and a half deep: Form, oblate, regular, very broad at the base, and narrowing little towards the crown: Skin, fair, smooth, pale yellow, nearly covered with broad and distinct stripes, and splashes of red and deep crimson, which extend to the crown: Stem, short, about half an inch long, rather slender, and obliquely inserted in a very broad, deep, and open cavity: Eye, medium size, closed, and deeply sunk in a very abruptly depressed and slightly furrowed basin; segments of the calyx, medium length: Flesh, white, fine, slightly stained with pink, and very tender: Juice, tolerably abundant and pleasantly acid, with a rich and peculiar flavor: Core, rather large, close: Seeds, small. Ripe in September and October.

ART. IV. Floricultural and Botanical Notices of New and Beautiful Plants figured in Foreign Periodicals; with Descriptions of those recently introduced to, or originated in, American Gardens.

44. ACHIMENES SKINNERI Lindl. and ACHIMENES PYROPE A Lindl. (Gesnerdceæ.)

These are the names of two new species figured in the last number of the Journal of the Horticultural Society; and Mr. Gordon, superintendent of the plant department, has communicated an article descriptive of their habits and treatment, which we extract :

Achimenes Skinneri is a very handsome and distinct species, forming a link between the tall and dwarfer kinds, being exactly intermediate between A. grandiflora and hirsùta. The flowers are about the shape and size of those of A. grandiflora, and like them are quite flat and round, not reflexed, and narrow in the upper petals like A. pedunculata and hirsuta; while, on the other hand, the flowers, like those of the tall kinds, (A. pedunculàta and hirsùta,) have a large eye and a yellow spotted throat. In foliage it differs from its nearest ally, A. hirsùta, in the leaves being more pointed, more attenuated than cordate at the base, more deeply and sharply serrated on the margin, and of a lighter green in

color. The leaves of A. hirsuta are deeply cordate, overlapping the stem at the base, much broader, nearly ovate, much thicker, studded with strong hairs, and much more wrinkled on the surface.

Achimenes pyropæ'a, a charming little plant, is an intermediate form between A. coccinea and ròsea, having the bright scarlet flowers of the former, and the habit of growth and foliage of the latter. In brilliancy of color it surpasses either.

In cultivation, these, like the other achimenes with scaly bulbs, may be made to bloom, any time from June to October, in constant succession; and the "ruby" has the advantage of being much earlier in coming into bloom than the old A. coccínea, which seldom can be bloomed till August, and consequently too late for summer exhibitions; on the other hand, the ruby achimenes, if treated properly, will come in well for summer exhibitions. (Journal of Hort. Soc., October, 1847.)

45. LIEBIGIA SPECIOSA, D. C., et fil. ELEGANT LIEBIGIA, (Ges

nerdceæ.)

A green house plant; growing two feet high; with blue and white flowers; appearing in summer; a native of Java; increased by cuttings; cultivated in sandy peat, leaf mould, and loam. Flore des Serres, 1847, pl. 271.

A beautiful species of a new genus, dedicated to M. Liebig, the celebrated chemist. The leaves are large, oblong, acuminate; stem erect, and the flowers, which appear in axillary as well as terminal panicles, are about twice the size of a gesnera, of a pure white, shaded with deep blue on the upper side of the tube of the corolla. It was introduced by Mr. T. Lobb, from Java,ad first flowered in the Kew gardens. It is a fine plant and should be introduced into every collection, where it will make a fine addition to our summer blooming greenhouse plants. (Flore des Serres, Sept.)

46. PENTSTEMON GORDO'NI Hook. Mr. Gordon's Pentstemon. (Schrophulariaceæ.)

A hardy perennial; growing two feet high; with violet flowers; appearing in autumn; a native of Columbia River; cultivated in common garden soil. Flore des Serres, 1847, pl. 269.

A fine North American species from the Platte River, and one which would undoubtedly prove hardy in our gardens. It has fine spikes of large violet flowers, and is extremely beautiful. It was raised from seeds sent to the Kew gardens. (Flore des Serres, Sept.)

REVIEWS.

ART. I. An Address delivered before the Chester County Horticultural Society, at West Chester, Pa., Sept. 10, 1847. By WM. H. DILLINGHAM. With the Transactions of the Society for the years 1846, 1847. Pamph. 8 vo. pp. 48.

THE Chester County Horticultural Society is a young and flourishing association, and its first two exhibitions have been highly creditable. Many fine kinds of fruits have been exhibited at the two annual shows of 1846 and 1847, and liberal premiums awarded.

We have now before us an address, delivered at the last annual show in September, by Mr. Dillingham, and we appropriate a page or two to a few of the most interesting portions of the same.

Mr. Dillingham thus pays a merited tribute to the memory of Penn::

The name of the State in which we rejoice, is descriptive of its characteristic features to the first settlers. Penn found the country granted to him by his sovereign, a forest, and the designation assigned to it, equally simple and appropriate, means, in plain speech, Penn's woods. It has been our lot to see it, in "bud and blossom like the rose ;" and it is our business here to-day, surrounded by the treasures of Pomona and the splendors of Flora, products of the rich inheritance of a happy soil and clime, perpetuated to us by the virtues of our ancestors, while felicitating ourselves in these enjoyments, to increase its fertility and beauty. To the region occupied by the members of this Society, as part and parcel of the original County of Chester, pertain the honor and the responsibility of having been the first resting-place of the Proprietary of this then noble forest, the chosen spot to begin the development of his great idea of a Commonwealth founded upon the blessed principle of " peace on earth and good will to man." You are the children's children in the third and fourth generations of his companions; many of you still cultivate the paternal acres which Penn himself granted to your ancestors. You have still the custody of the earliest muniments of Title, and the Records of the first Judicial proceedings in our Commonwealth, which secure to you the possession of the soil that produces these plants and fruits and flowers.

Invited upon this occasion to speak for you and to you, the speaker has identified himself with you, and feels that he has a right to do so, not alone from a devotion to the common objects of your interesting anniversary. Our children have a common ancestry in the friends and companions of

Penn. Within these walls, now decorated by fair hands for this autumnal festival, for half a life-time he took an earnest, anxious part in the questions connected with the settlement of the estates where you plant your gardens and cultivate your grounds. Here he has toiled, as some present can bear him good witness, for days and weeks, to demonstrate, that a decayed relic of one of the ancient monarchs of Penn's woods, "to wit," a certain blackoak stump, should determine all questions about a boundary line of one of the estates "aforesaid." But this ancient Hall of Justice, identical with the history, transmission, and partition of every estate in this county for the last sixty years, and with the present title to each particular spot where these flowers and fruits were grown, is soon to pass away. It was well to decorate it thus before the final sacrifice. Already its elegant and classic neighbor seems impatient of its humbler presence, whose interesting memories it cannot supply.

In reviewing the history of this time-honored Hall, how are we reminded of the contrast between those warlike demonstrations from ancient Upland, which threatened, with artillery, to batter down these rising walls, and the peaceful decorations, redolent of beauty and harmony, which grace its exit. These flowers and fruits, methinks, are kindly tokens which mother earth sends up to bid the Old Court House good bye.

As Chester County led the van in the settlement and culture of Penn's woods, so should it still be the banner county in agriculture and horticulture. It possesses the elements for this distinction in the virtue, industry, intelligence, and thrift of its population, and in the fertility of its soil, its genial climate, its varied surface, its beautiful streams, its abounding springs, its rich, indigenous Flora-and in the good fortune to have produced a son, the pride and pleasure of whose life it is, to develop the history, character, and properties, the beauties and the uses, of the vegetable world. Permit me to add to these commanding advantages, your vicinity to and daily improving facilities of intercourse with our great metropolis, justly famed for its devotion to science, and particularly to the study of the Natural Sciences. Her schools and her collections in these departments are scarcely rivalled on this continent, and they are all within your reach. You have already set an example worthy of imitation by every other county in the state, in your own Collections of Natural History. They evince a taste and spirit worthy of all commendation.

As Pennsylvania was the first to establish an Agricultural Society, so she was the first state of this Union to establish a Horticultural Society: still earlier, she had made an attempt at a Botanic Garden. It is now near an hundred years since Bartram began his enterprise on the Schuylkill, and its glory has not yet departed. You have still the evidence before you of what Humphry Marshall attempted, soon after, in this vicinity.

Botany, an essential element of Horticulture, has still higher claims upon you the first cultivators of the ancient County of Chester were countrymen of the immortal Linnæus, the great discoverer of that secret whereby the whole vegetable kingdom was first reduced to system through all its varieties, from the trees of the forest to the moss.

The Swedes were the true pioneers in this cultivation, now our pride and boast. Within a century after the hardy sons of the North set foot upon this soil, and with stout heart and strong arm assailed the giant forests, their illustrious countryman possessed himself of his master key.-(pp. 11-14.)

The author thus alludes to the influences which have produced the increased attention to horticultural and rural pursuits :

Within a few years, Horticultural Societies have given it an impulse, in all its departments, unknown before. It is not fifty years since the Horticultural Society of London was founded. The labors of this society have produced results truly wonderful. The example has been followed, and similar societies have multiplied both in Europe and in this country. That of Paris, established in 1826, has been patronized by the court, by the nobility, and very generally by their distinguished men. The Jardin du Plants, at Paris, is regarded as the best establishment of the kind in the world, and includes what may be called a school for horticulture.

These are, perhaps, the main sources of that impulse which has been given to this pursuit throughout Europe. Horticultural societies are now universal, and rapid progress has been made here as well as there, within the last thirty years. Nothing is more obvious to those in the habit of resorting to our own markets, than the improvements in esculent vegetables and fruits, within this period, both in variety and quality. Still greater advances have been made in the general diffusion of a taste for plants and flowers. The florists constitute now an important class in our large towns, and some of their establishments are truly magnificent. The Greenhouse, the Hothouse, and the Conservatory, are regarded as among the most refined and elegant indulgences of men of wealth and taste, and very generally introduced. Many of our most distinguished men, in the various professions and in the higher walks of life, took an active part in the formation of the Pennsylvania Society, gave great attention to it for years, and still help sustain it. It has always been a special favorite with the fair sex, whose tastes and habits are so congenial to the beautiful flowers, and their virtues so well reflected in them. The monthly exhibitions furnish opportunities for pleasant re-unions to those who do not indulge in the gaieties of dissipation, and are uniformly characterized by pervading cheerfulness and innocent enjoyment. It is impossible to be selfish or ill-natured at a horticultural exhibition. It is the appropriate place for cordial greetings, kind words, winning looks, and cheerful smiles,

Our anniversary festival is well known to you as the most popular and most joyous of the year. No do the votaries of Flora and Pomona grow weary in their assiduities to keep up the interest of these annual exhibitions. Few know how much time, and care, and thought are given, and cheerfully given, in the preparations. There, as here, no doubt, the participation of the ladies adds a zest to these labors-what else, indeed, could have drawn such thousands and thousands to our gala through such a succession of