564 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
May 9th, 1885. 
in prospect. It is an instructive fact that whilst 
the Ash, as a rule, is patient in opening its buds 
in most seasons, this year it is bursting into 
growth with the Oak, so that the old weather 
couplet which refers to these trees is this year 
deprived of its meaning. If this circumstance 
has any bearing on the season, it may be taken 
favourably, for all things seem to have combined 
to render the present spring one of the most 
promising on record. 
Obnamentax, Chekey-tkees. —With the fruit¬ 
ing varieties of Cherry it is not now our intention 
to concern ourselves, our object in this note being 
simply to call attention to a few choice species and 
varieties of Cerasus which deserve to be widely 
cultivated for flowering in spring. Cerasus 
Mahaleh first demands notice. This is a species 
much used for stocks ; it is very early to flower, 
coming in with the Daffodils, and presenting to 
view a mass of bloom and forming an excellent 
companion to the Almond. The flowers are 
fragrant, and the tree has an elegant habit of 
growth. Just now, C. vulgaris flore-pieno, the 
white double-blossomed Cherry, is an object of 
great beauty. Generally the Cherries have 
pendent flowers, and especially is this the case 
with this double form; in the case of a large¬ 
sized specimen the flowers hang downward in 
thick clusters, and are objects of great attractive¬ 
ness. Waterer’s double Cherry is less double 
than the one just noticed, but the flowers are 
produced in threes and in great clusters. It is 
a very fine decorative variety, and both double 
forms should find a place among choice-flowering 
shrubs. C. semperflorens is well named; it is 
remarkable for its long flowering season, from 
May onwards. It forms a small round-headed 
tree, and is very ornamental as a single specimen; 
it is usually grafted or budded on the common 
Cherry. The latter is now a very conspicuous 
object in shrubberies, and flowering with great 
freedom. 
TACSONIA INSIGNIS. 
Anyone desirous of adding to their stock of roof 
climbers, either for the greenhouse or the conservatory, 
will find in Tacsonia insignis a first-rate plant for the 
purpose. It is of a strong-growing habit, but not so 
free by any means as the older T. Van Volxemi, and 
instead of the three lobed leaves as in the latter 
variety the leaves are ovate lanceolate and rather 
rough in appearance. It would look well on the 
same roof with any other member of the family that 
I have seen, the flowers being of a very deep rose 
colour, and about 8 ins. in diameter, and when 
the plant gets well established the flowers are freely 
produced. 
In order to bring this, and indeed all members of 
the family into free flowering in a small state, the 
roots require to be kept within bounds. If intended to 
remain permanently, nothing is better than planting 
them out in a border, bricking up a corner for their 
reception, and thus preventing the roots from roam¬ 
ing at pleasure. For soil, a compost consisting of 
fibrous loam and peat, with sand added, will be all 
that is necessary, as any extra stimulant required can 
afterwards be supplied in the way of manure-water. 
I, of course, presume that the border would be drained, 
as nothing succeeds with stagnant water about its 
roots. 
If, however, the plants are only wanted for a time 
until more slow-growing things shall have covered the 
roof, this Tacsonia may be grown in pots, as also may 
any of the other varieties. One great advantage 
connected with the Taesonias, more especially to 
amateurs, is their freedom from insects. Scale—both 
the co mm on brown and the small flat scale which 
plant growers dislike so much—will sometimes obtain 
a footing, but otherwise I have not seen any insect 
attack them excepting in very neglected places, and 
then more as a last resource than for any lilting to 
the plants themselves.— E. Dumper, The Gardens, 
Summerville, Limerick. 
On Tuesday next, the usual committee meetings 
will be held in the Conservatory, at South Kensington, 
when it is anticipated that there will be an extensive 
and most interesting display of Orchids. In the 
evening, at 6.30, the Orchid Conference Dinner will 
take place at the Albion, Aldersgate Street, under the 
presidency of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P. The 
Orchid Conference will commence at 10.30 a.m. on 
Wednesday, the proceedings being opened by some 
introductory remarks by the President, after which a 
communication from Prof. Beiehenbach, and papers 
by Mr. Harry Veitch and Mr. James O’Brien will be 
read. 
Mb. B. S. Williams will open a special exhibition 
of Orchids and stove and greenhouse flowering and 
fine foliaged plants, at his Victoria and Paradise Nur¬ 
sery, Upper Holloway, on Monday next. Mr. Williams 
proposes to keep the exhibition open daily, Sundays 
excepted, until June 30th, and we doubt not the 
resources of his establishment will prove quite equal 
to the occasion. During the period named a visit to 
the nursery will, we are sure, be well repaid. 
We are requested to ask intending subscribers to 
the Dr. Paterson Testimonial Fund to be so good as to 
send their subscriptions as soon as possible to the 
Treasurer, Mr. John Graham, Bridge of Allan. 
On Sunday last, Prof. Bodigas, of the Zoological 
Gardens at Ghent, was presented by his friends, col¬ 
leagues, and former pupils at the School of Horticul¬ 
ture, with his portrait, a very satisfactory likeness 
by M. Leon Herbo, and an album containing the 
photographs of the subscribers. 
Mb. Bobeet Bowie, who for many years was 
gardener, and lately steward, on the estate at Chil- 
lingham Castle, Northumberland, has been granted 
a pension by the Earl of Tankerville. 
Me. Charles Grant, lately foreman at Benham 
Park, Newbury, has been engaged as gardener to 
G. A. Fuller, Esq., The Bookery, Dorking. 
A portrait of the late Mr. Charles Darwin, by Mr. 
Boehm, BA, has been placed on the principal stair¬ 
case of the Natural History Museum at South Ken¬ 
sington, and will shortly be unveiled by the Prince of 
Wales. Mr. Darwin is represented seated, and the 
size is somewhat larger than life. 
Mr. Wilson’s favourite old garden cat, “ Fat 
Tommy,” so well known to all visitors to Heather- 
bank, has, we are sorry to hear, come to an untimely 
end, having been so badly bitten by a dog that he had 
to be killed. “ Fat Tommy’s ” residence was a tub 
laid on its side, from which a strand of wire was 
strained across a quarter of the garden. To this 
wire Tommy was fastened, and “ sentry go ” was his 
duty for several years. 
At the annual conversazione of the Boyal Society, 
held at Burlington House, on Wednesday evening, 
Mr. W. T. T. Thistleton Dyer, Kew, exhibited some 
flowering specimens of Himalayan Bhododendrons 
and fruiting Coffee branches, with illustrations of 
different forms of leaves in the same species of 
plants. 
Mr. J. G. Baker, F.B.S., Boyal Herbarium, Kew, 
will deliver a course of twelve lectures on Botany on 
Saturdays in May, June, and July, at 3 p.m., in the 
garden of the Apothecaries’ Company at Chelsea. 
The lectures are open not only to medical students, 
but to other gentlemen, on application for tickets to be 
had of the Beadle, Apothecaries’ Hall, Blackfriars, E.C. 
The prospects of the fruit crop in Kent are exceed¬ 
ingly promising. The Cherry orchards present a grand 
appearance, the trees being one mass of blossom. The 
buds upon the Apple trees are fast expanding into 
pink and crimson flowers, which, like those on the 
Cherry trees, look strong and healthy. It is stated 
that it is ten years since there was a really prolific 
Cherry season. 
From Messrs. Deane & Co., 46, King William Street, 
London Bridge, E.C., we have received an illustrated 
Catalogue of Garden Furniture, which may be con¬ 
sulted with advantage by all who are in want of either or 
any of the innumerable articles, useful or ornamental, 
without which no garden establishment can be said 
to be thoroughly equipped. There is scarcely an 
article used in the garden, from a span-roofed green: 
house and boiler to an indelible pencil, that does not 
find a place in this comprehensive catalogue. 
AMERICAN EXHIBITION, 
LONDON, 1886. 
Botanical Department.— Exhibitions of ordinary 
American flowering-shrubs, such as Bhododendrons, 
Azaleas, Kalmias, &c., are no novelties in this 
country, but a garden comprised solely of American 
trees, shrubs, and hardy plants, which it is proposed 
to include among the attractions of the American 
Exhibition to be held in London next year, is a 
novelty which should prove attractive to the million, 
and singularly interesting to the gardening portion of 
the community. We understand that to thoroughly 
carry out the novel idea it has been decided that 
the whole of the exhibition grounds shall contain no 
plants except those of North America. The intention 
of the promoters of the exhibition is to make a repre¬ 
sentative gathering of the United States flora, taken 
in latitudinal and longitudinal directions. The former 
will represent the characteristic vegetation of each 
State taken seriatim from New York to California, 
the latter from the Canadian frontier to Texas and 
Florida. The Orange and Citron groves of Florida 
and other Southern States, together with representa¬ 
tions of their Cotton, Maize, and Tobacco fields will 
be made. The North American flora is of peculiar 
richness ; indeed, no country possesses such a wealth 
of beautiful hardy trees, shrubs, and herbaceous 
plants, so that it will be of the greatest value to 
have the resources of the country thus prominently 
brought under notice. 
From the opening day in May till the close of the 
exhibition in October, it is hoped that the grounds 
will not only prove interesting and instructive to 
visitors, but attractive also on account of the peculiar 
nature of the American plants to flower in continuous 
succession. Besides the ordinary American flowering- 
shrubs, such as Bhododendrons, &c., with which we 
are as familiar as the Americans themselves, and 
which some of our nurserymen have so greatly im¬ 
proved, it is hoped that this exhibition will comprise 
large numbers of trees, shrubs, and plants which are 
comparatively little known in this country. The 
wealth of the herbaceous plant flora will be a special 
feature, and it is intended to import direct from the 
States representative collections of wild trees and 
plants, particularly of the most attractive kinds. 
- Q_ ■ — 
GARDEN ANEMONES. 
Mr. B. Gilbert, I notice, seems to blame the Editor 
because he has not intimated where seed of a good 
strain of Anemones can be obtained. Well, I presume 
the Editor would reply that advertisers should do that 
through the proper columns, and not through him. 
lest he be accused of favouritism. There are plenty of 
good seed strains about, but unhappily these lovely 
Anemones are not half enough grown. And no wonder, 
if everybody were to run away with the notion that they 
needed all the high-class cultivation and astonishing 
care usually assumed. In some of our market-gardens 
about here Anemones are largely grown, but the strain 
is almost entirely a scarlet one, and not of the finest 
quality. The seed is sown broadcast in beds 4 ft. in 
width beneath the orchard trees, and the ground is 
simply manured well, dug, and well fined down with a 
wooden rake before sowing. 
Now I have been privileged for several weeks past 
to look out of my cottage windows upon a bed of 
Anemones of the most brilliant colouring and beauty, 
Not one nobleman or gentleman whose gardens cost 
him thousands annually has the same privilege, and 
they are to be pitied. The huge Poppy-like flowers of 
crimson, scarlet, pink, rose, purple, blue, white, also 
flaked flowers, and myriads of others, including some 
superb doubles (for the strain always produces some 
doubles from seed), make such a glorious show as to 
extort the warmest admiration from all who see them. 
Seen too under our bright sunshine, I have very 
vividly been reminded how essential light is to enable 
us fully to perceive the rare colours in all flowers, 
but in these rich-hued blues, scarlets, and crimsons 
especially, for the flowers shown from time to time at 
South Kensington and other London shows, have 
though wondrously fine and varied, always been 
wanting in life. That life only the clear daylight and 
brilliant sunshine can give to flowers. 
Mr. Gilbert somewhat sarcastically favours your 
readers with the instructions which he received with 
