32 
THE FLORIST AND rOMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
forms assume. Moreover, it seems to have a 
tendency to keep smaller and to maintain a 
more dense and compact habit of growth than the 
type. As a single specimen on a lawn or in the 
foreground of the mixed ornamental plantation, 
where its beauty stands forth in contrast with the 
dark green of other Pines, &c., it is deserving the 
attention of planters. This golden colouring dis¬ 
appears to a great extent during summer, when the 
leaves acquire a yellowish-green tint. 
— ®he following mode of Raising Palms 
from Imported Seeds lias been very success¬ 
fully followed by Mr. F. Bause, at Anerley. 
The seeds are sown in moderately strong soil in pans 
or square boxes, and covered thinly with soil; the 
boxes are placed in a good brisk bottom-lieat, and 
the soil kept constantly moist, under which condi¬ 
tions some of the species germinate in six weeks, 
though some may take three months. As soon as 
large enough, they must be potted singly into thumb- 
pots, and plunged in a little bottom-lieat. The young 
plants must be grown on in a warm moist atmo¬ 
sphere, and shifted into larger pots as required, 
using a moderately light sandy compost, and surfac¬ 
ing with sand. The young plants must never suffer 
for want of water, and if kept during summer in a 
strong heat, with a free circulation of air and 
moderate shade, and kept perfectly cleau, they may 
be grown on into a good size within a year or so. 
-— JFine specimens of Agave attenuata, 
a remarkable species, Lave been flowering in tire 
Palm-house at Kew, to which place they had 
been removed from the Succulent-house. The 
crowns of very thick, fleshy, singularly glaucous, 
spathulate-lanceolate, entire leaves, from 2 ft. to 3 ft. 
in length, arc borne on stems respectively about 6 ft. 
and 7 ft. in height, and from 3 in. to 4 in. in diameter. 
The arching flower stems, each 8 ft. or Oft. long, 
spring from the centre of the crowns, the spikes from 
the base upwards being successively beset with the 
long stamens and styles of the almost innumerable 
flowers. The barren portion of the scape is densely 
clothed with appressed lanceolate leafy bracts, and 
measures about 2 ft. in length. 
— ®he Japanese Clerodendron tricho- 
tomum, which has, we suppose, long been lost 
to our collections, has been reintroduced by the 
Messrs. Yeitch and Sons, and proves to be hardy, at 
their Coombe Wood Nursery. It forms a spreading, 
round-headed bush, about 5 ft. high, densely fur¬ 
nished with heart-shaped pale green leaves, 5 in. 
long by 4 in. wide, having the stalks and midrib 
covered with purplish velvety hairs. The flowers, 
which are borne in loose clusters at the end of each 
branch, are pure white, sweet-scented, and sur¬ 
rounded by inflated reddish-purple calyxes. It will 
be a valuable acquisition, being late-flowering, per¬ 
fectly hardy, and growing freely in any good soil. 
— ®he handsome specimens of Cham^rops 
Fortunei, which are such an ornament to the 
pleasure-grounds at Ileckfield, were planted out 
in 1869. The height of their stems is 9 ft., extreme 
height to top of leaves, 12 ft.; girth of stems, a yard 
above the ground, 3 ft. 8 in. The leaves were a little 
cut last winter, but no permanent injury was done. 
A capital illustration in the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
taken from a photograph, gives a good idea of the 
effect these noble plants have in a garden, with their 
lower leaves drooping so as to almost cover their 
tree-like trunks. 
3tn fHmomw* 
Charles Edmonds, late gardener 
at Chiswick House, which position he held for 
more than forty years, died at Llandudno on 
December 30tb, from a second attack of paralysis, 
at the age of 69. He was a man of recognised in¬ 
tegrity and sterling principle ; and although he did 
nothing remarkable in the way of gardening, he 
was a sound and safe practitioner and adviser, and 
both on the Council of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, where he sat for many years, and as a 
judge at many metropolitan and provincial flower 
shows, and in various other ways, rendered loyal and 
real service to the profession. Those who knew 
him intimately will hold his memory in lasting and 
affectionate remembrance. 
— fflR. William Gorrie, the well-known 
Scottish forester and garden architect, died 
suddenly on January 6th, in his 69th year. 
Mr. Gorrie, who came of a race of gardeners and 
tree-planters, was born in the Carse of Gowrie, but 
spent the greater part of his public life about Edin¬ 
burgh, having been occupied as a land factor, subse¬ 
quently as manager to the Messrs. Lawson’s nursery, 
and latterly as consulting landscape gardener and 
forester. His numerous writings in the publications 
of the Highland and Agricultural Society and of the 
Botanical Society of Edinburgh,of which latter he was 
President during the past year, are well known, and 
he has passed away carrying with him the esteem 
and affectionate regrets of those who knew him. 
— ffi *. John Spencer died at his resi¬ 
dence, Caine, on January 10th, in his 72nd year. 
Mr. Spencer had been for the long period of 
45 years in the service of successive Marquesses of 
Lansdowne, having been appointed gardener at Bo- 
wood, about 1835, on the recommendation of the late 
Joseph Sabine, Esq. At Bowood, Mr. Spencer oc¬ 
cupied for many years one of the foremost positions 
amongst British gardeners, being often met with as 
an exhibitor at the great exhibitions, and subsequently 
as a judge. For some years previous to 1859, when 
he retired from that position, he had a seat on the 
Council of the Royal Horticultural Society, in which 
he was succeeded by Mr. C. Edmonds. He was a man 
of high and honourable character, much esteemed by 
his employer, who, in 1860, placed in his hands the 
entire management of his Wiltshire estates* In 1852 
he assisted in founding, and jointly with Dr. Hogg 
occupied the position of Honorary Secretary to the 
British Pomological Society—an association which, 
after a few years of useful labour, merged into the 
fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
Outside the gardening world, Mr. Spencer filled 
several important public offices in the county and 
district, besides which he was a geologist of no 
mean order, and a Fellow of the Geological 
Society. From 1851 to 1862, he was associated, 
lirst with Mr. Charles Turner, and subsequently 
with Dr. Hogg,in the proprietorship and management 
of the 1 lorist, of which the second enlarged series, 
entitled the Florist and Pomologist, was commenced 
during his association with the work ; of late years, 
however, his connection with horticultural literature 
has in a great measure ceased. Now, at the close of a 
lengthened and highly successful professional career, 
while the affectionate sorrow of many a personal 
L'iend will follow him to the grave, his memory will 
rCmmn as a bright spot in the recollections of the 
past, and his name will shed a lustre over the pages 
of the garden history of our time. 
