The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-04-23 00:00:00

THE lIIVIRPOIT RTA:NRARD,

Ccfferata, Johnson, Fairhurst, Gardner, Hodson, Ire-
land, and Willmer ; Building: Messrs. Earle, Blain,
Hindley, Shakesbaft, Woodruff, and Wylie ; Deserted
Family ; Messrs. Savage, Denton, Hand. and Mellor.
The rectors, churchwardens, and overseers were elected
ex officio members of all committees. A letter was read
from the Town-clerk, sent by request of the Finance
Committee of the Corporation, demanding payment of
£348, for rent of offices formerly occupied by the parish
in Fenvvick-street, which had been due since January,
1848. The letter was referred to the churchwardens and
overseers to settle the matter in the best way they could.
Mr. Brown, one of the overseers, in a letter, tendered his
resignation, stating that he could not act during the en-
suing year. Mr. Willmer again brought under the notice
of the board the late appointment of Miss Fouldes to the
office of matron of the Workhouse, protesting against the
course which the Poor-law Commissioners had adopted
of confirming the appointment for life, contrary to the
terms on which it was made by the vestry. He should
like to know from Mr. Austin if the letter which had
come down from the Poor-law Board was to be considered
final ? Mr. Austin said he was rather taken by surprise,
and he mat decline to answer the question, but it was
not from any feeling of disrespect towards the vestry.
He said he would take care to represent the subject to the
proper quarter. A lengthy discussion took place, in
which Mr. Abraham, Mr. Dover, and Mr. Earle, took
part, the vestry being of opinion that the appointment
must be considered according to the terms stated by Mr.
Austin. A special general meeting was fixed for Tuesday
next, (this day.) to take into consideration a motion of
which notice had been given by Mr. Abraham, to rescind
the motion passed some time ago to close the dispensa-
ries; also to take into consideration a motion by Mr.
Willmer for reducing the medical staff and abolishing the
Medical Relief Committee.

Cagiltruiturai portirtilturai

COLUMN,

The question respecting the comparative hardiness of
plants, particularly evergreen trees and shrubs, is one,
which notwithstanding its importance, has never been
satisfactorily taken up ; nor have we obtained sufficient
genuine information to enable us to give any definite
answer to the numerous enquiries respecting what is
termed the hardiness of plants, but which would be better
stated as [the• capability of resisting the vicissitudes of
our climate.

The past winter has been a most instructive one, and
were it not for the costliness of the lesson we might have
congratulated ourselves upon its results. An extraordi-
nary amount of injury has been inflicted upon the nursery
stocks and upon the plantations of private individuals, and
very anomalous circumstances have been observed. For
instance, the coniferre of New Holland and America and
most of the American evergreens have suffered much more
than the natives of China and Japan. These denizens of
the Celestial Empire have shewn astonishing hardiness,
while plants from the colder regions of the lofty Himalaya
have barely escaped destruction. One of the most intelli-
gent of our nurserymen has pointed out a singular fact
connected with the scourge which has at least decimated
our evergreens. He showed us that the chief injury did
not arise from the wind, but from the last fall of snow,—
thus,, after the snow had fallen it was followed by a burst
of hot sunshine, which melted the snow upon the
tops of the plants, while the lower parts were fully
enveloped and protected by their winter covering, the
melting of the snow and exposure of the upper parts to
the sun was followed by a piercing wind, which com-
pletely froze the portions uncovered. The most striking
proofs of this were shown us in a quarter of Portugal
laurels, by the side of which were growing some fine
thorn trees, the branches of which, in places, overhung
the laurels. Where such protection had been afforded,
the snow had, of course, fallen thinner, and its melting
had been accelerated by the drip from the branches of the
thorns, which were not sufficiently close to obstruct the
sun's rays, or break the force of the wind ; the conse-
quence is, the plants present the appearance of having
been burned and absolutely crumble in the hand.
Conifers have suffered very severely ; the only ones
which have entirely escaped are those from China and
Japan : thus Taxodium sempervirens has not a green
leaf upon it, and Cedrus Deodara, with its magnificent
drooping branches, has become as deciduous as the com-
mon larch, and in its present state bears an extraordinary
resemblance to that well-known tree; but Cryptomeria
japonica, Thuja sinensis, and others, their co-natives,
have borne the winter bravely. To those who are forming
new plantations, or who wish to replace those specimens
which are injured, we would strongly urge the necessity
of a visit to the nurseries, with pencil and note book ;
there they may see for themselves the extent to which the
various species and varieties have suffered, and can
choose accordingly.

We called attention a short time back to the manage-
ment of the Liverpool Botanic Garden, and a correspond.
ent threw still further light upon the subject. There are
however many abuses still unexposed, and the public will
do well if it joins us in looking into these matters. Our
readers will remember the terms upon which the Botanic So-
ciety sold their property to the Corporation which insisted
in the most explicit manner upon the strictly botanic cha-
racter of the garden being maintained, in all its integrity,
and every facility afforded to the public for enjoying all
the advantages of the cistablishment. As the purchase
was made with the public funds the latter condition was a
matter of course—but how has the public been treated
in the matter? A rate has been levied under the Public
Museum Act, which realises upwards £1,400, a sum suf-
ficient to make our Botanic Garden not only one of the
best but one of the most useful in the kingdom. Never-
theless, all the increased benefit the public has yet derived
is an increase in the privileges of admission to the Hot-
houses and Library, and these have only been obtained with
difficulty, and only after repeated efforts. £3O !!) have
been allotted to the Curator for the purchase of new
plants; and one or two erections have been ordered for
the shelter and convenience of the public—what ought to
have been done is another matter. First of all the Cura-
tor ought to have had the thirty pounds, and somewhat
more, put into his hands with orders once a year, at least,
to make a tour to visit Kew and other celebrated gardens,
where he could see what is doing, and collect ten times
the number of new plants which the same sum would
purchase ; for, be it remembered, there are few botanic
collections in the kingdom which were not indebted to
that of Liverpool when in the hands of the society. In
the next place, £2OO at least ought to have been laid out
in building a hot-house and arranging a portion of the
garden for medical plants only, the want of which is most
severely felt by the medical profession of this town, more
especially by students. A building ought to be erected
for the purpose of forming a botanical museum in con-
nection with the gardens. All this could be done easily :
leaving a surplus of the first year's fund, succeeding years
would furnish means for building new and larger hot-
houses, and a conservatory, which is much needed. We
know it is an argument with our municipal representatives
that there is no taste for these things in Liverpool, they un-
fortunately judge by themselves ; but even supposing their
position a true one, and that the want of taste for scien-
tific pursuits really exists. why, then, it is their duty to
create it—furnish the means of instruction, and the dis-
position to learn will not long be wanting. It is their
duty to do everything to advance the interests of the
society wh;ch trust its resources to their management ;
and the interests of society are best advanced by the en-
couragement of learning, for science leads to civilisation.

NOVELTIES OF THE NURSERIES

Oak Vale Nurseries, Broad Green—A visit to this esta-
blishment is most desirable early in the spring, for Mr.
George Cunningham is deservedly celebrated for the cul-
ture of camelias, azaleas, and other early flowering plants,
especially rhododendrons ; of the last-mentioned genus he
has raised an immense stock of hybrids, having for several
years made it his particular study, and we are inclined to
think he has succeeded in striking out the true road to
perfection in this beautiful branch of the florist's art.
Many hybridisers have committed the error of trying to
amalgamate species of the most opposite characters and
colours. We believe it will be found a general rule that
improvement can only be effected by careful attention to
the characters of plants, and bringing those together
which from similarity of habit are most likely to assimi-
late. Thus it is desirable to have flowers as fine as those
of rhododendron arboreum, with the hardiness of those of
R. ponticum, but we are not likely to succeed if we cross
these two ; the proper course would be to select some
species or variety not much removed from R. arboreum ;
R. cinnamomeum, or R. campanulatum, for instance,
which are rather hardier than the arboreum ; the hybrids
raised frcm this cross will unite well with R. caucasicum
or It. maximum ; their offspring may again be united with
R. arboreum, and another series commenced. Thus,
years of patient perseverance and a commencementfounded
on correct principles and good judgment are essential to
the successful raising of really good hybrids. In this
course Mr. Cunningham has been engaged for many years
past, and it is only within the last three or four years he
has begun to reap the fruits of his perseverance. We saw
one specimen last week which has flowered for the first
time this year, and proves to be, if not the best, certainly
one of the most beautiful ever raised ; it has been named
R. cinnamomeum Cunninghamii ; it forms a beautifully
compact head of flowers, perfectly conical, of the purest
white, richly spotted in the throat with deep purplish
brown spots, giving it an extremely rich and lively appear-
ance; we were very much struck with its beauty, and
learned with much pleasure that Mr. Holden, the London
flower painter, is engaged in figuring it. The next hybrid
we saw was R. c. collinsonii, a fine pink, one of large size
and fine form, remarkably robust in the flower and plant.;
and near it another of great beauty, named R. c. Dicken-
sonii, after our talented townsman Dr. Dickenson, whose
reputation in his profession and as a botanist fnlly entitle
him to the honour. The other varieties most striking
were, Prince of Wales, rosy.red, Albertus, creamy white,
preclareus, white, and a very fine purple one, The Nepal
species, R. roseum, is also beautifully in flower, together
with R. maximum, caucasicum, cinnamomeum, and many
others, including R. Gibscnii. There are two plants of
R. arboreum in flower, both imported as the true species,
but shewing a remarkable difference in the size of the flow-
ers, and in the intensity of the colour. The smaller, we
believe, is one of the half-dozen plants which were the first
sent to this country, and has been many years in Mr.
Cunningham's establishment. It is the one usually known
as the true R. arboreum,—the other is much larger, the
width of the corolla being at least two inches, and the fine
dark crimson colour two or three shades deeper ; it has
a most superb appearance, the heads of the flowers being 18
inches in circumference. Amongst the other handsome
things we saw Arbutus procera finely in flower, magnolia
soulangii, bignonia speciosa, a lovely stove climber, fEri-
des crispum, Epidendrum coreaceum, Oncidium sphacela-
tum, Cyrtochilum maculatum, exceedingly pretty, and
many other choice orchids. A visit to this establishment
just now would well repay either the botanist or the hor-
ticulturist.