July 9, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
709 
The Spaniards would Shell American Peas.—The 
current joke is that American market gardeners who 
live along the Atlantic sea board will not plant Peas 
this spring for fear that the Spaniards should come 
along and shell them. 
Age of Trees.—The Jornal Hortic oh-Agricola of 
Porto gives the ages of certain trees, but does not 
indicate by what process of reasoning or calculation 
it arrives at the deductions. Commencing with 
Cercis Siliquastrum, it gives the age as 300 years; 
Ulmus campestris reaches335 years; Hedera Helix, 
450 ; Acer campestre, 516; Betula alba, 576 ; Citrus 
Aurantium, 630; Cupressus sempervirens, 800; 
Olea europaea, 800 ; Juglans regia, 000 ; Platanus 
orientalis, 1,000; Tilia europaea, 1,100; Abies 
pectinata, 1,200; Quercus robur, 1,500; Cedrus 
Libani, 2,000; Taxodium distichum, 3,000, and 
Taxus baccata, 3,200. The reputed age of the Lime 
is probably excessive, while several more durable 
species might have been cited. 
Paper and Parchment.—The quality of the paper 
largely influences the permanency of the ink,and this 
matter is of considerable importance when we con¬ 
sider how largely wood pulp is used for paper¬ 
making nowadays. Such paper soon turns brown, 
and becomes so brittle that it may be broken into 
small pieces by merely crumpling it in the hand, 
says the Journal of the Society of Arts. The parchment 
skins, which were formerly used for writing on were 
infinitely superior to our modern paper, as far as the 
preservation of the writing is concerned. Even the 
old-fashioned unbleached paper was better than our 
present day bleached, glazed paper, for small quan¬ 
tities of both chlorine and lime remain in the latter, 
and apparently exert a detrimental effect upon both 
paper and ink. 
■I < 
THE R.H.S. COMMITTEES AT 
CHISWICK. 
The invitation of the council of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society tothevarious committees to lunch with 
them at Chiswick was responded to by one hundred, 
who put in their presence at Chiswick on the 5th 
inst. The meeting took place at 12 noon, when the 
members of the committee proceeded to inspect the 
gardens and some of the subjects on trial. The 
luncheon took place at 1.30 p.m. in a large tent on 
the lawn, and was served by Messrs. Spiers & Pond. 
This is the second of the kind, and the president, 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart , who occupied the chair, 
after the usual loyal toasts, proposed “The Com¬ 
mittees,’’ and hoped that the gathering would become 
an annual institution. He expressed the thanks cf 
the council to the committees for their unremitting 
and loyal attention to duty at the fortnightly and 
other meetings throughout the year. 
Referring to the garden, he said that it had been so 
long under cultivation that for horticultural work the 
soil had become played out. Sooner or later they 
would have to find a different place to establish a 
garden. The speculative builder had got his eyes 
upon it as a valuable spot for partition in building 
plots. The society wanted a larger piece of 
so as to give greater scope for horticultural 
work. As long as the society continued to devote 
its attention to purely horticultural matters it 
was bound to succeed. There were few countries in 
the world which were so devoted to horticulture as 
this one. While at Geneva a lady had sent him a 
basket of fruit at his hotel, and everybody who saw 
it looked on with astonishment at the perfection of 
the fruit such as was but seldom seen outside of 
England. 
The relations between the council and the com¬ 
mittees continue to be of the most cordial character; 
and if at any time a difference should arise the 
council would be most anxious to remove it. Con¬ 
cerning the Temple Show, he had had most gratify¬ 
ing assurances from visitors that they had never 
seen a more beautiful show. A more tangible assur¬ 
ance of the success of the society was forthcoming in 
the fact that, at the first council meeting after the 
show, no new candidates had been proposed for 
election as Fellows. He coupled with the toast the 
name of Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, C.M.G., the 
director of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 
Mr. Dyer, in rising to respond, said that he was 
at once flattered and not a little astonished at being 
invited to return thanks to this toast. The 
assembly that day had given him peculiar pleasure. 
With the help he saw around him he had no doubt 
as to the cause of the society’s success. The policy 
of having committees'was not wrong. He made a 
humorous allusion to a kind of popularity which 
would make it difficult to see a flower without tread- 
upon a duchess, but that might not be horticulture. 
The Horticultural Society must have a backbone; 
and that must rest upon the committees—a fact 
which could not be too widely acknowledged. 
He then referred to the time when they practically 
hell a council of despair in view of the first Temple 
Show, as they thought the tents could not be filled, 
though the show had since outgrown the limits of 
space at their disposal. Mr. Dyer was advised to 
take council of the market growers for Covent 
Garden, and he went to lay his case before Mr. Wm. 
Poupart, with the result that the market growers 
evinced a ready desire to come to the assistance of 
the society. Since then the show had grown to be 
what it is, and which had been well expressed as the 
high-water mark of horticulture. The Horticultural 
Soc'ety is now in touch with the entire horticultural 
world. One of his most earnest and interested hopes 
was the prosperity of horticulture. He further made 
reference to a case in which the nurserymen of 
England had supplied the Paris markets with a cer¬ 
tain article of garden produce, which had met with 
encouraging success. The Legislature of France 
might well have excluded an article which was pre¬ 
sumably very injurious to the interests of their 
countrymen. The experiment might well be 
repeated in other directions to the advantage of the 
growers in this country, particularly in the sending 
of fruit, some kinds of which were brought to 
greater perfection in this than in any other country 
of the world, notwithstanding the indifferent 
character of our climate. He also reminded his 
audience that the president of the society and he had 
been deputed to look after the interests of British 
horticulture at the forthcoming great international 
exhibition at Paris. 
In concluding, he stated that the work of the com¬ 
mittees had been subject to criticism, but all other 
useful institutions were subject to similar incon¬ 
veniences. He considered that posterity would not 
regard them with less appreciation on that account. 
The differences of opinion about the granting of a 
First-class Certificate would soon be forgotten. 
Criticism was evanescent, and small outbursts of it 
would die like the gently diminishing ripples on a 
summer sea. Mr. Dyer was listened to throughout 
his speech with wrapt attention, and applauded as 
he resumed his seat. 
A vote of thanks to the president for taking the 
chair was proposed by G. A. Smith-DorrieD, Esq., 
of the Sciily Isles, and after the president had 
replied, the company dispersed in paities through 
the garden. 
- —- 
Gardening Miscellany. 
SWEETBRIER LADY PENZANCE. 
Of all the hybrid and cross-bred forms of Briers 
that have been raised few of them equal and none 
surpass the fascinating beauty of Lady Penzance. 
The flowers are of good average or even latge size, 
and when they first expand they are of a rich 
salmon-rose shade, with a distinct yellow zone in the 
centre, but as they reach their full development the 
salmon mostly disappears. These colours indicate 
the union of the Sweetbrier and the Austrian 
Copper; but in any case the delicious perfume of 
the former is dominant. There is no more beautiful 
garden Rose in its season, during June and July 
particularly; and to the charming combination of 
colours may be added that of profusion of bloom, as 
visitors have seen in a bed of this variety near the 
greenhouse at Kew. 
GRAMMATOPHYLLUM ELLISII v. G. 
RUMPHIANUM. 
Among a number of interesting things at present 
in flower in the Orchid houses at Kew, these two 
species may be seen and comparison made of the 
differences and yet similarity. It is seldom that 
these two friends are seen in flower at the same time. 
Occasionally one or the other may be successfully 
bloomed ; and to carry the differences in one’s mind 
is not always safe or practical, for at first some little 
doubt arose as to which was the one and which the 
other. This can be set at rest in the mind of any 
orchidist who has any doubt in the matter, and a 
journey to Kew will give opportunity of inspecting 
not only this but several other things equally 
interesting. In the case of G. Ellisii grown in a 
basket, the spike is some 2 ft. 6 in. in length with 
about twenty flowers on the spike.— W. S. 
PRESERVATION OF MUSHROOMS. 
Lay the Mushrooms around a stone jar, the cap 
separated, well cleaned, and the stalk cleft. The jar 
may be enamelled or glazed. The first closely 
packed row being arranged a layer of salt is laid on 
the top, and so on. The salt melts and bathes the 
Mushrooms with water; a weight is placed on the 
top to keep them in the water. 
MUSCARI BOTRYOIDES ALBUM. 
This pretty little white Grape Hyacinth is a great 
favourite in collections of hardy plants in this 
country, and it is occasionally grown in pots for the 
Alpine house by those who treat their choice Alpines 
very tenderly. In the United States, however, its 
pot culture for supplying cut flowers for market 
work has been taken up systematically. In this 
direction it has acquitted itself well, as it can be 
grown easily, flowers readily, and forces well; in fact, 
it is one of the greatest rivals of Lily of the Valley, 
although it has not the fragrance of the latter 
flower. As many as from eighteen to twenty-five 
fine spikes of bloom can be obtained from the plants 
grown in a 6-in. pot. 
RHODODENDRON CINNABARINUM. 
The forms and features to be met with amongst 
Rhododendrons are remarkably varied. For all the 
world the flowers of R. cinnabarinum may be com¬ 
pared to those of a Blandfordia nobilis, a Clivia 
nobilis or Desfontainea spinosa. They are funnel- 
shaped, produced in umbels, while the individual 
flowers are decidedly pendulous on their pedicels. 
The tube is long and the segments short, crange-red 
or cinnabar, with yellow edges. The oblong-oval, 
leathery leaves, are evergreen and rich in colour, 
thus giving the finishing touches to a Himalayan 
species which seems to be perfectly hardy in the 
southern counties of Britain at least. Plants on the 
grass and in the Rhododendron collection at Kew 
have been flowering away with tolerable freedom for 
some weeks past. The blooms are not so plentiful 
as these of R. ponticum, R. catawbiense, and their 
hybrids; but so novel are the flowers that hybridists 
might well turn their attention to the improvement 
of this native of the Sikkim Himalayas, as it might 
give rise to a new race. 
ORCHID ROTES 4 GLEANINGS. 
By the Editor. 
Odontoglossum tripudians xanthoglossum.— 
A richly coloured flower of this variety comes to us 
from Mr. J. O. Clarke, gardener to Ludwig Mond, 
Esq., The Poplars, 20, Avenue Road, Regent’s Park, 
N.W. The sepals were of the darkest glossy chest¬ 
nut with a bright yellow tip and base. The ground 
colour of the petals was bright yellow, but this was 
almost covered by large, dark chestnut blotches. The 
apical lobe of the lip was canary yellow, thus supply¬ 
ing the motive for the varietal name to distinguish it 
from the white-lipped variety. The basal two- 
thirds cf the lip was purple-brov/D, with the excep¬ 
tion of a pale area round the crest. The bristle-like 
processes of the latter were variegated with violet- 
purple on a white ground. Taking it altogether this 
is one of the darkest and finest varieties of O. tripu¬ 
dians we have seen. 
Strange behaviour of Odontoglossum cris- 
pum.—Recently we gave an illustration of a three¬ 
lipped Cattleya Mossiae The other day we had a 
flower of Odontoglossum crispum that seemed to 
consist of an amalgamation of two distinct flowers, 
but so complete was the union that few would guess 
at such an origin. It was handed to us by Mr. A. 
Wright, The Gardens, Falkland Park, South Nor¬ 
wood Hill, who had two flowers which behaved in 
the same or a similar manner. They had two lips, 
