48 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
Ragged Robin, L. flos-cuculi, which increases fast, 
and is a very neat and elegant plant; and there is 
in cultivation double red L. flos-cuculi, for which 
he has long looked in vain. 
—0ne regrets to liear of the dispersion of 
such fine specimens as the Constable Burton 
Orchids, in consequence of the death of the 
late owner, James MacLaren, Esq. They comprise 
such plants as Cattleya Trianrn, with 109 stems and 
twenty leads; C. Trianm Dodgsoni, a mass nearly 
5 ft. across, with twenty-one leads ; C. Mossise, many 
fine varieties, with thirty to sixty-five stems; C. 
Warneri, one or two enormous plants, with fifty 
to seventy stems; C. Skinneri, masses with seventy 
to a hundred stems, 2|ft. to 3^ ft. across; Coelo- 
gyne cristata, 4 ft. across, and 2 ft. high ; Dendro- 
bium moniliforme, 4 ft. across ; Saccolabium retn- 
sum, or prmmorsum (?), marvellous plants, with 
twenty-eight to thirty-four leaves, 12 in. to 20 in. 
long, and masses of vigorous roots drooping and 
clustered round their stems, 4 ft. or more down- 
wards; S. guttatum, nine stems, seventy leaves; 
Dendrobium densiflorum, with 250 stems, and 4 ft. 
across; D. Pierardi latifolium, fifty stems, some of 
them 3v, ft. long; D. Devonianum, thirty-five and 
forty stems, 3 ft. to 4 ft. long. Over 180 specimens 
in all. *» 
— Some Early Snowdrops were in bloom 
at Chiswick on New Year’s Day. The variety 
was an early-blooming form of Galantlius 
nivalis, which originated at Duurobin, and which is 
usually in bloom from ten days to a fortnight before 
the common form, the early habit being apparent 
also in the earlier appearance of the leaves. Refer- 
ing to the above, the Rev. H. Harpur-Crewe writes, 
—“I have two Snowdrops which bloom long before 
Mr. Melville’s Early Dunrobin. The first, which 
was found by Lord Walsingham, on the Albanian 
mountains, north-east of Corfu, always blooms from 
the middle of October to the middle of November, 
which is almost immediately succeeded by the 
little Corfu variety, which goes on blooming till 
Christmas and the middle of January. Both appear 
to be mere forms of G. nivalis.” 
— Daniel Judd, on relinquishing the 
charge of the gardens at Warwick Castle and 
leaving the neighbourhood, was recently pre¬ 
sented with an elegant timepiece and a handsome 
gold scarf-pin, by a few of his friends at Warwick, 
as a mark of their esteem and respect. 
■— 2The Polystichum tripterum, a most 
distinct and well-marked fern of great elegance, 
found in rocky places on the shady hills of 
Japan, has recently been brought into cultivation by 
Messrs. Yeitch and Sons, of Chelsea, and is sure to 
become a favourite with fern-growers, on account of 
its refined habit, and evergreen character. From a 
short, erect caudex springs up a tuft of fronds, which 
are from 1 ft. to 1J ft. long, with a lanceolate ter¬ 
minal branch or pinna, and two shorter lateral 
branches standing right and left at the base, so that 
it may be described as three branched, or ternately- 
bipinnate. The lower branches are 4 to 6 inches 
long, with subsessile, falcate, acuminate, auriculate, 
inciso-lobate or strongly toothed pinnules, those on 
the posterior side being considerably larger than 
those on the anterior. The longer central branch 
consists of numerous closely-set, dimidiately-oblong 
falcate, attenuated, auriculate, subsessile pinnules, 
2 inches in length at the widest part, having the 
margins, especially on the anterior side, deeply in¬ 
cised towards the base with sharply-toothed lobes, 
which become smaller near the apex, and the teeth 
being everywhere bristle-pointed. Being a native 
of Japan, it may be expected to be hardy in all 
favourable situations. 
— ^Jerhaps tlie best White Zonal Pelar¬ 
gonium is a new one, called Eureka by Mr. Can- 
nell, but to which the raiser, Mr. Windsor, of 
North Cray, had given the inelegant name, “I’ve 
got it.” It was awarded a First-class Certificate by 
the Floral Committee at South Kensington on 
January 11th, and is no doubt the purest white- 
flowered variety yet raised, a very free bloomer, and 
most persistent in holding its petals, on which 
account it will be extremely useful to market growers 
and decorators. 
— ®he Sweet Spanish Capsicum, when 
used for culinary purposes, should, according 
to a note in the Journal de la Socie'te Nationale 
d’Horticulture de France, be roasted over a moderate 
fire till it will readily part with its skin, when it 
may be sliced for use either in salads or as a gar¬ 
nish. The fruits of the variety called doux d’Es- 
pagne by the French are very large; those of the 
gros carre doux, short and four-cornered, but very 
thick and fleshy. 
- PtR. Peter Bassett died on January 
13th, at Tetbury, in the 84th year of his age. He 
was for thirty-six years gardener at Westonbirt, 
the seat of R. S. Holford, Esq., and was known as a 
successful grower of Orchids. 
— JIHr. Peter James Perry, of the Ban¬ 
bury Nursery and Horticultural Building 
Establishment, died on January 23rd, in his 
45th year. He has successfully carried on the 
business for the last 2f5 years. 
— 3&EV. John Brooke died on January 
27th, at Haughton Hall, near Sliifnal, aged 78. 
He was a keen and accomplished botanist, and 
an enthusiastic horticulturist, having for many 
years kept up at Haughton one of the largest and 
most interesting collections of hardy herbaceous 
and greenhouse plants and bulbs in the Midland 
Counties. He was, moreover, an English gentleman 
of the good old type, now, alas ! rare to be found. 
— Sohn Gould, Esq., F.R.S., the dis¬ 
tinguished ornithologist, died on February 3rd, 
in his 77th year. He was a native of Lyme, 
in Dorsetshire, and at an early age showed a strong 
taste for the study of Nature. Between the ages of 
14 and 20 he spent most of his time under the care 
of the late Mr. J. T. Aiton, at the Royal Gardens, 
Windsor, where he soon acquired a taste for botany 
and floriculture. In 1830 he commenced the series 
of magnificent illustrated publications on birds 
which he continued down to his death, and which 
have made his name familiar. Everybody must 
have heard of, and many must have seen, Gould’s 
unrivalled collection of Humming Birds. 
