THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
1G0 
[ October, 
_ Messrs. Veitoh liave this season ex¬ 
hibited magnificent specimens of Cockscomb. 
One, measuring 2 ft. 9 in. from tip to tip, and 
18| in. in its greatest breadth, of the colour, and 
texture of crimson-plush, was the finest specimen 
we have seen. 
— ©f George Fergusson Wilson, F.R.S., 
of Weybridge, a very excellent likeness is pub¬ 
lished in the September number of Colburns 
New Monthly Magazine. The portrait is accom¬ 
panied by an appreciative.sketch of Mr. Wilsons 
career, which, while passing over much of. his 
zealous horticultural work, touches on other inter¬ 
esting points, and will no doubt be read with in¬ 
terest by all who know of his devotion to. these 
pursuits, and the success he has achieved in the 
cultivation of many choice and difficult plants, but 
of Lilies especially, as well as in the profitable 
management of orchard-house trees. 
— very handy little instrument, Wells’ 
Spray Distributor, has been sent to us by Mr. 
Wells, Earlswood Nursery, Redliill. The in¬ 
strument is very simple in construction and very 
efficient in use. It is intended for the. dispersion in 
the form of a light spray of any liquid insecticide, 
and consists of two arms woi’king like a pair of 
shears from a pivot near the nozzle, one arm being 
furnished with a reservoir for the insecticide, and the 
other with an india-rubber ball. By pressing the 
two together, which is done with perfect ease by 
bringing the two arms together, a fine spray is pro¬ 
duced in the most effectual manner, and is con¬ 
tinued by opening and shutting the arms or handles. 
— fJJiis. Stephens, of Frogmore, Ilmin- 
ster, has sent us flowers of a strain of Sweet- 
william which she cultivates, and which are 
very pretty and varied in character; they are 
chiefly of the light-coloured types, more or less 
heavily marked with crimson, and various shades of 
purple and rosy-purple. Some of the flowers are 
quite the size of a shilling. The batch includes one 
pure white variety. The quality of the flowers is 
very good, though perhaps not equal, from the 
florist’s point of view, to that known as Hunt’s 
strain, but the marginal indentation is by no means 
excessive. Mrs. Stephens, we may add, is the pro¬ 
prietor of a Plant Manure, which we have found 
beneficial to flowering annuals, such as double stocks, 
&c., which have been greatly improved thereby. 
— ©f Mr. Fish’s Manuals on Fruit-culture, 
reprinted from the Bazaar , those on the 
Cherry, Medlar, Fig, Mulberry, and Quince 
have been recently issued ; also, the fourth part of 
Bulbs and Bulb-culture. These little manuals 
contain vei’y full information on the subjects to 
which they are devoted, and will be useful to a 
numerous class of readers. 
— ©F garden books on our table, one 
entitled “ Garden Pests and their Eradica¬ 
tion” (London ; Gill), is a useful little manual, 
in which all the more common insects and other 
small garden pests are described, in most cases 
figured, and the best means of preventing or 
diminishing the force of their attacks are pointed 
out. It is just the sort of book one would refer to 
in emergency, when, for example, as lately, cater¬ 
pillars of different kinds were devouring every green 
thing. 
3m ftTewcmm, 
— Madame Van Houtte, widow of the 
late Louis Van Houtte, of Ghent, died on 
August 18tli. Those familiar with the great 
Belgian nursery, founded and presided over by Van 
Houtte, will know how greatly the success of this 
vast establishment was due to the energy and un¬ 
flagging perseverance in detail which Madame Van 
Houtte brought to bear in aid of her husband, and, 
since his decease, of her son. Her funeral was 
marked by the spontaneous expression of sym¬ 
pathy which was manifested by the numerous 
employes of the establishment, many of whom have 
grown grey in the service, and also by the presence 
of representatives of more than 100 other establish¬ 
ments of like nature in the old Flemish capital. 
- ffi *- W. Bunney, for the last sixteen 
years gardener to W. H. Campion, Esq., Danny 
Park, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, died on August 
27th, at the age of 72. Mr. Bunney, who was one 
of the first exhibitors at the Brighton Horticultural 
Society’s shows, and for more than twenty years a 
judge at the Royal Botanic Society’s shows at 
Regent’s Park, was well known to a wide circle of 
gardeners and nurserymen, by whom he was much 
respected. 
—- fjffii. Charles Lee, of the Royal Vine¬ 
yard Nursery, Hammersmith, and Croxteth 
House, Hounslow, senior partner of the firm 
of Lee and Son, died suddenly on September 
2nd, in his 74th year. Mr. C. Lee, who was born 
at the Hammersmith Nursery, on February 6th, 
1808, was the representative of one of the oldest, 
best known, and most extensive nursery establish¬ 
ments in the kingdom, and ranked amongst the 
most accomplished of nursery managers. He had a 
specially extensive knowledge of hardy ornamental 
trees and shrubs, and the branch establishments 
at Isleworth and Feltham were devoted to this 
important and interesting class of plants. He was 
also President of the London Seed Trade Associa¬ 
tion. His loss will be deeply felt alike by sorrowing 
friends, and business acquaintances. 
— SUilliam Edgcumbe Rendle, Esq., of 
Westminster (formerly of Plymouth), died on 
September 3rd at Eastbourne, after a long and 
severe illness. He was born at Compton Giffard, 
near Plymouth, on February 10th, 1820; and was 
the originator of the Tank system of heating horti¬ 
cultural buildings, and patentee and inventor of what 
is known as Rendle’s Patent Glazing, which is 
largely adopted for horticultural buildings, and also 
by her Majesty’s Government and all the leading 
railways; his latest and largest work being the 
Great Citadel Station, at Carlisle. 
