1879.] NOTES FROM THE PAPERS. 17 



Var. pendula. — This sort differs only from the species in its 

 drooping branches ; grafted on 6-feet stems of the Common Lime, it 

 makes an admirable specimen for a lawn. 



T. Americana (the American Lime). — This species has a wide 

 distribution in Canada and the United States, where it attains 

 heights of from 70 to 80 feet. It was first sent to this country in 

 1752. The leaves are cordate, sharply serrated, larger than the 

 European species, and of a smooth, shiny, bright -green colour, 

 changing as they decay to a light brown. The flowers are similar 

 in form and colour to those of the other sorts, appearing in July, 

 and very fragrant. Though similar in general appearance to the 

 Common Lime, it is easily distinguished by its bark, which, instead 

 of being either green or red, is dark-brown. It is a very hardy, 

 handsome tree, of a symmetrical habit of growth, and well worthy 

 of a place as a single specimen in a park. It should be planted 

 in deep rich soil, and in a moderately sheltered situation. 



Hugh Ekaser. 



NOTES FROM THE PAPERS. 



The Rev. George Henslow has succeeded in convincing the scientific mind 

 by an elaborate series of experiments that plants do absorb moisture by their 

 leaves ; and it is now acknowledged that the belief entertained by gardeners for 

 long enough that they could feed their plants, to some extent, through their 

 leaves, is based upon sound principles. It is perhaps not worth while inquiring 

 how gardeners became possessed of the notion that leaves absorb moisture — a 

 question which " has been a subject of controversy " among botanists for 150 

 years ; but we think there is little doubt that, like Boussingault, they have 

 some time or other been " fortunate in proving that plants in nature, wilted 

 by intense heat and drought, recovered on exposure to dew and rain, but with- 

 out the water reaching the roots," and hence concluded that they might copy 

 nature in their garden practice. It must be amusing to a gardener to read — 

 in the face of the fact so familiar to him, that detached leaves or bits of leaves 

 revive, after being allowed to droop, when moistened with water — that "along 

 series of cut leaves and shoots were gathered at 4 p.m. one day last September," 

 by Mr Henslow, " then exposed to sun and wind for three hours, then carefully 

 weighed and exposed all night to dew. At 7,30 a.m., after having been dried, 

 they were weighed again, and all had gained weight, and quite recovered their 

 freshness, proving that slightly wetted detached portions do absorb dew." 



Twenty years ago we knew a noted Pelargonium grower who was in the habit 

 of regularly syringing his plants overhead with weak soot and guano-water, in 

 the conviction that they "took it in," as he expressed it. "But, James," 

 said a neighbour to him one day, "you know scientific authorities say that 

 plants do not absorb moisture by their leaves." "I ken that fine," said 

 Jamie, "but I dinna beleev't." It will gratify gardeners of James's per- 

 suasion now to know that after one hundred and fifty years' controversy and 

 experiment, scientific authorities have pronounced in their favour. 



B 



