The monthly meeting was held in the hall, 5 St Andrew Square, on the evening of Tuesday the 3d ult. - Mr Hugh Fraser, Vice-President, in the chair. After a variety of preliminary business, Mr William Sutherland, manager, Craigleith Nursery, read a paper upon "Alpine Plants." Dealing, in the first place, with the claims of these plants upon all who had to do with decorative gardening, and strongly urging that they deserved more attention and more extensive cultivation, even in the most fashionable gardens, than had been usual for many years past, he adverted to their value as a means of education, - their large number and specific diversity of character being eminently fitted to engage the interest of young gardeners, and to lead them to acquire a more exact and scientific knowledge of plants than they in a general way possess at the present time. Turning to their culture, he gave a brief statement of the general conditions under which they are found in nature, from which he drew a variety of practical deductions, calculated to assist those who were beginning their cultivation.

Alpines from high altitudes he had found more difficult to manage than those from lower levels, and he recommended such to be grown in pots, and kept in cold frames or pits, so as to secure the complete control of ventilation, shade, and moisture. It was pointed out, however, that by far the greater number of the species, and those by no means the least ornamental, were amenable to treatment as ordinary border or rock-work plants, where, under fairly favourable circumstances, they soon established themselves, and formed a permanent source of interest. In regard to rock-work, the author held that, provided good drainage could be secured, a low or even hollow site was preferable to such as was high and exposed. So far as soil was concerned, he had found a good loam the most generally useful - such species as required peat, peaty composts, or calcareous soils being comparatively few in number. An interesting conversation followed the reading of the paper, at the close of which Mr Sutherland received a cordial vote of thanks.

The table as usual was crowded with plants and cut flowers for exhibition, prominent among which were stands of Zonale Pelargoniums and double Petunia blooms, from Mr A. M'Leod, Powburn. A seedling Alpine Auricula, named William Sang, from Mr William Young, 33 South Bridge: this is a remarkably fine flower, with smooth edges, a perfectly circular deep maroon edge, and bright golden eye. As might have been expected from a seedling of last year, the plant was small, and the Floral Committee, to whom it was submitted for a certificate, recommended its being grown for another year. Mr G. L. Brown, Millburn Cottage, had a collection of seedling Polyanthus, all very showy, and in one or two cases considerably above the average. Mr Scott, The Gardens, Corbet Castle, Broughty-Ferry, sent a well-bloomed specimen of a new double Cineraria, named Mr3 Joseph Grimond. The flowers of this plant are of a showy crimson colour, and, though the petals are somewhat rough and irregularly arranged, the Floral Committee judged it a sufficient improvement upon its predecessors to be worthy of a first-class certificate.

Messrs Downie & Laird exhibited a stand of seedling Pansies and Viola.-, including a fine new white variety called Mrs F. Mackenzie. Mr L. Dow, Saughton House, exhibited branches of Ribes aurea, an old-fashioned American deciduous shrub, too much neglected in our modern shrubberies. Messrs Thomas Methven & Sons had a plant of Rhododendron, Hugh Fraser - a variety raised in their establishment a few years ago. The flowers are rosy purple; and though only about eight inches above the pot, it had seven fully developed trusses. This sort, apart from the beauty of its colour, seems to deserve attention for its dwarf compact habit, and for its remarkable free-flowering quality. Messrs Dickson & Co. contributed a large collection of interesting subjects, including a branch of Pyrus malus floribunda, covered from end to end with blossoms, rich crimson outside and white within; Ledum palustre, an American shrub, with terminal corymbs of white flowers; Kalmia glauca superba, with bright pink cup-shaped blossoms; Berberis Stenophylla, described as a hybrid between B. Darwinii and B. empetrifolia, with a resemblance to both parents, but much more floriferous; CEnothera Fraseria, a neat, compact, semi-shrubby plant, with rich golden foliage, covered with black spots - this will undoubtedly be worth a trial for spring bedding; Violas, including many of the popular varieties, and two of great merit, named Acme and Formosa, the one of a rich purplish-crimson colour, and the other a beautiful lavender self, with dark eye.

Interesting hybrids of Alpine Phloxes, of the frondosa and Nielsonii type, were shown by Mr R. Lindsay, Royal Botanic Gardens.

It was intimated that at next meeting Mr J. Grieve would read a paper on "Florist Flowers," Mr A. M'Kinnon one on the "Strawberry," and Mr Robert Lindsay one on "Filmy Ferns".