380 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 13, 1886. 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL 
BENEFIT AND PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
The annual meeting of this society took place at the 
Caledonian Hotel, Adelphi Terrace, W.C., on the 7tli 
inst., Mr. Richard Dean, one of the honorary members, 
presiding. There was a good attendance of members, 
who appeared to take a great interest in the affairs of 
the society, which has for its main object the welfare of 
what we may term the young gardeners of all grades. 
The minutes of the last annual general meeting of 
members having been read, the secretary, Mr. McElroy, 
presented a financial statement for the year as follows:— 
Dr. BENEFIT FUND. £ s. d. 
Jan. 1SS5. To Balance in hand . 1,927 1 10 
,, 1SS6. ,, Interest on this sum . 57 0 0 
„ Subscriptions ot 169 members . 255 17 9 
,, Arrears of Subscriptions for 1SS4.... 15 9 
„ Balance from deduction of Sick Pay 0 10 
£2,241 6 4 
Cr. 
By Sick Pay to six members. 16 6 6 
,, Interest. 6 11 0 
,, Paid Widow Rowe. 34 12 3 
,, Deductions for Sick Pay . 0 8 0 
,, Balance. 2,1S3 S 7 
£2,241 6 4 
Dr. BENEVOLENT FUND. 
Jan. 1S85. To Balance in hand . 972 15 11 
„ 1SS6. ,, Interest on this sum . 2S 10 0 
,, Further Interest on £219 0s. S d. stand¬ 
ing to creditof non-paving members 6 11 0 
,, Subscriptions from 157 members_ 19 3 0 
,, Do. do. 10 honorary do. 10 10 0 
,, Arrears of Subscriptions . 0 5 0 
,, Deduction from Sick Fund . 0 S 0 
£1,03S 2 11 
Cr. 
By Vote to the orphan children of the late Mr. and 
Mrs. Rowe . 20 0 0 
,, Balance . . . 1,01S 2 11 
£1,038 2 11- 
Dr. MANAGEMENT FUND. 
Jan. 1SS5. To Balance in hand . 3 IS S 
„ 1SS6. ,, Subscriptions from 157 members_ 19 12 6 
„ Arrears from 1SS4. 0 5 0 
£23 16 2 
Cr. 
By Rent of Room for meetings. 3 0 0 
,, Printing. 4 19 6 
,, Postage . 2 15 0 
,, Sundry small Expenses. 3 14 10 
,, Balance of last year’s Fund, presented to the 
Secretary. 3 IS 7 
„ Balance in hand . 5 7 9 
£23 16 2 
During the year an additional sum of £300 had been 
invested in 3 per cent, consols in the name of the 
trustees, making the total sum so invested £3,300. 
During the year eleven additional members had joined 
the society, showing a steady increase. 
The chairman, in moving the adoption of the report, 
congratulated the society on its sound political basis. 
It is a society that has for its object the well-being of 
gardeners, and especially of those filling subordinate 
positions in gentlemen’s gardens and nursery estab¬ 
lishments. He thought it a very satisfactory sign of 
the times so many members of the working classes were 
found managing with so much success societies insti¬ 
tuted to benefit themselves. This societ} r was managed 
by gardeners for gardeners at a very small cost; the 
management expenses were very low, and contrasted in 
the most favourable manner with those of other benefit 
societies. He thought a great deal of gratitude was 
due to the secretary, Mr. McElroy, who, though not a 
member of the society, having exceeded the limit of 
age at which a member could join when he became 
officially connected with it, and who gave much time 
and attention to the duties of the secretaryship, and 
discharged its duties with great zeal and fidelity, all 
the remuneration he received being an occasional vote 
by the committee of the balance of the management 
fund. He (the chairman) regretted that the existence 
and objects of such an excellent society were not better 
known among the gardening community ; and seeing 
some of the representatives of the gardening papers 
present, he hoped that would lead to the benefits con¬ 
ferred by the society being much more widely circulated 
in the future. This motion was duly seconded and 
carried. The following members were elected on the 
committee of management:—Messrs. Cole, Wood, 
Scott, Coates, Campbell, Geo. Moreland, and Campbell. 
Hearty votes of thanks were given to the trustees, 
to the treasurer (Mr. James Hudson, whose absence 
through indisposition was much regretted), to the 
Secretary (Mr. McElroy, who stated that he had filled 
that office for the past ten years), to the auditors 
(Messrs. A. J. Green and Geo. Dixon), and to the 
chairman. 
TABLE, WINDOW, AND INDOOR 
PLANTS. 
The sight of thriving plants in the dwelling house is 
pleasant to all, but only they who nurse them and 
attend to them know the pleasure to be derived from 
watching their progress ; as, however much of the 
success depends on the proper kinds for the purpose 
being selected, it will be well to jot down from time to 
time in little gossips on table and window plants, &e. 
Now to commence, I cannot help saying that, I believe, 
if one has to choose the very best plant for growing in 
the dwelling house the Aspidistra lurida, and its tall 
and variegated varieties must be selected. This plant 
seems to thrive where no other will, and to grow in the 
dry air of the dwelling house even better than in the 
conservatory, if accommodated with anything like 
comfortable quarters. All that is necessary is to keep 
the leaves carefully sponged, and to re-pot just as the 
new leaves are pushing up, but only to re-pot when 
the pot it is in is really too small to allow of further 
progress. 
The pretty blue flowered Agapanthus umbellatus, 
with its lively green strap-shaped leaves, and the 
orange coloured Imantophyllum miniatum, which 
resembles it in growth, are also very easily grown ; and 
the showy flowered Vallota purpurea and Calla rethiopica, 
ornamental at all times, but especially handsome when 
their annual and long continued supply of flowers come. 
"We must not in passing on to some of the newer indoor 
plants forget our old friend Ficus elastica, the redoubt¬ 
able India-rubber tree, which is grown to such gigantic 
proportions in some of the snug-warm rooms (and this 
is an essential) of our town houses as to command 
the respect, nay, the veneration of even the butler and 
housemaids, who look up to it as an old friend. The 
secret of growing this well is to abstain from repotting 
it for as many years as possible, and the reason for this is 
evident, as the Ficus is almost a parasite growing fre¬ 
quently on the trunks of other trees ; to keep the leaves 
clean, to keep it out of the way of cold currents of air 
and to avoid over watering. 
"While on the subject of Ficus, I may say that the 
common fruiting Fig is a very fine and interesting 
plant for growing indoors, and one which gives off an 
odour peculiarly grateful to some ; of course it loses its 
leaves for a part of the year, and then it must be stowed 
away where it will not be unsightly with its naked 
stems. If the proper class of plants be selected, as 
much pleasure (on a smaller scale) can be derived from 
growing them indoors as from growing them in glass¬ 
houses ; but in growing them some—and particularly 
ladies—are much more adroit than others. I recollect 
some years ago seeing with Lady Adeliza Manners, a 
charming collection of plants in her town house, among 
those being Gardenias (grown and flowered there), New 
Holland plants, curious bulbs and Cacti, and the pretty 
trailers Cissns rhombea, Cissus antarctica, and our 
omamented-leaved Ivies running over screens at the 
backs of the jardinieres. From such observations 
widely acquired, I have in all parts of Europe collected 
much information respecting plants which grow well in 
the dwelling, and I shall be only too pleased to give 
your readers the benefit of my observations, hoping 
also to glean from some of them facts unknown to 
me.—J/. A., Cairib. 
-- 
ORCHID NOT ES AND GLEANINGS. 
Orchids in Flower at Femside, Bickley.— 
In that model of a neat little collection belonging to 
H. M. Pollett, Esq., which contains more fine varieties 
well grown, than any other collection occupying any¬ 
thing like the same space, the following are in flower, 
and as an enumeration of these will be of much service 
to the amateur as to what plauts he should get which 
may be expected to be in flower about this time, we are 
glad to append the list. 
Angi’scum eburneum Lselia albiaa 
superbum ,, anceps 
,, sesquipedale ,, harpophylla 
Barkeria elegans Lyeaste Skinnerii, 8 plants 
Calanthe Veitchii Masdevallia amabilis 
Ccelogyne cristata striata 
,, St. Albans var. ,, ignea 
Cattleya bicolor Measures- ,, Yeitchii 
iana Odontoglossum Alexandras, 
„ chocoensis 
,, Pereivalliana, 12 
3 3 
o » 
20 spikes 
Andersonianum 
flowers 
,, species 
33 
lobatum 
aspersum 
,, Trianse, 37 flowers 
,, „ alba 
3 3 
blandum 
3 3 
constrictum 
,, ,, Baekhousiana 
93 
crispum 
,, ,, Russelliana 
3 3 
gloriosum 
,, Y’alkeriana 
3 3 
hastilabium 
,, YTarsce wiezii delicata 
3 3 
maculatum 
Cypripedium insigne 
3 3 
pardinum 
,, ,, Maulei 
3 9 
Pescatorei 
,, Lowii 
93 
pulchellum 
,, marmorophyllum 
99 
,, majus 
,, niveurn 
39 
Rossiimajus, 10 pans 
,, Sedeni 
9 3 
seeptrum 
,, ,, candidulum 
3 3 
Sehillerianum 
,, Spicerianum 
99 
tripudians 
,, villosum 
Oneidium Forbesii 
Dendrobium Ainswortliii Phalfenopsis grandiflora 
,, crassinode ,, Stuartiana 
,, moniliforme ,, ,, punctatissima 
,, nobile Pleione humilis 
,, splendidissimum Restrepia antennifera 
,, "Wardianum Sophronites grandiflora. 
Houlettia guttata 
It would not be fair to dismiss some of these 
without at least a passing notice,as they are of extra¬ 
ordinary merit. For; example, the Odontoglossum 
Sehillerianum is the first we have ever seen true 
and like the original figure in Xenia, Orchidacca: 
it has several stout, upright, branched spikes,pro¬ 
fusely] furnished with bright yellow flowers prettily 
blotched with red. The Cattleya bicolor Measuresiana 
is a fine form with Olive-green sepals and petals, and 
large magenta distinctly edged with pure white, which 
last feature is the distinguishing mark. An Oneidium 
Forbesii is the largest and most perfect form we have 
seen ; it has flowers nearly 2i ins. across, the petals 
being so round that the flowers seem to have three 
labellunts ; the flowers are shining dark brown edged 
and mottled at the margins with yellow. A Cattleya 
Triarne, like a delicately-tinted form of C. T. Baek- 
housei, is very distinct. Among budded plants may 
be noted a Cymbidium eburneum, with about forty 
growths and many spikes; Odontoglossum "Wilckeanum, 
with four good spikes : and many O. Alexandra;, with 
several spikes and thirty to forty bulbs each, which 
prove that if well grown, the air being allowed to play 
freely about them as at Fernside, they are not short¬ 
lived, but actually make, under good cultivation, better 
masses than can be collected growing wild. 
The Orchid Grower’s Calendar.— As many 
of the occupants of the East Indian house are about to 
commence growing actively, after the cool house Orchids 
are repotted, the Aerides, lesser Yandas (Yanda suavis, 
Y. tricolor, Y. insignis, and others of that section being 
left until autumn unless they are not sound in their 
pots), Saccolabiums, Phahenopses, &c., should begone 
over in the same way, such of them as require it 
being repotted or basketted, and such as are firmly 
rooted to either the baskets or pots in which they 
are, and which it would not be desirable to remove 
