‘ ° ' * J o ; ’ . yt 7 : . & Re — , p A ek Pe Pe eS . ° ’ 42 yi 4 ad L Pe a7 Ma : . i. wd ad 4 . -) 7 P »% : P % <* aA - a Pd 4 . . * * ‘a a T y ’ 1S aOR ye. ott Fishel a Fer h son Oa a TT 3 2044 Ae. 172 464 -: HARVARD UNIVERSITY ———_—_————- * = LIBRARY | = OF THE GRAY HERBARIUM a) 2, eee 7 va Received \% Yio. } oy op 8 | f Bought ft JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY - EDITED BY THE REV. W. WILKS, M.A. SECRETARY AND MR. JOHN WEATHERS ASSISTANT-SECRETARY VE. SV" l. LONDON Printed for the Ropal Horticultural Society BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, E.C. 1894 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 httos://archive.org/details/journalofroyalho16roya CONTENTS OF VOL. XVL. —_#>e——_ PAGE On THE Errects oF Urspan Foc upon Cuntivatep Prants. By Prof. EE St 2h) 0 2” Rc ne eee it On somME EFFECTS OF GROWING PLANTS UNDER GLASSES OF VARIOUS Contours. By the Rev. G. Henstow, M.A., F.L.S., &e. .......0. 59 Fuowers or THE Frencn Riviera. By Mons. H. pe Vivmorin, PEM ede tlc: Saat Ih ad nan Cagaete cuns baclad dasa eGeleemnd vat bi «é Gces ie 80 ‘*‘ RAMBLES WITH A TRoweEtL.’’ By Mr. H. Senre Leonarp, F.R.H.S. 104 ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. By Mons. H. Correvon. ... 116 CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE SOIL WITHOUT THE AID OF Cuemistry. By Prof. F. Cuzsurre, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. ............ 128 Harpy RHopopENDRONS AND AzALEas. By Sir Joun T. D. LuEwetyn, aN oe Bala ae ie SHES ais vik wade ve niece sate cde eaaid isa American BuicHt, AND ITs SuccessFuL Treatment. By Mr. L. eneorne, Pron, TD -ling., EF RELS., GG. Sa...cccccsvaccocssenecee 143 THe ANTIQUITY oF THE CrTRON-TREE IN Ecypt. By Dr. E. Bonavia, NA 28 eal gus wis aioli ous even a cides vi dne keds anainn Nae 146 EXXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE, AND CLASS LIST .......ccceccecces ceccecees L5k NOR ais , ONO Thine de os kai vce id svn s sin {iced Sasinde Sates MERGE enon eabenevee se 156 Hovses For Anping Puants. By Mr. H. Seure Leonarp, F.R.H.S. 161 THe SPECIES AND GARDEN Forms or Canna. By Mr. J. G. Baker, eee: ia) ote al dns oc Tes Cree ea ee sas ana S caien stele Naniees fete 178 PENTSTEMONS AND Puuoxes. By Mr. James Dovetas, F.R.H.S. ...... 188 Causes oF Farnure In Eucuaris Cunture. By Mr. W. IccuLpeEn, RENIN) reins « Svinte Sa eadaun aad aan unis owastin onuse rer erdenaeuesacnce 194 cement, by Mr. W. Crue, BoB oo. iciionveaccdnsscentnesvesecs ere 200 Semoement. Iny Mr. Aq Daan, Wee eins caccesesusees sees seasencsvyss 209 Curysantoemums. By Mr. R. PARKER, F.R.H.S. ...scce.scessecsceceeses 220 LATE-KEEPING GRAPES. By Sim oensn sleds innbe begtanae sana - 79 Chlorine ... ad is a ‘ ... Trace Or4 Sulphocyanogen... “le aA aie oes) | ne None Carbonic acid ... oon es ae aie 0:70 Trace Sand ‘nt ads des bck dua ... 14°40 25°7 Water ; ra eas ae i sy 2°80 72 100-00 100°0 * W. R. Hutton, Chemical News, vol. xx. p. 807. ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS, 5 The general aspect of the question of the relation of fog to vegetation was very lucidly stated by Mr. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, in a letter to me, dated Oct. 16, 1890. From this letter I make the following extract :— “Roughly, I think the matter stands in this way :— “i, Sulphuric acid is the principal cause of injury to trees and shrubs because their parts are permanent and it is cwmwlative in its action. It perpetually parts with and acquires water. If you write on a piece of wood with dilute H,SO, there is no immediate apparent effect. Hold the board before a fire, and wherever the H,SO, has touched the wood it is charred. The reason is that the dilute H,SO, first parts ,with -its water, and when it has reached a certain concentration immediately de- hydrates the wood. The H,SO, deposited by fog and smoke on trees acts during warm weather as a persistent and gradual caustic ; the same H,SO, acts again and again; it eats into the tissues, and as it is perpetually being added to in amount by fresh deposits, it probably gains upon the loss due to the washing action of rain. “ii. Sulphwrous acid acts in an entirely different way, and is mostly injurious to herbaceous and so-called soft-wooded plants. It is a powerful deoxidiser. It enters into the intercellular passages and probably acts directly on the protoplasm. It may do this by stealing oxygen from it and, so to speak, asphyxiating it, or it may have some direct toxic effect not understood. Anyhow, in the case of flowers I believe it acts by killing the protoplasm and destroying the turgescence of the cells. To this may be ultimately due the falling of the flowers and the dis- articulation of parts of the inflorescence. The phenomenon is so rapid that I can hardly believe there is a normal formation of a zone of ‘ abscission.’ “iii. Fog is no doubt injurious to trees by the actual deposit of a coating of finely divided carbon. ‘iv. The more obscure part of the phenomenon is the part played by the various products of the destructive distillation of fuel which are present init. Of these there are probably a large series. “a, Frankland has shown that in so-called ‘dry fog’ the watery particles are inclosed in an envelope of hydro- carbons. 6 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ‘« 8, When we have a severe fog at Kew a greasy deposit is left on the glass which is by no means easy to remove without considerable friction. Fortunately, last year a fall of sleety snow did the scrubbing for us; mere rain will not remove it. This deposit is in great part carbon cemented with some of the less volatile hydrocarbons. “+, The toxic influence i this connection may be due to the presence of more volatile bodies. This is a part of the inquiry where novel and interesting results may particularly be looked for. “T think our first task must be to ascertain something a little more definite about the actwal constitution of fog. I rather lament the disposition of chemists to assume that they know all about it. I don’t agree that they do.” In view of the uncertainty existing as to the action of the various substances present in a foggyatmosphere upon vegetation, and the complication introduced by the fact that these noisome fogs are also accompanied by a not inconsiderable reduction of light, I have made it my business to trace the effects of a number of fog impurities upon stove plants under varying conditions. I know very well that the effects on vegetation of many of the noxious vapours present in coal smoke, or liable to escape from alkali works, have been studied from time to time by many persons both in this country and upon the Continent. But, so far as I have been able to ascertain by consulting the literature, neither the microscope nor the spectroscope has been hitherto applied to investigation in this field. I mean by the experts who have given evidence before Royal,Commissions and the like. Further, in a very essential point, the circumstances of our inquiry differ from those which have preceded it. This is the reduction of light consequent on the suspended matter in the air. No inquiry can probe this difficult question, unless the action upon plants of prolonged gloom or darkness be held in view. But more of this anon. Of the known impurities of urban fog I have traced the action of the following, which, for one reason or another, I have suspected to be inimical to plant life. These are: Sulphuric acid, sulphurous acid, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, metallic iron, ferric oxide, magnetic oxide of iron, several hydrocarbons and their derivatives, a number of the pyridine series and ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. in phenol. The experiments with each substance (except in the case of hydrochloric acid and ammonia) were continued over long periods, and in some instances renewed. With the few experimental chambers at my command, the investigation has, of course, been a protracted one. But even with unlimited resources of this kind, the necessarily concurrent examination of the tissues of these plants would have been more than we could have coped with successfully. I propose to deal with the material at my disposal in the following manner. First, a brief réswmé of the salient features of the injuries caused by fog, deferring for the present any exhaustive list of the plants in which these have been found to occur. Then, an account of the results obtained by exposing plants to the various substances present in fog. Finally, a dis- cussion of the whole matter. I. THe Errects or Foa. It is a matter of common observation that a plant may exhibit a gradual yellowing of its leaves, progressing from below upwards, followed by the dropping of those leaves in the order in which they showed the change in colour. Indeed, this is what generally happens when a plant “goes wrong.” This effect—which is, broadly speaking, the same in all cases—may be due to a variety of causes. It may be due to over-watering or to under-watering ; to a check caused by removal from a stove to a greenhouse, or from a humid to a dry atmosphere, or the reverse. Or, again, it may be caused by the attack of some worm or insect upon the subterranean parts of the plants; or to continuous deficient illumination, or to the lack of nutritive matters generally. Sometimes the phenomenon is very rapid in its development, as in the following instance. I had acquired, a few summers ago, a fine healthy plant of the common India-rubber Fig, intending to make certain physiological experiments upon it. One morning, early, it was syringed, and whilst still wet the un- tempered rays of a powerful sun shone full upon it for several hours. Before evening five or six of the lowest (and oldest) leaves had turned yellow, whilst those above showed blotches of the same colour. Next day these also succumbed; at a touch they all disarticulated perfectly, leaving the bare stem with its terminal bud. Thick, filth-laden fogs produce much the same 8 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. series of events in some plants with almost equal celerity ; whilst in other plants their development is much more gradual. The discoloration of the leaf, which is the first sign in many cases which catches the attention, is really only the last of a series of changes, the first of which even an expert histologist, aided by a high power of the microscope, would have difficulty in detecting. These changes, due to profound molecular disturbance of the living substance of the leaves, lead up to two very noticeable events. On the one hand, there is the destruction of the chloro- phyll pigment; and on the other, the production of a definite layer of separation at the point of insertion of the petiole. In what may be called a normal case, both these things happen. But often enough we meet with cases in which the leaf falls green and apparently uninjured. Thus we have Mr. Watson’s statement (relating to some recent fogs) in the Gardeners’ Chronicle,* that ‘in the Palm-house bushels of healthy-looking leaves were gathered up almost every morning.’ On the other hand, instances occur in which no layer of separation is produced, though the other changes referred to are exhibited, and the leaves hang dead upon the stem. These two extreme cases are quoted at the outset to show that it is upon a very complex question we enter when we try to understand the meaning of the destructive changes pro- duced in plants by urban fog. I will now proceed to give in a summarised form a short account of the general nature of the injuries that are associated with fogs. But, first of all, it will be well to definitely establish the fact that no injury of note results from mist uncontaminated by smoke. Correspondents from various parts of the country assure me that no harm accrues from these mists. Thus towards the close of the winter of 1890-91 the Rev. F. D. Horner, of Kirkby Lonsdale, not only communicated his own experiences, but was so kind as to obtain reports from several other cultivators in his locality. Their united testimony was that the mists which from time to time prevailed were quite harmless. Nor did the keen frost of that winter do any damage among stove and greenhouse plants, notwithstanding the increased fire-heat needed to main- tain a suitable temperature. From Kent, Sussex, and Essex I have many assurances of the non-injurious character of the sea- * November 28, 1891, p. 650. ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 9 fogs. Some of these correspondents, who are within the range of the London fog-area, contrast the hurtful nature of the latter sort of fog with the harmlessness of the former. Purely nega- tive evidence of this character could be indefinitely extended, but the above is perhaps sufficient to establish the fact that country mists are harmless. We may now return to injuries due to fogs. I have limited this inquiry to plants cultivated under glass. This I have done because this class of vegetation affords very striking examples of the effects of fog; because greenhouse plants are always under observation, and information concerning them is readily obtained ; finally, because outdoor plants are liable to injury by frost, and the problem is thus complicated. Nature of the Injuries. General Characters.—The injuries to foliage are of wide occurrence amongst Dicotyledons, both stove and greenhouse plants. Many so-called hard-wooded, as well as the softer, and apparently more delicate, herbaceous plants are reduced after a severe spell of foggy weather to an unsightly residue of almost bare stems, blotched and discoloured leaves, and fallen foliage. Amongst certain groups even the soft stems disarticulate at the nodes. For the purposes of this report we may distinguish broadly two principal classes of injury to foliage, produced by distinct causes. A. Cases in which the leaves exhibit local discolorations, particularly at the tips and margins. A speedy disarticulation of the leaf does not occur; but when the fog is of long duration, and the local discoloration gradually involves a considerable portion of the area of the leaf, it may do so. But in an average case the unaffected parts of the leaf remain fully functional, and the leaf is retained. Instances are very common. Amongst Ferns I have noticed various species of Pteris and Gymnogranume schizophylla ; amongst Monocotyledons, Odontoglosswm crispum, Freesia, Areca lutescens ; amongst Dicotyledons, from an almost endless list I will only instance two very pronounced examples, Dalechampia Roezhana and Pavonia Wiotu. In a great many cases injuries of this purely local character co-exist with others 10 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. of a more fundamental nature. Under these circumstances the leaf will probably fall, though this result is not due, or at any rate only in a minor degree, to the class of injury included under this paragraph. B. Cases in which leaves fall, showing either a complete dis- coloration (brown or yellow), or only a partial discoloration, limited to the apex, or margins or base, or in which the dis- coloration is restricted to minute specks or to irregular patches scattered over the surface, or the leaf may fall green and apparently uninjured. We must include here also cases in which the lamina is affected in any of the ways just indicated, but in which the leaf does not disarticulate, but remains, withered and attached to the plant. Instances of disarticulating leaves are innumerable, but whether this is preceded by local or general change in colour, or whether the leaf falls quite green, depends upon a variety of circumstances. Plants in which the leaf does not fall, but remains attached as described, are rare. Bowvardia and Centropogon Lucianus may be quoted. I shall distinguish between these two classes of injury, because I believe them to be due to distinct causes. The injuries to flower-buds and flowers I have described and discussed under Section III. Further Notes on Class of Injuries A. The local blotchings indicated under A are due, I apprehend, to the action of an acid upon the upper surface of the leaf. The leaf here presents all the characters of being attacked from with- out. In the first instance these markings sare limited to the upper surface, or if they involve the lower surface also, this is strictly confined to the portions immediately adjacent to the apex of the leaf. The fogs deposit a layer of dirt upon the surface, which may or may not include sufficient poisonous substances to effect a general corrosive action upon the upper epidermis. But in horticultural practice the frequent wetting of the leaves leads to certain constituents of the deposit being taken up by the water, which, as is well known, has a tendency to collect at the margins, and especially at the tips of the leaves. One may walk through a conservatory and shake off drops from every plant. The moisture gradually evaporates, leaving behind what was dissolved in it. The process is, no doubt, repeated time after ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 1] time, until sufficient acid is collected to cause local lesions. The drops of water, further, doubtless themselves directly absorb sulphurous acid from the air. This will be speedily oxidised into sulphurie acid. The deposits on the leaves of stove plants contain an appre- ciable amount of sulphuric acid. The general nature of the deposits is similar to those collected from the glass lights, the analyses of which are given on p. 4. Of the substances there enumerated, the sulphuric acid is the chief one soluble in water ; thus it is to this that I attribute these corrosions. If the attached drops of water from a number of plants be shaken off into a vessel and collected in some quantity, distinct traces of sulphuric acid can be demonstrated. The condensed vapour which drips from the roof, and incidentally falls upon the plants, also contains sulphuric acid. I quoted Dalechampia Roezliana and Pavoma Wiotw as marked instances, with a special purpose in view. ‘The leaves of these two plants depend from their stems at a considerable angle, perhaps 45° on the average. Consequently moisture very readily accumulates at the apex. It is instructive to note the pro- gress of the discoloration from the tip backwards. The epidermis at the apex is first attacked. The corrosion works on into the deeper-lying tissues until the whole of the substance of the leaf is destroyed in this region. In many cases the tip actually falls away, or is detached by the shaking which the plant undergoes incidental to horticultural operations. From the truncated apex the corrosion travels upwards, and one may see leaves still attached to the plant and performing their functions in which only the lower, 7.¢. proximal, moiety is uninjured; the injured and uninjured portions being separated by a sharp transverse line. When sections are made ofa portion of leaf-surface which has been exposed to this corrosive action from above, and examined under the microscope, certain definite changes may be noted. The upper epidermis is first attacked. The acid appears to traverse the cuticle and to destroy the cells. The contents of these cells at first exhibit a slight contraction from the walls—a plas- molysis; the protoplasm then turns brown, due to the appearance in it of a very finely divided dark precipitate. Then, bit by bit, the same action is continued in the subjacent tissues, till the acid has worked its way right through the thickness of the leaf. 12 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Haperiments illustrating the Corrosive Action of Deposits. In the autumn of 1891 I made a few experiments in order to elucidate the action of these deposits. In the first instance I took some of the Chelsea deposit,* and after shaking it up with a little distilled water, painted the right-hand halves of the leaves of a number of stove plants therewith. These included Cucurbita Pepo, Bowvardia, Dalechampira, Heterocentron rosewm, Dendro- bium nobile, and Hydrangea hortensis. From day to day the leaves were moistened with water. Within a week the Bowvardia and Heterocentron showed slight corrosions, and in ten days the Cucurbita and Dalechampia. The Dendrobium and Hydrangea (both possessing highly cuticularised leaf-surfaces) resisted the action. I also determined that even the soluble constituents of the deposit in several instances caused a corrosion. | From the substances contained in the deposits I then selected sulphuric acid, powdered metallic iron, red oxide and magnetic oxide of iron as possible causes of this corrosion. With these I experimented separately. To the powdered metallic iron and to the oxides a little dis- tilled water was added, and a thin layer of the paste so formed spread upon parts of the upper surfaces of leaves of the follow- ing plants: Cucurbita, Ricinus, Dalechanpia, Bouvardia, Rose, Clerodendron, Tecoma, Begonia sanguinea and B. Haageana, Dendrobium nobile, Rhododendron, and Pteris sp. Neither of the oxides had any apparent effect on the subjacent parts of the leaves with the sole exception of the magnetic oxide upon a leaf of Dalechampia. But the action here, after fifteen days, was a very slight one indeed. Observations were continued without result for five weeks. With metallic iron the result was totally different. In four days the Bowvardia and Begonia san- guinea showed a slight discoloration of their epidermal cells. In seven days Cucurbita and Begonia Haageana exhibited the same symptoms. Within twenty-four days the iron had destroyed the subjacent epidermis in all cases; but I did not find that the action, was continued appreciably deeper into the substance of the leaf, as the iron had become entirely oxidised. With sulphuric acid I experimented upon the same species, * Cf. Analysis, p. 4. ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 13 and also upon the following additional ones: Justicia carnea, Ruellia macrantha, Hydrangea hortensis, Conocliniwmianthinum, Eupatorium odoratum, and Impatiens Sultan. I first applied a very strong solution, 5 per cent., painting the right-hand halves of several leaves of each. Within four hours of applying the acid all the leaves were profoundly affected. The upper epi- dermal cells and all the cells of the mesophyll and of the lower epidermis as well, showed a very strong plasmolysis and dis- coloration of their chlorophyll-corpuscles. No general brown- ing of the protoplasm occurred till the next day, when several of the leaves readily disarticulated. ‘The amount of acid applied had powerfully stimulated the leaves, affecting cells in regions not immediately below the painted area of the surface. The same plants similarly treated with a°5 per cent. solution exhibited the same characters within twelve hours; and here again several of the leaves shortly fell away. With a°1 per cent. solution the action was the same, though in some cases (Centropogon, Cucurbita, Begonia sanguinea, and Hydrangea) the acid took longer to penetrate the epidermis. With a ‘05 per cent. solution similar results were obtained, though in many cases four or five days elapsed before any manifest injury became apparent,* I thik it undeniable that a thin coating of sulphuric acid, such as actually occurs in foggy weather, is sufficient to cause such results. Whether, and to what extent, the other substances of the deposit co-operate in this action there is no evidence to show. The metallic iron alone did, as we found in every case, eat into the leaf; still the amount of this present in fog deposits is so minute that its influence in the matter can be neglected. Nor have I any observations upon the hydrocarbons in the deposits. My experiments with them have been in the form of vapours only. Were the corrosive action of the deposits upon the leaves through the epidermis the only mode in which the impurities of fog attacked the plant, there would be little cause for grumbling among horticulturists. The injuries arising from this cause alone are trifling when compared with those which I have assembled together in the next paragraph. These would seem to constitute the main effect of fog upon plants; and I shall consequently devote considerable space to their elucidation. * With ‘1 per cent. and under there was no disarticulation of foliage. 14 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Further Notes on Class of Injuries B. The changes in the leaf which lead to its speedy disarticula- tion, with or without the accompaniment of colour change (as described under B, p. 10), are due in great part to an attack upon its delicate unprotected internal tissues. The fog actually effects an entry into the lacune or system of intercellular spaces of the leaf through the stomata; and, circulating here, the poisonous substances are brought into immediate contact with the moist, delicate, and uncuticularised cell-membranes of the living cells. These cellulose membranes can offer but little resistance, and the protoplasm is directly attacked. The capacity of any plant to resist such an attack must depend essentially on the constitution of the protoplasm. Many apparently fragile plants exhibit no injury, whilst others, with thick leathery leaves, readily drop their leaves. A thick external cuticle may arrest corrosion from an acid deposit; few and small stomata may render the entry of noxious vapours less rapid than where they are more numerous or larger; but it is upon the constitution of the protoplasm that the production or non-production of injuries will in the main depend. ‘This constitution of the protoplasm is a quality which is inherent in it. One cannot, either by means of high powers of the microscope or by a chemical investigation of the cell-contents, tell beforehand which plants will suffer when brought in contact with London fog. But one can, by taking into consideration all the cireum- stances of the environment, understand how in some eases the constitution of the protoplasm may be impaired and the whole plant lose tone, as it were, so that the protoplasm is readily de- stroyed by the noxious substances present in the air. Nor does it follow that the agent which actually attacks the protoplasm is the same as the one which enfeebles it and reduces its tone. The latter may be distinct, and merely prepare the way for the former. It will be necessary, in pursuing the discussion, to bear in mind all that a fog implies, and not merely to search for some toxic constituent. [ stated on p. 10 that leaves may disarticulate still green, or that they may gradually change to brown or yellow, and then fall, or that scattered discolorations may be developed before this happens. I will now describe the details in a few plants ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 15 which may serve as types of the three main varieties. But at the same time I would emphasise the fact that the distinction made is of an arbitrary nature ; transitions from one to the other exist ; and the same species under different circumstances (not yet understood) does not exhibit identical characteristics. Type 1. The leaf falls green and apparently uninjured. Examples: Malpighia wrens, Platonia antioquensis, Eheedia sp., Phyllanthus montanus and P. angustifolius (cladodes), Daphnopsis tinifolia, Bignonia sp., &e. A microscopic investigation of vertical sections of these leaves shows that the cells, especially in the regions rich in lacune (i.e. in the spongy parenchyma), are slightly plasmolysed. The pyro- toplasm is not discoloured. The chlorophyll-corpuscles appear normal, and in most cases the green colour is perfectly pre- served. Type 2. There is local discoloration, especially at the margins or towards the apex, or in irregular blotches. This change in colour does not, however, involve the whole area of the leaf before it falls. Included here are the few forms in which the leaf does not disarticulate. Examples are most numerous: Clerodendron macrosiphon, Beawmontia grandi- flora, Aristolochia tricaudata, Bouvardia (leaf not falling), Centropogon Lucianus (leaf not falling), Ruellia, Justicia carnea, Conoclinium ianthinum, Begoma. Microscopic examination of such material shows that the cells throughout are slightly plasmolysed, and this both in the dis- coloured regions as in those parts apparently unaffected. The green portions show no further change. The cells of the dis- coloured regions, in addition to plasmolysis, often exhibit a browning of the protoplasm, which may be slight or may be con- siderable. This is an especially marked character in the epider- mis. The chlorophyll-corpuscles present various appearances. They may be green and, as far as can be judged, sound; or their outline may be broken, indicating an incipient stage of dispersion. They may contain brown-coloured granules or they may be broken up into fragments. Oil-globules, either numerous and minute or large and less frequent, are in many cases found. Sometimes, as in Beaumontia grandiflora, where considerable quantities of oil appear to exist in the chlorophyll-containing cells of the healthy 16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. leaf, there is a marked diminution of the amount present as in- jury due to fog becomes apparent. The cells in which destructive changes have taken place are on the whole poorer in protoplasm than in the healthy leaf. Type 8. The leaves undergo a more or less uniform change in colour (to brown or yellow) before they disarticulate. Examples: Poinsettia (and many other Euphorbiacee), Hoya reflexa, Dendrobvum nobile. The destructive changes may be studied by the examination of a series of sections of leaves in various stages. Poinsettia.—In the uninjured leaf we may note the presence, here and there, of oil-globules. With gradual change in colour the margins of the chlorophyll-corpuscles become interrupted, the contents of the corpuscles granular and yellowish. The cells are plasmolysed, and the oil-globules are both larger and more numerous. In more advanced stages there is an enormous in- crease in the amount of oil—a number of yellow globules being present in every cell, particularly in the spongy parenchyma. The amount of protoplasm present is less, and the chlorophyll- corpuscles show a marked disintegration and yellowing. It is at about this stage that the leaf disarticulates. Hoya refleca.—Here the leaf is more stable, and remains at- tached till a much larger proportion of its contents have travelled away. In the healthy leaf a small amount of oil is present, but as the chlorophyll-corpuscles turn yellow and disintegrate, the amount of oil is first enormously increased. Later, however, the oil entirely disappears. Up to this point no marked plasmolysis is apparent. At the stage when the leaf falls hardly any proto- plasm remains, whilst the chlorophyll-corpuscles are represented by little aggregations of minute yellow granules. This last instance no doubt exhibits very nearly the same changes as occur in the normal death of the leaf as it might arise from causes quite independent of fog. Except in the few instances mentioned (Centropogon, &c.), the affected leaf falls. The disarticulation is actually brought about by the development, in a transverse zone at the insertion of the leaf, of a definite “ absciss layer,’ or layer of separation. In this zone there is an active production of cells by division, and it is across this zone that the subsequent rupture occurs. ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. iy Presumably some ferment is liberated by these cells which dis- solves a portion of the membranes, so that the mere weight of the leaf or a slight mechanical shock suffices to produce the rupture. Ido not know that the development of the layer of separation as a result of fog-injury to the leaf differs in any essential character from its development when a leaf dies from natural causes. The rapidity with which it arises in the case of fog is certainly remarkable. I have evidence showing that such a layer can ariseand the leaf disarticulate within forty-eight hours of the commencement of a fog. Still, in a large number of cases, possibly in a preponderating number—especially in ‘ hard- wooded ”’ plants—the absciss layer is marked out from a very early stage in the history of the leaf’s development. In such cases the solution or rupture of the membranes is alone required to cause disarticulation. The production of these layers, when they are not already present, and the changes in them which lead to rupture of the tissues and fall of the leaves, are the result of circumstances (in fog as in other cases) which render the leaf no longer able to discharge its office. The Withdrawal of Starch from the Leaves. Whenever leaves fall from fog, whatever be their appearance, whether green, yellow or blotched, there is one character in which they almost invariably agree. This is in the withdrawal of starch from their tissues. Even in the dull weather of winter small quantities of starch are generally present in the chlorophyll-corpuscles, at any rate of the palisade cells. The leaves seem incapable of withdrawing a small residue, and in this respect offer a point of divergence from their behaviour in bright weather. In clear, sunny weather large quantities of starch are produced, and readily and speedily converted into sugar and withdrawn. In dull weather both these processes seem to be interfered with. Not only is little starch formed, but little is withdrawn from the leaf. I have been astonished to find starch (in small quantities) so often present when the conditions for its formation are unfavourable. I have been gradually led to the view that in prolonged periods of dull weather the whole health of the plant is affected, and that its tone is lowered. Incidentally, I think this pathological condition of the plant fo 18 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. finds expression in its incapacity to utilise all the starch at its disposal. But this point will be raised again in the general discussion under Section V. Here I will simply point out that, although this appears to be the case, directly a leaf is actually affected by fog, the plant, by a special effort perhaps, is able to dissolve its starch and to transfer it to the stem. The leaves belonging to some twenty genera of plants which had fallen under the influence of fog were preserved in alcohol at once. ‘They were carefully examined for starch by means of sections, which were treated with potash for six hours, then neutralised in dilute acetic acid and mounted in a solution of iodine dissolved in potassic iodide. In only one case (Schlegelia) was starch found, except in the guard-cells of the stomata. In Schlegelia parasitica the starch was not in the chlorophyll-corpuscles, but i some loose parenchyma accom- panying the vascular bundles. It was found only in the lower third of the leaf. The leaf had evidently fallen before it had been entirely withdrawn. The presence of starch in the guard- cells of fallen leaves seems to be universal, whatever the cause of death may have been. It is a normal phenomenon demon- strated years ago by Sachs, and probably due to the lack of continuity of the protoplasm between these cells and the adjacent ones of the epidermis. In those cases—especially type 1, and to a less degree type 2—in which matters of nutritive value remain behind (7.e. as compared with the residues remaining in the cells when the leaf dies naturally) the actual cause of detention may be the plasmolysis. Assuming that the protoplasm were not at once killed, its withdrawal from the cell-membranes would offer a serious impediment to the out-passage of proteids and the like. I consider that a very interesting line for\further investigation arises here. How are the Leaves attacked ? I stated on p. 14 that I thought it probable that in most cases, which I distinguished from the mere corrosions of an acid deposit upon the epidermis, the impurities of fog had access to the intercellular spaces of the leaf, and that the living substance of the leaf was attacked from within. Im the case of thin, delicate, uncuticularised leaves this cannot be proved. All the layers of the leaf, as in Centropogon or Heterocentron, indicate ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. 19 that some poison is at work. Nor isit possible to say that any par- ticular part exhibits this earlier than the rest. The cuticle is not effective here in retarding its action from outside, and it is con- ceivable that the epidermis absorbs the poison directly, or this may be supplemented by its entry into the intercellular spaces. Nor are leaves which fall green, or those which change slowly but uniformly in colour, of much service in determining the point at issue. But in leaves of Bowvardia, Carpenteria, some Lhodo- dendrons, and a few others in which the process has been carefully followed, I find that it is the cells of the spongy parenchyma which are first affected. It is in the lower layers of this tissue—in the parts adjacent to the stomata—that the action commences. It then spreads to the upper regions of the spongy parenchyma and to the palisade layer, and to the epidermis of either surface. When the epidermis is cuticularised it takes longer for the noxious vapour to traverse the cuticle than it does for it to enter by the stomata and reach it this way. But where the epidermis is very soft both methods may prevail. I had come to the general conclusions indicated in this paragraph from the examination of fog-injured foliage only, and before ever I had experimented upon the action of various vapours. It will be seen from what appears below that these conclusions receive confirmation from the observed mode of action of a variety of substances. Analyses of Injured and Uninjured Leaves. ’ The very greatest care and deliberation is necessary before one can base conclusions on the results of the chemical analysis of foliage, &c.; consequently I have decided, for the present, to keep back the many determinations of this kind which—with Dr. Bailey’s co-operation—I have been able to obtain.* Special paragraphs dealing with changes in the chlorophyll and with the injuries exhibited by flowers are deferred until the action of various vapours has been described. * Cf. Just u. Heine in Landwirthsch. Versuchsstat. 1889, for a dis- cussion of the difficulties attending this method of investigation. 20 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Il. Tue Action oF ACID AND OTHER VAPOURS. Sulphurous Acid. That constituent of urban fog, and of coal smoke generally, to which most attention has been directed is sulphurous acid. The injurious action of this substance upon vegetation has been long recognised, and the literature bearing on the question is an extensive one. But it would carry me far beyond the limits of such a report as this were I to enter critically here upon the methods which have been employed and the results which have been obtained by other investigators. I defer any such exhaustive discussion ef the work of my predecessors till such time as I am in a position to prepare a detailed memoir on the whole subject of the actior on plants of the various atmospheric impurities. It is, therefore, deliberately that I make none but occasional references here to previous work. The action of sulphurous acid is considered first; afterwards that of certain other sub- stances. The amount of this acid present in London air varies frony time to time enormously. Whilst in fine weather traces only can be detected, very appreciable quantities are present in dull weather, whilst in characteristic London fogs the amount is greatly increased. A few determinations made during the latter part of 1891 give some indication of the amounts of sulphurous acid present in London air in foggy weather. The method employed is identical with that in use at Manchester; it is fully described in the “ Preliminary Report of the Air Analysis Com- mittee ’’ issued by the Town Gardening Section of the Manchester VWield Naturalists’ Society, March 1891. Known volumes of air pass through a continuous drip of hydrogen peroxide, which absorbs the sulphurous acid. The determinations are made as sulphuric acid. The locality is University College, Gower Street. The following were simply dull days :— Milligrammes of sulphuric Date (1891), Weather, acid per 100 cubic feet of air. November 5 rts +. wae _ ae 5°40 i De ae Ss 4-73 & 10 ie bes * on pa 6°80 ME i + ae 5-66 ‘2 17 se -» Sligns top sen ome 8:16 ” 20 ene oo, Dull cee soe 6:80 ON THE EFFECTS OF URBAN FOG UPON CULTIVATED PLANTS. oF The following were foggy days :— Milligrammes of sulphurice Date (1891). Weather. acid per 100 cubie feet of air, November 24 ae ... Slight fog is Ee n 0 eee ace Dark and very foggy. oe eee December 21 sig 22) Yellow for { .:. Ae one 20°62 = \NSSN 4 \ [ A\\ Fic. 5.—Evucatyetus ANDREANA. intensely white, the slender stamens suggesting a little flake of cotton wool. They are disposed in the axils of leaves, in com- FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA, 89 pact masses of twenty to forty. The tree was introduced to the Riviera by the great traveller and landscape gardener M. Edouard André. | Even Hucalyptus Globulus (fig. 6) may be considered as Fic. 6.—Evucatyprus GLoBuLvus. very ornamental when its large discs of long white stamens are well expanded. _ The white and pink varieties of H. lewcoxrylon are also very 90 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. elegant, but, like the Acacias mentioned lately, they are mere fancy flowers, not in regular demand on the markets. I cannot dismiss the subject of tree flowers without men- tioning Hakea lawrina, alias H. eucalyptoides, one of the strangest looking plants when in bloom of the aptly named order Proteacee. The half globular trusses of flowers, with their long curved filaments crimson at the base and white at the top, look as much like a sea anemone as anything. The best collections of flowering trees and large shrubs are to be seen at the Villa Thuret, near Antibes, and at La Mortola, the residence of Mr. Thomas Hanbury. Both places are filled with collections of the highest botanical value. Villa Thuret is officially connected with the scientific universities of France, and La Mortola might aptly be described as a South European extension of Kew Gardens. SHRUB FLOWERS: Roses, MARGUERITES, ETC. Roses are everywhere on the Riviera ; they grow in hedges, hang from trees, cover the front and sides of houses, overtop fences, and line railway tracks. Many kinds, such ag the Indica major and the Banksian Roses, bloom only in spring, when they are of surprising beauty. Some others flower nearly all the year round, and it is on these latter that the winter supply has to depend. The highest authority on Roses in England, the Dean of Rochester, remarked more than ten years ago that out of every hundred Rose-bushes planted on the Riviera, ninety belong to the Safrano variety. The remark holds good to this day, but - only where the production of Roses in the open air and without shelter of any description is contemplated. On the other hand, Safrano is very seldom if ever grown under glass. This shows plainly that the one capital merit of Safrano is to continue blooming and developing buds at a temperature which would be too low for any other Tea Rose. How often, for instance, do we find, even in the North of France or in England, well- formed buds of Safrano in November or December, when every other hybrid or Tea Rose is crippled by cold. It seems that the limit of temperature at which Safrano would cease blooming is just equal to the lowest temperature experienced at well- FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 91 sheltered spots on the Riviera, so that in such places the bloom- ing tendency of the plant is sometimes reduced in winter, but never entirely conquered. Riviera Safranos are very variable in size and beauty, ac- cording to the age of the bushes and to the amount of care exercised in pruning, manuring, &c. The long conical buds, unfolding so much freshness and beauty as they begin to expand, are known everywhere as the ‘‘ Nice Roses.’’ The exterior petals often show a deep crimson colour on the outside; this is generally the effect of cold weather experienced in the bud state. Young leaves and shoots of the Safrano Rose often exhibit a beautiful brown colour, and they are then turned to good account by the local florists as a contrast to pale blush Roses. The China Roses (common, blood-red, and Ducher), are also perpetual bloomers on the Riviera ; they are planted extensively in hedges. But they are of limited commercial importance, especially as the stems are too slender to carry well the large egg-shaped buds, and so make wiring a necessity. Only the beautiful, nearly single Rose, Gloire des Rosomanes, is still hardier and more perpetually in bloom than Safrano. It makes a charming and a striking feature of the country in winter, but, although of great artistic beauty, it is too perishable and too short-lived to be sought after as a flower for exporta- tion. We may refer to open-air Roses, the climbing kinds which, trained along walls on a southern aspect, bloom all through the winter, as Général Lamarque, Gloire de Dijon, Reine Olga de Wurtemberg, and even Reine Marie Henriette and Maréchal Niel, but the two last named succeed better under glass. Even the hardier kinds are much benefited by the use of a canvas screen in front and on top of the wall. Général Lamarque treated in that way gives lots of buds of the purest white. Gloire de Dijon is not a great success on the Riviera; it is too full, does not open well, and is often damaged on the outside. Very handsome Roses are produced on the Riviera from several hybrid or Tea sorts by the help of glass with or without artificial heat. Souvenir de la Malmaison, Marie Van Houtte, and La France come first under that head, as also Perle de Lyon, Souvenir d’un Ami, and especially several varieties originated on the spot, and mostly raised by Nabonnand, such as Paul 92, JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Nabonnand, Papa Gontier, Isabelle Nabonnand, and Général Schablikine. The first named is one of the finest Roses in existence when grown under glass. It has become one of the greatest favourites on the Riviera. Isabelle Nabonnand isa very large flesh-coloured flower with a darker centre. It grows to a very large size, as does Papa Gontier. Général Schablikine has a very pretty bud, elongated, and of a very bright carmine with a coppery tinge on the exterior ; the shoots bear most formidable thorns. Marie Van Houtte need not be praised here; it gives splendid buds, even in winter, with the help of some artificial heat. In very warm and sheltered corners it blooms well in the open, even Fic. 7.—CuRYSANTHEMUM FRUTESCENS var. ETorLe D’OR. in mid-winter ; this is the case chiefly if it be trained against a wall. Maréchal Niel requires more artificial heat than any other Rose. Next to Safrano it gives the largest money return on the coast, but it cannot be considered as a characteristic sort of the Riviera, as the way in which it is grown there does not materially differ from the English fashion of dealing with it. White and yellow Marguerites (Chrysanthemum frutescens) (fig. 7) are grown in large quantities on the Mediterranean coast. The former are used extensively for house and church FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 93 decoration ; the latter are amongst the most valuable export flowers. Yellow Marguerites bloom all the year round, but the bright golden flowers are especially sought after from December to May. Pruning tends to concentrate the blooming period to winter and early spring. The habit and foliage of the yellow variety are just the same as those of the vigorous white Marguerite, Comtesse de Chambord, but the pale gold colour of its rays gives quite a peculiar charm to it. It is generally called ‘‘ Anthemis” on the Riviera ; it is known also as the “‘ Etoile d’Or ’’ Marguerite. It is said to have originated at the Golfe Jouan from a chance seedling, but nothing absolutely certain is known on the subject. The plant is mostly multiplied by cuttings, which strike easily. It grows into large bushes of three feet in height, and as much in diameter, which are generally shortlived, the flowering power of plants more than three years old being in most cases apparently exhausted. The flowers, when borne on young vigorous plants, sometimes exceed three inches in diameter; they are scentless, and with proper care can be kept fresh in water for ten days or more. Hersaceous Prants: Pinks, Butss, MIGNONETTE, VIOLETS, ETC. From time immemorial perpetual-flowering Pinks have been erown on the Riviera, as they are in Italy, and especially in Spain; but until the last twenty years they were only considered as household favourites, kept in pots on window-sills or in small gardens. A few gardeners used to raise some plants for sale. Since the fast trains have been established, which carry the Riviera flowers to Paris in twenty hours and to London in less than two days, the cultivation of Pinks, both in the open air and under class, has made a wonderful progress. Acres and acres are now devoted to the growth of Pinks about Toulon, Hyéres, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, and Beaulieu. Hundreds of glass houses, or temporary structures simply made of two rows of glass frames supported by wooden rails, give to the best class of winter-flower- ing Pinks the help of some additional heat and of some useful shelter. But acres upon acres are grown without any glass at all, straw mats or canvas screens only being used to protect the plants from 94 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. the effects of radiation, and to afford them the necessary protec- tion against the bad effect of rain or cold dew. Large tracts of land are met with, especially on the Cape of Antibes, all partitioned into long beds, every one of which is lined with wooden bars supported by rows of posts three feet high. Or, simpler still, tightened wires are run from post to post length- ways, and mats or screens of some cheap material are spread at night over the beds on top of the bars or wires, and they are removed by day in clear weather (that is to say, nearly every day and all day) in order to admit the heat and light of the sun. Canvas strips are sometimes hung down from the bars as an additional protection. Cuttings are generally made from November to March ina shady place in the open air, or in such houses as are used to force Roses with little or no heat; young plants begin to bear flowers in October, and continue through the winter. Any well-drained soil is fit to grow Pinks, but the plants are found to succeed especially well on the dark red clayey soil which lies on top of some of the calcareous formations on the coast. Such soil is found, for instance, on the southern part of the Cape of Antibes near the world-famed residence of Hileuroc, and in the Ste. Hélene quarter at Nice. The following are the favourite varieties :— WHITE. Petit Génois.—F lower small, deeply cut, pure white, hardy, and a most profuse bearer. Enfant de Nice.—A strong plant, very prolific, white with flesh-coloured centre, at times nearly pure white. Miss Moore.—lLarge, very fine, of good substance, edge nearly smooth. ROsSE-COLOURED. ftose Rwoire.—Large flat flower, not very full, edge quite smooth, soft colour. tose Chair d’Antibes.—Very large and very full, edge deeply toothed, a fine flower. SCARLET. Alégatiére.—F lowers large, almost round, of a very bright rich scarlet colour, and a free bearer. ftouge Nigois.—Large and full, a vigorous grower; colour deep scarlet or blood-red, edge toothed. 7 FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 95 YELLOW. Comtesse de Paris.—Large, pale sulphur, very full and finely fringed, occasionally marked with small pink streaks. This variety was introduced from Seville by, and conse- quently named after, H.R.H. Mme. la Comtesse de Paris. VARIEGATED. Panaché de Nice.—A pretty flower, streaked with deep scarlet on rosy ground, edge of the petals laciniated ; a great favourite on the markets. Jean Sisley.—Mottled scarlet and salmon colour, edge bluntly toothed, a very pretty and effective variety. Fic. 8.—DriantHus CARYOPHYLLUS FLORE PLENO var. MARGUERITE. A new race of perpetual Pinks, known as (iillet Marguerite (fig. 8), and apparently of Italian origin, is well adapted for open- air cultivation, and promises to succeed well on the Riviera. It is easily told from other races by its erect habit, yellowish-green foliage, and finely toothed thin petals. It grows fast, and, if sown 96 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. early in the year, will bloom in the autumn and through the whole winter. Colours and combinations of colours are not yet as varied as in the old perpetual-flowering Pinks. Seedling Pinks are grown very largely at Cannes, Antibes, and Nice. Very fine novelties are raised every year, and it is quite probable that a new local strain will find its way into the horticultural trade before long. Flowers of large size and petals deeply and sharply toothed seem to be the characteristic features. of the Riviera Pink. Busous Puants. Roman Hyacinths are grown on the Riviera for bulbs and for Fic. 9.—Narcissus TAazeETTA var. TOTUS ALBUS GRANDIFLORUS. blooms. From Marseilles to Nice they are seen everywhere. The headquarters for their production is, however, at Toulon and Ollioules. No protection whatever is required, and the blooming season extends, according to situation, from December to March. FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 97 The delicate white spikes are sent by hundredweights, at times by tons, and fetch but a poor price on the markets. They certainly cannot compete in northern parts with the same forced in heat on the spot. A curious industry, which seems to be developing fast, consists in dyeing white flowers by making them suck up various colouring substances mostly derived from coal-tar. White Hyacinths are peculiarly apt to take dye in this way, and they are now frequently offered for sale in Paris either of a rosy lilac, of a salmon colour, or of a glaucous green quite unknown to nature. The same process was tried last year with white Pinks, but it fell flat after a very short run. Its revival as applied to Roman Hyacinths and to forced Lilac appears to give better promise of permanent success. Polyanthus Narcissi are natives of the Riviera. The wild N. Tazetta is found in large numbers on the low-lying meadows all along the coast. Paper-white Narcissus (fig. 9), with its new large-flowered variety, Etoile d’Or, Soleil d’Or, and Grand Monarque, are the most prominent kinds, and they flower in the order named, from November to March. Daffodils proper, the trumpet and Nonsuch Narcissi, are not yet of common occurrence on the Riviera, although some choice varieties are being introduced by amateurs, and although Narcissus minor is found wild on the hills bordering the coast. The fine garden varieties of Daffodils bloom about three weeks earlier there than they do in England, and they will surely gain ground every year. The Poet’s Narciss is also a native of Provence, and dots the hillside meadows and pastures with its dazzling white stars. On peaty grassland above Grasse it is so plentiful that it blooms in white patches, rods in extent, which are discerned miles away on the dark green grass. Bulbs might be lifted there by cart- loads; only it is the common late-flowering kind, which is of limited commercial value. In gardens only the large early-blooming form, Narcissvus poeticus ornatus, is met with. It is a most valuable form of Parisian origin, but now distributed all over the world (fig. 10). Narcissus odorus and the single and double Jonquils are plentiful, and spread their fragrance all over the country in March and April. H 98 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Hybrid Gladioli are quite hardy on the Riviera, and can be left in the ground from year to year. Dry bulbs started only in summer will bloom in spring, when handsome spikes will fetch high prices. Very few gardeners as yet go in for forced Gladioli. Gladiolus segetwm is very plentiful in a wild state, and it blooms through the cornfields in April. Z Zi Zh Z A SosSiN Fic. 10.—NanciIssus POETICUS ORNATUS. G. Colvillei, and especially its charming white variety “ The Bride,” are seldom obtained before April. They are grown in large masses such as sometimes to glut the market entirely. Gladiolus tristis, a dull white elegant flower with purplish- black marks on the outside of the divisions, blooms as early as February. It finds favour on the market, chiefly on account of its earliness. ——_- FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 99 Alliwm neapolitanum (fig. 11) and Alliwm triquetrum are still found wild on the Riviera, although much hunted up by florists. They are also grown in gardens, and give very pretty elegant milk-white umbels of good duration. They should, however, be handled with care, as the stalks if bruised will give forth a powerful smell of garlic. Tulips of several species are wild on the coast. 7’. ocwlus-solis and the exquisite pink and white 7’. Clusiana are plucked in the fields. Some early Dutch or Parisian varieties are grown by wy REE, Wig > Np 4) Soy. ay, BS (ee BES, POS 23 SS Ok BR ES | Fic. 11.—AtLuIuM NEAPOLITANUM. florists, but the strange-looking Parrot Tulips are the most profitable of all. Freesias become every year more common on the Riviera. They are perfectly at home there, as well as the Ixias and Sparaxis. Lachenalia pendula Aureliana is a remarkably distinct form, although evidently belonging to the pendula type. It is more compact than the common JL. pendula, and stronger. It has broader leaves and more numerous flowers of a dull red colour scarcely tipped with green. It flowers in the open air through the winter months. It is said, and the fact is supported by high H 2 100 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. authorities, that the plant was found wild in the Esterel Moun- tains, close by the track of the old Roman road, Via Aurelia. Still it seems scarcely credible that a species belonging to a South African genus should be found isolated so far and in a place so entirely disconnected with the station of all other Lachenalias. Anemones, like Narcissi, are indigenous on the Mediterranean coast. From fields and meadows they were early introduced into gardens. ‘The Provengal varieties of Anemone belong mainly to A. coronaria (fig. 12). A. hortensis is found also in a wild state, but it is scarcely, if at all, subject to cultivation. In deep, rich, moist soil it is found as A. pavonina, a large scarlet flower with a golden dise in the centre. On pastures and hillsides it is FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 101 common as A. variabilis, much smaller, and with flowers chang- ing from pink to lilac, sometimes pure white. A good many wild forms of A. coronaria are natives of Provence, some of which have become extinct in a wild state during the last twenty years. Two single varieties are very abundant to this day, viz. the common purple and the single scarlet form. The former is very common, and is gathered from field and vineyard nearly all through the winter. It is brought to market in bunches, which look strangely like bouquets of big Violets. The scarlet variety is not either so frequent or so early as the purple, but it is of a very bright colour. The roots are eagerly sought after for com- mercial purposes. It is a favourite on the Paris market. Two very distinct double forms were introduced long ago into gardens, and lately into florists’ lists. One of them, known to botanists as Anemone Rissoana, is called in trade ‘‘ Anémone Rose de Nice ”’ (fig. 18). It is a double flower with narrow-pointed divisions of a salmon colour, more or less greenish in the centre. It commences to bloom very early, and lasts from January to April. It is one of the most exquisite flowers from the Riviera. Anemone grassensis, locally termed ‘‘ Capeou de Capelan,”’ presents two distinct varieties, one of a rich crimson colour, the other white mixed with carmine in a greater or less proportion. Both are quite distinct from any other Anemone coronaria by the angular appearance of their exterior divisions, which rather suggest a flower of Nigella than a cup-shaped Anemone. The centre of the flower is filled with short, thickly pressed scales, red, rosy, or flesh-coloured. The ‘“‘ Capelan’’ Anemones flower only from February to April. They are very fine and effective when well grown, especially the white variety. The large improved strains of Anemone coronaria, both single and double, succeed admirably on the Riviera, and are sold on the local markets, and sent to florists in the North in large quantities. All Anemones carry well, revive easily in water, and last for many days. Although by no means peculiar to the Riviera, some varieties of Stocks ought to be mentioned here, as they contribute very large quantities of cheap winter flowers to the local and export trade. All the varieties of the large-flowered German Stocks, and 102 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. also of the ‘‘ Empereur’’ Stocks, are well adapted to the local conditions; but, in fact, the pure white and the crimson varieties are preferred. A very fine biennial white Stock, known as the ‘‘ Nice White,” as well as a dwarf, very large-flowered whitish lilac form, found their way into general horticulture from being at first purely Fie. 13. ANEMONE Rose pDE NIcE. local strains. A branching blood-red annual Stock is also grown with profit. Mignonette is in great demand in the South, as well as everywhere else. It 1s grown under screens, just in the same way as the hardier class of Pinks. It is sometimes pinched by frost. The large “Pyramidal” and “ Machet”’ varieties are the only kinds in use. ”™ FLOWERS OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA. 10 Many more herbaceous plants are occasionally grown for their flowers on the Riviera; but very few besides those enumerated above constitute a real article of trade. I must, however, make an exception for Violets, which will be mentioned by-and-by, and for Iberis gibraltarica, I. semperflorens, and Arctotis aspera, and also for the common Cornflower and the closely allied Centaurea depressa. Iberis gibraltarica thrives remarkably well, chiefly on rocks or loose walls, in a shady situation. Its large umbels of white and lilac are really wonderful. Arctotis aspera gives through the whole winter a succession of large cream-white flowers, with a deep yellow ring round a black disc in the centre. They are very effective, and stand well in water. Violets, though last, are certainly not least amongst the Riviera flowers. Large quantities of the common sweet Violet are exported daily, and supply the Paris market to the nearly complete exclusion of North-grown flowers. The rich grass and orchard land round Solliés-Pont in the Var is now the home of sweet Violets. It supplies all the principal markets with ready- made bunches of flowers, collared with fresh green leaves. The large dark Violet “‘ Le Czar’”’ is in great demand, but the pale, white-centred, long-stalked “‘ Wilson ”’ variety holds its own all the same. A new large kind, known as “ Luxonne,”’ is well spoken of. It is not yet widely distributed. Neapolitan Violets are grown by the acre all round Grasse, Magagnose, Vence, and Cannes for the perfume factories. A good proportion of the crop, however, finds its way to the market or to the florist’s shop. They are universal favourites, and in constant request for corsage and button-hole. They are met with every day in apartments, where they combine admirably with bright Anemones or golden Mimosa, and tons of them are used at the ‘“ battles of flowers.”’ Although some other flowers not unworthy of attention might still be mentioned, I feel that the line must be drawn somewhere, and I will not, therefore, extend these remarks any further. Suffice it to say, that to a lover of flowers the Riviera is never destitute of some objects of interest and of attraction. At this time of year the contrast between Northern skies and the “Cote d’Azur”’ is at its highest. Should any of those . 104 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. present here feel inclined, and at liberty, to take tickets to the Riviera for the Easter holidays, they may rest assured that they will find there plenty of material for horticultural observation, and many sights of beauty to gladden their eyes, besides the bright sun and the dark blue sea. “RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ By Mr. H. Seure-Leonarp, F.R.H.S. THe Secretary asked me some time back to give you a short paper on my plant-hunting rambles in the Dolomite Alps. I complied with a light heart, and have ever since been wondering at my temerity. For I have none of the imaginative power which can paint the glories, floral or otherwise, of the Alps; nor even that far commoner gift of making many words about what can be said in few. My first resource in my difficulty has been to enlarge the scope of my paper to cover my general Alpine wanderings, Dolomitic or otherwise, and my second to determine that, relying on your good nature, and on the freemasonry of plant-lovers, I might write, just as I would talk to you, for twenty minutes or so, rough notes on Alpine plants and plant-hunting, and on how I personally ‘“‘ doit ’’—on the high places, or some of them, which [ have visited, on some of the things which I have found there, and on what I do with what I find. Enthusiast though I am in the culture at home of Alpine plants, the desire to possess them in some quantity could never by itself impel me, or anybody else, to be at the expense of time and money incurred by seeking them in their habitats. And this although, somewhat strangely, there is no professional foreign collector known to me who does his work well enough as regards lifting, packing, and transmission of the plants to be an eflicient substitute for collecting personally. ‘RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 105 For, allowing for the difference in quality and vitality between fresh and home-reared plants on the one hand, and travel-worn specimens on the other, we can, even already, buy them at home more cheaply in the long run than we can supply ourselves from abroad even in quantity. At least, speaking broadly and generally, that is so; it is only not true of the few plants which on one cround or another we often cannot buy in quantity, or perhaps at all, and so must collect if we want them. We collect not to save money, but first because we enjoy the hunt, and next because ‘ our collected”? plants have for us an ‘‘ extra value” by reason of some pleasurable association con- nected with their acquisition. That plant of Hritrichiwm nanum—reminder of the place where, at last, first in your life, you suddenly came upon it in the mountain fastness and solitude nine thousand feet up; that plant of the lovely Saxifraga squarrosa, to get which lured you on to a vast torrent of loose stones, ready to travel at express speed with you and your plant to the bottom, a thousand feet down; that other plant which Schmidt, the great German cragsman, brought you in his pocket from some mountain fastness which thus you are glad to visit by so famous a deputy—how shall the value of such be appraised in pounds, shillings and pence ? You are made happy by finding the bright pink variety of Aster alpinus, though the “find”? is no fortune to you; and When you light upon a Saponaria ocymoides, as you easily may, brighter than Backhouse’s splendens variety—brighter even than his latest splendidissima—your happiness is that of the hunter, and not of the nurseryman, amateur or profes- sional. : And now a word or two upon the subject of the protection of Alpine plants from extinction, and on the sins, or alleged sins, of Alpine plant-hunters. Ihave quite got over that sense of guilt in collecting Alpine plants which divers people, good, bad and indifferent, endeavoured to instil into me, more or less suc- cessfully, in my green horticultural youth. I have done so by taking a course which may be recommended in other matters than those of plant-collecting, namely, make up your mind by all methods open to you what it is wrong to do, and don’t do it; but also make up your mind what you may rightfully do, and do 106 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. it until you are stopped by some other and better authority than, perhaps amiable but certainly ignorant persons who imagine a plant (produced it may be at the evening table d@héte) to be nearing extinction if they have never found it near the roadside in their ‘“‘ lowland’ wanderings ; or, I may add, than those very selfish persons, happily few, and for whom I feel even less respect, who would ban all plant-collecting whatever, with the vast pleasure which it brings to hundreds of us, if so they them- selves may casually see a few plants the more from their carriage windows. ‘There are, so far as I know (I speak of true Alpine plants wanted or taken for their beauty), few which are really at all scarce. Any which are so, take only sparingly—collect their seed, and raise from it when you can. I may say in a parenthesis that the much-prized Edelweiss, of whose threatened extinction we hear perhaps most, is thus so easily raised in a year that there is no purpose at all, except for the sake of association or similar reason, in collecting the plant. Be slow to collect any plant whatever from near a public pathway. ‘There can rarely be any purpose in so doing, for it is sure to be found in greater plenty not far off, and out of sight of Mrs. Grundy, as well as of more agreeable people. If you will, scatter discriminatingly any seed you find and don’t want. Easily may you thus help Nature far more than you rob her. All reckless or purposeless collecting (and there is a good deal of it) is to be deprecated, and the few really rare plants should be sparingly taken. An excellent society exists for these objects, and should have our support. But for the rest, I am not aware of many Alpine plants which we want for our gardens, or for those of others, which cannot be had in any reasonable quan- tity (by looking for them in the right places) without, so to speak, their being missed. It may, I own, some day be otherwise, if, as is likely, or at least possible, the demand for Alpines should much develop and grow. In that case precautions may become proper which under present circumstances are needless; but I take it to be also probable that in that event the demand will be supplied largely from seed rather than by importation. In- deed the main commercial demand ought to be on more grounds than one, and probably is, thus supplied. Of newly ripened seed, promptly sown, in the majority of cases germination is as safe and easy as with any other classes of plants, although results, of ‘““RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 107 course, have to be awaited for years in the case of such genera as the Primulas, Saxifrages, and others. But to return to plants and plant-hunting. A word or two on the subject of a plant-collector’s outfit and paraphernalia may not be unacceptable to any whomay contemplate rambles like mine. Of course it is very simple. As regards dress there is nothing to be said; it may well be that of the ordinary Alpine climber, minus the ice-axe and blue spectacles; or that of the more everyday rambler. For your search, remember, will never carry you above nine thousand feet above sea-level or thereabouts, for as you reach the line of perpetual snow plants become scanty, and I know of none found above the level which I have named which are not found probably in greater plenty below it. You gain little or nothing by going higher. But it is only at from eight thousand to nine thousand feet, I think, that you reach the mountain homes of such gems as Hritrichiwm nanwm, Androsace glacialis, Ranunculus glacialis, and a few others. I carry and advise a belt, with scabbard, to hold the trowel. The form for this latter which I find best is that of a long steel scoop. I got it originally I know not where; I think at Berne. It is not, I believe, generally to be had in English shops, but without difficulty you can get it made for you. The steel should be good, and neither break nor bend, for accident to it fifty or a hundred miles from “supplies” is serious. For this reason, I carry a reserve trowel—indeed two. This plan has the additional advantage that you can either pay a local rustic or, better, lure an unsuspecting friend to accompany you, and make him dig roots for you. The trowel is practically the only tool I use; but it is not equal to lifting a few deep-rooting things like Anemone alpina and sulphurea; and even the local spades—which on occasion you “beg, borrow, or steal’ from the hotel gardener, and carry to heights strange to them—are not equal to the task. I once in my green youth devised an elaborate spade for the purpose now in hand, and had it made to order “ regardless of cost.’’ It consisted of a strong steel blade made to screw to the end of a specially constructed alpenstock, and to take off and on. It was a beautiful instrument—“ on paper ’’; but, like so many rubbishy plants “ off it,” it was a distinct failure. It went to pieces at its first or second encounter with, I think, the Schilt- 108 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. horn, and was never more heard of. But, in fact, what we do well to take from the Alps can be got with the trowel. The deep-rooters which want the spade you can rarely establish in your garden or nursery when you have got them, and they are better let alone. What kind of case to use for your spoil when collecting is a fairly moot point. It is certain that it should be something stiff, to minimise the crush and jam of the plants. The usual tin botany-case, slung to the back, is well enough on occasion, but it is generally inadequate for one’s serious and concentrated annual effort. It almost goes without saying, that what is wanted must be as handy and portable as possible ; strong enough, yet light, and must open and close conveniently, I run the danger of amusing you—a danger from which I recoil— when I say that J have found the desiderated qualities best con- centrated in—shall I say it—a small portmanteau ! or, rather say, in a valise. But not in a British one, for the typical British one is, like the Britisher, heavy, solid, andtough. Butin most towns on the Continent can be bought, in all sizes, small and large, cheap valises (from two francs and upwards), rather ‘thin ’’”— canvas and cardboard predominating in their structure—and which admirably unite the desiderated qualities before tabulated. You prod holes in them freely for ventilating purposes. Such I use as Well on my collecting rambles as on the return journey. And on it they have a final merit which crowns all (although I believe I selected them irrespective of this quality)—I mean that they enable you yourself to cav7y your plants home as “ passen- ger’s luggage.’’ Only thus are you sure of them, and not always then. The perils oftheir journey home are many. For instance, I recall many years since arriving at my Paris hotel with my precious freight, which, as usual, I had cared for like a mother all the way from the Alps, by day and by night. At Paris I thought it wise to direct that my charge should be ‘‘ made to descend,” as the French say, to the ice-cellar. I “gave command” accord- ingly, in what I have still no reason to doubt to have been quite unimpeachable French. A lucky mistrust seized me five minutes later as to whether my instructions might have been to the letter obeyed; and, penetrating promptly to the recesses of the lower regions, I found my parcel of plants placed before a cheerful fire in the middle of the kitchen, while ‘‘ Monsieur le Chef” received me equally cheerfully, and needed to have it — “RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 109 explained to him with some particularity why the arrangement was not completely to my satisfaction. Probably there is no one present here to-day who does not know as well as myself how to pack Alpine plants, namely, in dry moss, the plants themselves as dry and “ unexcited ”’ as possible, consistently with their not drying up, and with such admission of air as is consistent with the same thing. It is far better to bring a limited number in good order than a great number in bad, and small or medium-sized plants are generally better than large ones. The elastic moss packing should therefore be abundant ; the whole of the root, when possible, should be brought away, and when it is unavoidably injured, the head of foliage should be proportionately reduced. Indeed, it is generally well to diminish this in any case, and to remove all flowers. But I am packing up and starting home prematurely. Let me get back from Paris to the Alps for a bit. No harm has been done if I have said a few things by anticipation, and out of their place. Yes, my outfit may be thought a singular one, and you need not imitate it unless you like. My trowel in its scabbard and belt have been mistaken scores of times for a dagger or stiletto, and have in turn evoked the mistrust, curiosity, and, more rarely perhaps, the respect of gendarmes, douaniers, tourist and mountain shepherd, and, I have fancied, of mountain dog. The curiosity at least is not allayed by the association of my very third-rate valise, which is, it must be allowed, an article not often seen on its way towards the clouds, and say seven or eight thousand feet above the sea. I have not been surprised to learn that to tourists I have commonly, as I mounted, presented the appearance of an economical person who, dissatisfied with the too luxurious appearance of the hotel below, is under the impression that he may find a more modest and _ suitable hostelry if he only climbs high enough, and is thus carrying his luggage thither “on spec.” For botanical and collecting purposes, the Alps may be con- veniently divided into calcareous or chalky formation, and the non-caleareous, generally granitic, formation. This division answers naturally to a leading distinction in the culture of the Alpine plants at home. * There is a considerable number of plants which are found on both formations. But there is also a con- 110 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. siderable number found in nature only on chalk, and perhaps a smaller number only found off it. The flora of the chalk is exceptionally rich. Of Alpine culture generally I am not treating to-day; but I think it well to make a remark or two on this subject. The great difference between the two typical soils which I have named seems to be a mechanical one. The chalk is of a sticky nature, and holds water for the plant winter and summer. Those plants which by nature or habit exact such constant moisture, and do not resent a clinging embrace from the soil, are the chalk-lovers. I could instance a host of plants. Gentiana acaulis and verna, Primula Awricula, Clusiana, and many other Primulas are rarely found off the chalk in nature. So Dryas octopetala, Saxifraga cesia and squarrosa, and a host of others which I could name. It is singular to note how in the Dolomite range of mountains— which is generally calcareous, but in which are strangely inter- mingled mountains of syenite (a non-calcareous formation)—you pass from one flora to another rapidly and often, and can tell the soil you are traversing by the plants you see. Again, in the Engadine, where the range is nearly wholly granitic, but where there is a patch or two of chalk upcropping (chiefly on the Albula Pass), it is only on these few patches that we can find in the whole district such chalk-lovers as Dryas, the great Bell Gentian, and Androsace chamejasme. The place of Gentiana acaulis is taken off the chalk by the similar and equally fine Bell Gentian, Gentiana excisa—a hint, by the way, for those who find they cannot grow the first-named species. I may here observe that while in nature many plants are only found on chalk, it does not follow that in cultivation they cannot be grown without it; and this for the very simple reason that art, assisted by our humid climate, can readily supply otherwise the function of chalk in maintaining a constant supply of moisture. In fact, I know of no single chalk-loving plant which may not be grown, and well grown, without it. On the other hand it seems, according to my experience, to be the fact, and a fact easy to understand if what I have just been writing be correct, that many plants found in nature only off chalk cannot be successfully grown on it. I incline to think that some of these ‘lime-haters,” as they are called, may find something impossible and poisonous to them in its chemical constituents, so immediate are the effects. But, for rey r 1 ; ‘*RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 111 the rest, their failure in it is adequately accounted for by the mechanical properties to which I have already referred. Art can otherwise supply the qualities of chalk for those plants which like it; but art can only, very partially at most, correct its positive faults for those plants to whose habits or constitutions it is inimical. Androsace carnea and glacialis, Eritrichium nanum, Primula glutinosa, and many other Primulas, with Lithospermum prostratum, Azalea procumbens, and Ranunculus glacialis, are among the plants—and there are many—which so exact a non-caleareous soil as to refuse wholly to grow in a calcareous one. The range of my plant-hunting Alpine expeditions has not been a very wide one. I have made two excursions to the “ Dolomite ’’ range in South Tyrol (Austria and Italy), a country with a flora at once numerous, rich, and beautiful. Each of these adjectives has a separate meaning, for a flora is often rich, as well as beautiful, without being numerous. I mean the number of distinct species may not be large. The Dolomites are almost equally well reached through Northern Italy by Milan, or vid the Arlberg Railway from Zurich by Innspriick, the Brenner, and Botzen. In the neighbourhood of Botzen (the capital of South Tyrol) and just outside the Dolomites proper, are several fine “ botanical mountains,” notably the Schlern and the Mendl, with fair accommodation for tourists on their top or sides. Those whose time is limited may be content to go no further. The inn accommodation in the Dolomites is still reported to be generally inferior, though in the way, probably, to rapid im- provement. There are two marked exceptions (I mean to the badness), viz. at Cortene, their chief town, and at San Martino di Castrozza, where is a capital inn and a floral centre at once rich and rare. It has been my chief centre of operations on my two visits. The fact that it is on a fine military road, which mounts to the summit of the Rolle Pass behind it (over 6,000 feet), reminds me to adventure a piece of general advice for the benefit of any, if there are any here, who, so to speak, are like myself, not ‘‘ as young as they were.”’ It isthis. For your day’s work get as high as you can on wheels; when wheels can go no further, go as high as you can on horse or mule, and only begin to use your Shanks’s ponies, 7.e. your own legs, when all other means of locomotion fail you. Ata pinch, I have not refused the aid of the patient ass, and I should think twice ere I refused a sedan chair were it offered me. I have a dark suspicion that I may be oftener laughed at than I wot; but “let those laugh who win,” and I can aver that my day’s enjoyment and plant- winnings in the heights are, ordinarily, in direct proportion to the care with which I have husbanded my strength for those long hours of excited scramble, and, better still, of delightful ‘potter’? among the stones, which succeed arrival upon the hunting-ground. For the same reason, start early, that you may be in the cool heights ere the sun is hot. So much for my Dolomite ex- cursions. Scarcely second to it for interest, and for wealth of plants, we must place the Engadine. It is a fit ‘“‘ pendant,’ so to speak, of the Dolomites, for the latter are generally calcareous, while the Engadine is almost wholly granitic, and the flora varies accordingly. The comparison between the two floras is interesting and instructive. Take, for instance, the different Alpine Primulas found in each district. To the best of my recollection, only two species of Primula did I find common to both localities, viz. farinosa and longiflora. For the rest the Engadine is rich in Primula viscosa, integrifolia, graveolens, and a host of their beautiful hybrids; but there is not found in it either of the following, which in the Dolomites (not probably 100 miles off) are plentiful: Primula miwma, Balbisi, Floer- keana, glutinosa, and their many hybrids. Famous plant habitats in the Engadine are the Bernina Pass and the range generally, and particularly the famous Heuthal (the Val de Fain as it is also known) included in that range. The Fex Thal and Bever Thal, which radiate (in another direction) out of the Engadine Valley, are nearly as famous botanical resorts. But it is quite likely that many adjoining and less frequented valleys are as rich or more so. The Engadine, as most of you know, is the strangely large and high-placed valley of the Upper Inn, in the extreme east of Switzerland. Pontresina still remains, perhaps, the best head- quarters there for the plant-Lunter and botanist, if he can tolerate the transformation from the once simplicity and picturesqueness of the village as it lately was to the town almost as it now is. 112 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ‘“ RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 118 Half-a-dozen large hotels, and as many smaller, now dominate the place, and in the season you may, if you please, secure a dance at one of them two nights out of three. It is a place overcrowded from the end of July until the middle of September, and much more to be recommended at other seasons. In the season itself smaller places like Sils Maria (at the entrance to the Fex Thal) or Silvaplana may be recommended to the plant-hunter, as combining very passable accommodation with proximity to his, shall I say—work ? The best route to the Engadine happens to traverse one of the very best plant-hunting grounds—as owner of a calcareous garden, to me the very best, because there (practically alone) is a chalk soil found side by side with the granitic; I refer to the beautiful Albula Pass, by which you best pass into the Engadine from Coire. At Coire, some six or seven hours only from Basle, your railway journey from England ends. The summit of the Albula Pass I have seen (even by the roadside) carpeted with Ranunculus, Saxifragas, Primulas, and Gentians, although in the season the road is traversed by scores of vehicles daily. At a spot just on the west side of this pass, and a little below the summit, is a small inn said to be habitable even at night ; and if so, it would be an admirable base from which to work. We have never yet, however, been able to get free from the idea, judging from the exterior of the building, that the entomology of this place might prove almost as rich as its botany, and, though I speak not from knowledge, I should suggest, therefore, that our example be imitated, and that the district (although otherwise at a great comparative disadvantage) be worked either from the Engadine or from Bergiin lower down on the home side of the pass. I have botanised in other parts of Switzerland proper only casually and unsystematically, and my impression is very strong that, although such well-known places as the Miirren (above Lauterbrunnen in the Oberland), as the Bel Alp and AXggischhorn, Zermatt and the Riffel Alp, the Evolena and Zinal Valleys, Val d’Anniviers and Val de Saas (all approached from the Rhone Valley), are rich and good hunting-grounds—and they are all probably twelve hours nearer to London than is the Engadine, and two days nearer to London than is the higher ground of the Dolomites—yet, so far as I can judge, they [ 114 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. are not nearly so rich as the two typical districts, the Engadine and the Dolomites, of which I have spoken, nor is anything, at least of marked beauty, found in them which is not also found, and generally in more profusion, in those two more easterly districts. Here, however, I am speaking my impression and opinion only, and am not talking from wide or exact knowledge. For my first visit to the Pyrenees I start next month. From what I have heard, I fancy its flora is rather distinct than either generally very rich or numerous as regards species. But distinct it certainly is; and, owing to similarity of soils pro- bably, I have had marked success with Pyrenean plants. This encourages me to extend my experiments to others with which (arriving in bad order) I have hitherto failed, but which seemingly are well worth fetching and introducing to commerce. Among the beauties peculiar, I think, to the Pyrenees are Sazxifraga longifolia, Ramondia pyrenaica, Aquilegia pyrenaica (a glorious Alpine species of Columbine, easily grown—with me at least— but all too rarely seen), Senecio leucophyllus, Lithospermum Gastoni and granumfolium, and Saxifraga calyciflora, arctioides, and others. I trust that I may on another occasion have something to say as to my rambles in those parts, and in others which I have not yet visited. The Auvergne Mountains in France seem to be worth visiting, judging by the number of species or varieties dubbed ‘“‘ Arvernensis.” Mont Cenis must be visited, for it holds the beautiful Campanula Alliom, and other gems which I always think of as I pass beneath them in the great tunnel—very properly with my hat off, for it is night when I thus pass through to Italy, and I cannot well break my journey to reach them. Of the mountains of the Tessin, or Italian Switzerland, and of North Italy, I have visited practically little but Monte Generosa. This mountain has its peak in Italy, its hotel two miles off, in Switzerland. The mountain has been spoiled for ever and for everybody, plant-hunters included, by a villainous staring mountain railway, unredeemed by any serious effort to mask its ugliness. It is easily reached from Lake Lugano on the Gothard Railway. But there remain such mountains in North Italy as Monte Baldo, and Grigare, and Bobbio, and “ RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL.”’ 115 Tombea, and a dozen others, which must be made to relinquish to me, some day, samples of their wealth and loveliness. And I have forgotten, as ere leaving France I should not have done, to remind you that the Alps of Dauphiné, with Monte Viso, and the Alpes-Maritimes, are far less explored than are others. Though it is improbable that they can ever yield any- thing (unless, perhaps, a few new varieties) wholly new, it is certain that they, like the Eastern Alps, hold very many of the most distinct and beautiful Alpine plants of gardens, nowhere else found. Dianthus neglectus, the easily grown Primula marginata, and the difficult and beautiful Primula Allioni, with Saaxifraga cochlearis and lantoscana, are among the plants which these “‘ Sea Alps” send us. Happy it is, for a “land-lubber” like myself, whose enthusiasm would yield before a sea voyage as before scarcely anything else, that, according to the better opinion, the flora of the European Alps is the richest Alpine flora in the world, and can be reached with but an hour’s view (and “ feel’’) of the hateful sea. And so one is half comforted to learn from Mr. Whymper that the Alpine flora of the high Andes apparently amounts to little, and one is content to take from the mountains of Asia Minor whatever Mr. Whittall and others may contrive to find and send us, now or presently. It remains, I hope, ere I die, to visit not only Styria and Carinthia and Carniola, and perhaps Transylvania, all rich and comparatively little explored, but the mountains of Bulgaria, the home of Primula deorum (the ‘‘ Primula of the gods”’). Should I ever return from that quest, whether minus my ears (left behind with the brigands) or minus one of them, I trust that, as kindly and patiently as you have done to-day, you will receive me and hear from me the tale of how I found Primula deorwm, and how (if so it must be) I lost my ears in the process. 116 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. By Monsieur Henri Correvon, Jardin d’Acclimatation, Geneva, Corresponding Member R.H.S.) [Read April 25, 1893.] THE vegetation which grows upon the flanks of the Swiss Alps, or of the other high mountains of the world, is of a most distinet character—quite swt generis; so much so that the most casual tourist is at once struck with its peculiarity. At these high altitudes the plants are of a very dwarf habit, almost stunted, and the higher we ascend the dwarfer they seem to become, so that at 6,000 feet in the Swiss Alps we find nothing but dwarf or stunted perennial plants, presenting often the appearance of little carpets. Even the genera which in the lowlands appear as trees or shrubs, are represented here only by dwarf. or creep- ing varieties. Salix, Azalea, Betula, Arbutus, for instance, instead of growing to their more usual height, spread themselves out upon the ground. They seem toshrink from the coldness of the air, and cling to the ground on account of the sun-heat which it retains. 2 Alpine plants are generally perennials, andonly a few Gentians (G. tenella, obtusifolia, nivalis, utriculosa, campestris), Lomato- gonium carinthiacum, and some Rhinanthacee are annual. They are for the most part stoloniferous, czespitose, and send shoots in all directions. The flowers are very numerous, and relatively large; the colours bright, brilliant, and pure; the stems, if not altogether absent, are short; and the flowers, owing to the suddenness of the change from winter to summer, appear all together at the same time. There are no Fungi in the Swiss Alps; the bright and intense light which reigns there does not permit their development. Take a plant of Dianthus alpinus, and compare it with the Pinks of the plains. You will be surprised at the brightness of the colouring, the large size of the flowers, and the shortness of the stems; the whole life of the plant seems to be concentrated in the flower (which is, of course, its most important part). And these flowery carpets are the most enchanting amongst all the ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 117 sights of the vegetable kingdom; no language can describe them, no pencil reproduce them; they are the jewels of the Creator and His favoured ones in the world of plants, and both they and their marvellous surroundings alike enchant and astonish us. But not only are their flowers peculiar, but the leaves also of plants on high elevations are differently constructed to those of the plains. The powerful action of the sun impresses a distinc- tive character not only on the exterior form, but even on the very organisation of Alpine plants. The leaves are thick and of com- pact texture, and, thanks to the density of their skin, they are capable of resisting the drying influence to which they are exposed from the intensity of the sun’s heat. Often, too, they are further protected from this drying influence by a thick pubescence, almost always composed of starry hairs which pro- tect the skin—the grey down which, like thick felt, covers other Alpine plants, especially the Composite (Edelweiss, Senecio, Artemisia, Achillea nana), serves the same end. And it has been repeatedly noticed that in positions exposed to the sun on open heights and slopes almost all plants have coriaceous leaves or a close pubescence, whilst in shaded and sheltered ravines, and in the gorges and hollows which serve as beds for the torrents, they possess greener and more delicate leaves. The anatomy of Alpine plants proves that the cells of their leaves are smaller, and that they have thicker walls and more concentrated contents than plants of the plains, so that in alter- nate freezing and thawing the tissues are not torn even at tem- peratures at which the plants of the plains, whose cells are provided with thinner walls and contain a greater proportion of water, would infallibly succumb. The more tufted habit, and the imbricated leaves of the mountain plants also contribute to protect them from the cold air currents which pass over the surface of the ground. And it is precisely these frosts, renewed as they are every night, that explain the cause of the dwarfness of all these planis. The most recent physiological researches have proved that it is during the night that plants grow the most rapidly. By day they grow so much the less the more they are exposed to the sun. For plants of the high Alps there is very little opportunity of nocturnal growth, which is prevented by the frosts. It is only during those hours of the day when the sun is strong encugh to 118 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. warm the soil considerably that they can possibly grow, and this explains the shortness of the internodes. It is for the same reason that the plants which carpet the high Alps so frequently, or even generally, change their appearance when transplanted to the lowlands; the nights being warmer, they continue to grow, and exhaust themselves; all their parts are soon lengthened, and they rapidly become paler in colour. For the same reason again, many Alpine plants form large tufts, beautifully leaved, in Eng- land, which in our gardens at Geneva, where the sun is more powerful and the moisture in the atmosphere less, appear un- deniably weaker and smaller. In our Alpine Garden at Geneva we cannot produce such tall, large, and vigorous plants as you do here in England. And it has been noticed that just those very plants which we have such difficulty in raising under our unfavourable conditions in Geneva, succeed well under the more suitable conditions they meet with in England, and increase very rapidly. I was very much astonished some years ago at seeing in Mr. G. F. Wilson’s garden at Weybridge quite a bed of Saxifraga oppositifolia, a plant that never grows with us more that 8 centimetres (3+ inches) in diameter, even under the most favourable conditions. The Ramondias on the rockery at Kew caused me a very great surprise, and, 1 must add, discourage- ment. I often think of the marvellous growth of Alpines in your English climate, and sometimes, I confess, with somewhat of jealousy. But if you in England are favoured in some ways, you are not. so in all, and you might well sometimes envy us the vivid colours of the flowers in our modest rockeries, and the profusion of the stemless blossoms covering our tufts of Saxifraga oppositifolia,, Androsace glacialis, Laggeri, helvetica, &c. And I believe that our plants grown in unfavourable conditions, but under the more powerful action of the sun, have better preserved their original character than the very healthy and strong specimens which call forth my exclamations of delight in the beautiful rockery at Kew. But, alas! we cannot alter the existing condition of affairs. You cannot get more sun, and it is impossible for us in Geneva to get more moisture in the air. The best thing is for us each to endeavour to obtain the best results under our several conditions. It is important for those who wish to devote themselves to the cultivation of Alpines to know the conditions under which ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 119 they grow in a natural state. These conditions are not, of course, to be found in a lowland climate; but it is possible in many respects to supply them by artificial means. And in the search for and application of these means lie all the secrets of successful cultivation. The first condition of growth for Alpines, as for all other plants, is a certain degree of heat. If the thermometer never rise above the freezing point, the sun may flood the landscape with its light without producing any movement of vegetable life, even supposing that the soil were free from snow and ice. But whilst a considerable increase of warmth is necessary to bring the plants of the plains into growth and flower, it is quite other- wise with the plants of the Alps, as the smallest degree of heat above the freezing point wakes them at once into active life. The vegetation of the upper zones is subjected to a much more severe treatment, and enjoys a summer so short and so cool that it might almost be said to represent winter for the plants of the plains. These Alpine species, however, accomplish during this short space of time the complete cycle of their annual existence. They flower and ripen their seeds as well as do the lowland plants; and their stunted habit, the shortness of their stems, and the smallness of their foliage evidently contribute to quicken and awaken life, by sending to the flower and to the reproductive organs all the sap conveyed to the plant by its numerous roots. It is necessary, however, to remember that under the condi- tions to which the Alpine flora is subjected it enjoys an ardent and intense warmth, from the fact that the solar rays shine longer and more continuously upon it, and that the thickness of the atmosphere is less than in the lowlands. But if during the day, and when the sun exercises its influence, the vegetation enjoys a greater degree of warmth, it has, on the other hand, to endure cold and rigorous nights, during which the thermometer sometimes descends to 18 or 20 degrees Fahr. below freezing. Another essential condition to rapid growth is light; and it is, after warmth, the chief element in which the Alpine flora revels. At a great altitude nature is far more prodigal of light than in the plains. At the very commencement of its growth the Alpine flora is immediately benefited by the same amount of light that the plants of the plains receive in the summer. 120 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Spring in the upper zones is retarded three or four months later than in the lowlands; or rather it may be said that spring does not exist there at all. Immediately after the melting of the snow Alpine vegetation enjoys all the advantages of summer without having to pass through an intermediate season. The time of the disappearance of the snow in high regions is generally put at that of the longest days of the year—May and June—and in a few days, almost hours, you may see the snow- fields transformed into verdant pastures jewelled with flowers. After seven or eight months of sleep the plants find themselves suddenly surrounded with the most favourable conditions for erowth and development. Light, warmth, and moisture con- tribute all together and at the same time to accomplish this work, which is only interrupted by cold and short nights. A very large amount of light is necessary for Alpines if you wish to obtain a profusion of flowers. As a general rule, all the plants of the Alps, far from fearing the sun’s rays, absolutely require full exposure to the light, and it is only since I have kept them fully exposed to the sun that I have been successful with such as Hritrichium nanum, Androsace pubescens, A. helvetica, A.imbricata, A. glacialis, Kdraianthus, &c. But if warmth and light are necessary, there is also a third condition which is indispensable, and ought never to be allowed to be lacking in cultivation. The rays of the sun would soon destroy these delicate organs and slender flowers if there were not a protecting agent to prevent the damage. This agent is water diffused in the air in the form of vapour, which surrounds the plants as with light gauze, thus preventing the rays of the sun from scorching them. When summer comes the Alpine pastures are watered by the melting snow, and the spongy soil holds the moisture for a long time and gives it up to the atmosphere as soon as it begins to get dry; and in districts overtopped by more elevated summits the snow which melts throughout the summer on the heights supplies the Alpine and sub-Alpine regions below with the necessary water. And besides, when it does not rain, the nights in summer always yield heavy dews, of which the effect is evident, filling the air with moisture. Later on, in the months of August and September, the air is drier and the morn- ing dews less heavy. It is then that the ripening of the seed takes place, for which a too great moisture would be injurious. ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 121 The plants then enter upon a period of comparative rest; they have set aside their brilliant attractions and seem inactive. They do not, however, pursue a less incessant work very interesting to observe. During this period of its life-history the exterior parts of the plant have less need of moisture, because the seeds, in order to ripen, require to be under the direct influence of the dry warmth of the sun. Then when the sapis no longer required by the seed (which when ripe falls, and is scattered around its mother plant), it returns to the subterranean organs, where a different work is carried on. Roots swell and are filled with nutritive juices, and bulbs store up the food which is required for the following spring—in a word, the plant provides for its future needs. Winter is at hand. Before, however, entering upon this season of rest, Alpine vegetation seems to make a last and supreme effort of life and development. Then are formed the flower-buds of the spring-blooming kinds, which must be already formed in order that the first sun of spring may expand the flowers. Plants of this sort often bring some of their buds into blossom in the autumn, so that if you make an excursion in October, just before the Alps begin to be covered with snow, you will find in the sub-Alpine regions (1,000 to 1,500 metres) that Gentiana verna, Potentilla verna, P. aurea, &c., are in flower, and often abundantly. The rocks and the stony débris which is so plentiful in the high regions must be considered as gigantic water reservoirs, and their presence or absence plays a most important part in plant life. The rocks hold the water and, like colossal sponges, store it up in rainy weather and retain it till the dryness of the air absorbs it. Moisture is then one of the three conditions essential to the life of Alpine vegetation, and it is the reason why in England Alpines generally do much better than in our dry climate of Geneva. For years I have tried several plans for supplying this want of moisture. Rockeries and stone walls are very good, as the stones, as I have already said, are excellent for retaining moisture. Hritrichiwum nanum, Androsace glacialis, and others do very well when grown in a stone wall in the full sun if the wali is often watered. But the best plan for all countries where the sun is too powerful and the air too dry is cultivation in Sphagnum. In the Gardeners’ Chronicle I spoke of cultivation in 122 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Sphagnum only, and with it I have been remarkably successful. But by this method the roots grow so freely that it is necessary to use very large pans for the plants, and this is often incon- venient. I now find the same results can be obtained with smaller pots, using a mixture of Sphagnum and fibrous peat or turf. The one important condition—sine quad non—is to expose the plants to the full sun and to water the soil abundantly. I always thought that in the damp climate of England this method of cultivation would not succeed, but Iam glad to hear that in the southern counties experiments have been made with good results. In Geneva I never could persuade Soldanellas, Arnica montana, Gentiana bavarica, G. purpurea, Saxifraga carpathica, S. iberidifolia, &e., to flower until I planted them in Sphagnum ; and a great many other plants are now beginning to succeed very well with me by means of this system. But what you want in England is not at all the same thing. Would that we could give you some of our sun-rays and a little of our dry atmosphere! One of the most difficult things for you is the cultivation of the true rock-plants hike Campanula Zoyst, excisa, Hlatine, Raineru, Edraianthi; Senecio incanus, leucophyllus, and wniflorus ; Phytewma comosum, humile ; Andro- sace ciliata, cylindrica, helvetica, Pacheri, Wulfeniana, pubescens, imbricata, Haussmannu, Heeri, Charpentiert; Draba tomentosa, Saxifraga diapensioides, Eritrichium nanum, &c., which succeed more easily in Geneva. Our English friends write to us very often that these plants make them despair; that they rot even under the best conditions, &c., &c. I always give them the same advice: Place your plants in an old stone wall or between the crevices of your rockery in the full sunlight, and in a perpen- dicular position, so that the tuft of the plant is parallel to and flat upon the wall, the central axis being horizontal to it. Under this system I have always obtained the best results. But of far greater value than my own opinion is that of Edmond Boissier, who covered his walis with the rarest and most delicate of Alpine and rock plants, and my contention is that this is the only method for keeping such delicate plants in good health in England. It is not at all necessary to put any soil in the crevices and holes made in the stone wall; they should be very narrow, so that the roots of the plants are pressed by the stones as in their natural state. They find in the moisture of the stones ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 1238 all they want for their development. I never found any trace of soil in the natural crevices into which the rock-plants thrust their long thin roots. They find in the moisture and decomposition of the stone all they need, and, bearing in mind that generally these plants are of dwarf and small habit, it is evidently a mistake to suppose that they want nourishing soil between the stones. You would be astonished to see in the most interesting garden of the late M. Edmond Boissier at Valeyres, Canton Vaud, the very numerous varieties of plants which grow in the walls, between the stones only, without a particle of soil. The garden is situated at an elevation of 1,900 feet above sea-level, andin a very sunny position just at the foot of the Jura Mountains. I may be asked how some plants from high glacial regions can thrive where the heat of summer is so intense, and how they can bloom so profusely there. Ido not hesitate to answer that it is owing to the mass of calcareous stones which were employed by M. Boissier that the success of his garden is due. There is there a wall which excites the admiration of all visitors. It is a retaining wall, supporting a terrace alongitswholelength. This wall is constantly damp, as it has earth on one side of it. It is about 15 feet high and nearly 40 feet in length, and faces the north-west. Here are the greatest treasures, the choicest gems of the collection : Haberlea rhodopensis (who would believe it?) attaining in such a position, and without nourishing soil, gigantic proportions. Alysswm pyrenaicum is plentiful along this wall, and even comes up on the gravel path. Matthiola Valeriana, Campanula garganica, C. Vanneri, and C. Portenschlagiana grow so freely that they have to be hoedup. Sazifraga diapensioides, S. media, S. squarrosa, S. marginata, and the extremely rare S. cuneata grow together and mingle their tufts as if emulating each other in vigour. Sazifraga florulenta is here perfectly acclimatised; it abounds and wanders about freely in the chinks of the wall. It was planted here more than twenty-five years ago. Why then, if such results can be obtained at Valeyres, could they not also be had here in England ? Increasing Alpine Plants.—The most infallible and practical means, which always gives the best results, is by seed. It is the natural way and the most simple. It is generally thought that this method is slow and difficult. I must confess that this is true for some kind of Alpines, but only for a few of them, and 124° JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. with just a little care you can raise by far the greater part of Alpine plants from seed. I have myself raised, either in the Botanic Garden of Geneva or in our Jardin d’Acclimatation, more than two-thirds of the Alpine flora, and the plants obtained in this way are always more robust and healthy than wild plants transplanted into the gardens. The easiest to raise from seed are the Caryophyllacee (Di- anthus, Arenaria, Silene, Lychnis, &c.), the Crucifers (EKrysimum, Lepidium, Iberis, Arabis, Draba, &c.), the different kinds of Helianthemum, many of the Composite, the Papavers, Globu- larias, Potentillas, Geums, Aquilegias, Astrantias, Eryngiums, the Campanulacee (Edraianthus, Campanula, Phyteuma), Draco- cephalums, Lithospermums, the Geraniacee, Hypericines, Lonicere, Leguminose, Paronychiew, Polemonium, Rubus, Scabiosa, Sedum, Sempervivum, Thalictrum, Veronicas, Saxi- fragas. All these plants grow with the greatest ease and facility in good and light soil; they germinate in a few weeks after having been sown, and have no special wants. The Primulacee, Gentianacew, Berberidee, many of the Ranunculacee, Scrophularinee, Umbellifere, Liliaceee, Amaryl- lidese, Rutacezw, Iridew, and Daphne are slower to come up, but come without difficulty. The raiser must wait often two years (Peeonies and Dictamnus for instance), but they never fail. Give them a porous light soil with a little Sphagnum, and you will succeed in all cases. All the Alpine plants must be sown in a cool frame, and in the early spring or in late autumn (November), The most difficult kinds are the following :—Pedicularis, Bartsia Peederota, Parnassia, the Rhinanthacew, Pinguicula, Heaths (Ericas), Lycopods, Pyrolacee, Ramondia, Haberlea, Janka, Rhododendron, Orchids, &c. On these very difficult kinds Mr. Moé, of the Botanic Gardens, Christiania, made some very interesting experiments. For the Heaths, Lycopods, and Ferns he takes pieces of turf cut into cubes of two or three inches, and rubs the seeds or spores against the sides and on the upper surface of the cubes, which he then places in water to the depth of an inch. All the upper part is thus kept in a state of constant and regular moisture, which allows the slow and difficult germination to take place in a regular manner. During the winter those turf-cubes sown with Yaccinier and Ericacee are placed in a cool frame sheltered from ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 125 the sun, whilst those sown with Lycopods and Ferns are placed in a warm house, where they must be put in a dark position. For the Pyrolacew, Orchids, Parnassia, and Rhinanthacer Mr. Moé recommends another system. The pots which are to contain the seeds are filled with a compost of one part peat, one of forest soil, and one of the remains of pinewood or rotten fir, to which is added a little chopped moss and dry fir needles. This compost is firmly pressed into the pots, and small Mosses (Dicranum, Brywm argenteum, Mnium, &c.) are then planted in it, and in this moss the seeds in question are sown. ‘The pots are then placed in a case containing water, so that the soil may be continually and regularly moist. The case containing the pots is then placed for fifteen days in a frame heated and shaded in a uniform manner, and kept hermetically closed during the whole time. And in this way Mr. Moé has obtained excellent results. Many of the berries like Empetrum, Arctostaphylos, and Vaccinium are very difficult to raise from seed. I noticed that it is only in those parts of the Alps where partridges and other berry-eating birds are common that these plants can be found as seedlings in any quantity, and so during the last eighteen months I have tried sowing in Geneva and at the Linnea (the Linnea is a botanic garden situated in the Alps of Canton Valais, near to the St. Bernard Hospice, at 5,000 feet elevation) seeds of Arcto- staphylos and Empetrum eaten and digested by a blackbird, and some which were not so digested, but as yet I have arrived at no definite conclusion, because none of them have as yet come up, and I am still waiting for results. When the seeds have germinated, and the plants begin to get strength, they must be pricked out in pans or planted singly in little pots. Some kinds, as Rhododendrons, Daphne, Adonis, Ranunculus, Gentiana purpurea, G. lutea, G. punctata, G. pan- nonica, G. asclepiadea, Peonias, some of the Androsaces, Silene acaulis, &c., are very slow to grow, and take a very long time to bloom. Others, as Papavers, Thlaspi, Linaria alpina, L. petrea, Arabis, &c., frequently blossom in the first year. The best season for the collection of seeds in the Alpine regions is the month of September, as at that time one can still recognise the species to which the seed belongs, and. as it is equally the best time for taking up the plants we desire to trans- 126 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. port to the plains, a journey in the Alps affords then a double advantage. The month of September is also the proper season to under- take the propagation of Alpines by division of the tufts, though this may be done also in the spring. A large proportion of Alpine plants can be increased in this way, but they will not all bear the operation. The kinds which grow in carpet fashion, forming mossy tufts, are especially suited for division. The Saxifrages of the sections Isomeria (S. aconitifolia), Mis- copetalum (S. rotundifolia, &c.), Hireulus, Diptera (S. sar- mentosa, &¢.), Dactyloides (S. cespitosa, &c.), Trachyphyllum (S. Aizoides, &c.), Huaizoonia (S. Aizoon, &.), and Robertsonia (S. meifolia, &c.), are particularly well suited for this method of propagation. The Saxifrages of the sections Nephrophyllum (S. cernua, &c.), Boraphylla (stellaris, &c.), Prophyrion (oppositi- folia, &c.), do not root well, and the section Kabschia (S. cesia, squarrosa, &e.) will not bear division at all. All the Sedums, Sempervivums, many Silenes, Pinks, the Composite, some Cam- panulas, the dwarf and creeping Phloxes, and a certain number of Primroses seem rather to require division in cultivation than to object to it, and many other species, especially those which belong to the pastures and grassy slopes, are the same. But it is not so with the European Androsaces, the Dianthus of the group sylvestris, the Silenes of the group acaulis, the Gentians, and, generally speaking, the Ranunculacee, the Leguminosae, Papaver alpinum, pyrenaicum, &c., the Phyteuma, and many other tufted and dwarf but not creeping plants. Certain species, such as creeping Willows, Rosa, Clematis, Daphne, Androsace lanuginosa and foliosa, Silene pumilio and Llisabethe, Dianthus alpinus, many Campanulacee, Hrodium petraum, &¢c., can be increased by cuttings; it need hardly be said that they should have a cold treatment in a close frame. I was a long time endeavouring to find out a way of increasing kinds of EKrodium which are sterile in our country, such as E. Sibthorpianum, chrysanthwm, and olympicum; but two years ago, seeing my gardener making his Geranium cuttings in August, it occurred to me that possibly the same plan might do with these Krodiums. And so it proved, and I now get all my Erodiums from cuttings made of the rhizome in August, and I never lose one. -~ ALPINE PLANTS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 127 Finally, any sorts like Ramondias, Haberleas, Jankea can be increased from the leaves (as is often done in the case of Gloxinias), and others like Daphne, Coronilla, Betula can be grafted on commoner sorts. The digging up of Alpine plants and transplanting them to gardens was for many years the only method employed for in- creasing them and furnishing rockeries ; but for many varieties this not only injured the specimens transplanted—for many will not bear the moving, and perish miserably without flowering— but it also does great injury to the flora of the Alps or other country whence the plants are taken, and the fears expressed by naturalists of seeing certain rare plants disappear from the locali- ties where they exist is not at all exaggerated ; indeed, it is a fact that this has already happened in more than one instance in Switzerland and other countries. The disappearance, for ex- ample, of the very rare and interesting Spiranthes Romanzoffiana from Ireland, the only European station of the plant, is known to all of you. Far, then, from being chimerical, our fears are fully justified, and a movement has been started in Switzerland for the purpose of preserving the wild plants in their respective localities and for their protection generally. Notice the following fact, for instance, as proof of the need for such amovement. We have at only two or three miles distant from the boundary between Tessin and Italy one of the most beautiful, as well as the rarest, of all the Androsaces, A. Charpentiert. It grows nowhere in the world but on three or four of the peaks about the Lake of Como, and there are only a few specimens of it. The position of the plants is well Known—so well, indeed, that some German horti- culturists have already been there many times to collect this rare and distinct plant for sale! Suppose, for a moment, that twenty people, each taking twenty plants, annually visit the spot, and in a very few years at most the species will be exterminated. I got seeds of it some years ago, and sowed it at Geneva, raising three plants of it, and planted them in the rockery of our Alpine botanic garden, “The Linnea’”’ in Valais, where they are now very flourishing and give us a mass of seeds every year. I could tell the same story of more than fifty rare Swiss plants, so that I think you will agree with me in recommending everybody always to reproduce rare plants by seed, cuttings, or division, instead of rooting them up in a wild state. 128 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. We founded eleven years ago a society for the protection of wild plants, in order to prevent the danger of extermination which I have been speaking of, and the society now numbers more than 700 members, of whom fully 200 are in England. We also founded a garden at Geneva for the rearing of Alpine plants from seed, the “Jardin d’Acclimatation’’; and we have since founded in the high Alps of Valais, two hours below the Hospice of the Great St. Bernard, and near the village of Bourg §. Pierre, and close by the mule-path which goes over the pass into Italy, another botanic garden for the protection and perpetuation of such plants as are threatened with extinction. This garden, “The Linnea,’ is well situated, and the plants which we cultivate there are most healthy, and will well repay a visit from anyone passing that way. CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE SOIL WITHOUT THE AID OF CHEMISTRY. By Professor F. CHrsuree, F.L.S., F.R.H.S. [Read May 9, 1893.] I propose to endeavour to popularise a matter which has been regarded as solely the concern of the chemist, and beyond the reach of the horticulturist, and I shall have to ask your forbearance in using the chemist’s shorthand, as time will permit of no other. Every gardener stands at a disadvantage when he takes a piece of new ground, previously unknown, and under these circumstances he will possibly for a long time labour with only a small measure of success. By degrees, however, he becomes acquainted with its special peculiarities, and higher fertility rewards his efforts. Yet, even to make this amount of painful progress, keenness and attention are required. To-day I desire to point cut how to bridge over this time of difficulty, and secure by a few simple gardening experiments even more information than the analyst would commonly provide. 7 CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE SOIL. 129 All plants may be regarded as requiring twelve different kinds of food, out of which they. are able to form their various tissues. These foods are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, potash, iron, lime, soda, magnesia, and chlorine. ‘The gardener need not consider some of these at all, as he has not to supply them. For instance, oxygen and hydrogen are provided for him in the form of water. Carbon is always furnished by the processes of combustion and decay, and by the breath of animals, including human beings, who give it off from their lungs, as an effete product in the form of carbon- dioxide, which is a combination of carbon and oxygen. This gas when taken in by the leaves of plants is divided into two parts ; the carbon is retained by the plant, and the oxygen is given off into the air. This is a popular view of the process, and for the moment sufficient, though not strictly accurate. Amongst the constituents needing careful attention from the cultivator, the most important—with the exception of nitrogen, to be considered in detail presently—are potash and phosphorus. These are met with in only small quantities in most soils, but their presence in sufficiency is essential to the plants, if a high standard of fertility is to be attained. Lime in some form will also need to be considered. It is present in nearly all soils; but the amount is frequently below that which is desirable for fruit and leguminous crops; _ besides its chemical and mechanical action on many clays make its use as a manure often very beneficial. Tillage (cultivation) quickens a chemical change naturally produced in the soil, which is called nitrification, and the nitric acid thus formed dissolves lime as readily as hot tea dissolves sugar, and it is then washed out by the rain ; and, therefore, unless re-supplied, a diseased condition is rapidly produced, and the plants are generally stunted and weak. Chlorine needs far less attention, yet it must not be wholly disregarded. For instance, an acre of Mangel-wurzel will take up 56 lbs. of it, while Wheat will only absorb 4 lb. Iron is sometimes wanting in a soluble condition, and plants are frequently improved in colour of flower and fruit, and in weight of yield by its manurial use. The remaining chemical requirements for healthy plant food are, except in very rare cases, present in an amount exceeding the demand. We have then K 130 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, only to deal with nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, occasionally, lime, and still more rarely iron. All the materials of every soil occur in three conditions : first, directly soluble in water ; second, soluble in water through the action of roots, which yield weak acids; and, third, the insoluble condition. The first two are the matters upon which the plants must depend, since they, like animals, can only absorb their food when in an absolutely dissolved state. The gardener, realising to some extent these truths, ardently desires to know what his soil contains, in order that he may form ~ a judgment as to its capabilities, the crops which it may bear, and the manures to apply. In his difficulty he turns to the chemist for information. It is not my intention to scold the analytical chemist. Yet in former days, and, if truth be told, too often even now he is a great misleader. He uses strong acids, and dissolves parts of the soil not reachable by rain or roots, and returns these as being present. ‘True, they are present, but locked up so securely that fifty years must probably elapse before they can be of service to the cultivator. The improved methods of analysis now used by the most advanced men are rectifying this, and it is only just that the cultivator should be informed what his plants can secure, rather than what the land will deliver up to posterity. It is my wish to enable the gardener, without applying to the analyst, to determine for himself, at home, the nature of his soil. Water-cultures have long since shown that plants cannot grow in the absence of the essential foods already mentioned, and let me repeat that it is only the food which is soluble that can be absorbed by them ; thus the food which is not absolutely dissolved is of no use whatever, and, therefore, if any of the substances required are present in a totally insoluble form, growth will be impossible ; for example, if Turnips are grown by water-culture, the young plants use up the material stored in the seeds, and then become exhausted, unless replenished. In the absence of iron the puny leaves are nearly white, but if soluble iron be added, in the most minute quantity, the leaves begin to turn green, and develop until the iron is again exhausted. But the addition of any other food than the essential one missing is of no service whatever. Probably a plant is growing unsatis- factorily, and this or that manure is added, but without effect. CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE SOIL. ‘181 The reason is that the particular food needed by the plant has not been given to it. Owing to this fact farmyard and other vegetable and animal manures are justly valued, and this one thing more than any other has been in their favour. They contain ali the necessary constituents required by the plant, so that in using them the want is inevitably supplied. You may, however, give large quantities of material in this way which are not at all helpful because not in demand, but which may some- times be rather injurious. Farmyard manures possess a large number of valuable properties, but they are not in all cases the most desirable to use. During the last. few years a discovery has been made which was at first received with considerable doubt ; it has now, however, become established, and gives a greater amount of hope to Agriculture (which is the twin sister of Horticulture) than any discovery made in recent years. It lies in the notable fact that leguminous plants have the power, by means of certain organ- isms, of obtaining abundant quantities of combined nitrogen, the nitrogen itself being derived without cost from the air. This combined nitrogen is the most valuable of manures, and gives, broadly speaking, the largest help to fertility. From this discovery the intelligent cultivator has the power of obtaining unlimited supplies of nitrogen absolutely free of cost. Recently I examined a Vetch, the roots of which were covered with small nodules; these nodules occur on the roots of leguminous plants generally in greater or less abundance. They are produced in response to certain forms of bacteria, which may be seen by means of a good microscope and proper preparations. Having a root with nodules, place it in water, and allow the particles of earth around it to become thoroughly saturated ; then apply the nodules to a piece of glass; add a little red ink or methy-aniline violet dye, which will stain them, so as to render them easily visible. These nodules are enlargements of the root, presenting much surface to the surrounding soil, by which surface nitrogen, as ammonia or nitrates, can be absorbed. It is necessary to remember a law of excretion which may be thus expressed. very excreted product is injurious to the organism excreting it. For example, when a plant absorbs carbon-dioxide it must get rid of the oxygen, which stands in the relation of an excreted product, or it will soon begin to K 32 132 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. suffer. Similarly, carbon-dioxide excreted by our lungs and skin is injurious to us, and so on without limit. The organisms thrive and multiply around the absorbent nodules, because these remove from the organisms the combined nitrogen which is thrown off by their vital changes. Both are thus benefited. This may be exemplified by the fact, if Clover and Rye-grass be treated with manures rich in nitrogen, the Clover dies out, perishing with the disappearance of its micro- scopic food-provider, while the Rye-grass thrives abundantly, because it has not only manure congenial to it, but also plenty of room owing to the death of its companion. The importance of this discovery to agriculture is immense. A Mr. Mason, on the stiffest and most intractable Oxford clays, is growing Corn at a profit, because he is taking advantage of this advanced fact, now no secret, since it has been proclaimed in many scientific journals. Mr. Mason proceeds thus: He manures his unpro- mising soil with potash in the form of kainit and phosphorus in the form of basic slag, with which he raises a crop, say, of Beans. These, by means of the bacteria nodules on their roots, take their combined nitrogen from the air. HKventually the Beans go to market, while the remaining stems and roots are returned to the soil as a green manure, thus giving it an abundance of nitrogen, gained without cost, as well as the greater part of the purchased potash and phosphorus. To discover what necessary consti- tuent is present in sufficient quantity, in any soil, we may pro- ceed thus: Take four pots, fillmg them with similar quantities of the typical mould. Sow seeds in the pots, so as to secure abso- lutely uniform conditions, manuring each as indicated below :— way \ | j j Nitrogen. Potash. Phosphorus. Phosphorus, Potash, Nitrogen. Using nitrate of soda in No. 1; basic slag, well mixed with the soil, in No. 3; and kainit in No. 2—No. 4 receiving all three. If we find No. 2 gives us the finest results in a marked degree, we learn that our soil demands potash; if No. 8 is best, then phosphorus is required; if No. 4 is best of all, then all are needed—the condition of Nos. 2 and 8 indicating the relative CHEMICAL DETERMINATIONS CONCERNING THE SOIL. . 133 intensity of the need of potash and phosphorus. A caution is required here ; all plants do not need the same relative propor- tions in their foods. Tomatos, for example, require potash and chlorine, and there are few soils which would not be improved for Tomato-culture by kainit, which contains large amounts of both these constituents ; but the continuous use of kainit on a Vine-border would be very undesirable, although some, in the absence or defiance of chemistry, are recommending it. The chlorine the Vine does not need, and suffers from its presence if pronounced ; here nitrate of potash would be infinitely better, as proved both by theory and experience. Our tests may be simplified by using leguminous plants, as nitrogen, which other orders require with hardly an excep- tion, is not helpful to them, as previously explained. If French Beans be taken as a test crop, we proceed as before, but three pots will be sufficient, and lime may be included in the inquiry, since leguminous plants commonly require this in large amounts. The pots will then be manured with potash, phos- phorus, and lime, and the behaviour of the plants will determine the peculiarity of the soil under inquiry. HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. By Sir Joun T. D. Luzwetyy, Bart., F.R.H.S. [Read June 6, 1893.] Most people are struck with admiration at the brilliant and glowing colours of the genus Rhododendron, and those who care to give more than a passing glance at their beauties, who will also take interest in their specific distinctions, or judge the hardy hybrids by the tests of colour, shape of the truss, shape of the pip, and by the spotting of each pip, will doubtless be further interested to prolong the blooming season during which they may enjoy their treasures. The two common species, common in gardens and shrubberies in the last century, and still abundant where this lovely genus thrives, are Rhododendron ponticum and Rhododendron cataw- biense. 134 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. R. ponticum is a native of, and named after Pontus in Asia Minor ; catawbiense from the river Catawba, in the Rockies of North America. Both of these species, which greatly resemble one another in blossom, though not in foliage, bloom in May and June, and I know of none, excepting perhaps cinnabarinumand ferruginewm, which bloom later. If, therefore, we desire to prolong the period during which we can ride our hobby, we must begin earlier in the year. And Iam at once confronted with the test word imposed upon me by my friend Mr. Wilks, who asks me to read a paper on ‘“‘ Hardy Rhododendrons.” The word “ hardy” is a contentious and comparative word. Iam not afraid of winter frosts when I describe to you the Rhododendrons and Azaleas on which I have to speak. IfI were so afraid, I should not be justified in calling my favourites hardy. No, it is not the winter frosts— assuming the wood formed in the preceding year to be well ripened, they will stand very severe frosts—but it is the spring frosts which so often attack us in April, May, and even June, which we have to fear. These spring frosts may catch the plants at the most succulent period of their growth, just when the sap is rising, and they may suffer. I have seen in various seasons Oak, Ash, Bracken Fern, and Bramble killed by such spring frosts ; yet we do not in consequence hesitate to call these plants hardy. The young foliage of some of the more precocious Himalayan Rhododendrons is in greater danger than that of the later sorts, and the term “ hardy ’”’ must, Iconceive, always be regarded more or less as a comparative term. ; The very extensive class of hardy hybrid Rhododendrons has been gradually developed over a series of years, and their production is dealt with by Burbidge in his “ Propagation and Improvement of Cultivated Plants,” pages 292 et seq., where he tells us how many raisers of seedlings during the past fifty years have gradually improved them. Altaclerense was raised from the seed of catawbiense fertilised with the pollen of a crimson arboreum, and it was one of the earliest and most hardy kinds. It was figured in the year 1835. Catawbiense, maximum, caucasicum, and arborewm were the principal parents employed in producing this class, which is HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. 135 well known and much appreciated, and which occupies a middle position, in point of time, between the early-blooming Himalayans’ and the later ponticum. To prolong my blooming season I turn to the many beautiful and interesting species which come to us from the Himalayas. Some have thought that because they come from India they cannot be hardy; but if you reflect for a moment what a vast district is represented by the Himalayas—Nepal (west), Sikkim, Bhotan (east)—rising in elevation from the hot plains to the ever- lasting snows, you may appreciate to some extent the conditions under which, in suitable districts of our British Islands, these Himalayan species find a congenial home. Judging by the description and habitat given by Sir Joseph Hooker in his “ Flora of British India,’ I would draw a line at an elevation of 9,000 feet in their native country, and say generally that those which in the Himalayas flourish above that line are hardy here, and those below it are not. My experience gained in South Wales may not coincide with that obtained in Ireland, Scotland, or other parts of England, and comparisons may be very interesting if they can be elicited. I think, however, that the above limit will prove approxi- mately correct. Sir Joseph Hooker, in his “ Flora of British India,” thus describes the genus Rhododendron, vol. iii. p. 462: “ Trees or shrubs, sometimes very small, often scaly or aromatic. Leaves alternate, often clustered towards the ends of the branches, rarely subopposite or falsely whorled, entire, coriaceous. Flowers fascicled or subcorymbose, terminal, rarely solitary or axillary; bracts broad, generally caducous; bracteoles linear. Calyx 5-lobed, sometimes small or obsolete, rarely saucer- shaped, persistent. Corolla campanulate, widely funnel-shaped or cylindric, tube long or short, lobes 5-10. Stamens 5-18, usually 10; anthers oblong; dehiscing by terminal pores. Ovary 5-20-celled, style long or short, stigma capitate, ovules very many in each cell. Capsule short woody or elongate thinner, 4-20-celled—septicidally 4-20-valved from the apex, valves breaking away from the placenta. Seeds very many, ellipsoid, albuminous; testa close or loose, often shortly crested or tailed at one or bothends. Species 180, in the moun- 4ains of Europe, Asia, Malaya, and North America.” 186. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Sir Joseph then proceeds to describe forty-six species, of which the last three were then imperfectly known, as belonging to British India, and I believe others have since been discovered... The same high authority, in the Botanical Magazine for 1890, table 7149, writes: ‘‘ Judging by the results of botanical explorations lately made in Western China, it would appear that all previous estimates of the number of species of this magnifi- cent genus of plants are far below the mark, and that the. discoveries made in the Eastern Himalaya are only harbingers of what are to be expected from the vast mountain regions still. further to the east. It is interesting to trace the development of the genus across the Old World, and it may be thus sum- marised. In Europe three occur in the extreme west— lapponicum in Norway, ponticwm in South Spain, and ferru- ginewm in the Pyrenees ; the latter occurs in the Alps of Middle Kurope with hirsutwm, but does not extend into Asia, where ponticum reappears in Asia Minor, Syria, and in the Southern Caucasus with flavwm and caucasicum. The latter country (the Caucasus) is the eastern limit of these three. Excluding the few high Northern Asiatic species, none are found east of the Caucasus till entering the Afghan region, to which afghanicum and Collettianwm are confined. On reaching the Himalayan region the development of the genus advances with rapid strides. Four species are found in the Western Himalaya between. Cashmir and Nepal, arborewm, campanulatum, barbatwm, and anthopogon, all of which advance to Sikkim, where twenty-nine have been collected. East of this province again, Bhotan has. only twenty-five, seventeen of which are Sikkim species, but. considering how imperfectly that great and lofty province has. been explored (its alpine regions not at all), it may safely be assumed that this number does not include half of what it contains. Proceeding eastwards little is known of the vegetation. till China is entered, and as Mr. Hemsley informs me that between sixty and seventy species have been collected in its barely entered western mountains by Pére David, Dr. Henry, and others, it may be regarded as probable that the Celestial Empire contains more species of this genus than all the world besides.”’ I may here add that in the current June number of the Botanical Magazine, table 7801, is figured Rhododendron race- HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. , 187. mosunv, from the province of Yunnan in Western China, growing in its habitat at 8,000 to 10,000 feet, and near our Indian” glaucum. Eastward of China there is a rapid decrease to fourteen in Japan, two or three in Western North America, and about six in. Eastern North America, including R. lapponicum with which this summary began. From the Himalaya a stream from the genus flows south along the Malayan peninsula to the Malay Islands, New Guinea, and §. Australia. Most of its members belong to a section with. thin valve capsules and long-tailed seeds, and of these one alone is Himalayan, f. vaccimoides of Sikkim. Now for some of the species which I find hardy. I begin with the earliest and hardiest, beginning in Beiniat. R. barbatum is so called from the peculiarity of the hairy petiole of the leaf. The truss is closely appressed, but of a glowing - erimson colour, and, with its smooth bluish bark, the effect in a bright early spring sunshine is very effective. Twelve degrees of frost on the morning of February 27 last spoilt some of my bloom, but a week later other trusses had developed, and eight degrees of frost on March 18 left no perceptible effect on the barbatum, which was then in full bloom. Following barbatwm comes an especial favourite of mine— R. Thomson. Instead of a closely appressed truss of many pips, here we have a lax campanulate truss, by which I mean, in- stead of a too crowded truss we here have six to ten corollas or individual blossoms in a loose cluster—each blossom an elegant bell of the deepest crimson, with five large drops of honey in the base of the corolla, which give an appearance through its waxy substance of a black base to the bell, which is peculiarly effective as it hangs between the eye and the light. Thomsoni is a general favourite from its very neat and brilliant bloom. An illustration of its adaptability to our frosty spring weather will be interesting. A plant in my garden was bursting into bloom late in March—the trusses were already showing colour—when a sharp frost set in, and lasted upwards of three weekg. During the whole of this time the Rhododendron remained quiescent and did not move, but the very day after the frost broke up the blooms began to resume their expansion, and developed as though nothing had occurred to retard their growth, 138 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ciliatum, a dwarf shrub, is a very free bloomer—a pale pinkish white—very early, and has the peculiarity (unlike any other I know) to bloom at three years old from seed. In its own India probably the most common Rhododendron is arboreum, and its comparative hardiness in England probably depends upon what Indian locality the seed may have come from. Correctly it is a glowing scarlet bloom. Most of those we have in South Wales are the pink or white variety. One of mine, a pure white, is 20 feet high, 14 or 15 through, and when in bloom is a very fine sight. Campbelli, blooming at the end of March and in April, is an exceptionally fine thing in size and shape, and though I believe it is classed as a variety of arborewm,I do not think it can be so. Curnamomeum is pink and ochracewm white, and both may perhaps be varieties of arborewm. Falconeri is well worth growing for its magnificent foliage. The leaves are clothed on the under surface with a dense rich yellowish tomentum, and the plant is worth growing for its foliage alone, which in winter is doubly acceptable. The flower is a dull white. As an example I produce some leaves of this species—15 or 17 by 64 or 7 inches. Eximium has a purple bloom, but in other respects resembles Falconeri, and is classed by Sir J. Hooker as a variety of the latter. The plants of these, as also of barbatwm, are over 20 feet high by 18 through. Perhaps eximiwm is a natural hybrid between Falconerit and aiveum, as it is intermediate between these two in its characters. Campanulatum, with its lax truss of white bell-shaped flowers, and its lilac variety called Wallichu, are general favourites, and have, I believe, been very successfully used in hybridising. Here again the foliage, though comparatively small, is very bright in winter from the rich brown tomentum which thickly clothes the under side of each leaf. Campylocarpum is a little gem, a shrub of 5 or 6 feet high, and the same through, with delicate trusses of soft primrose- yellow bloom. Niveum, glaucum, cinnabarinum, Roylei, Hodgson, ful- gens, are species which I have out of doors, and of whose hard- iness I entertain no doubt. Grande or argentewm is a fine species which I have grown HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. 189 out of doors for several years, through winters of varying degrees of severity, and it has seen twenty-eight degrees of frost; but though bloom-buds have been formed, they have succumbed, while the plant in its foliage has not suffered. Aucklandi appears to be hardy, and some of its hybrids, notably the fine variety called kewense, ought to be in every collection. R. Fortunei is possibly the Chinese form of Aucklandi, and I have some interesting hybrids raised by the late Mr. Mangles, of Valewood, Haslemere, between this parent and such hardy hybrid varieties as John Waterer, and with the species Thomson. Edgeworthii and Nuttalli have been successfully bloomed out of doors, but I have not yet so grown them. Edgeworth is a sweet and large white flower, and the parent plant of a numerous and popular class of greenhouse varieties raised by Mr. Isaac Davies, of Ormskirk. The hybrid variety called Sesterianum is grown successfully, and has bloomed very well out of doors at Lord Swansea’s place, Singleton, near Swansea, where also Edgeworth grew out for many years. It is a fallacy to say Rhododendrons require a peaty soil wherein to flourish; any fairly moist loam will do so long as there is 720 lime, which is poison to them. They do not like a stiff, dry clay, but I believe they will thrive in any loamy soil in which the top spit is well forked into the ground, and a good admixture is to be found in the dead last season’s Bracken Fern, which, if dry and well forked in, will be found very beneficial to the roots, and the stiffer the soil the more advantageous will it be, for it acts mechanically as it were. Each stick or stem of Fern is a little hollow pipe forming a miniature subterranean tunnel, in which the delicate Rhododendron root- lets can travel, and which afterwards, rotting down, affords nutri- ment to the growing root. Then the Rhododendrons like to layer down their lowest branches and shade their own roots, and these branches on touch- ing the ground form fresh rootlets, and fresh life is imparted to that part of the plant, so that subdivision by layering is a very easy and successful form of increase. If these layers are not removed the plant goes on increasing im diameter, so that one I had measured last week is now 349 140. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, feet in circumference. This is one of the original ponticum, and. has always been looked upon as a large example. To most people the Azalea is known as of more deciduous habit, and of slenderer and more delicate growth, than the Rhodo- dendron. I follow, however, the high authority of Hooker, who tells us that ‘‘ botanists are now pretty well agreed in considering that the Azalea can no longer be considered a distinct genus from. the Rhododendron,’ the characters, taken from habit, foliage, form of corolla, number of stamens and ovarian cells, which have hitherto been used to distinguish Azalea all reappearing, singly or several together, in many of the numerous species of Rhodo- dendron which have lately been discovered. I have therefore followed the eminent Japanese traveller and botanist Maxi-, mowicz in assuming Sweet’s old name of Rhododendron sinense for the Azalea mollis of more recent authors. The current number of the Gardeners’ Chronicle holds the same doctrine, and describes and figures an Azaleo-Dendron, a cross of interest and beauty (BI. 5905). Two sorts of Azalea were common in our ancestors’ gardens, going back into the last century: 1, Pontica; 2, The Ghent. varieties. We may take pontica as the commonest species. Large, ’ sweet, hardy and brilliant, it forms a standard of beauty as a species, but nature does not appear to offer us much variety of colouring from which the hybridist or raiser of seedling varieties has an opportunity of starting. Sow a thousand seeds, and you obtain a thousand duplicates, or nearly so, and a white variety of pontica is figured in the Botanical Magazine in 1821, table 2383, as a curiosity. But with respect to the other above-named sorts, the Ghent. Azaleas, we have sweetness and hardiness, and a splendid varia- tion of colouring, but at the expense of size, as they are mostly small, and used to be called “‘ Honeysuckle Azaleas.”’ They were. called Ghent Azaleas because they were raised by the Ghent nurserymen, though they are in reality, I believe, American, and obtained by the intercrossing of three, if not more, American species: Nudiflora (B.M. 180), calendulacea (B.M. 1721 and 2143), and occidentalis (B.M. 5005). Of Azalea indicalI do not here propose to speak, as it is not hardy—though indica alba lives and blooms out in favoured spots. Azalea amena (B.M. 7" HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. ‘141 4728) and Azalea ovata (B.M. 5064) are small species from ‘North China, and are, I believe, quite hardy. One of the most valuable floral introductions into England in this century has been the Rhododendron sinense, or, as it is more usually called, Azalea mollis, above referred to. In the Botanical Magazine, table 5905, we are told itis a native of Japan, and introduced into England by Fortune in 1845, and figured in the Magazine in 1870 from Mr.. Bull’s establishment at Chelsea—being then still a very scarce plant in English gardens. As it lends itself very kindly to forcing, and can be got into bloom easily very early in the year, we usually see it as a pot plant ; but it seems to be quite hardy, very floriferous, and easy to raise from seed, and useful to the hybridist. Indeed our prospects in this latter direction are brilliant, and the results already obtained raise still brighter hopes of the seedlings which we may yet see from ringing the changes on pontica, Ghent, mollis and other Azaleas, and should encourage us to further work in the same line. DISCUSSION. Sir ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT, referring to the lecturer’s state- ment that anything lke lime was fatal to Rhododendrons, and that peat was by no means essential to their wellbeing, said that it was often the case that plants grown in good soil and apparently in a healthy condition did not produce nearly as much bloom as might have been expected from them. A friend had told him that in the neighbourhood of Cobham peat and loam were given to the plants, and in the autumn a dressing of cow-manure, which had an excellent effect in inducing very vigorous growth, larger buds, and eventually larger flowers. He would be glad to hear if this treatment might be recommended by the lecturer, whose experience was probably confined to the south-west of Wales, and would therefore possibly be different from those living in the southern counties in England. Sir John Arbuthnot said his own place was within a few miles of Highclere—one of the first places in the country where any attention had been devoted to Rhododen- drons—and he said they suffered there more from the hard frosts than in the more northern counties. [Every year he found some of the commoner sorts were lost through the frosts in the early autumn (September) whenever there had been much rain in the preceding summer. © 142 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Sir JoHn LiEweEtyy, in reply, stated that he had never personally tried manuring Rhododendrons, and should not like to say that this treatment was not a good thing for the plants. Rhododendrons, like other plants, prefer to grow in a certain kind of soil, and it is possible that in certain situations they might require manure. If there is a long dry summer, followed by a damp autumn, the wood will not ripen sufficiently to resist the effects of the early frosts. Under such conditions the buds of Rhododendrons, although apparently healthy, will, if examined, be found to contain a black speck, the first sign of decay. For this reason 2. catawbiense has been more largely used than R. ponticum, owing to the fact that the latter suffers much sooner from winter frosts. Ina hard winter, preceded bya damp autumn, it will be found that R. catawbiense has produced more pips than R. ponticum. The woolly kinds of Himalayan Rhododendrons suffer also a great deal from frost, because their leaves absorb and retain more moisture than the smooth-leaved varieties, and if a severe frost occurs they will suffer to a very great extent. Prof. CHESHIRE, referring to the statement that cow-manure was beneficial to Rhododendrons, explained that the reason of this was probably because cow-manure contained only ‘4 per cent. of tricalcic phosphate, the animals retaining almost all the lime. The manure, therefore, being almost deficient in this commodity, was more acceptable to Rhododendrons than manure from the stable. Mr. W. Rovurett mentioned that it would be found advisable, instead of using manure for Rhododendrons, to use cocoa-nut fibre, as it was very valuable for mixing with the soil as a manure, and at the same time to retain sufficient moisture for the needs of the plant. Manure, he said, was not suitable for soil that was liable to crack; and cocoa-nut fibre, on account of retaining moisture and preventing cracking, was therefore more valuable in every way. | Sir ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT, inregard to Himalayan Rhodo- dendrons, said there were many instances of absolute failure. He had received many years ago from Dr. Geo. King, of the Botanic Gardens, Calcutta, a large quantity of seeds from Darjeeling, all of which were sown or distributed among friends in Hampshire and elsewhere ; and he believed that with hardly a single ex- ception no one succeeded in raising plants from them which HARDY RHODODENDRONS AND AZALEAS. 148 would stand the winter in the open ground. As to the plants when grown in houses, no flowers could be obtained from them. A friend, however, managed from one of the plants raised from these particular seeds to produce a large number of flowers. His own plants were put out with hybrid Rhododendrons ; but all of them were cut down to the ground by the frost, although they were not killed at the root. This occurred in the southern counties, where it is possible that, owing to the short distance from the sea, the soil is damper than in Wales and the frosts are most destructive. Sir Jonn Liewetyn said that R. arborewm was a very common species in India, especially in the Neilgherries, and it would not be hardy in this country. He said he had drawn a line in his paper, and he had tested its application again and again. Ifa plant had been found at an altitude of over 9,000 feet in the Himalayas, it would grow fairly well in this country. AMERICAN BLIGHT, AND ITS SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. By L. Burecoyne Piuuin, L.D.8.Eng., F.R.H.S., &e. Tue terrible ravage of the ‘American blight”? amongst our Apple-orchards, and more or less all our Apple-trees, has been so alarmingly rapid and serious during the last twenty years, and is still increasing with such vehemence in nearly all parts of the kingdom, few gardens escaping its attacks and resultant evils, that a study of the subject, and its treatment or eradica- tion, cannot but be of some interest, particularly to those whose industry may lie in the farming of that valuable fruit. The nature of the blight is so insidious that it is no wonder the contamination takes place so generally. An affected tree will vitiate a whole neighbourhood ; indeed so virulent is its presence that its ramifications are soon evident unless the pest is at once taken in hand, with a vigorous determination to arrest its advance and cause its obliteration. To bring about such a desirable result many ways and 144 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. -agents have been employed, but none successfully without more or less injuring the bark and roots, ultimately destroying the tree itself. A knowledge of what the insect really is, and how it performs its destructive function, will probably interest and enable the student to battle with the enemy more thoroughly than were he working in the dark. American blight—Eriosoma lanigera, E. mali, or Aphis lani- gera—is comparatively of recent establishment in this country, and is explained by Johnson as being abdomenless and without tubercles, antenne, or horns, the males having wings, but the females none. It was thought at one time that the russet class of Apple was exempt from its ravages, but this is a great error, as some of the worst cases have been of that particular class. Examined under the microscope, it will be found that the male has no true antenne, but the two foremost legs are armed with very sharp penetrating sickle-like terminations, which cut into and through the bark and wood of the tree attacked, it being remarkable the great power these little creatures possess in cutting down into the sap-cells, and thrusting the proboscis into the wound. When disturbed, they hold on by burying these sharp extremities into the tissue of the stem, and will submit to be torn to atoms rather than relinquish their hold. The wings are not large. In the female they are said to be absent, but this is not the case. The soft white cottony sur- rounding of these pests is formed partly from a desquamation that seems to be perpetually going on, and a gelatinous ex- crescence which holds it more or less together. In this medium the female lays most of her eggs, and in dry weather, from its extreme lightness, it gets detached and scattered by the wind, attaching itself to the trees that lie in its way, or it falls on the ground, there to germinate. In the winter the larve attack the roots in a similar way to that of their parents on the upper part of the tree. About the end of February great activity commences amongst the colony under the soil to establish its summer quarters above, and it is at this time that the attack is easiest, and the enemy least organised and weakest. At this time the larvee and pupe ascend the main trunk to their chosen quarters. Before commencing they lie about on the surface of the earth, or immediately below it, to germinate and revivify. Many — AMERICAN BLIGHT, AND ITS SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT. 145 remedies have been tried, but all of little or no use, the remedy in most cases being as destructive as the pest itself. The following methods, carried out accurately, will be found to thoroughly meet the evil without the least injury to the tree ; in fact they impart an extra stimulus to it, and the bark assumes the bright, smooth, robust appearance alone common to health. All preparations containing spirit are to be condemned as posi- tively injurious; turpentine, naphtha, and benzoline being positively the worst. Paraffin oil, latterly so frequently resorted to as a remedy for nearly all evils, is most generally used to the ereat injury of the already wounded tree, and after all to little or no permanent good. Spirit unites with the natural resins, causing congestion of the already affected parts—hence further trouble and mischief—besides which spirit rapidly evaporates, leaving the ova frequently uninjured. The material the writer has found— a really reliable one—is that known as creolin; a commoner preparation, equally good, being commercially known as Jeyes’ concentrated fluid. It is a by-product from coal in the manu- facture of gas, looking and smelling very like ordinary tar, but, unlike it, it is readily miscible with water, therefore very easily controlled and applied, and, except in its actually pure state, is perfectly harmless to all but very young wood. Used in the manner described below the best results have been attained. At the end of February and during March wash every part of the bark possible with a solution composed of half a pint of the concentrated fluid to a gallon of water, using a moderately hard brush, and working into all the interstices, repeating the opera- tion two or three times at intervals of a week or ten days, and well soaking the surrounding earth with a solution of half that strength. As a matter of course, the parts very much injured are better cut away and the wounds painted over with the solu- tion suggested. In cases where the blight has been of long standing it will require longer treatment, but care must be exercised, and the surrounding soil must be treated as well as the tree. Where the affected part is manifested by the pre- sence of the cottony secretion, carefully paint it, without dis- turbing more than necessary, with the following: 2 ounces creolin fluid; 20 grains corrosive sublimate (perchloride of mercury); 1 pint water. Mix, and shake well together, allowing * L 146 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. a day at least to intervene before using. It must be used with caution, as it is a virulent poison, and should be put into some peculiar-shaped vessel and labelled ‘“ Poison ”’ distinctly, that no accident may happen. Let this solution be applied freely so as to soak into every crevice of the affected part. An occasional syringing of the whole of the tree with a weak solution, say two ounces of creolin to the gallon (except during blooming), during spring and summer, may be necessary at first. On planting or root-pruning it is well to take the opportunity to thoroughly apply this remedy to the roots, bearing in mind that you are treating a more tender and vital part of the tree. The foregoing remarks are deductions from a large number of experiments made by the writer on some of the worst cases for the past four years, all of which have been eminently satis- factory. Apart from the desired extermination of the Eriosoma, the treatment improves the constitution of the tree, and doubt- less rids it of other enemies. Other trees would be benefited by a vernal and autumnal dressing similarly. The old-fashioned custom of plastering the trunks of orchard trees with lime, soot, and the draining abominations of the farmyard cannot be too thoroughly deprecated, the germs of all manner of vermin being introduced thus, and the bark being prevented from per- forming its natural functions at the most important time of year. Trees, like all other natural productions, thrive better in cleanliness than in dirt. ANTIQUITY OF THE CITRON-TREE IN EGYPT. By Dr. E. Bonavia, F.R.H.S. [Read April 11, 1893.] M. VY. Lorer has recently (Paris, 1891) published a pamphlet entitled “ Le Cédratier dans l’Antiquité,”’ We knew that the Citron had been called Maluwm persicwm, eel ANTIQUITY OF THE CITRON-TREE IN EGYPT. 147 medicum, or assyricwm. Theophrastus, under one of these names, described the Citron-tree so minutely that it is not possible to mistake it for any other fruit-bearing tree. Theo- phrastus wrote of it in the fourth century B.c. Then the Citron was not eaten, but only used medicinally, and mainly as an antidote for all sorts of poisons ! M. Loret mentions several ancient authors who wrote of the Citron-tree, viz. Florentinus, who probably lived in the second century B.c.; Diophane de Nicée, who lived in the first century B.c.; the brothers Gordianus and Maximus Quintilius, who lived between 140 and 183 a.p.; Sextus Julius Africanus, who lived 209-235 a.p.; Anatolius, who died 360 a.p. Palladius in the fifth century A.D. writes that it was well established then in Italy, and it appears that he cultivated it him- self in Naples and Sardinia. Antiphanes mentions seeds having been imported into Greece from Persia. This not improbably was soon after*it had been discovered by the Greeks in Media and Persia. Then its intro- duction into Italy would have been soon after. From the researches of M. Loret, it appears that at the commencement of the fourth century A.D. the Citron-tree, under the Coptic name of Giitré, Kithri, or Kétri, was commonly cultivated in Upper Egypt, which would mean that it was known to the Egyptians long before. There appears to be, indeed, documentary evidence to show that it was known there about the middle of the second century A.D., and even sold among the lower classes. On the authority of MM. Bonastre and Decaisne, there exists in the Louvre a Citrus discovered in an Egyptian tomb in Thebes, belonging to the epoch of the Ramessides in the twelfth century B.C. But there appears to be sufficient evidence to show that the Citron-tree was known to the ancient Egyptians even before that period, for Mr. G. Ebers has observed it in a document still older. In a part of the Temple of Karnak, built by Thotmés III. in the fifteenth century B.c., is a chamber, on the walls of which are figured many fruit-trees, brought during Pharaonic expedi- tions into Asia. ae, ae | « * ) =e. ae 148 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, Among these fruit-trees is one reproduced below (fig. 14). No one, I think, would interpret it into any other than a Lemon or Citron tree, and the artist makes it clearer by painting the fruits separately ‘ty above it. It has rounded fruits also, but these often occur among Citrons and \ 5 Jiemons. w) This is not all; for during the ninth Oriental Congress, held in London in Sep- aN tember 1892, I saw some copies of Egyptian wall-paintings in frames in the reception- Fie. 14._From wall. room: im’ oneor them there was a pro- painting in the Temple cession of men carrying baskets of Grapes aha Pi and other things. One of these things was 15th century x.c. that in a basket shown in the accompanying (Babylonian Record.) figure (fig. 15). I do not think that this can be other than a fingered Citron (fig. 16), and if we compare it with Penzig’s fingered Lemon, we are not left in much doubt about what it was meant for (fig. 17). Fic. 15.—Basket con- © taining some rare fruit, from wall-painting of El Fie. 16.—Fingered Citron, from Gar- Kab, Egypt. (Babylo- deners’ Chronicle (reduced). (Babylonian nian Record.) . Record.) So that we have something approaching unmistakable evidence showing that the Citron-tree was known to the ancient Egyptians something near thirty-three centuries ago! And, making allow- ance for the fact that the fruits on the Egyptian walls are painted, whilst those on the Assyrian walls are scwlptwred, there can be no reasonable doubt but that the fizure shown in Mr. Layard’s ‘‘ Nineveh” (fig. 18) is carrying a fingered Citron roughly and conventionally delineated, thus proving the Citron to have been known in Media and Assyria, as well as in Egypt, in very ancient times. ANTIQUITY OF THE CITRON-TREE IN EGYPT. 149 The sources from which it came to Egypt may have been various. It was known to Theophrastus in Media and Persia in the fourth century B.c. The ancient Arab and Persian navigators traded between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea on the one side, and India, Ceylon, and China on the other. The large number of varieties of the Citron found in India shows a cultivation there of a very ancient date. In studying the Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon, I came to the conclusion that all the varieties originated in Southern China; that they first found a location in the Malay Archipelago, then in India, then in Western Asia, then in a Fie. 17.—Fingered Lemon (Penzig, Studj sugli agrumi, Fig. 18.—From the fig. 8, pl. 9). Babylonian Record. - Europe, and afterwards all over the world. But now we know that the ancient Egyptians had the Citron among them long before it was known in Greece or Italy. Greco-Roman and Arah writers mention a great number of fictitious medicinal properties atiribated to the Citron. But, curiously enough, one of them mentioned by M. Loret appears to be true. He says, “ Broyé et pris en potion dans du vin, est bon pour les maladies de la rate.’ (Gargilius Martialis, “ Medic. ex Oleribus et Pomis,” xlv. 2.) I tried the Lemon in enlargements of the spleen and in cachexia after intermittent fevers, prepared according to the recipe of Dr. Maglieri, who saw it used by the Italian peasants, and I found that it hada very satisfactory effect. DISCUSSION. Mr. Puinie Crow xey said that he had grown the Citron in England for many years in an ordinary stove temperature, and 150 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. had always found it fruit very freely and grow to a large size, some attaining to as much as eight inches in diameter. He con- sidered the Citron a very useful fruit to grow, as it could be preserved in all stages of its growth, either as small green thin- nings from the trees, or when nearly full-grown, but still green, or when fully ripe. He considered the home-grown specimens pro- duced far better ‘‘ peel’’ than the ordinary ‘‘ Citron-peel”’ of commerce, while the marmalade made from either green or ripe fruits was, in his opinion, far superior to Orange marmalade, although he admitted it might be a somewhat acquired taste ; but in any case the Citron, he thought, was far less grown in this country than its merits deserved. Sir JoHN LLEWELYN said that it might be interesting if he stated that there were some very fine Citron-trees in Glamorgan- shire whose history was somewhat remarkable. The trees were being brought by sea from Spain as a present to King William III. when the ship was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and the trees, after being washed ashore, were carried up to Margam, where a house was built to put them in. Soon after, the story having gone abroad, the trees were claimed by the Crown, and the claim was duly allowed—that there the trees were, and the Crown could have them by fetching them; but this the Crown has never done, and there at Margam they are flourishing to this day, and very fine trees they are. With regard to the antiquity of the Citron, Sir John had seen the drawings at Karnak, and he had no doubt Dr. Bonavia was right in his recognition of them; but he would suggest that the occurrence of these fruits in pictures in the tombs was no proof that the tree was grown in Egypt, as most of the things figured were of foreign origin brought into Egypt from countries which had been conquered by the Egyptian kings, and therefore finding the Citron on these historic pictures raised a presumption in his mind that it was regarded as somewhat of a curiosity rather than that it formed any part of the ordinary produce of the gardens of the land. EXAMINATION -IN HORTICULTURE. that EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE. On May 4, 1893, the Society held an Examination in the Principles and Practice of Horticulture, in various centres in the United Kingdom, and 204 candidates presented themselves for examination. The Examination papers were divided into Higher and Lower Grades. In the Higher Grade seventy-six entered, with the result that six were placed in the First Class (200 to 300 marks) ; twenty in the Second Class (150 to 200 marks) ; thirty-six in the Third Class (100 to 150 marks); and fourteen, failing to obtain 100 marks, were not classed. In the Lower Grade six candidates were placed in the First Class (200 to 300 marks) ; sixteen in the Second Class (150 to 200 marks); thirty-eight in the Third Class (100 to 150 marks); and sixty-eight were not classed. It may be mentioned that the candidates came from widely different parts of the British Islands—from West Clare to Kent, from Aberdeen to Cornwall, &c.; a centre being established wherever a magistrate, or clergyman, or schoolmaster, or other responsible person accustomed to examinations would consent to superintend one on the Society’s behalf, and in accordance with the rules laid down for its conduct. No limits as to the age or position or previous training of the candidates was im- posed, and the Examination was open to both sexes. The names and addresses of the successful candidates, together with the number of marks assigned to each, are given in the following Class List, to which is appended the questions set in each grade by the Examiners. 152 rs 2. 4, oS bp { | me who JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. CLASS LIST. (Maximum number of Marks obtainable 300.) HicHer GrapE—76 Candidates. First Class. *F, V. Dutton, 21 Oakley Crescent, Chelsea W. Busby, Overbury School, Tewkesbury John Lewis, National School, Farnham . H. Nickolls, Badminton, Chippenham A. E. Smith, Horticultural College, Swanley J. D. Stretch Dowse, Bassaleg, Newport, Mon. Second Class. E. G. Gilmore, Horticultural College, Swanley A. J. Manning, Trebeswell, Penryn, Cornwall . : . Geo. Witts, School House, Bengeworth, Evesham . § if { i J | i. | ou { *| Stephen Morrill, Board School, Carshalton Hy. Ames, Church School, Hedley, Epsom A.N. Pieree: London Road, Redhill : J.T. Emmott, Howden, Yorks, x G. Butcher, 182 Wellfield Road, erat heen Geo. A. Bishop, Wightwick Manor Gardens, Wolverhampton Winifred Blake, Horticultural College, Swanley ) W. J. Stokes, Hilperton Marsh, Trowbridge *| William West, Lady Boswell’s School, Sevenoaks C. J. Dicker, Busbridge Hall Gardens, Godalming . John Barrett, Berwick Gardens, Shrewsbury . Maurice Byrne, Shirley Schools, Croydon H. Fincham, Cranbrook, Staplehurst J. H. Rew castle; National School, Morden, Mitcham S. C. Meire, Castle Hill, Much Wenlock. E. Caesar, The Bishop’s School, Farnham E. Farris, Horticultural College, Swanley Third Class. G. F. Tinley, Horticultural College, Swanley . .C. F. F. Hutchings, Board School, Carshalton F. Gudgin, Sydenham Road School, Croydon. A. Ashdown, Horticultural College, Swanley . F. Tufnail, Donnington Road, Reading .. R. J. Tabor, Horticultural College, Swanley J. H. Morton, Horticultvral College, Swanley . A. J. Bridges, Carville Hall Gardens, Brentford J. H. Parkin, K. and C. School, Epsom / R. C. Gant, Berwick Hall Gardens, Shrewsbury W. T. Wagstaff, Fairclose Road, Beccles 11.- F. W. Humphreys, Boys’ National School, Cheam LZ: Morrison, Beggarbush, Levenhall, Musselburgh, NB. * Wins the Society’s Silver Gilt Medal. 14.- 20. 24-+ 30- ee ae —_ { | ( EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE. ( David Somerville, The Gardens, Dalkeith, N.B. A. G. Rule, Horticultural College, Swanley {| A. C. Bailey, Horticultural College, Swanley . ete A. Young, Horticultural College, Swanley . G. Beech, Morton Hall, Silverton, Edinboro’ . F uae J. Eggleton, Eagle House Gardens, Downham . S. E. Yetman, Horticultural College, Pees: | W. Pascoe, Hamble, Southampton. W. F. Gullick, Abbey Gardens, Woburn . Be Waller, Leith Walk Nurseries, Edinboro’ /H. F. Tagg, Horticultural College, Swanley W. N. Sands, Horticultural College, Swanley | Harry Overy, Horticultural College, Swanley . | Lilian E. Clarke, District Schools, Banstead . Alfred Catt, Station Road, Walmer W. Chamberlain, The Gardens, New Lodge, Windsor Forest . W. Milne, New Hailes, Musselburgh, NB. E. J. Elliott, National School, Godalming |@ G. Dangerfield, South Norwood J. Carter, Bilting, Wye, Kent (G. R. Saunders, “Ewell, Surrey W. Douglas, Easter Duddingston, Portobello | (Wea K. Philbrick, District Schools, Sutton, wei. LowEeR GrapE—128 Candidates. First Class. *H. 8. Daine, Woodfall Hall Farm, Huyton, Liverpool W. R. Goff, Church Street, Effingham, Leatherhead (J. J. Miles, National School, Ash, Surrey George Lamb, Botanical Gardens, Cambridge . W. Stroud, Grammar School, Farnham . ‘ G. R. Waterson, Wrecclesham School, Farnham Second Class. E. Watkins, Bradford-on-Avon . K. J. Woollard, Kingsgate Street, Reading . H. Dudley, Gibson Street, Liverpool : Pine, Villiers Road, New Bushey, Watford . C. J. Berry, Exeter Road, Teignmouth . E. Chopping, Periwinkle Mills, Milton, Sittingbourne Maurice T. O’Connell, Killadysert, West Clare George Wall, Grims Dyke, Harrow Weald. : : Py: Morris, Barrowmore Hall patric Chester ase F. Be C. D. Clague, Stoneycroft, Liverpool . F. G. Drew, Enville Gardens, Stourbridge C. Barnett, Decker Hill, Shifnal ‘ ASD. Hoge, The Gardens, Dalkeith : C. W..Avins, Rookery Gardens, Down, Kent . J. R. Ismay, Carey House, Watford H. P. Bridges, Batley Road, Heckmondwike * W ims ihe Society’s Silver Medal. 158 Marks. . 125 « 125 re5 . 120 «+, 120 7 £20 . 115 «LES » 215 ot A eee oe «419 Ame AY | alte 2410 3 DS + £05 . 105 » 105 » 105 ¢ LOG . 100 . 240 . 225 . 225 . 220 . 205 - 200 195 . 190 . 190 . 190 . 185 . 180 yf 65 aan . 155 . 155 . 155 . 155 . 155 . 155 . 150 . 150 154 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Third Class. Marks 1. C. Weston, Drumlanrig Gardens, Dumfries. : ’ ; . 145 Q. A. Melville, Drumlanrig Gardens, Dumfries . ; : : . 140 {W. V. S. Walker, Derwent Road, Stoneycroft, oe ‘ d . 140 foe ances E. Oldham, Southbank, Swanley ; ; 4 . 135 re F. A. Littlejohn, Barrow Point Gardens, Pinner . : : . 135 G. A. Murrell, Park Place, Farnham .. : : ; . 135 ke C. Bartlett, Dropmore Gardens, Maidenhead : é : . 135 fee =. Badcock, Horticultural College, Swanley ‘ F ‘ . 130 8.-/J. Newman, Overbury, Tewkesbury : : E : : . Lag | Jas. Simpson, Loirsbank, Cults, Aberdeen . ‘ ‘ : . 130 (P. J. Gray, Walnut Grove, Glasnevin . ; . 125 11. Frances Mildred Cooper, Horticultural College Swanley : . 125 J. Blomtield, The Cemetery, Luton i : - 120 { Jas. Davis, Woodlands, Upper Batley, Yorks . ; ; : . 120 13.- W. Farr, The Gardens, Maiden Erlegh, Reading . : ; . 120 *)G. Beale, King’s Road, Reading . 5 : ; . 120 Gertrude Gaskell, Horticultural College, Swanley ‘ ; : . 120 G. M. Stuart, Eden House Gardens, Banff. : : ; . 120 Frank Allen, Houghton Regis, Dunstable 2 : : ae As Annie G. Stephens, Horticultural College, Swanley ; -2) (ne 19.- J. H. Aitken, Tunstall, Sittingbourne, Kent . : : . 115 J. 4. Matthews, Avenue Road, Southampton . ; ‘ : . 115 W. McCreath, Stoke Castle Gardens, Peebleshire . ‘ t . 116 lr. N. Woodward, Ewell, Surrey. é ; : oie J. F. Dancer, Grims Dyke Gardens, Harrow Weald : : . 110 95, Bdmund Fry, Heatherley Road, Reading : ; : : . 110 ( 'T. Gardner, Queen’s Road, Watford F j ; : : » £169 Henry Bates, Salisbury Villa, Robertsbridge . ; : : . 105 W. E. Loe, Selwood, Farnham 5 F : : : Q . LOS A. Crossley, Technical School, Batley . ; : E : . 105 A. Blake, Mill House, Westerham, Kent. , P . 105 W. Burgess, The Gardens, Bredon’s Norton, Tewkesbury : . 105 W. Bygraves, Barkway, Royston, Herts . : : . 100 {we J. Woolley, Oak Street, Evesham ‘ ; ; ‘ 100 _ Arthur Osborn, Sonning, Reading : ‘ 2 : ; : . 100 G. Hinton, Somerstown, Reading . : ‘ ; : : . 100 Gilbert Hart, Bush Hotel, Farnham : : : ; : . 100 G. T. Bridges, Batley Road, Heckmondwike . : : ; . 100 HIGHER GRADE QUESTIONS. Hight questions only to be answered ; any eight the candidate prefers. 1. Explain the mode of formation of the soil. 2. What evils arise from stagnant moisture in the soil ; and why is access of air necessary to the roots of plants ? 3. In the selection of a site for the formation of a garden, what are the principal conditions to be observed? Describe those of most importance. 4. Describe the usual system of rotation of cropping in the kitchen garden, and what are the advantages derived therefrom ? EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE. 155 5. Mention a few common weeds which usually grow— (1) On clay soils ; (2) On sandy soils ; (3) On limestone soils. 6. Explain the ill effects which arise from too deep planting. 7. How may a succession of vegetables be obtained during every month in the year ? ; 8. Explain the process of grafting, and state what objects are served y it. 9. By what circumstances is the work of the leaves impeded ? 10. Why is a combination of various substances in manure generally preferable to the application of one substance alone ? 11. Describe the method of preparing the ground for Strawberries; the preparation of the runners; also the best time and method of planting. 12. Give some illustrations where Fungi, so far from being injurious, contribute to the welfare of the plant on which they grow. 13. What are the relative advantages of training fruit-trees on the espalier system, and on walls? 14. What variations occur in the m: de of growth of a cutting? LOWER GRADE QUESTIONS. Hight questions only to be answered ; any eight the candidate prefers. 1. On what circumstances does the productiveness of the soil depend ? 2. Describe the method of preparing the ground for fruit-trees, and the method of planting standard, pyramid, and bush trees on free, and on dwarfing stocks. 3. In laying out a garden, what are the first operations to be performed ? Describe them in detail. 4. What do plants derive from the soil, and how do they take up nourish- ment from it ? 5. What purposes are served by digging and hoeing ? 6. What are the best manures for fruit-trees? Describe the best way of applying them. 7. Describe the method of preparing the ground for such crops as Carrots, Beet, and Parsnips. 8. What are the circumstances favourable to the germination of seed ? 9. What is understood by wireworms, and what are the best methods of dealing with them ? 10. What are the conditions most favourable to the growth of Asparagus? 11. Why is blanching required in the case of Sea-kale, Celery, and some other crops? 12. Some plants produce their flowers from the old, others from the new wood. Mention the method and season of pruning adapted to both circum- stances. 13. At what season of the year does the Celery-fly attack the plants? How may it be prevented ? 14. Describe the system of culture by which Cucumbers can be grown out of doors in England at a profit. 156 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. NOTICES OF BOOKS RECEIVED. JOHNSON’S ‘* GARDENERS’ Dictionary.” London: Geo. Bell & Sons. 1893. Probably no book has ever attained the same degree of popularity among all classes of gardeners as Johnson’s ‘‘ Gardeners’ Dictionary.” The first edition appeared in 1846, but since that time the ideas and methods of gardeners have undergone a very considerable change, and vast numbers of new plants have been introduced to cultivation. A handbook which did not keep pace with these important develop- ments would be of little use in the course of a few years, and although two supplements have been added since 1863, the publishers have wisely decided to have the whole work recast and brought up to date. This task has been entrusted to Mr, C. H. Wright, F.R.M.S., and Mr. D. Dewar, curator of Glasgow Botanic Gardens, and until recently chief of the Herbaceous Department in the Royal Gardens, Kew. Many improvements on the previous editions of the book are notice- able, both in the style and in the arrangement of the matter, and there can be little doubt that this new edition will prove most accept- able to every gardener. The ‘‘ Genera Plantarum ” has been followed in the main as the authority for the nomenclature, although it has not been strictly adhered to. The generic names are printed in clear black type, and are in all cases followed by cultural information. The species are arranged alphabetically under their respective genera, with concise particulars as to height, prevailing colour, date of introduction, and, in many instances, references are given to figures in the principal botanical and horticultural works, while, to make matters clearer, sketches are frequently added. The meaning of the specific names will form a list at the end of the work, while the derivation of the generic names is given immediately after each. In short, the work is a gardener’s dictionary in every sense of the term, and, in addition to its other good qualities, has the further recommendation of being published at such a price as to bring it within the reach of all. It is estimated that it will be completed in eight one-shilling parts ; six of these have already been issued, with an aggregate of 768 double- column pages. The last part yet issued brings us down to the description of ‘‘ Pleopeltis,” a genus of Ferns closely allied to Poly- podium. Manvat or Orcuipacsous Priants. London: James Veitch & Sons. Every orchidologist should possess this most excellent work. The ninth part has now been issued, and it may practically be con- sidered the final one—so far, at least, as the description of genera — > NOTICES OF BOOKS RECEIVED. 157 and species is concerned. To make the work fully complete, however, at least one other part will be issued, containing a general review of the whole Orchid family. A glance from Part I. (issued in 1887) to Part IX. shows the enormous amount of good work which has been done during the past six years, and the result, if bound together, would form a bulky volume of 1,089 pages. The species—more or less in cultivation—of over ninety genera have been described minutely and well, while the history of introduction and references to figuresand synonomy have received careful attention. The ‘‘Genera Plantarum” has been taken as the standard of classification, but in some cases (e.g. Colax, Thunia, Paphinia, &c.) has not been strictly adhered to. Before the work is quite closed a general index to the whole of it should he added, as at present it is somewhat troublesome to be obliged to refer to the index of each part in succession when in search of acertain genus or species. Suchageneral index would not only be a valuable addition to an already most admirable work, but would save much time to the student. Art Out oF Doors. By Mrs. SCHUYLER VAN RENSSELAER. London: T. Fisher Unwin. . 1893. A book full from beginning to end of most excellent common sense, and quite true to its subordinate title of ‘‘ Hints on Good Taste in Gardening,” but written in almost too literary a style, and in lan- guage somewhat above the immediate comprehension of the ordinary working gardener. Indeed it hardly contemplates the ordinary gardener, but is written more for the landscape gardener and the owners of residential estates, though, at the same time, by far the greater part of the principles it lays down are in themselves as applicable to the garden proper as to the ‘‘ grounds.” The authoress herself says ‘two trees and six shrubs, a scrap of lawn, and a dozen flowering plants may form either a beautiful little picture or a huddled disarray of forms and colours” ; and she warns us against ‘‘ thinking that art is needed only for broad landscape effects. It is needed wherever we do more than grow plants for the money we may gain by them.” In the selection of trees and shrubs the desirability of em- ploying a large proportion of native or thoroughly naturalised plants is well insisted on ; ‘‘local plants are essential as a foundation, and then, to give variety and the true gardenlike air, exotics should be mingled with them ; but these exotics should never be chosen for their variety or novelty alone,” but simply and solely for their harmonious effect. ‘‘If a tall shrub is planted it should be because a tall one is needed, not because a particularly handsome tall one has been seen in a nursery or in some neighbour’s grounds.” The place of variegated foliage is also very well dealt with : ‘‘One monotonous tint of green is to be avoided, but still more an excessive use of bright-hued plants. . . . . Anything that is eccentric in form or colour (Copper Beech for 158 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. example) should be used very sparingly . . . . too many places are disfigured by an accumulation of abnormally coloured plants... . they destroy all peacefulness and unity, as well as all naturalness of effect.” Equally true is it that ‘‘ a lawn is a place for grass. . . . to spot bright beds all over it is toruinit..... Lawns are marred by shrieking spots of colour set down here and there with little thought. Cultivators love them because they show how skilfully they can grow and trim their plants, and owners love them—well, I fear simply because they are showier than anything else.” There are some ex- cellent chapters on the form and colour of trees, but we have quoted enough to show how full of suggestion this excellent little book is. Les Orcuiptes. By D. Bors. Paris: J. B. Baillitre et Fils. 1893. To the Orchid-grower who combines a knowledge of French with his other accomplishments this little book would prove useful. It consists of some 300 and odd pages, and not only gives particulars as to most of the Orchids which are usually grown under glass, but also tersely describes the Orchid family as a whole, by calling attention to the peculiarities of stems, leaves, inflorescence, &c. The part insects play in the fertilisation of Orchids is also gone into, although there is not much to be said on the subject beyond what we owe to Mr. Darwin’s researches. There are also chapters on the prices of Orchids, culture, Orchid-houses, watering, propagation, enemies of Orchids, seedlings, &c. To these is appended a vocabulary explaining the meaning of technical terms most frequently met with, and a list of authorities, as well as of the chief works devoted to the literature of Orchids. We notice that, although the book is dated 1893, there are several well-known plants which appear to have escaped attention, and among them may be cited the beautiful Phaius Humblotii and others. On the whole, however, we are glad to be able to recommend the book as a useful addition to the literature of Orchids. THe Orcuip ReEvIEw. This is an illustrated monthly journal devoted exclusively to Orchids, under the editorship of Mr. R. A. Rolfe, A.L.S., and Mr. F. Leslie. The first number appeared in January 1893, and since that time eight numbers have been issued. New Orchids are de- scribed and articles on various subjects of interest to orchidologists are contributed by different writers, There are now so many growers of Orchids in the English-speaking world, that a journal such as the Orchid Review should not lack support, and we heartily wish it success. REICHENBACHIA. This sumptuous work on ‘ Orchids ” continues to be sent out by Messrs. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, with its usual regularity, and when complete will form one of the most magnificent additions to the already numerous treatises on Orchids. The large coloured plates NOTICES OF BOOKS RECEIVED. 159 drawn by Mr. H. G. Moon are unrivalled as far as the portraiture of the plants is concerned, and what they lack in botanical detail is amply made up for in the analytical drawings which accompany the text. Butzous Irises. By Prof. Micnaet Foster, Sec. R.S., F.R.H.S., &c. London: Royal Horticultural Society. 1893. There has been a great advance of late years in our knowledge of Bulbous [rises, more than twice as many species being now known to us as there were twenty years, or even fifteen years ago; and Professor Foster’s book upon them comes just when it is most wanted, and forms a complete monograph of Bulbous Irises as at present known. About thirty species with their varieties are described in minutest detail, and cultural requirements are given so clearly and so fully that the book should be of the utmost value to all practical growers of this most lovely and interesting group of plants. In addition to the popular account of each species and its varieties, a synopsis is given, with par- ticulars as to synonymy, time of flowering, habitat, and the standard works in which figures and illustrations may be found. It should be mentioned that as many as fifty-eight woodcuts and diagrammatic sketches of the flowers are given, thereby greatly enhancing the value of the treatise, and enabling the reader at a glance to identify any flower he may be searching for. Professor Foster, himself a practical gardener, has treated his subject chiefly from the gardener’s point of view, and it is in the gardener’s loose meaning, and not in the botanist’s restricted sense, that he uses the term ‘‘ bulbous.” — Whitehead. ‘Index Kewensis’’—Hooker and Jackson (Parts 1 and 2) ‘‘Teones Plantarum’’—Hooker. “Insect Life’’—Riley and Howard. “ Tridee ’—Baker. “Journal of Horticulture.” “Journal of the Baval Agricultural Society.” “Journal of the Linnean Society.’’ “Journal of CCGXXX11 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. the Royal Society.” “Journal of the Geological Society.’’ “Journal of Botany.”’ ‘Johnson’s Gardener’s Dictionary.’”’ Just’s ‘“ Botanischer Jahresbericht.”’ ‘Kew Bulletin.’”? ‘“ Kryptogamen-Flora ’—Rabenhorst. ‘Les Orchidées Rustiques ’’—Correvon. ‘“ Les Maladies dela Vigne’’—Viala. “Tia Pratique des Travaux de la Ferme’’—Garola. ‘“ Les Orchidées ??— De Bois. ‘ Memoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.” “Manual of Orchidaceous Plants’’—-Veitch. ‘‘ Monographie des Méla- stomacées’’—Humboldt and Bonpland. ‘“ Notes on the Genera of Taxacer and Conifere’’—Masters. ‘“ Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle.’ “Orchids of South Africa’—Bolus. ‘“ Pflanzenbiologische Schilderungen’’—Goebel. ‘ Plantae Tinneanae’’—Tinné. “ Potato Culture and Disease Prevention ’’-—Wilts Technical Education Committee. “Plates in Iliustration of the Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon ’—Trimen. “Proceedings, Société Nationale d’Horticulture de France.” ‘“ Proceedings of the American Pomological Society.’’ ‘Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History.’ ‘Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.’’ ‘Proceedings of the Society of American Florists.” ‘ Primer of Horticulture ’’—Wright. ‘Report on Condition of Growing Crops ”»— Dept. of Agriculture, Sydney. ‘ Reichenbachia’’—Sander. ‘“ Revue Horticole.’”’ “ Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden.” “ Report of Observations of Injurious Insects, with Methods of Prevention and Remedy ’’’—Miss Ormerod. ‘“Sowerby’s English Botany’’ (36 vols.). “The Orchid Review.”’ “The Fruit Grower’s Guide’’—Wright. “The Carnation Manual.’”? “The Genus Masdevallia.”” “The Silva of North America ’’—Sargent. ‘ The Canadian Record of Science.’? “The Modern Gardener ’”’—Price. ‘‘The California Vine Disease ’’—Pierce. ‘“ Transae- tions of the Massachusetts Hort. Society.’ ‘ Wiener illustrirte Garten- zeitung.’’ ‘Zeitschrift fiir Pflanzenkrankheiten.’’ “A Treatise on the Peach ’’— Smith. The Council of the Royal Horticultural Society and the Trustees of the Lindley Library will be grateful for presents of works on Horticulture and Botany, receipt of which will be duly acknowledged. Donors of Plants, Seeds, &c., to the Society’s Gardens at Chiswick during the year 1893. Axsport, F., Hobart Botanic Garden. Seeds of Eucalyptus and Arthrotaxis. Auuan, W., Gunton Park, Norwich. Onion seed. Aupert, H. & E., Messrs., Gracechurch Street, E.C. Horticultural manure. Austry & McAstan, Messrs. Strawberry plants. Batey, J., Hucknall Torkard. Pea Rushcliffe Marrow. Barr & Son, Messrs., Covent Garden. Endive, Tomatos, Alpine plants, &e. Berstey, J., Denbies, Dorking. Canna Ehmanni. Benary, E., Erfurt. Tomato seed. Bunyarp & Co., Messrs., Maidstone. Zonal Pelargonium Mrs. Bartleman. Brown, L., Brentwood. Acacia cultriformis, Lissanthe strigosa, &c. BruGcGemann, C., Villefranche-sur-Mer. Chrysanthemum Alma Brugge- mann. : Burnett, J., Durham. Kiegelia africana. CANNELL & Sons, Messrs., Swanley. Collection of Aster seeds, Tuberous Begonias, cuttings of yellow-leaved Lobelia. DONORS OF PLANTS, SEEDS, ETC. CCXXXI1ll Carter & Co, J., Messrs., High Holborn. Seeds of Tomatos, Celery, Potatos, Peas. Curat & Sons, J., Messrs., Crawley. Apple grafts. Cuinps, J., Lewis, New York. Seeds of Peas and Tomatos. CuarkKE, Col., Daventry. Seeds of Ptycoraphis augusta. Cocker & Sons, Messrs., Aberdeen. Roses. Cooper, TaBER & Co., Messrs., Witham. Seeds of Peas, Potatos, &e. Coutx & Co., F., Messrs., Catford. Two bottles of Floressence. Coxurs, P., Malvern. Seed Potatos. Cross & Son, Alex., Messrs., Glasgow. Murray’s Electric Mildew In- secticide Destroyer. Crow.ey, P., Croydon. Dracenas, Crinums, Anthuriums, &e. Dantets Bros., Messrs., Norwich. Seeds of Potatos, Peas, &e. Dean, R., Ealing. Seeds of Potatos, Peas, &c. DeveritL, H., Banbury. Collection of Onion seed, &c. Dicxsons, Limttep, Messrs., Chester. Carnations. Dozssrz & Co., Messrs., Rothesay. Herbaceous Phloxes, French and African Marigolds, Peas, Leeks, Celery, &c. Ecrrorp, H., Wem. Culinary and Sweet Pea seeds. Emerson, P. H., Broadstairs. Bromicea sinensis var. Enptz, L. J., Boskoop. Seed Potato. Frycuam, H., Cranbrook. Seed Potatos. FrercHer, H., Annesley. Seed Potatos. Forses, J., Hawick. Flower seeds, Carnations, Pinks, &ce. Fraser, J., Leyton. Collection of Clematis. Frere, G. Edgar, Wimbledon Park. Four Tree Ferns. Hammonp & Son, J., Messrs., Carlisle. Black Currant W. E. Gladstone. Hanan, H., Edinburgh. Cabbage, Beet, Leek, &c. Harvey, Mrs., Englefield Green, Surrey. Lilium sp., from Vancouver’s Island. Hart, T., Woodside Green. New Zealand seeds. Henperson & Co., P., Messrs., New York. Seeds of Celery, Onions, Tomatos. Herest, H., Richmond. Struthiopteris germanica, Canna Madame Crozy, &c. Hourze, M., Adelaide. Australian seeds. Husert & Maucer, Messrs., Guernsey. Gladioli delicatissima superb- issima. Hueues, E. G., Manchester. Hughes’ Vapour Roll Fumigator. Horst & Son, Messrs., Houndsditch. Seeds of Tomatos, Onions, &e. Jacos, J., Rev., Whitchurch, Salop. Antirrhinum seeds. JarMAN & Co., Messrs., Chard. Seeds of Cucumber Baker’s Triumph. LansvEtL, J., Barkly Hall, Leicester. Peas. Laxton Bros., Messrs., Bedford. Flower seeds, Seedling Strawberries. Lemorne, V., Nancy. Begonias, Clematis, Cannas, &c. Lover, W. H., Handcross. Verbascum olympicum. Lonspaue, Miss. Auricula seed. Low & Co., Hugh, Messrs., Clapton. Cytisus scoparius Andreanus. Macxeretu, G. H., Ulverston. Seed Potatos. MacOwan, Professor, Cape Town. Fifteen packets of seeds. Masters, Dr., Ealing. Seeds of Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Picea Breweriana. May, H. B., Upper Edmonton. Twenty-four varieties of Clematis. Neep, T. C., Great Malvern. Tomato Ridgeway Seedling. Nexson, W., Johannesburg. Kniphofia Nelsoni. Newrineron, A. §., Ticehurst, Sussex. Seed of Potato Woodlands Seedling. Nostez, C., Bagshot. Collection of Clematis. Paut & Son, Cheshunt. Clematis. CCXXXI1V PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Pick & Co., J. H., Stamford. Pat. No. 1,088 Excelsior Hoe. Roemer, F., Quedlinburg. Variegated Hop, Tagetes fi. pl. Little Gem. Royat GarpEns, Kew. Coleus tuberosus; collection of seeds of Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants. RipcGEwELL, J. H., Cambridge. Seed Potatos. Smureson, Percy. Fernholme, Eastbourne. Bulbs. Sottes, E., Leicestershire. Apple grafts. Stuart, Dr., Churnside. Seedling Violas. Surron & Sons, Messrs., Reading. Vegetable seeds. Tart, J., Cockermouth. Seed Potatos, Black Currant Dovenby Hall Prolific. Van Orman, F. B., Lewis, Iowa. Potato Van Orman’s Superb. VeiItcH & Sons, J., Messrs., Chelsea. Border and Tree Carnations, Vegetable seeds, &c. Veitcu & Son, R., Messrs., Exeter. Vegetable and Flower seeds. Vitmorin & Co., Messrs., Paris. Begonias, Vegetable seeds (eleven vars.), Phlox Drummondii, &e. Wuirtenovuss, E. F., Kidderminster. Seedling Strawberries. WHITEHEAD, P. Radish seed. Wericut, B., Oakham. Seed Potatos. INO Oe, , LO el The botanical names of plants are printed in italics. Abies orientalis aurea, 1xxii Abutilon Souvenir de Bonn, lviii Acacias on the Riviera, 83 Acalypha Macafeeana, cxcix AéridesBallantineanum aureum, ccxl Aganisia ionoptera, ccviii Agave Leopold II., elxvii » univittata var., elxviil Aglaonema pumilum, clxxxiii Agricultural Hall Show, clxxi A Tum neapolitanum, 99 Alocasia Sanderiana, \xiv Alpine Plants, 104, 161 Collecting, 107 Increasing, 123 List of, 171 - » Treatment of, 116 Alstremeria aurantiaca, cl American Blight, 143 Androsaces, 168 Anemones on the Riviera, 101 Angrecum odoratissimum, xciv Annual General Meeting, 1893, i Anthurium crystallinum var., Ixiv fs Dickii, lvi - Lindeni fl. car., excili is Parisiente, \xiv ” ” ” 9 ” ” Wambeckianum, clxxxvili Apple Byford Wonder, cxlvii ,, Hambling’s Seedling, cxlii » dsacquin, Xxxv ,, Standard Bearer, xxxii » Wealthy, cxl Aralias, Dimorphic, xxii Arctotis aspera, 103 “ Art Out of Doors,” 157 Asplenium marginatum, lxiv FA setigerum grandiceps, |xv Aucuba, Yellow-fruited, li Azalea Anthony Koster, liv » — Hardy, 140 ., mollis Hilda, lviii » Raphael de Smet, lix Azolla pinnata fruiting, xxx Balance Sheet, 1892, viii Begonia Baron Schréder, lxvi Begonia Bexley Gem, lxvi ‘ B. Parsons, lxi fe elegans, \xvi es Ernest Cook, Ixxv » gigantea, \xxv Hs Gloire de Lorraine, excili a0 Gloire de Sceaux, xlii Hector, lxi a Lady Brooke, lxvi Pe Lord Brooke, lxvi i Lord Llangattock, lxvi fs Mrs. Re2nart, lxvi ‘ Richard Dean, lxxv Triomphe de Lemoine, xlvii Billbergia sanguinea, 1xi Bomarea patacoensis, Books, Notices of, 156 Bougainvillea spectabilis, liv Brownea ariza, li Brownleea cerulea, ccxv | Bulbophyllum comosum, 1xxxi 5 Lobbit siamense, c v . . Calanthe x gigas, 1xxxi ds x Mylesti, ccxxvii Caladium Ibis Rouge, lxvi is Mrs. Harry Veitch, lxvi Calochortus amanus, 1xi é venustus oculatus, \xxvii 6 8 roseus, \XxXvill *5 vesta, Ixxviii Calypso borealis, xciv — Campanula grandiflora Mariesi, clvii Canna, History of the Genus, 182 », Progression, lvi » Sophie Buchner, lxiii Cannas, 178 % at Chiswick, 247, lxxx Caraguata cardinalis, xlvii Carnation Annie Saunders, lxxii ce Hayes Scarlet, Ixxvii : King Arthur, lxxvii [lxiv _ Mrs. Seymour Bouverie, ind Princess May, lvi A Sir Charles Fremantle, lxxii He The Churchwarden, lxv 5 Uriah Pike, lvi Q CCXXXV1 Carnations, clvi Catasetum Gnomus, CCxv Cattleya x Chloris, ccxvii = Eldorado Oweni, ccxviii » guatemalensis Wischhusen- tana, Xcvii 5 Hardyana, Tate’s var., ecvi » * Hardyana, Selwood var., cCxxii » | * Harold, ch < lab., Appleton’s var., ccxxii y ,, Imschootiana, ccxxii ” », Sanderiana, ccxix . » Warocq. fascinata, ccxvii * x Lord Rothschild, cexix » Luddemanniana, xciv R x Pheidona, cecxviii » Lriane,Hillingdon var.,lxxxvi 3 » Florence le Doux, lxxxvi ‘ Warscewiczxii Sandera, cix és x William Murray, civ Cereus Hoveyi, lii Chemistry and Soil, 128 Chiswick Local Show, cli Chrysanthemum Beauty of Castle Hill, xliv .. Frutescens, 92 “ , Alma Brugge- mann, xlvii Es, Mrs.E.D.Adams, xliii New Year’s Gift, xliii Chrysanthemums, 220, excili, cxcvii, cc Cineraria maritima aurea, Ixvi Cirrhopetalum ornatissimum, Ccxix, CCXXX1 Citron, Antiquity in Egypt, 147 Class List of Examination, 1893, 152 Clerodendron trichotomum, clxix Clivia Beechdale, li » dcarlet Gem, xlvii Cochlioda vulcanica grandiflora \xxxvii » Noezliana, xciv Codieum Thomsoni, \xvi hd Russelli, cxevii Calogyne maculata alba, cexxy “ Sandere, xc Coloured Glass, Effects of, on growth, 59 Cornus brachypoda variegata, c1xix Corylopsis paucifiora, x\vii Costus igneus, ccii Crinum Powelli album, \xxvii Cupressus guadaloupensis, xxviii ra macrocarpa lutea, clvii Cycnoches pentadactylon, \xxxi Cydonia japonica cardinalis, lvi Cymbidium Tracyanum, cexxx Cynorchis grandiflora, \xxxi INDEX. Cypripedium x Aphrodite, cexli es x Ashworthie, cexxv A Charlesworthi, ecxiv = x Chas. Rickman, ciii e x Clinkaberryanum warnhamense, CCXXX ns x Clonius, ccxix ov x Clothilde Moens, ccxii ‘i x conco-Lawre, \xxxv a x Hdwardi, cevi, cexi x Fairieano- Lawrence anum, CCXXxVii i x fascinatum, cexxix a imsigne albens, cexxii Clarkei, ccxxii - » tllustre, coxxvii - x Leeanum James Ham- ilton, ccxxv Leone, cexili Mary Lee, ccxxvi Massaianum, ceciv microchilum, xciv Minos, cexxvii (none, ccexxx ceno-superbiens, ccviil Penelaus, lxxxi Pheedra, Ixxxi Sallieriaureum, CCXxx Sandero - superbiens, cexi - x southgatense superbum, CCXXIV Spicero - Lowianum, ccxvili a x Statterianum, ccexxi a Stonet Cannaertianum, cciv . x Swrinburnei,StandHal) var., CCXXV s synanthy of, cxxiii - x TLhayerianum, cevii 4 x T. W. Bond, xciv S x wvenustum Measures- canum, CCXXX aa Volonteanum giganteum, cv ‘3 x Winnianum, |xxxv Cyrtopodium punctatum splendens x¢evil Daffodils and Mice, cxxiv oi Decaying, cxxiv Datura cornucopia, c\xxxiii Davallia fijiensis elegans, \xv Delphinium John Thorpe, lxvi Dendrobium Bensone album, cii “a x Bryan, xciii a glomeratum, CCXXx fe lamellatum, ccxxii ” ” 5K OME KM TK ie ee ox ”? x INDEX. Dendrobium x Niobe, xcviii nobile Amese, 1xxxv tf » Ballianum, xc x Owenianum, \xxxv Phalenopsis, Appleton’s var. x Sybil, xciv =! Wardianum album, xciii Dianthus caryophyllus vars., 94 Didymocarpus lacunosa, clviii Diervilla Eva Ratke, clxviii Disa x Premier, ccxvii Diuris maculata, \xxxvii Dracena Jamesi, cXcv Lord Wolseley, lxvi rl Sanderiana, \xi Earina suaveolens, ecvili Epidendrum Claesianum, cv “a Forgetianum, cix Evia barbata, \xxxvii Eriosoma lanigera, 144 Eucalypts, 86 Eucalyptus Galls, xxiv Eucharis Culture, Failure in, 194 = Lowii, lvi Faacum macranthum, clxvii Examination in Horticulture, 151 Questions set at, 154 Fern, ’Proliferous, CXXV Ferraria antherosa, cl Fog, Possible Remedies, 52 ,, Report on Effects of, 1 Fritillaria aurea, xvii Gladiolus delicatissima superbissima, lxxil » on the Riviera, 98 Gloxinia Netted Queen, lxv Grapes, Late-keeping, 227 Grevillea Banksi, clxi Habenaria carnea, ccix ciliaris, Ccxxvii if cinnabarina, ccxviii Hemanthus Lindeni, clxxxviii Hakea laurina, 90 Heliamphora nutans, \xxviii Helianthus rigidus Miss Mellish, clxix Heliopsis scabra major, c\xxxiii Hemerocallis Apricot, lxv Hlexisia bidentata, cix Hippeastrum Corinna, xlvii Eldorado, xlvii 9) ” ” eH Excellent, xlvii cs Bon’ Wh. D. >» “7 ey ets 1% s ” > eS Ae ee