324 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 22, 1887. 
what is done and past cannot now be helped. 
What is to he done in the future is the question 
that holds the field now. It seems to us that 
what should he done is to recast the society, to 
practically re-establish it, to lift it out of its 
difficulties and depression, and to form from it a 
society which, whilst having a broad basis, shall 
have the great body of the horticulturists of the 
United Kingdom for its constituency. Passing 
events seem to show that the society cannot 
possibly remain much longer at South Kensing¬ 
ton ; and the efforts of the Albert Hall Corpo¬ 
ration to obtain possession of the conservatory 
and adjoining gardens, which will, doubtless, 
be successful, are, as it seems to us antago¬ 
nistic to the position of the society, which, 
in the advent of this change of proprietor¬ 
ship, must inevitably clear out. We think 
it an unfortunate matter that the society 
should, as it were, determine to cling to this 
place so tenaciously, until ejected finally, and, 
perhaps, forcibly. The pressing necessity of 
the case enjoins upon the council that they 
should provide for the society and its London 
operations a new and more convenient home, 
where the society may, at least, hold up its 
head manfully, and realise that it has rights 
and privileges worthy-of respect and esteem. 
It is interesting to learn that an outside 
committee has been formed for the purpose of 
proffering the council advice and assistance in 
the emergency. For that proffer the council 
may be thankful, or otherwise ; but the motive 
is good, no doubt, although some of the names 
mentioned, and the place where the committee 
originated, naturally leads to the conviction 
that the matter grew out of post-prandial 
oratory. If this committee has any definite 
scheme to submit to the council which offers 
some basis for future action, the sooner that 
scheme is published the better. The time 
draws near when the council will be called 
upon to meet the Fellows, and, of course, some¬ 
thing decisive will be looked for in the report 
submitted. We trust that a decisive statement 
will be made, and that the president of the 
society will be enabled to declare that the 
Royal Horticultural Society has at length 
obtained a London home, in which it will be no 
longer under the constant fear of eviction, but 
possess it as a definite and legal habitation. 
Kow that the society has no longer to depend 
upon the support of the South Kensingtonians— 
the croquet and lawn tennis or pleasure-seeking 
Fellows—it is, at least, free from all trouble or 
concern on their account, and can all the more 
readily turn for strength to the great gardening 
body of the United Kingdom. We hope, in 
the interests at once of the society, the gar¬ 
deners, and of gardening, that the question of 
reducing the annual subscription of Fellows to 
10s. 6 (l. and 21s.—granting double privileges 
in the latter case—will be seriously considered. 
The Society has lost vast numbers of its dilet¬ 
tante Fellows, and in so doing has, we trust, 
got rid of its Jonahs. The description of crew 
now to put on board in order to save the 
sinking ship is one of horticulturists pure and 
simple, and of every section. 
Whatever course the society may take, we 
trust it will be an independent one. Its dual 
ownership at South Kensington has proved a 
most disastrous arrangement, and the strongest 
partner has at length crushed the weaker one 
out of ownership. There will be plenty of 
suggestions to the council no doubt. We wish 
not to hamper that body with anything specific, 
all that we ask is energy and promptness. The 
longer the present condition of things endures, 
the more must the interests of the society suffer. 
The sooner the crisis is closed up, and a firm 
and energetic course is taken, the sooner will 
the gardening community rally round the 
society. The council should remember the old 
apothegm, “ He who hesitates is lost,” 
The annual meeting of the United Horticultural 
Provident and Benefit Society, will be held at the 
Caledonian Hotel, Adel phi, on February 14th. 
The death is announced of Mr. Pi. Laing, florist, 
Richmond Road, Twickenham, a much respected trades¬ 
man, and a warm supporter of local horticultural 
societies. 
On February 18th Mr. A. Dean will give a lecture 
on “ Character in Gardeners, at the meeting of the 
Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association. 
A Derbyshire correspondent informs us that, during 
Monday night, Jan. 10th, and early the following 
morning, a flat of Brussels Sprouts, in his garden, 
was cleared by Larks down to the snow line, only 
the stalks and mid-rihs of the leaves being left. 
The American Florist, commenting upon a Bride- 
maid’s Bouquet, made by a Portland florist, and 
which, according to the bill, consisted of fifty-five 
Chrysanthemums, Myrsiphyllum, Adiantum, Asparagus 
tenuissimus, frame, paper, moss and wire, remarks 
that it would appear to have contained everything 
requisite with the exception of some Horse-Radish ! 
At the last meeting of the Royal Botanic Society, 
Mr. Sowerby, the secretary, spoke of the great damage 
done to the trees and shrubs in the gardens by the heavy 
snow of December 26th, many large branches being 
wrenched completely off. Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., 
said that so great a weight of snow had not fallen at 
any time during the last thirty years. The destruction 
caused by it he traced to its very great density, more 
approaching that of ice than snow, and to the fact of 
its having thawed while falling, so that it stuck fast to 
the branches instead of reaching the ground. 
“A Working Seedsman” writes:—“Gentlemen’s 
gardeners and others about to purchase seeds will confer 
an inestimable benefit upon their respective seedsmen 
by sending their orders early, especially during snowy 
or frosty weather, as by this means the terrific strain 
upon the seedsman’s staff that must otherwise arise 
immediately the weather changes, will he consider¬ 
ably relieved, and equal advantage will accrue to the 
purchaser, inasmuch as more time, and, consequently, 
if possible, a greater amount of care can be devoted 
to the proper execution of the order. 
At a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, a specimen of a grass— Setaria viridis— 
was exhibited not over ^ in. high, but which had a 
large number of perfect seeds nearly mature. It was 
sent by Mr. Meehan to show that such minute plants 
might grow and produce seed annually for many suc¬ 
cessive years, the plants each year reproducing them¬ 
selves among other vegetation, without anyone being 
aware of their existence. When such tracts were 
ploughed up, and plants like this grass get a good 
chance to develop themselves fully, it would appear 
that there had not been any plant of the species growing 
for years, and the fact used to illustrate the long vitality 
of seeds in the earth. It might be that there was good 
evidence that cases of long vitality were undoubted ; 
but it served a good purpose to point out where error 
may creep in.— American Gardeners’ Monthly. 
In consequence of the Gardens of the Royal Bo¬ 
tanical and Horticultural Society at Old Trafford 
being incorporated with the great Jubilee Exhibition 
to be held in Manchester this year, the usual Whitsun¬ 
tide Exhibition cannot take place in the Gardens ; but 
the Council have resolved to hold the Exhibition on a 
suitable plot of land near the Old Trafford Railway 
Station, and in the immediate vicinity of the Jubilee 
Exhibition. The year being the Jubilee of Her Majesty 
the Queen’s reign, the Council have determined to give 
First and Second Class Gold Medals, and a Third Class 
Silver Medal, which will have suitable inscriptions 
upon them, and be denominated “The Queen s Jubilee 
Medal.” The Exhibition will open on the 27th of May 
next. 
The eleventh anniversary meeting of the Scottish 
Seed and Nursery Trade Association was held on 
the 12th inst., in the Waterloo Hotel, Edinburgh. 
Mr. R. B. Laird, Dundee, presided. The report for 
the past year, which was submitted by Mr. David 
Hunter, secretary, stated that the association was in a 
most satisfactory state, there being an increase of seven 
firms to the membership, while the funds were also 
reported to be in a most satisfactory condition. Mr. 
James Watt, Carlisle, moved, with the view of giving 
greater breadth to the operations of the association, 
that the name be changed and the annual meetings be 
held in different districts. He said he had a letter from 
a firm in England, whose objection to join the association 
was that it was a Scotch institution. He moved that 
the word English be substituted for Scottish. Mr. 
David Syme, on condition that Mr. Watt would 
substitute the word National for English, agreed to 
second the motion. This Mr. Watts readily assented 
to, and the association is now called the National 
Seed and Nursery Trade Association. The annual 
dinner of the association was held in the evening, under 
the presidency of Mr. James Watt-j about forty gentle¬ 
men were present, and the gathering was considered the 
best the Society has ever had. 
The annual general meeting of the guarantors and 
life members of the York Horticultural Gala, was 
held at the North Eastern Hotel, York, on Monday 
evening, January 10th, Mr. Alderman Rooke, J.P., in 
the chair. The Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor (Mr. 
Alderman Terry), who for several years has been the 
chairman of the committee, was unanimously re-elected 
.to that position, and president of the association ; Mr. 
Alderman Rooke, vice-chairman ; Mr. Joseph Wilson, 
late Town Clerk, and treasurer to the Gala from the 
beginning, as treasurer ; and Mr. John Wilson, the 
secretary from the commencement of the Gala, again to 
the secretaryship. £550 was voted as prizes, many for 
plants, fruits and flowers, from the Gala funds, and 
about £450 for music, fireworks, balloon ascents and 
other entertainments. Messrs. Backhouse & Son, nur¬ 
serymen, offer a special prize for Orchids, and a Veitch 
Memorial Medal and prize of £5 is at the committee’s 
disposal; and other special prizes are offered also. In 
addition, handsome prizes will he offered for twelve 
Orchids, the sum of quite £50 being available for first, 
second and third prizes, this sum being given by special 
donations. Altogether, there is an excellent prospect 
of a great jubilee gala this year, as the strong committee, 
with the office-bearers, are not the men to do things by 
halves. 
-- 
GARDEN PLANTS ILLUSTRATED. 
Crinum Hildebrandti. 
Twenty-one flowers are represented in the coloured 
plate quoted below ; but four to six are more frequent 
in fairly well-established plants. The long slender 
tube of the perianth is more or less stained with 
crimson ; while the six segments are short, linear, 
white, and spread in a star-like manner. The flower- 
stems do not usually much exceed 15 ins. in height, 
and are produced while the plant is well furnished with 
leaves, so that this species possesses considerable merit 
as a winter-flowering plant for stove culture.— L'Illus¬ 
tration Horticolc, 1886, p. 173. 
Odontoglossu^i crispum Reginye. 
The excellent and showy nature of the numerous 
forms of this Odontoglot will always render them 
favourites in gardens. The variety under notice 
flowered in the collection of F. A. Philbrick, Esq., Q.C., 
Oakfield, Bickley. Its qualifications depend on the 
numerous large blotches, distributed irregularly and 
almost equally over all parts of the flowers, which 
attain a diameter of 3| ins. The sepals and petals are 
pure white, blotched with reddish brown, and the 
latter are characterised not only by ample breadth, but 
in irregularly incised or jagged margin ; the lip is white 
marked with a large reddish brown blotch on the upper 
part, and yellow with a few smaller side blotches on 
the lower part. The plant requires the same cultural 
treatment that suits the numerous other forms in culti¬ 
vation, and when grown in a healthy vigorous way, 
flowers are produced freely on long pendent racemes.— 
Orchid Album, t. 264. 
Nepenthes Mastersiana. 
The subject here mentioned originated in the estab¬ 
lishment of Messrs. Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea, and is a 
hybrid between N. sanguinea and N. Khasiana, gene¬ 
rally known in gardens as N. distillatoria. It is inter¬ 
mediate in character between the parents, both as to 
form, size and colour. The pitchers, under good culti¬ 
vation, attain an immense size, and vary in colour 
according to treatment ; but when well managed are of 
a vinous red flushed with purple. The plant grows 
freely, is always well furnished with pitchers, and 
compensates, in a great measure, for the comparative 
rarity of the seed parent, N. sanguinea.— L'Hhtstration 
Horticolc, 1886, t. 618. 
