64 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[Apkil, 
of little tufts, and loses all its charm. The soil 
should be light, sand} 7 , and calcareous. Imported 
tufts produce a greater abundance of flowers, but the 
plants obtained from seed last longest. 
— ®!he Early Munich Turnip is the earliest 
of all the varieties at present known ; and as 
early turnips cannot be had too quickly in the 
spring this variety is decidedly to be recommended. 
The bulbs are of small size and flatfish in outline, 
and of a reddish purple colour. When grown by the 
side of other approved varieties its precocity is appa¬ 
rent, so that for forcing and the earliest crops in the 
open garden it can scarcely fail to become popular. 
Indeed, it only requires to be better known to be 
thoroughly appreciated. 
— Uery few observations have probably 
been made on the Hardiness of Tropical 
Orchids, although we know that some of these 
come from regions where neither frost nor snow are 
strangers. A case in point was mentioned recently 
in the Revue de VHorticulture Beige (1881, p. 232). 
M. Kienast, of Zurich, a learned amateur cultiva¬ 
tor of Orchids, states that a plant of La.Ua anceps 
Dawsoni sent to him in January, 18S1, was delayed 
for twelve days at the Swiss frontier. The tempera¬ 
ture at the time was ■—15° 11. (0° l' 1 .). The 
plants contained in the same case — Anhaloniums 
and Echinocacti, arrived completely frozen. The 
Laelia was left for eight days in a room with a tem¬ 
perature of about +6 J E. (45° F.), and then taken 
into the Odontoglossum house, where it was suspended 
head downwards, and watered two or three times 
every day. After fifteen days, it produced an abun¬ 
dance of roots, and from eight pseudobulbs six fine 
healthy shoots have started. 
— Regarding the value of Worm-casts, 
Hr. Gilbert, of Rothamsted, recently submitted 
to the Royal Horticultural Society an account 
of some experiments he had made in order to ascer¬ 
tain the proportion of nitrogen they contained. He 
collected a quantity of earth-casts from his lawn, and 
found by analysis of the dried mould that it contained 
‘35 per cent, of nitrogen, which is higher than that 
of ordinary pasture soil in the adjacent park, where 
the percentage proportion of nitrogen is '25 to '30, 
and two or three times higher than in arable land, 
but not so rich as in highly-manured garden mould. 
Ten tons per acre of worm-casts would, therefore, 
yield about 80 lb. of nitrogen per annum, or more 
than double that of ordinary meadow land without 
manure. The conclusion arrived at was that there 
would be no absolute gain in nitrogen from the action 
of the worms, but that they would bring up from 
below a larger available supply, just as would be 
afforded by trenching. 
— 5The Exhibition of the National Auricula 
Society, Northern Division, is fixed to take 
place in the Town Hall, Manchester, on May 
2nd, in connection with the Spring Show of the 
Royal Botanical and Horticultural Society. The 
Prize Lists may be obtained of the Secretary, the 
Rev. F. D. Horner, Kirkby Malzeard, Ripon. 
— ®1he very effective hybrid Rhododen¬ 
dron Sesterianum was raised by Messrs. 
Rinz & Co., of Frankfort-on-Maine, from 
R . formosum ( Gihsoni ), crossed with pollen of R . 
JSdgeworthii. It is a truly excellent and lovely 
flower, white with a yellow tinge. Many types of the 
same cross are in cultivation, of which Duchess 
of Buccleuch, as grown by Messrs. Downie & Laird, 
of Edinburgh, is perhaps the best. R. magnijlorum 
was raised between R. Hdgeworthii and Countess of 
Haddington, by Mr. Parker, of Tooting, and has 
pure white flowers of a large size. 
$it IB cm on am 
— le Comte de Iverchove de Den- 
terghem died at Ghent on February 21st, 
sincerely regretted by his fellow-countrymen, 
regrets in which those English horticulturists who 
have come into contact with him officially at the 
great shows held in that city of gardens will pro¬ 
foundly and sincerely share. The late Count (Charles 
Constant Ghislain) was born in Ghent in 1819, and 
took high honours at the School of Engineering. 
In 1848 he became a member and in 1859 Honorary 
President of the Royal Society of Agriculture and 
Botany of Ghent, in which capacity he presided over 
the great quinquennial Exhibitions of 1868, 1873, 
and 1878. On the death of M. de Ghellinck de Walle, 
in April, 1875, M. le Comte de Kerchove was nomi¬ 
nated President of the Society, and also of the Cercle 
d’Arboriculture. He filled various municipal offices 
in Ghent, and was appointed, by the late King 
Leopold, Burgomaster of the city, a high position 
which he filled with honour and distinction. Horti¬ 
culturists will specially feel his loss, for he was a 
great patron of gardening. The Winter Garden 
erected by him at Ghent is one of the sights of that 
interesting city, and was freely opiened for the in¬ 
spection of visitors. M. le Comte Oswald de Kerchove, 
Governor of the province of Hainault, who succeeds 
to his father’s title, has associated himself still more 
intimately with horticulture and the members of 
the horticultural press, and we offer him our cordial 
sympathy under his present heavy bereavement. 
— iiftR. Edwin Fancourt died on Feb¬ 
ruary 2nd, of heart-disease, aged 57. He 
was the son of Mr. John Fancourt, who 
commenced his career in 1811, at the Bedford 
Nursery, New Road, and after practising at the 
Bill’s Pond Nursery and the Clapton Nursery, went 
to Messrs. Henderson, at Piae-apple Place, where 
he remained thirty-three years. At the latter place 
the father taught his son the mode of multiplying 
plants the most difficult to increase, and lie soon 
became an expert in the art. He was subsequently 
employed by Messrs. Knight & Perry, Cant, Standish, 
and again by Messrs. Henderson & Co. For eighteen 
years he was manager to Mr. William Cutbush; of 
the Barnet Nursery; whence he went to Messrs. 
Osborn, of Fulham, and afterwards to Messrs. James 
Dickson & Sons, of Chester, with whom he remained 
until his death. 
— jUflR. Alexander McKay died at Oakley, 
near Bedford, on February 13th, at the age 
of 71 years. He was born at Fochabers in 
1810, and served his apprenticeship at Gordon Castle, 
whence he removed to Woburn Abbey, where for 
seven years he had charge of the forcing department. 
Subsequently he was appointed by the Duchess of 
Bedford to the charge of the gardens at Endsleigh, 
near Tavistock; and in 1861, on the death of Mr. 
Forbes, he returned to Woburn, and held the position 
of head gardener there till 1870, when he retired. 
