1878.] 



AND HOR TICUL TURIST. 



267 



■stem of the specimen, that showhig flower, is 

 about five feet hifjli, and surronnded by eleven 

 offsets of various sizes. B. S. Williams, in his 

 "Choice Store and Green-house Plants," says 

 this species is not known to have flowered in 

 England, hence the fact of its flowering under 

 green-house culture may be a phenomenon of 

 sufficient rarity to merit being put on record. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Mixing Oil and Water. — It is well known 

 Avhat an admirable thing coal oil is in destroying 

 insects on plants when not too strong, but it 

 cannot be diluted with water. In the attempt 

 to mix it, the oil would stay on the top, and the 

 water go to the bottom of course. Mr. Knight, 

 in the London Florist mentions a plan that he 

 has been pursuing with success. He uses coal 

 oil in the proportion of one wine-glassful to four 

 gallons of water. He keeps the two mixed with 

 the syringe in this way: before using he squirts 

 a syringe full into the. lower part of the vessel, 

 and immediatelv draws it in again and applies it 

 to the plant. By following this method, the oil 

 and water becomes well mixed. 



HoAV TO Make Skeleton Leaves. — The 

 Gardener'' s Chronicle gives the following as Mrs. 

 Cusson's plan : " For the dissection of leaves I 

 And the process of masceration too long and 

 tedious, to say nothing of the uncertainty as to 

 the results ; I have therefore adopted the use of 

 alkali in saturated solution, the specimens to be 

 introduced while the liquid is heated to boiling 

 point. The time of immersion to be regulated 

 by the character of the various leaves, and the 

 nature of the epidermis to be removed. When 

 the specimen, is freed from epidermis and cel- 

 lular tissue, it must be subjected to the action of 

 chlorine to destroy the coloring matter. The 

 introduction of peroxide of hydrogen serves not 

 only to render the lace-like specimen purer in 

 color but presei've it also. 



'' In destroying the coloring matter in Ferns 

 this also is invaluable ; added to the chlorine it 

 gives a solidity to the bleached fronds, and ap- 

 pears to equalize the action of the chlorine. For 

 skeletonizing capsules, the slow process of ma- 

 ceration by steeping in rain-water is alone avail- 

 able — a moderate heat may be applied to hasten 

 the process, but alkali is useless. 



" The only known flower which can be dis- 

 sected is the Hydrangea japonica. The fibrous 



nature of the petals renders it easy to skeleton- 

 ize in the perfect truss in which it grows. Skele- 

 tonized leaves and capsules appear to gain in 

 the process a toughness and durability not pos- 

 sessed by them in their natural state." 



Growth of a Marechal Niel Rose.— The 

 Gardener's Chronicle gives the following good 

 growth as something very remarkable, but we 

 fancy some of our American Rose-growers 

 could make a better showing : " At Messrs. J. 

 & G. Hayes' nursery, at Edmonton, there can 

 be seen growing overhead in a plant house two 

 plants of Marechal Niel Rose, on their own 

 roots, that were planted out at each end of the 

 stage, carried up pillars and along the roof, for 

 the purpose of supplying flowers. The first 

 year the plants appeared to be engaged in the pre- 

 paratory work of rooting themselves into the 

 fine natural loam that abounds in the district ; 

 the next year the plants put forth leading shoots 

 some fifteen feet or so in length, but the next 

 year each plant, in six weeks, put forth shoots 

 forty-five feet in length, and since then only 

 small branches have been formed that bear 

 plenty of flowers. It has been said that a Mare- 

 chal Niel Rose soon wears itself out after such 

 vigorous efforts : this appears as if it would be 

 the case with the two Roses under notice. The 

 main stems have swoolen to a great size, and 

 now at a short distance from the ground, having 

 1 swoolen out in a kind of canker-like formation, 

 I there are appearing ominous slits in the bark in 

 I an upward direction that portend dissolution. 

 In each case the strong shocts to which allusion 

 has been made sprang directly from the soil, 

 from a point of the parent stem just below the 

 soil, consqueutly the junction is beneath the 

 cracking bark. It is Messrs. Hayes' intention 

 to build up a kind of shallow pit of soil round 

 the base of the shoots, in the hope that they 

 may be induced to put forth roots, and so get a 

 new lease of life. 



NEIV OR RARE PLAXTS. 



Antiiurii M ORNATUM.— Most plants of the 

 Arum family of which the well known Richar- 

 dia or Calla is an illustrious example, prove 

 such excellent kinds for r(.om or greenhouse 

 culture, that cultivators gladly welcome any 

 new and good one. When the writer was visit- 

 ing Mr. B. S. William's nursery, at Upper Hol- 

 loway, near London, last spring, Anthurium 



