most distinguished of Scottish horticulturists. 
— Professor Morren, in La Belgique 
Horticole , states that the Chrysanthemum 
Etoile d’Or, the yellow-flowered variety of 
Chrysanthemum frutescens, was first brought into 
notice in 1844, by M. Pepin, in the Revue Horticole, 
and was raised in the South of France from seed of 
the ordinary white variety by M. Gontant. 
— ;fftR. W. Paul’s Rose Annual for 
1880-81 is always welcome. It tells us, with 
the authority of an experienced rosarian, about 
the new Roses of the year, and the effects of the 
winter on old Roses ; while the author’s “ recollec¬ 
tions of Roses ” embody the history of many of the 
English-raised sorts. There is a variety of interest¬ 
ing correspondence, and the annual is embellished 
by well-executed plates of four n.r. varieties— 
namely, Lady Sheffield, a rosy-cerise; Red 
Gauntlet, a crimson, both raised by Mr. Postans; 
Madame Oswald de Kerchove, a white with rosy- 
salmon centre; and Princess Mary Dolgourouky, 
a satiny rose, raised from Anna de Diesbacli. 
— & Shilling Manual of Church Fes¬ 
tival Decorations (170, Strand) appears 
opportunely just now, this being one of the 
seasons when the aesthetic taste of congregations 
finds most general and most fitting expression, in 
the decoration of the fabric in which they assemble 
for public worship. The directions here given are 
clear and concise, and the methods to be adopted at 
different seasons lucidly explained ; so that the book 
may be useful in teaching the decorators to avoid the 
crudities we are sometimes called upon to witness, 
and in showing what may fairly be adopted without 
violating the canons of good-taste; while, at the 
same time, its perusal may servo to keep these 
matters within their proper limits. 
— JFrom Messrs. Blake and Mackenzie we 
have received a sample of Tebbs’s Combina¬ 
tion Plant Label, of the same shape as, and 
adapted to replace, the old-fashioned wood label 
The upper part is made of waterproof card, with a 
smooth surface which readily takes writing either 
with a hard pencil or with ordinary writing-ink; and 
the lower part consists of a metal stem, which will 
not rot. They will be very useful, and are remark¬ 
ably neat in appearance. 
- ^ SECOND EDITION of HOOPER’S GAR¬ 
DENING Guide has been issued. The work 
originally grew out of their illustrated cata¬ 
logue, and now appears in a more convenient form, 
which will commend it to the notice of amateur 
gardeners, by whom, as a work of reference on the 
culture of vegetables and flowers, it will be found 
very useful. 
— WL e are requested to state that the 
business of Messrs. Fowler and Co., of Finsbury 
Street, is now carried on by Messrs. Corry, 
Soper, Fowler, and Co., at the same place. 
£n fftmortatm 
— J9r. Lauder Lindsay, the lichenologist, 
died a few weeks since, at the age of 52. Dr. 
Lindsay, about a year ago, resigned the office 
of Medical Superintendent to the Marray Institute for 
Lunatics, Perth, after a service of over twenty years, 
and sought by rest to recruit a shattered system. He 
was author of the popular History of British Lichens , 
published by Reeve; and also of some illustrated 
papers, one of which obtained the Neill Prize from 
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and which form a 
thick quarto volume, illustrated by some hundred 
carefully drawn and beautiful figures. 
— fllR. William Paul, of the Crossflat 
Nurseries, Paisley, died on December 12th, at 
the age of 55. He was one of the oldest, most 
useful, and most esteemed members of the local 
horticultural society, in which he had been a com¬ 
petitor ever since 1848. He made a specialty of 
florists’ flowers, particularly of Pansies, and his 
success in their cultivation and his fame as a judge 
caused his services to be sought at exhibitions of 
these flowers throughout the Three Kingdoms. 
- m Anthony Parsons, gardener at 
Danesbury, Welwyn, died on December 25th, 
after a painful illness, at the age of 70. Mr. 
Parsons has been a prominent figure in the garden¬ 
ing world as an exhibitor and a judge for nearly 50 
years. He was one of the best of southern judges 
of florists’ flowers, having in his earlier days been a 
keen cultivator of them. We have been frequently 
associated with him, during many years, as a censor 
at the various exhibitions held in and around the 
Metropolis, and have never met with a more straight¬ 
forward and intelligent coadjutor, whether in 
judging florists’ flowers, new plants, or high culti¬ 
vation. Latterly his health has been failing, and 
his honest, smiling face has been less frequently 
seen in public. He was one of the foremost of prac¬ 
tical gardeners, and the successful raiser of many 
first-rate seedlings, especially amongst Azaleas, 
Pansies, Hollyhocks, and Achimenes. He had also 
got together a fine collection of British Ferns. 
