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20 THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE [January 6, 1883.

the circumstances that many of the appointments and
fixtures for the new year are not made till some weeks
or months have elapsed, we have not been able to insert
many of the dates of the smaller provincial exhibitions.
The dates of all the more important exhibitions,
whether in London or the provinces, have been included,
as well as the usual Calendar information.
The table of mean temperatures is taken from Mr.
GLAISHER'S reduction of the Chiswick observations,
and, representing the average of forty years, may be
taken as an indication of the probable temperature in
the vicinity of London. In the Southern Counties,
and by the sea, the winter temperature is usually a
little higher, in the North a little lower, than that of
London and its vicinity. In spring, especially on the
eastern side of the island, the temperature rules lower
than about London.

— PALM SEEDS.—We hear from Mr. JOSEPH
STEVENSON, Honorary Secretary, Agri-Horticultural
Society's Garden, Madras, that he experiences
great difficulty in making exchanges of Palm seeds.
At the present time the garden authorities possess
qualities of seeds of the following Palms:—Corypha
umbraculifera, Livistona mauritania, Elæis guineensis,
Caryota urens, Areca catechu, and several varities
of Phœnix, and would be glad to receive offers in
exchange from some of our readers.

— THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW.—The total
number of visitors to the Royal Gardens, Kew, for
the year 1882 was 1,244,167. This is 407,491 in
excess of the number for 1881, which in its turn was
greater by 111,254 than the number of visitors in any
previous year. As in 1881 the Sunday visitors
(606,935) were about equal in number to those on all
the other days of the week put together (637,232).

— INDIRECT EVIDENCE.—The fact that the
American Vines resist or do not succumb to the
Phylloxera is being acted on in a large scale in France,
the American Vines being used as stocks whereon to
graft the better Vines of France. At first there was
some doubt as to the real efficacy of the process for
practical purposes, but that doubt is now settled, and,
as if to prove it, thefts of American Vines from nursuries
have become frequent. Thus, near Montpellier
one night 850 plants were stolen, and from
another nursery a number of cuttings, valued at £200.
The variety most affected by the marauders is one
namked Othello.

— — JAPANESE VINES.—In view of the ever-
increasing losses caused by the Phylloxera it is said
that the French Government have despatched a Commission
to studty the Vines of Japan, and which are
cultivated in that country up to the snow line. M.
PLANCHON is about to publish a description of the
species, of which several are known in herbaria, and
some are in cultivation.

— — ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— The
following is a summary of the privileges of Fellows
and members for the current year:— A Fellow paying
four guineas a year is entitled:— I. To two tickets, both
of which are transferable, and will admit the Fellow
or the bearer without payment to the Gardens and to
the Great International Fisheries Exhibition to be
held therein, and to all shows in connection therewith.
Each ticket will also entitle the bearer to a
season ticket holder's place at the opening ceremony
of the Fisheries Exhibition, to be held in the Royal
Albert Hall, for the reduced payment of 5s. 2. To
admit daily (Sundays excepted) eight friends by
written order to the garden at Chiswick. 3. To visit
the shows at 12 o'clock, being an hour earlier than
the general public. 4. To receive forty orders giving
free admission on all occasions until April 15, from
which date till May 1 the Gardens will be closed,
except to Fellows. These orders will be available
on the payment of 6d, during the Fisheries Exhibition
on all shilling days. 5. To a share of such seeds,
plants, and cuttings of Vines and fruit trees as the
Society may have in sufficient numbers for distribution
by ballot or otherwise. 6. To purchase the
flowers, fruit, and vegetables grown at Chiswick,
which may not be required for scientific purposes by
the Scientific, Fruit and Floral Committees. 7. To
receive a copy of the publications of the Society. 8.
To the right of voting at all meetings. 9. To be
relieved (on giving previous notice in writing) from
the payment of subscriptions while resident abroad.
10. To free admission to the reading room and Lindley

Library. A fellow paying two guineas a year is
entitled to one ticket giving the same privileges of
admission as in No. I; half the privileges mentioned
in Nos. 2, 4, and 5; the same as Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10. Present guinea members are entitled to one
ticket, not transferable, giving the owner admission
on all ordinary occasions, and to all shows at Chiswick
and South Kensington, but not to the annual
or special general meetings or fêtes or conversazione
of the Society, and which does not entitle the member
to vote on any matters relating to the affairs of the
Society. Entrance fees of new Fellows joing are
suspended for the present.

— TITHE COMMUTATION: SEPTENNIAL AVERAGES.
— Mr. MONTAGUE MARRIOTT, Editor of
Willich's Tithe Commutation Tables, writes:—As
the result of the corn averages for the seven years to
Christmas, 1882, published in the London Gazette of
this evening—viz., Wheat, 5s. 10 1/4d. per imperial
bushel; Barley, 4s. 4 1/2 d. per imperial bushel; Oats,
2s. 11 1/4d. per imperial bushel—I beg to state that
each £100 of the tithe-rent charge will, for the year 1883
amount to £100 4s. 9 3/4d., or about 2 1/2 per cent. less
than last year. The following shows the worth of
£100 tithe-rent charge for the last seven years:—For
the year 1877, £109 16s. 11 1/2d.; 1878 £112 7s. 5 1/4d.;
1879, £111 15s. 1 1/2d.; 1880, £109 17s. 9 1/2d.; 1881,
£107 2s. 10 1/2d.; 1882, £102 16s. 2d.; 1883, £100
4s. 9 3/4d. The average of £100 tithe-rent charge
for the forty-seven years elapsed since the passing of
the Tithe Commutation Act is £103 2s. 0 1/2d.

— ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND.
—The dates of this Society's exhibitions for
1883 are as follows:—Spring exhibitions, Thursday,
April 19, and Thursday, May 17; Summer show,
Thursday July 5; Autumn show, Thursday, Sept. 6;
Winter show, Thursday, Nov. 22.

—THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA.—We are
glad to welcome another instalment (the ninth) of this
very serviceable work, published by Sir JOSEPH
HOOKER, with the assistance of other botanists
(REEVE & CO.) The present part contains, among
other orders, the Ericaceæ, Sapotaceæ, Oleaceæ
(Jasminum) and various other orders elaborated by
Mr. CLARKE, while Sir JOSEPH enumerates the
Primulaceæ and Apocynaceæ. Rhododendrum lovers
will be interested to see the latest revision of the
Indian species by Mr. CLARKE, who has had the
advantage of Sir JOSEPH's materials and co-operation,
in addition to his own extensive collections and personal
experience. The Malayan species (from which
originate the so-called greenhouse species of gardens)
are grouped together under the sub-genus, Vireya,
characterised by the thin walls of the capsule twisting
after dehiscence, and with very long-tailed seeds.
Here come R. malayanum, jasminiflorum, javanicum.
The true Rhodendrons are distinguished by a
woody capsule, the valves of which do not twist, and by
wingless seeds; here are placed R. arboreum and all
the Sikkim species. The R. argenteum of gardens is
referred to R. grande of Wight. R. æruginosum is
reduced to R. campanulatum, R. Aucklandi to R.
Griffithianum. Of the Primroses we have already
spoken, but we add that P. imperialis is referred to
R. prolifera. We may add that this part concludes
the third volume, and as it has brought the record as
far as Apocynaceæ it may be presumed that the work
is now about half finished. The work comprises an
immense geographical area, including the whole of
India and Malaya.

— LONICERA STANDISHI.—A fine specimen of
this—probably the earliest flowering of all the Honeysuckles
—trained to the front of Museum No. 1 at
Kew is now bearing numbers of its creamy-white
very fragrant flowers. Though perfectly hardy it
delights in such positions as the one just noticed, and
although not a climber produces longer growths and
flowers more freely against a wall than in the open.
This species (figured in Bot. Mag., tab. 5709, and in
Gard. Chron. 1878, vol. ix., p. 106) is sometimes confounded
with the similarly fragrant L. fragrantissima
and L. brachypoda. The two former were sent from
Shanghai to the Horticultural Society by FORTUNE.

—BILBERGIA NUTANS.—A considerable number
of Bromeliads are highly ornamental and desirable
stove plants; but, in this country at least, the whole
order is comparatively neglected, except in a few
establishments. On the Continent the case is to a considerable
extent reversed, and private collections of
these interesting plants are not uncommon. Heat
and moisture are the principal requirements of most
of the showy species—where these can be given the
cultivation is remarkably easy. Bilbergia nutans is
not by any means one of the handsomest species, but
its narrow bright green leaves, the central peduncle
clothed with the large bright red bracts, the drooping
flowers with bright green ovaries, sepals flushed pink,
and petals green with deep blue margin, form a peculiarly
pleasing combination. It is now in flower at
Kew, and a good figure from Kew specimens is given
in the Botanical Magazine, vol. 105, tab. 6423.

— TREATMENT OF FROZEN PLANTS.—In a
climate like that of Britain, where in winter one week
may be summer-like in its mildness, and the next
almost arctic in character, bundles of trees, shrubs,
and herbaceous plants sent by goods train must sometimes
fare rather badly. As some of our readers
might be puzzled how best to treat a frozen mass of
vegetation, the following extract from vol. xvi. of the
Iowa Horticultural Society may prove of interest:—
"Two or three years ago I received, about the 1st of
April, a bale of choice plants from Painesville, Ohio.
The last of March had been summer-like, and all promised
so fair, my order was packed and sent. By
some mishap, I did not find the goods until they had
been in the express office three or four days. The
day they came the express man set the bale in an
open coal-shed. That night a new winter came on.
I received the package and brought it home as solid
as a boulder. These were the choicest of plants:
Strawberries, Raspberries, Roses, Peaches, flowering
shrubs, &c. They had been nicely packed in wet
moss. When I opened the bundle it was with difficulty
I could break the packages apart. The ground
was frozen 4 inches thick, so that nothing could be
set out. I dug a pit and buried the plants in the
earth. When the ground was fit for setting-out, I
found the plants in the pit in good order; and setting
them out I never lost a plant. A. D. Field, Indianola,
Iowa."

— VEGETABLE PESTS.—As an instance of the
rapidity and thoroughness in which several of the
Cactaceæ naturalise themselves in many countries,
the following clipping from a leading daily
affords striking evidence:—"A Bill has been introduced
into the New South Wales Legislative Assem-
bly for the purpose of empowering the Government
to devote a certain sum to the eradication of the
wild Cactus plant, popularly known as the 'Prickly
Pear.' So rapid has been the spread of this vegetable
pest that whereas, according to the statement of one
member, £50 would have sufficed thirty years ago to
rid the colony of it, a million sterling will, before
many years, be required for such a purpose. It was
stated that one proprietor of land in the colony had
spent £1000 on his property in trying to destroy this
mischievously prolific plant, but had not yet succeeded."

— THE PHYLOXERA IN SOUTH-WEST
FRANCE.—The Vigne Américaine gives the following
statistics for the Department of Hérault, which
may suffice to give our readers some notion of the
extent of the disaster in one Department only. The
number of hectares destroyed annually (a hectare =
rather less than 2 1/2 acres) was as follows:—In 1880,
19,000; in 1881, 20,427; in 1882, 26,267. The
number of hectares treated by submersion during the
same years was respectively, 1588, 1626, and 2283.
The number of hectares treated by carbon sulphide
for the same period was 1875, 4632 and 3541 respectively.
The number of hectares treated by sulfo-carbonate
of potash was 868, 1578, and 751 for the years
before mentioned. The number of American Vines
used as stocks whereon to engraft the finer Vines has
increased from 2624 in 1880 to 10,918 in 1882 in the
Department in question.

— SENECIO MACROGLOSSUS.—Of the enormous
genus to which it belongs this is, probably, with the
single exception of the handsome New World species,
S. pulcher, the largest flowered one. It is a striking
plant with evergreen Ivy-like glossy leaves borne on
long slender twining stems. Its large pale yellow
flower-heads are produced in midwinter, and afford
a fine contrast to the dark shining foliage. The
plant is admirably adapted for trellis-work and well
fitted for dwelling-room culture. At Kew a fine
specimen trained to one of the rafters is, at present,