mi 190 



Proceedings of the HorticuUural Seciefy, 



At this meeting a paper ir as read from the President, T. Aw Knight, 

 Esq., upon the culture of the mango and cherimoyer. Its object 

 was to suggest some improvements in the management of these 

 and other trees cultivated in stoves, deduced from an application 

 of JDutrochet's electrical theory of vegetation to practice. It has 

 tiow become generally known that this observer is of opinion that 

 the motion of the fluids in plants depends upon two currents of 

 electricity, setting with very unequal force between the denser fluid 

 of the tree and the lighter fluid of the soil in which the tree is 

 planted; the more powerful current setting from the latter to the 

 former, and so producing absorption, by conveying aqueous par- 

 ticles into the roots, through the vegetable membrane of the epi- 

 dermis. In applying this theory to practical purposes, Mr. Knight 

 recommends that the pot in which the cherimoyer or mango is 

 planted, should itself be surrounded by a medium through which 

 an equable and regular supply of fluid may be conveyed to the 

 foots, and tliat the naked surface of the pot should by no means be 

 exposed to the free action pf the atmosphere. Without entering 

 upon any question of the accuracy of the French philosopher's 

 observations, it is quite certain that such a mode of cultivation is 

 that which is most congenial to plants, and which is indispensable 

 to thos6 of a habit at all delicate. The common practice of 

 plunging pots into a tan-bed, or among sand, if in glass-houses, 

 or in the earth if in open borders, is a proof of the necessity that 

 gardeners have found, of securing as regular a temperature and 

 degree of humidity as is possible for the outside of their flower- 

 pots ; through the pores in which, moisture is chiefly conveyed to the 

 roots, which always cling to the inside surface of the pot. 



Specimens of roses produced by branches budded upon the Rosa 

 indica, were exhibited by Alexander Evelyn, Esq. We notice these 

 not only on account of their extraordinary beauty, but also for the 

 sake of recommending most strongly the adoption of the practice 

 where delicate roses are found difficult of cultivation j9er se. If we 

 consider what happens when the operation of budding, or grafting 

 has succeeded, the reason of the advantage derived from such an 

 operation will be apparent. When a bud of one variety is inserted 

 under the bark of another variety, a union takes place between the 

 cellular substance of tlie two ; the bud is then placed in the same 



