156 



23. — MiSCELLANEOTTS NoTES AND ObSEEVATIONS. 



[Read 12th December, 1878.] 



EoTANT. 



Eucalyptus ghhulosa at Watford. — As this tree is attracting a 

 good deal of attention Just now, on account of its many valuable 

 qualities, it may be interesting to record the result of some experi- 

 ments in growing the tree at AVatford. Mr. King sowed some 

 seeds in a hot-bed on February 10th, 1874, and on July 18th the 

 height was 17 inches. A plant was kept in a pot and protected 

 from the frost till it was planted in the garden at Wiggenhall, 

 Watford, in June, 1877 : it was then 13 feet high. It died during 

 the following winter. One of the trees of the same age was given 

 to the E-ev. W. Walsh, who planted it in a sheltered corner of the 

 8t. Andrew's Parsonage garden. It was protected by matting. It 

 lived through the winter of 1877-78. I saw it in September, 

 1878 ; it looked healthy, and it appeared to be growing fast. Miss 

 Bailey Smith has one of these trees also. I saw it in her garden, 

 Watford Fields, in October, 1878. It had been exposed two 

 winters ; it was very tall, and it looked generally healthy, but 

 some of the leaves were brown, as if frost-bitten. In the winter 

 it is protected by the boughs of fir trees. Among ourselves efforts 

 to naturalise this tree out of doors have almost always failed, 

 for the cold Engiisli winters and springs kill the saplings even 

 in sheltered situations. Eucalyptus ylohulosa requires as mild a 

 climate as the orange, its zone having now been pretty accu- 

 rately defined by botanists. — Alfred T. Brett, M.D., Watford House. 



Fertilisation of Aucuba Japonica.'^' — Possibly the explanation of 

 Dr. Brett's Auctcba Japonica bearing berries, and Mr. Humbert's not, 

 is this. The male blooms much earlier than the female, and requires 

 to be kept back in a cold corner; the female most likely had a 

 warm aspect, and the male a cold one. I have several male 

 trees, and get plenty of berries on the females, grown side by 

 side ; but the pollen from the male remains active for a long time ; 

 I believe for more than a year, and is often carried a long distance, 

 fertilising the female. Some of the male plants have leaves even 

 more beautiful than the female. I have one which is so. The 

 others are quite plain green ; the berries at first are also a bright 

 green, and the winter frosts seem to turn them red. The berries 

 that are now on them are from last year. As these berries are 

 likely through the introduction of male plants to become more 

 common, it might possibly be wise to warn people if they are 

 poisonous, which I think is likely. — Ricardo Palmer, Bushey. 



* See ' Transactions,' Vol. I, p. 111. 



