184 



THE GARDENEB'S MONTHLY 



[June, . 



colony. The bees which have just left England 

 for the antipodes were in two separate nests, 

 which had been procured by Mr. Frank Buck- 

 land, and packed in a suitable box, where they 

 were supplied with everything necessary for the 

 voyage, including honey, farina, water, &c. 

 They are very fine specimens of the humble bee. 

 The exact number is not known, as many of the 

 eggs are not yet hatched. They are placed under 

 the care of Mr. John Hall, a member of the 

 Council of Xew Zealand, who takes a stock of 

 ice for the purpose of keeping down the temper- 

 ature of the nests while passing through the 

 tropics." 



Freezing of the Sap of Plants. — Our read- 

 ers know that we have furnished innumerable 

 evidences that the juices of plants do not freeze, 

 and the plants so frozen continue to live. And 

 how strangely some of our friends quite distin- 

 guished in science persist in ignoring these facta. 

 One of them. President Clark, when the observa- 

 tions referred to were brought to his notice, 

 deeming them of no further importance than 

 the short reply, "Of course the sap freezes." 

 In spite, however, of these contemptuous ex- 

 pressions, we hope to be pardoned for continuing 

 to place on record such facts as seem to prove 

 the point. 



In the Gardener s Chronicle of March 25th a 

 correspondent, B. Piffard, records an exjjeriment 

 made with the juice of the cabbage leaf. Two 

 glasses, one filled with pure water, the other 

 with water and the juice of cabbage leaves, were 

 placed side by side in a frosty atmosphere. At 

 the point where the pure water froze the solution 

 of cabbage juice remained liquid. And he goes 

 on to infer, as we have often done, " that if a 

 plant survive a degree of cold at which other 

 plants perish, their preservation is attributable 

 to the non-congelation of the sap." Does 

 it not occur to the reader that something more 

 than " Of coui-se not " is required from President 

 Clark and our other friends to set aside such 

 reasoning a« this ? 



Fertiliz.vtion of Lilies. — Those who are inter- 

 ested in the fertilization of flowers would do well to 

 watch how Lilies behave in nature, as well as to 

 experiment with them under culture. Mr. Park- 

 man found the pollen of some kinds had potency 

 for fertilization, but with very little power to 

 stamp its own characteristics on the progeny. 

 The cases of this power were very few, and Lil- 

 ium Parkmani was the chief result. In naturie 



some species show a very prolific character — L. 

 superbum, for instance, usually producing seeds' 

 from every flower. On the other hand, Lilium 

 Canadense, even when the flower is crossed by 

 foreign pollen, for which much is claimed by 

 some physiologists, is very often barren. 



When the Lilium auratum (a sketch of which 

 accompanies this) was first introduced much 

 was expected in the way of hybrids, but so far 

 little has been done except in the case of L. 

 Parkmani, 



Effect of Weight on Tendrils. — A remark- 

 ably interesting paper has recently been contri- 

 buted to the Gardener's Chronicle by Mr. D. T. 

 Fish, showing how weight influences the pro- 

 duction of fruit in the grape-vine. We leave out 

 what Mr. Fish says about the nature of grape- 

 vine tendrils, because morphologists now know 

 that a bunch of grapes is nothing but a set of 

 transformed branches, and that a tendril is the 

 same thing in a lower stage of development. We 

 also leave out Mr. Fish's explanation, because 

 that has been better explained by the author of 

 "Waste Force in Vegetation." The interesting 

 facts of Mr. Fish are, however, worthy of careful 

 thought. He says : 



" Having charge of a large vinery at the 

 Messrs. Tattersalls', Hyde Park Corner, London, 

 between thirty and forty years ago, he found 

 that though he could command good shows of 



