January 26, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
337 
Brussels Horticultural Chamber of Commerce.— 
A number of horticulturists met in Brussels on the 
14th inst., for the purpose of founding a Chamber of 
Commerce under the above title, and which shall have 
for its objects, the union of the horticulturists of 
Brussels and the province of Brabant ; the institution 
of a horticultural exchange or bourse ; the organisation 
of meetings and horticultural exhibitions ; the ex¬ 
tension of commerce by the research for new openings ; 
and the study of all questions of importance to 
commercial horticulture. The Chamber will be 
composed of an unlimited number of both effective and 
honorary members. The former will consist of horti¬ 
culturists, directors of nursery establishments, florists, 
vine growers, &c., who will pay an annual subscription, 
and they only will have the right of voting. Honorary 
members may consist of anyone belonging to the 
country or otherwise, provided they are interested in 
horticultural affairs, inscribe themselves as members, 
and pay the annual subscription. The Chamber is to 
be governed by a directing committee, invested with 
the most extended powers to carry on its affairs. The 
following have been elected to serve for five years — 
namely, Messrs. Lucien Linden, president; Fr. de 
Backer, vice - president; Paul Buquet, secretary ; 
Joseph Story, assistant secretary; and Louis de 
Langhe, treasurer. 
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MID-WINTER BLOOMS OF 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
In your comments on January 19th (p. 320) on the 
mid-winter show, you say “it is doubtful whether the 
production of late winter blooms can be made co¬ 
incident with particular attention to the production of 
autumn show flowers. ” I am not sure if I interpret 
your meaning rightly ; but if it is that you think the 
growing of plants for late blooming cannot be carried 
on concurrently with the growing of plants to produce 
autumn show flowers, without the latter having, in 
some measure, to suffer from inattention thereby, I 
can only say that in our practice we experience no 
difficulty whatever. Our exhibition plants suffer no 
diminution of attention to their wants, because we set 
aside another lot of plants for a little different 
treatment, that they may produce their blooms at a 
much later date. 
It is true we have been growing Chrysanthemums in 
an ordinary way, and also for late blooming, for a 
much longer time than we have been growing plants 
for exhibition blooms. But during the six years we 
have grown plants for cut show blooms, the growing 
of plants for other purposes, including those for late 
winter blooms, has been carried on coincidently, 
without any one section of the plants having to suffer 
through extra attention being given to any other 
section or set of plants. In short, we have always been 
able to give to each set its proper share of care and 
attention. Given the house-room, no grower would 
find any difficulty in growing plants for late blooming. 
While I would give every attention to the production 
of a certain quantity or number of autumn show flowers, 
I would not allow it to monopolise time and attention 
to the extent—which I fear is the case with some 
growers—of neglecting other and more useful phases of 
cultivation of the flower. It is to be feared that it is 
this all-engrossing, all-absorbing of time and attention 
to the production of huge blooms for the show table 
that is causing many lovers of the Chrysanthemum to 
look with disfavour on that phase of cultivation, and 
to give only a lukewarm support to Chrysanthemum 
exhibitions. I do not think that this is the consum¬ 
mation the National Chrysanthemum Society desires, 
and the production of huge exhibition blooms ought 
not to be the be-all and end-all of Chrysanthemum 
growers.— J. Kipling, Knebworth, January 22nd. 
-—- 
IfOTES ON JrUITS. 
Apple, Stirling Castle. 
The books all describe this as an early Apple, which is 
so far true, and it is stated to be in season in August, 
or from August to September, and again from August 
to November. Under favourable circumstances and 
conditions, however, the fruit will keep good till well 
into January. The fruits I refer to were ripened 
north of the Tweed, a circumstance that may have 
materially favoured their keeping till so late a period. 
The flavour was then considerably improved, and the 
fruits might have been used for dessert purposes, and 
proved palatable to many. The flesh is tender, juicy, 
and sub-acid, but becomes so mellowed by December 
and January that it makes pleasant eating. In the 
south, as one might naturally expect, the fruits come 
sooner to maturity, both in the open ground and after 
they have been stored. The colour is also more highly 
developed in southern-grown specimens. As a variety 
it is now of respectable age, having been raised at 
Stirling about the year 1830 ; but is not so extensively 
cultivated as it might with profit be. It is a heavy 
cropper on young trees, even in such an unfavourable 
season as the past, and seeing that it is admirably 
adapted for culture as a bush, it might be more largely 
grown in cottage and villa gardens.— F. 
Apple, Downton Pippin. 
Small Apples as a rule are less favourably received at 
present than they used to be ; but it must not be for¬ 
gotten that small-fruiting varieties often bear in great 
abundance, whereas in the case of large kinds, the 
fruits must of a necessity be fewer even when the crop 
is a good one. The Downton Pippin bears a consider¬ 
able resemblance to the exceedingly old Golden Pippin 
or London Golden Pippin, a fact which is not surprising 
seeing that the latter was its pollen parent. It is 
shortly oblong, or somewhat cylindrical, with a smooth 
lemon-yellow skin, with a yellowish white, crisp, and 
juicy flesh. It is a dessert kind of the first quality, 
ripening in November, and is still in season. 
-►>*«- 
LENTEN ROSES. 
With the mild weather that has prevailed for some 
time past, the species and varieties of Helleborus—now 
generally known under the name of Lenten Roses—are 
rapidly coming into flower, and will continue to be 
produced till March, some time during which the 
blooms attain their greatest perfection, and then gradu¬ 
ally lose their colour, becoming green. As far as the 
flowers are concerned, there are several that are not 
particularly showy ; but in some cases the beauty of 
the foliage recommends them for cultivation. H. col- 
chicus is undoubtedly the finest of all the Lenten 
Roses, and has deep plum-purple flowers, while a variety 
named H. c. coccineus is even richer in its colours. 
H. abchasicus and H. atrorubens also deserve a place 
in a collection, or a partially-shaded situation on the 
rockery. Both have purple flowers, more or less tinged 
with green at the base, and when in full bloom are very 
pretty. The spotted variety of H. caucasicus, named 
H. c. punctatus, presents a new element in the rosy- 
spotted flowers. 
There are several forms of H. orientalis in cultivation, 
some of which are exceedingly beautiful. The typical 
form is rose-coloured, and while H. o. antiquorum has 
larger and somewhat basin-shaped flowers, they are 
nearly pure white. H. o. guttatus is white, spotted 
with purple on the lower part of the petals. A sub- 
variety of this, named H. o. g. Leichtlinii, has the 
spots extending over the greater part of the petals. 
This variety is shown in the centre of our illustration 
of a group of Lenten Roses. 
Bromley District Chrysanthemum Society.— 
The next exhibition of this society will be held on 
November 13th and 14th, at the Drill Hall, Bromley, 
Kent. 
ANTIQUITY OF VEGETATION. 
Progressive order of Plants and Animals. 
It is impossible in the present state of our knowledge 
to give a complete and consecutive genealogy of either 
plants and animals, owing to great gaps in the chain 
of succession, representing vast periods of time if 
reckoned by years, intervening between the subsidence 
and elevation of land during the different geological 
epochs, so that it will be necessary to keep to general 
facts. 
SeaWeeds and Rhizocarps have continued from the 
lowest stratified rocks to the present time, accompanied 
by Protozoa amongst animals. Club Mosses, Horsetails 
and Ferns followed, and then Conifers, Cycads and 
Monocotyledons, the first three culminating in 
Carboniferous times. This corresponds to the age of 
invertebrates, fishes and amphibians. The oldest fossil 
insect occurs in the Devonian of North America, and 
measured 5 ins. across the wings, while May-flies in the 
Carboniferous rocks had an expanse of wing of 7 ins., 
so that they are probably not the first that lived. 
Cycads and Conifers become dominant in the Secondary 
rocks, which were formed during the age of reptiles. 
The latter were adapted to live on land or water, and 
some of them were of enormous length, including one 
(Iguanodon), 40 ft. to 70 ft. in length, and a singular 
flying reptile. Insects are represented by beetles in 
great numbers and variety, gnats, cockroaches, dragon¬ 
flies, huge auts and bees. A supposed fossil butterfly 
(Palaeontina oolitica) occurs as early as the Oolite rocks 
in England ; but its affinity is doubtful, and it is 
significant that true flower-haunting insects should 
make their appearance so late, corresponding to the 
incoming of show flowering plants. 
In like manner, the first seed-bearing and true- 
flowering plants had small and inconspicuous blooms, 
and were fertilised by the wind, such as Conifers, 
Cycads, and Angiosperms, represented by Palms, 
Grasses, Sedges, Poplars, Willows, Planes, Oaks, 
Birches, and others, which were independent of insects 
for the production of seeds. The occurrence of plants 
bearing seeds in a seed-vessel in the Cretaceous period 
is a remarkable fact in geological records, showing that 
the vegetable kingdom had reached the culminating 
stage of its development before placental mammals 
which correspond to it in the animal kingdom made 
their appearance, as the latter do not occur before the 
Eocene in the lower Tertiary rocks. 
From the lower Tertiary upwards large and showy 
flowers become more and more numerous, at first 
exhibiting no great specialisation to any particular 
class of insects, but open to visitors of many or all 
kinds, such as flies, beetles, and ants. With the ex¬ 
ception of large and coloured corollas, they exhibited 
no special adaptations to flower-haunting insects. 
Flowers of this kind were followed by others with 
irregular corollas, such as Aconite and Pea flowers, or 
even with the petals united, forming a short tube, to 
which only insects with long tongues, such as bees, 
could gain access to the honey. The insect world kept 
pace with the needs, and the bee family made its 
appearance. Finally, in the Tertiary, we meet with 
true Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), and likewise 
with long-tubed or long-spurred flowers, each specially 
adapted to the other, and mutually dependent for their 
co-existence. Moths and butterflies only can reach the 
honey at the base of the flowers, and so obtain food, 
while the latter are equally dependent on such insects 
for the fertilisation of their flowers, the production of 
seeds, and their preservation. Existing evidence goes 
far to prove that highly-developed flowers—such as 
Dandelions, Thistles, Sunflowers, Harebells, Foxgloves, 
Salvias, Lilies, and Orchids—did not exist till middle 
or late Tertiary times. 
At this period the earth becomes clothed by the 
social grasses, forming a green carpet everywhere, and 
causing such a revolution amongst animal life as the old- 
world inhabitants could never have dreamed of. The 
Mammaliferous Stone-bed of Norwich of Pliocene times 
yields skeletons in good preservation of the Mastodon, 
Elephants, Hippopotamus, Antelope, Stag, Horse, 
Panther and Hyosna, as well as the bones of birds, 
showing in great abundance the existence of grazing, 
herbivorous, and other animals. Later, in cave 
deposits of Pleistocene age previous to the Glacial 
period, we find bones of the Horse, Ox, Bison, Goat, 
Red Deer, Reindeer, Roebuck, Cave Lion, Bear, Fox, 
Hare, Lemming, and shells of the Limpet, Oyster, and 
Mussel, associated with flint arrow-heads, knives, and 
harpoons, evidence of Palaeolithic Man, showing that 
he was the latest to appear on the scene, but had at 
this time attained some considerable degree of civilisa¬ 
tion, and lived by fishing and hunting. In a cavern 
at Torquay, Devon, we have evidence of two distinct 
races of men having inhabited it coeval with extinct 
Pleistocene animals. 
