22 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[January, 



to six and one-third ounces ; while live cones of 

 the average size of the ordinary form of Abies 

 Douglasii, weighed but tliirty-eight and one-half 

 grammes, or less than one-fifth as much. The 

 seeds are triangular, brown outside, and white on 

 the under side, with a wing twice as long as the 

 seed, together being seven-eighths of an inch to 

 one inch long. The seeds are much heavier 

 than those of the ordinary Abies Douglasii. 



In recent investigations of the collections of 

 the Department, a cone was found marked Abies 

 Douglasii, var. macrocarpa, collected at San 

 Felipe, Cal., Nov. 16th, 1857, with the note, " cone 

 fi.ve inches long, I. S. N. Ives' Colorado Exp." 

 On referring to the report of Ives' expedition, we 

 find Abies Douglasii var. macrocarpa referred 

 to from the mountains near San Felipe The 

 cone corresponds exactly with those obtained by 

 Dr. Palmer. Further examination of the range 

 of this form, and of the permanence of the pecu- 

 liar characteristics stated is desirable, but it 

 would seem from what we now know of it, that 

 it deserves to rank as a new species, in which 

 event no more appropriate name could be found 

 than Abies macrocarpa. 



DO PLANTS NEED WATER? 



BY W. T. BELL, FRANKLIN, I'A. 



"Thomas Meehan, editor of the Gardener's 

 Monthli/, answers this question by saying that " if 

 any one thinks plants need wafer, lie can try by 

 stopping up the hole in the bottom of a flower 

 pot, in which a plant is growing. This will be 

 one of the best ways of learning'that the essence 

 of all good culture is to get rid of the water 

 in the soil as soon as possible. This is the 

 great principle that underlies the practice of un- 

 derdraining land. We want moid air in the soil, 

 not water. ' Firm potting ' favors a large amount 

 of airspaces. If soil is moderately dry, the more 

 we 'pound' it, the more we pulverize it, and 

 pulverization means dividing into minute parti- 

 ■ cles. The more particles the more spaces— the 

 more spaces the more porous is the mass. Every 

 pore contains air, and this air is moist air, and it 

 is on this moisture that the plants draw. There 

 is no difference in the manner by which a root 

 draws moisture from the atmosphere under the 

 ground, and that by which the root of an air 

 plant draws moisture above the ground. If you 

 take the earth in which a healthy plant is grow- 

 ing, and handle it, you will find "no ivafer in it ; 

 but you will perhaps find it moid enough to 

 dampen a piece of paper. We do not know that 

 any amount of pressure would squeeze ivafer out 

 of some soils in which ])lants grow healthy, 

 though possibly moist air might be so compressed 

 as to make water. Indeed, the matter seems 

 so clear to us, that we sui)posed it would be ne- 



cessary only to state it to insure conviction. And 

 we wonder very much that writers still continue 

 to use the word water, when they speak of the 

 necessary conditions in the food of plants." 



I clip the above item fi'om the Lancaster 

 Farmer, and must dissent from the views therein. 

 Stopping up the hole in the bottom of the flower 

 pot is scarcely a fair way to test the question. 

 You might as well say that a man does not need 

 water, and to prove it plunge him head and heels 

 in a water tank and keep him there. Plants 

 need water and men need water, but more than 

 they need is hurtful to both. You say " we want 

 moist air in the soil, not water." Why not say 

 also that man wants chyle, not food ? Man needs 

 food to form chyle, and plants need water to 

 make moist air in the soil about their roots. 

 Nay, more, plants must have water supplied to 

 them in such quantities that they can absorb it, 

 and appropriate at least some portion of the 

 quantity absorbed together with the other food 

 which it holds in solution. 



[Our correspondent is in some measure right. 

 The comparison by stopping up the hole in the 

 pot is hardly a fair one, and scarcely meets the 

 case ; still it seems as good a way as any of illus- 

 trating what we mean. The difference between 

 water and mere vapor is not great certainly, 

 and there can be little or no humid particles in 

 the foil unless water is given. In this sense 

 plants need water of course. That is, water must 

 bt; given to the earth in order to create this hu- 

 midity ; but after giving the earth this water, the 

 good cultivator must draw it away again as rap- 

 idly as possible. 



Oar correspondent kindly adds : " Two features 

 in the magazine strike me as particularly com- 

 mendable. 1st. You offer no chromos or other 

 useless premiums, and are not continuallj' blow- 

 ing your own horn, and 2d, you exclude adver- 

 tisements (cloaked or otherwise) from your read- 

 ing matter. My introduction to the Monthly was 

 maile in the Nov. No., but, from appearances, I 

 think the acquaintance will be continued for 

 some time to come." — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Disease in the L.\rch. — It is known that the 

 plantations of Larch in Scotland suffer much 

 from disease, and the planting has received a 

 check in consequence. At a recent meeting of the 

 Scottish Arboricultural Society, Mr. Gorrie, Rait 

 Lodge, read a paper on "The Failure of the 



