444 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  November  15,  1900. 
Boyal  Horticnltnral  Society. 
Scientific  Committee,  November  6tb. 
Peesent,  Dr.  M.  T.  Masters  (in  the  chair) ;  Eev.  W.  Wilks,  Eev. 
G.  Henslow,  hon.  sec.;  visitor,  Mr.  W.  Faucett,  Eector  of  the  Botanic 
Institute,  Jamaica. 
Oaks  in  woods  of  Shirley. — Mr.  Wilks  exhibited  various  specimens 
of  Oak  leaves.  The  prevailing  English  Oak  is  Quercus  robur  var. 
pedunculata,  the  leaves  of  which  run  into  a  great  variety  of  forms, 
according  to  the  amount  of  development  or  arrest  of  the  interstitial 
tissue  between  the  ribs.  A  second  kind  closely  resembles  the  leaf  of 
the  Turkey  Oak,  Q.  cerris,  or  the  moss-capped  Oak.  Others  appear  to 
be  hybrids  between  Q.  cerris  and  Q.  rubra,  and  also  Q.  r.  pedunculata. 
Two  trees  were  observed  having  leaves  characteristic  of  the  American 
Q.  coccinea  or  Q.  rubra.  This  tree  apparently  never  bears  acorns  in 
this  country. 
Castanea  vesca  foliage. — Dr.  Masters  showed  some  remarkable 
leaves  consisting  of  but  little  more  than  the  midribs,  which  had 
issued  from  the  stump  of  a  tree  which  had  been  cut  down.  He 
observed  that  entire  trees  are  known  to  bear  this  kind  of  foliage. 
Proliferous  Apple-shoot. — He  also  exhibited  a  specimen  of  this 
well  known  phenomenon,  in  which  the  leafy  shoot  appeared  to 
penetrate  a  ripe  Apple  and  then  proceed  to  a  length  of  upwards  of  a 
foot.  It  is  due  to  the  floral  bud  being  replaced  by  a  leaf  bud  within 
the  “  I  seudo-fruit,”  the  apple  being  really  of  the  nature  of  a  stem  in 
which  the  pistil  is  embedded. 
Leaf -cutter  bees'  nest — Specimens  of  these  cells  made  of  portions 
of  leaves  were  sent  by  Mr.  Thos.  Crosswell,  The  Gardens,  Homewood, 
Eden  Paik,  Beckenham.  He  describes  the  formation  of  these  leaf-cells 
as  follows : — “  Alter  our  Freesias  had  finished  flowering  and  died  down, 
the  Sticks  that  had  been  used  for  their  support  around  the  sides  of  the 
pots  were  removed,  to  facilitate  their  being  placed  on  a  shelf  in  the  full 
sun.  The  bees  took  possession  of  the  holes  left  by  the  removal  of  the 
sticks,  and  on  turning  out  the  pots  of  bulbs  in  August  many  of  these 
cells  were  found.” 
Floriculture  of  tlie  Ancients. 
It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  ancients  should,  comparatively 
speaking,  have  paid  so  little  attention  to  the  cultivation  and  improve¬ 
ment  of  garden  flowers,  Virgil  passes  the  subject  by  in  a  few  lines, 
as  he  says  for  want  of  space;  but  a  modern  enthusiast  would  certainly 
have  introduced  it  by  omitting  something  else.  Columella,  however, 
went  more  into  details  about  gardens ;  but  the  number  of  plants  of  all 
kinds  mentioned  by  him  is  less  than  a  hundred.  Pliny  tells  us  of  a 
great  many  more,  but  still  of  these  true  garden  flowers  are  very  few 
in  number. 
The  earliest  gardens  were  apparently  either  herb,  ^.e,,  kitchen 
gardens,  or  else  enclosures  with  avenues  or  irregular  distribution  of 
trees,  with  walks  and  drives,  but  without  flowers.  Such  was  called 
the  “paradise”  of  the  Persialns  The  younger  Pliny  has  described  his 
as  having  a  long  straight  walk  from  the  entrance,  which  branched  off 
into  others,  divided  by  hedges  of  Box.  In  places  the  Box  was 
trimmed  into  topiary  work,  representing  letters,  names,  and.  other 
shapes.  Marble  statues,  alcoves,  and  pillars,  with  fountains  adorned 
it,  as  well  as  arbours  covered  with  Vines.  The  whole  gives  an  idea  of 
a  very  stiff  and  formal  style,  much  like  that  of  the  last  century. 
Topiary  work  was  much  adopted,  especially  with  Box  and  Cypress, 
lepresenting*  scenes  of  hunting,  fleets  of  ships,  &c. 
In  Columella’s  poem  he  gives  the  contents  of  the  gardens  which 
contained  useful  plants ;  but  the  great  difficulty  lies  in  our  recognising 
with  any  degree  of  certainty  the  plants  mentioned.  Thus  the  only 
flowers  that  one  can  feel  certain  about  which  he  alludes  to  are  the 
following: — Caltha  is  the  Marigold,  Calendula;  Lilium  the  white 
Lily,  L.  candid um ;  Melanthium,  Love-in-a-Mist,  Nigella;  Narcissus 
is  the  Poet’s  Narcissus,  N.  poeticus,  or  else  N.  Tazetta ;  Eosa,  some 
twelve  varieties,  more  or  less  double,  and  Viola  was  our  V.  odorata, 
the  Violet.  Of  doubtful  plants  may  be  mentioned  Amaranthus.  This 
appears  to  stand  for  both  the  Immortelle,  Helichrysum  orientale,  as 
well  as  the  Love-lies-Bleeding  or  true  Amaranthus  ;  Hyacinthus  was 
most  probably  Delphinium  Ajacis,  the  Larkspur ;  Leo  appears  to 
have  been  the  Suapdragon,  Antirrhinum ;  Ligustrum,  doubtfully  the 
Privet,  L.  vulgare  ;  Leucoja  seems  to  be  Cheiranthus  c  ispidatus. 
Virgil,  iu  the  short  passage  referred  to,  mentions  Acanthus,  which 
stood  tor  anything  prickly,  as  well  as  the  true  Acanthus  mollis ; 
Amelins  was  Aster  amellus;  Colocasia,  our  Arum  colocasia;  Crocus 
stood  for  several  species,  including  the  ISaffron;  ELbiscus,  undoubtedly 
a  malvaceous  plant,  and  probably  Althaea  officinalis,  the  Marsn  Mallow ; 
Salennca  was  some  species  of  Valerian;  Thymus  was  the  Thyme; 
and  Verbena  stood  for  plants  used  for  sacrifices. 
Pliny  records  the  names  of  some  twenty  plants  used  for  chaplets. 
Among  them  were  twelve  varieties  of  Eoses,  four  Lilies,  the  hedge 
Convolvulus,  three  kinds  of  Narcissus ;  purple,  yellow,  and  red 
Violets;  the  Marigold,  Scopa  (Chenopodium  Scoparia),  Baccharis 
(Salvia  sclarea),  Combretum  (not  identified),  Crocus  or  wild  Saffron, 
two  Irises,  Salicinca  (a  Valerian),  Polium  (Teucrium  polium). 
Amaranthus  (Love-lies-Bleeding),  Cyanus  (Centaurea  Cyanus),  Holo- 
chrysum  (Helichrysum  orientale),  Petilium  (not  identified),  Bellio 
(Chrysanthemum  segetum),  and  Chrysocoma  (C.  linosyris). 
A  list  of  plants  given  by  a  Greek  poet,  Nicander,  does  not  differ 
much  from  the  preceding.  In  both  cases  they  enumerate  what  were 
really  wild  flowers  of  South  Europe.  Those  of  Nicander  not  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  preceding  list — given,  of  course,  in  Greek — are  Lychnis 
sp,,  Verbascum  lychnitis,  Anthemis  nobilis,  Viola  tricolor,  Poppy, 
Marjoram,  Eosemary,  Maidenhair  Fern,  Diant  hus  sp..  Gladiolus, 
Anemone,  Inula  Helenium,  Tragopogon,  Cyclamen,  Nasturtium, 
Parsley,  Lady’s  Slipper,  and  Anthriscus. 
The  reason  why  flowering  plants  were  not  more  cultivated  appears 
to  be  because  they  are  so  abundant  in  the  wild  state  round  the  Medi¬ 
terranean  that  there  was  no  necessity  to  introduce  them  into  gardens. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  when  inveighing  against  the  luxurious 
practices  of  the  Eoman  nobility,  wrote  in  reproof  of  them  as  follows. 
Speaking  of  their  perfumes  and  garlands  he  says,  “The  fields  are  stripped 
of  flowers  to  form  garlands  that  withered  on  the  head,  and  by  their 
excessive  odour  almost  stupefied  the  senses.” — Geoege  HensloW. 
- -*«♦.> - 
Pears. 
Most  country-house  gardens,  whether  hall,  manor,  lodge,  grange, 
rectory,  vicarage,  or  farm,  have  their,  collections  of  Pears,  large  or 
small  as  the  case  may  be ;  and  very  varied  and  peculiar,  or  limited, 
they  are  as  a  general  rule  ;  some  are  ancient  and.  some  modern,  and 
some  both  ancient  and  modern,  and  the  varieties  range  from  the  best 
of  past  days,  with  modern  additions,  to  two  or  three  varieties  repeated 
with  monotonous  sameness  over  and  over  again,  as  Green  Chisel, 
Jargonelle,  Hessle,  Bergamots,  St.  Michael,  and  the  Old  Duchess,  as 
Duchesse  d’Angouleme  is  commonly  called,  and  perhaps  Marie  Louise. 
We  had  better,  however,  in  this  contention  confine  ourselves  to  the 
case  of  the  garden  of  a  country  house  where  the  private  gardener  has 
to  provide  the  domestic  supply,  and  happy  is  that  gardener  whose 
predecessor  (or  predecessors)  has  left  him  a  useful  collection  both  on 
the  walls,  and  in  the  orchard,  and  as  bushes  or  pyramids,  properly 
graduated  as  to  season — early,  midseason,  and  late — and  in  relative 
quantities,  so  as  to  give  a  constant  supply,  say  from  July  to  the  new 
year.  It  is  a  splendid  and  valuable  legacy.  Every  gardener  in  his  day 
of  course  plants  for  the  present  needs  and  requirements  of  the 
establishment  he  serves,  and  according  to  the  demands  made  on  him 
both  for  table  and  for  cooking,  but  local  interest  in  Pear  growing  by 
someone  in  the  neighbourhood  who  has  a  passion  or  hobby  for  Pears, 
often  gives  great  varietal  character  to  many  collections.  Or  it  may  be 
that  the  gardener  himself  is  an  enthusiast,  as  there  are  such  now  (but 
more  in  past  days  than  now,  so  it  appears  to  the  writer),  and  when 
such  is  the  case  almost  every  known  variety,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent, 
may  be  found  in  the  collection. 
Some  thirty  to  forty  years  ago,  when  pyramid  Pear  growing  was 
such  a  craze,  many  Freiich  and  Guernsey  growers  appeared  in  English 
markets,  especially  in  the  Midlands,  bringing  over  large  consignments 
of  Pear  bushes,  and  putting  them  up  by  auction,  either  in  the  markets 
or  by  some  local  auctioneer  at  his  mart,  and  showing,  to  tempt  buyers, 
monstrous  samples  of  fruit  as  specimens  of  what  their  trees  would 
produce.  Many  gentlemen  who  had  caught  the  pyramid  Pear  growing 
fever,  and  dazzled  by  the  wonderful  specimens,  bought  bundles  of  them, 
and  had  them  planted,  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  found  out  to 
their  cost  that  “  you  can  pay  too  dear  for  your  whistle,”  and  that  you 
can  buy  your  experience  too  dear.  Many,  of  splendid  sorts  in  name^ 
proved  to  be  the  veriest  rubbish ;  one  or  two  were  good,  but  the  bnlk 
were  a  “  fraud,”  and  had  to  be  regrafted  with  old  English  or  well-known 
foreign  varieties.  Soil  and  climate  were  utterly  unsuitable  to  them. 
I  am  writing  that  which  I  know,  for  some  of  my  present  collection  were 
of  that  character,  and  have  had  to  be  regrafted  or  grubbed  up  and 
burnt.  As  a  collection  we  have  now  a  fair  stock,  and  we  get  carried 
pretty  well  through  the  Pear  season. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  name  them.  I  will  put  our  useful  ones  first, 
generally,  though  not  absolutely,  in  the  order  of  their  ripening  ;  and  of 
course  we  begin,  as  do  most  people,  with  Doyenne  d’Ete  and  Green 
Chisels  in  late  July  and  August;  then  follow  Jargonelles  and  Clapp’s 
Favourite  up  to  Bon  Chretiens,  which,  being  prime  favourites  with  the 
