1881. ] 
GARDEN GOSSir. 
17^ 
and a few other things are still blooming, and 
if the weather keeps warm they will yet con¬ 
tinue to do so. Chrysanthemums are now taking 
the place of the tenderer things. So far, they 
promise to bloom well, and must be watered 
carefully, and kept from mildew. The chrysan¬ 
themum will continue to expand its flowers in 
a cold-house, if the frost can be excluded from 
it. Water should now be given with care, and, 
as far as possible, early in the day, so that the 
floor of the house may dry by evening. But it 
is in cold, dull, foggy weather that this pre¬ 
caution is most necessary to be observed.— 
SuBURBANUa. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
HE presentation of a Testimonial to 
Mr. Dominy took place at the meeting 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, on 
October 11th. The presentation was made by the 
chairman, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P. For 
nearly 43 years, he said, Mr. Dominy had been in 
the service of the Messrs. Yeitch, and indeed his 
high personal character was well known to them 
all; but it was rather on account of his achieve¬ 
ments as the first raiser in this country of hybrid 
Orchids that his friends had combined to do him 
honour. In 1864 Mr. Dominy was presented with a 
piece of plate by the Devon and Exeter Horti¬ 
cultural Society, to commemorate the raising of his 
first hybrid—the beautiful Cattleya exoniensis, which 
was the result of a cross between the Syon House 
variety of Cattleya Mossice and Lcelia purpurata, and 
which grew for seventeen years before it flowered. 
In 1865 Mr. Dominy also received a medal for 
Calantlie Veitchii. Mr. Dominy had raised some 
23 or 24 hybrid Orchids, and no fewer than 9 were 
that day exhibited, which showed how great an 
interest was being taken in them. The more re¬ 
markable of his hybrids were the Cattleya exoniensis; 
Cattleya Dotninii, the result of a cross between C. 
Dowiana and the hybrid C. exoniensis, a most 
beautiful flower; and Cilanthe Veitchii, which was 
found in every collection, bringing a flush of pink 
into the houses at a time when high colours were 
scarce. When a wish was expressed by friends that 
a present should be made to Mr. Dominy on his re¬ 
tirement from the service of the Messrs. Yeitch, 
Sir Trevor said he was happy to do all he could in 
furtherance of the object, and the result had been 
the subscription of over £260 by 116 friends. From 
this had only been deducted the expenses of adver¬ 
tising, and the purchase of a gold watch, which was 
to bear the following inscriptionPresented to 
John Dominy, with 200 guineas, by 116 friends, as 
a mark of regard and esteem, and of admiration 
for his skill and success in raising and growing 
Orchids, and in horticulture generally.—Trevor 
Lawrence, Bart., M.P., October 11th, 1881. 
— SSUe are pleased to find how well 
Anthurium Andreanum is behaving under 
cultivation. Every leaf develops with it a 
flower-spathe, and these go on increasing in size as 
the plants gain vigour. Mr. Bull has a fine display 
of these, unequalled for splendour even by its rival 
the better known A. Sclierzerianum. There is at 
present considerable diversity in regard to the size 
of the flower-spathes, some of them measuring 5 in. 
or 6 in. in diameter, but whether this i3 the result of 
vigorous growth, or of variation in the original 
stock, is not quite apparent. 
— 3Hhe Lily Disease has been made the 
subject of recent comment by the Rev. M. J. 
Berkeley in the Gardeners’ Chronicle. He con¬ 
cludes that it is by no means attributable to the un- 
genial weather of the present season, but is due to 
a parasitic fungus, allied to Peronospora, with large 
elliptic spores, the contents of which seem ready, as 
in the Potato fungus, to be converted into zoospores. 
He found the fungus perfectly developed on the 
buds of Lilium auratum and L. superbum, on the 
peduncles of L. chalcedonicum, after the capsules 
were formed, and on the large blotches of the stem of 
L. pardalinuni. Buds of Hyacinthus candicans have 
similar spots, and in all probability their condition 
is due to the same cause. The fungus is evidently 
nearly allied to the Ovularia obovatum of Saccardo, 
but the threads are distinctly articulated and the 
spores elliptic, resembling in shape and size those of 
many of the larger Pezizrn. The species may be named 
Ovularia elliptica, characterised by the articulated 
threads, abundant mycelium, and large elliptic per¬ 
fectly facile epispore. Mr. Berkeley thinks it may 
be a question whether Ovularia and Pamularia are 
well separated from Peronospora, but the habit of 
the three is sufficient to justify their separation, at 
least for the present. 
— JfN growing Hyacinths in Glasses, 
the Irish Farmers’ Gazette , advises, before 
placing the bulbs in the glasses, to lay them 
on their sides in a cellar, or other dark, damp place, 
and let them remain there for some days. Here 
root-action will soon be called into life, and a pro¬ 
truding ring of white rootlets promptly issue from 
the base of each bulb. As soon as these have de¬ 
veloped to the extent of an eighth of an inch or two, 
the bulbs are to be put into their glasses, with the 
water just in contact with the ring of absorbents, 
now ready to take it up. The water used should be 
rain-water and clean, and the temperature raised 
when placing the roots in contact with it. The 
glasses should be placed in a dark cellar or press in 
a room where there is no fire kept. Here they 
should remain till the roots have got down three or 
four inches into the water, after which the glasses 
may be exposed gradually to the light, and finally 
they should stand in the coolest and at the same 
time the most lightsome and airy position it is pos¬ 
sible to afford them. The plan of getting the bulbs 
to start before placing in the glasses has the advan¬ 
tage of showing any weakness or tendency to decay 
at the base of the bulb, and affords an opportunity 
of rejecting any not manifesting soundness and 
vigour. 
— Amongst Cauliflowers, Veitch’s Autumn 
Giant still maintains its position in the fore¬ 
most rank, and for autumn work it is unques¬ 
tionably far superior to any other, as it endures the 
heat of summer well, and turns in with heads that 
are not only very large and solid, but as white as 
snow, and of most delicate flavour. Good as it 
always is, it has this year outrivalled itself; the 
rains, after the hot sun, having set the plants grow¬ 
ing at a great rate, and caused them to be particu¬ 
larly strong by keeping them clear from the “ blues,” 
a malady that affects all the Brassica tribe more or 
less in dry weather. The way to prevent it in a great 
measure is to trench deep for Cauliflowers, and to 
plant the rows wide apart between Potatos, or any- 
