40 



Experiments were made by feeding plants 15 centimeters 

 long, containing about 15 leaves each, with 6 bladders, with a 

 certain animal, Chydoriis spha^ricus. About 270 of these were 

 fed each plant, and their progress of growth compared with that 

 of other similar plants equally w^ell provided for, except they 

 were carefully prevented from obtaining animal diet. The results 

 proved that the plants fed with animals grew nearly twice as fast 

 as those which were not able to obtain this food. 



The manner in which the animals find their way, unassisted, 

 into the bladders is also described. There is nothing specially 

 new in this except, perhaps, the presence of bacteria on the 

 secreting hairs. The Jid of the bladder opens by means of the 

 pressure on its surface, and closes quite suddenly, thus capturing 

 the unlucky animal, and, after its death, bacteria proceed to 

 destroy its remains. E. L. G. 



Sur les precedes employes par lesjaponais pour obtenir des Arhres 



nains ; par M. P. Maury. (Bull. Soc. Bot. d. France, xxxvi. 

 290-294.) 



The Japanese exhibit of dwarfed plants at the Paris Exposition 

 has attracted a eood deal of attention. In this article illustrations 



iiica one hundred years old; Ginkgo 

 btloha, sixty years; CepJialotaxus, ninety years, and Nandina 

 domestica seventy years old — each of them in ordinary window 

 pots. The method described is the following: The seeds are 

 sown in very small pots, and the young plants allowed to grow 

 till their roots having absorbed all the earth (toute la terre) which 

 they contain, completely replacing it, and escaping in search of a 

 soil more vast. They are then re-potted to others but slightly 

 larger, and the operation is repeated indefinitely. This practice 

 seems to be the most important of those employed by the Japanese 

 horticulturist. Forced in this way to a slow development, by 

 insuflScIent nourishment and moisture — for even this is deprived 

 them — the trunk is atrophied. Under these circumstances con- 

 iferous trees, especially, remain dwarfed In size. To train them 

 into compact and shapely forms, the branches are bound together 

 by bamboo fibres. E, G. B. 



J^i;$ Plaiitcs A(^uati^ue$ Alimentaires, A, Paillieux et P. Bois, 



are given of Pinus Jap 



