October 9, 1873. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDLTURB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



271 



to act several minutes. Xo external phenomenon was produced, 

 and after the wires were withdrawn the Apple remained ad- 

 herent to the stem. After some days it fell off, while the other 

 Apples remained, and seemed to have a less advanced ripeness 

 than the detached one. Thus the current appears to have 

 hastened the maturity of the fruit; hut it also altered its tissue, 

 for the Apple soon gave signs of decomposition, and after some 

 days was completely decayed. Similar experiments were made 

 on Pears and Peaches, and with like results. 



We next made the current act on seeds which had been 

 rendered conductive by immersion some time in water. The 

 seeds were Pea, French Bean, and corn. After having electri- 

 fied them, we sowed them in pots filled with good garden earth, 

 and for comparison we put in the same earth, and under the 

 same conditions of heat and humidity, seeds which had not 

 been electrified. 



The electrified Peas were placed iu a chamber the constant 

 temperature of which was 20° C. They commenced to germi- 

 nate in about three days, while those which had not been 

 electrified gave no appearance of germination for six days. 

 The former showed a much more rapid growth, but they were 

 overtaken by the others, which ere long attained the same size. 



The corn presented nothing remarkable. The electrified 

 seeds germinated somewhat more rapidly than the others, but 

 we did not observe a great difference in the manner of the 

 growth of the stem. 



It appears from the experiments that the action of electricity 

 affects substances enveloping the embryo rather than the 

 embryo itself. Disaggregating the tissue which contains nutri- 

 tive matter, it hastens germination, but it does not seem to 

 produce any change in the manner in which the seed is de- 

 veloped. 



En resume. — The induction current acts in an energetic 

 manner on plants, and produces effects analogous to those 

 observed in animals. Thus in the latter, the electric current 

 determines contractions which, intensified to a certain degree, 

 may bring on death through disorganisation of tissue. Simi- 

 larly in plants electricity enfeebles the vitality of tissues, and 

 even destroys them completely, through action too energetic 

 or too long continued. — (Abstract of a paper in the Slonitetir 

 ScieiitififfUf Quesneville, by M. Blondeau. — English Mechanic.) 



APRICOT SHEDS. 



I AM more than ever convinced that the culture of what are 

 generally called wall fruits under the glass roof of an open 

 shed, such as I described in the .Journal last year, will become 

 general. The one built by Mr. Foster has now been tested 

 four years, and his trees have borne three very heavy and one 

 fair crop of Apricots in the time. I went to look at it the 

 other day, and saw a Nectarine with about 130 fine fruit upon 

 it, which were finer than any wall fruit I have seen in the 

 neighbourhood this season. A Eivers's Prolific Plum tree 

 yielded 3.5 lbs. of Plums, though many of the fruit had been 

 previously gathered and eaten as they ripened, and all the 

 trees were most satisfactory. These trees are never watered 

 or syringed, and, in fact, are no trouble, except now and then 

 when the shoots are tied to the wires, or the fruit requires 

 thinning or gathering. I do not say they might not benefit 

 by an occasional cleaning of the foliage with the syringe, for 

 I think they would ; I only know they never get it. — J. E. 

 Peabsos, Chilwell. 



GRAPES IN A WASHHOUSE. 



The notes entitled "Evening Musings for Plain People," 

 recommending Vine-culture, were exceedingly attractive, as 

 well as instructive, and ought to be much appreciated by all 

 amateurs. 



In confirmation of what your correspondent afiirms, there is 

 in the village of Eusholme, near Manchester, a crop of Black 

 Hamburgh Grapes produced in a washhouse, apparently a most 

 unlikely place, and cultivated by an amateur who follows a 

 Tery different business from horticulture. 



The washhouse is placed with its end against the dwelling, 

 covering the kitchen window, and is about 12 feet square, the 

 walls C feet high all round, on which is placed a span-roof of 

 glass, with three brick compartments for three Vines, a door 

 opening into a yard on one side, another to the kitchen, which 

 is mostly open — at least it is always so when I have called. 

 Some ladies to whom I mentioned the fact seemed to have little 

 faith in the matter antil I took them to see, and their astonish- 



ment was great to find four washerwomen scrubbing away, and 

 over their heads 373 bunches of useful Grapes enveloped in 

 steam and no decay amongst them. Perhaps I ought to state 

 that the place is partially heated from a small boiler at the 

 back of the kitchen firefilace with a flow and return of 2-inch 

 gas-piping. There is also a miscellaneous collection of plants 

 in the washhouse. — J. Wright, Rusholme. 



TAKING-UP POTATOES EARLY. 



In your last number you say in your note to the commiini- 

 cation on the Potato disease, that the real safeguard is to dig- 

 up the tubers in August ; but here, in Lincolnshire, our Pota- 

 toes are not ripe till September and October, and I have some 

 Efd-skinned Flourballs that are nothing like fit even now. 

 What are we to do? I wish you would advise us in your 

 answers to your correspondents next week. Are we to take 

 them up before they are fit, or wait and take our chance of 

 disease ? 



You will be glad to learn that there is little or no disease, 

 at all events in this parish ; parishioners and parson mutually 

 congratulating each other when we meet. — H. M., Louth, 

 Lincolnshire. 



[The resource is to plant varieties that ripen earHer. Ripen- 

 ing is accelerated by planting on the ridge system. Your late- 

 ripening sorts we recommend to be taken up immediately you 

 find the skin of the tubers cannot be removed by rubbing them 

 gently with the finger.] 



FLOWERS FOR OUR BORDERS.— No. 18. 



BEEBEBI8 DAEWINII.— Darwin's Baebeeky. 



Few gardens are now without an example of the evergreen 

 species of Berberis ; and the general characteristics of this 

 valuable tribe of plants are, therefore, pretty well known. 

 Less robust in its growth than some others of this genus, and 

 with foliage inferior in size to the pinnated leaves of the 

 Mahonias, the Berberis Darwinii yet possesses in its elegant 

 pendant racemes of flowers, an attraction pecuUar to itself, and 

 which fully justified the high praise bestowed upon it, on its 

 first introduction, in the principal horticultural publications of 

 the day. 



The Berberries are very widely diffused throughout the 

 temperate regions of the globe. Those more commonly seen 

 in cultivation are of North American origin ; several valuable 

 species are natives of Asiatic climes ; whilst the Berberis Dar- 

 winii comes to us from bleak Patagonia, whose shores are now 

 invested with so melancholy an interest from the painful death 

 of Captain Gardiner and his fellow missionaries. It appears to 

 be also indigenous to the Chilian territory, including the island 

 of ChUoe. On its native mountains it is often found grow- 

 ing near the summer limit of snow, and is therefore hkely to 

 prove quite as hardy as the North American species, which 

 are known to bear our winters admirably. B. Darwinii is dis- 

 tinguished from nearly all the other species by the ferruginous 

 pubescence of the young shoots. The leaves, although small, 

 are so thickly disposed upon the branches that these are qui,te 

 concealed. 



The beauty of the plant is much enhanced by the purplish 

 tint of the peduncles, which contrasts admirably with the rich 

 orange yellow of the flowers and deep glossy green of the 

 foUage. Like the other species it delights in a free loamy soil, 

 and may be readily increased by cuttings, division, or seed. It 

 has in fact been recently propagated to so great an extent as 

 to become available for planting as game cover, for which it is 

 said to be well adapted, as are several other species, winged 

 game being fond of their subacid fruit. 



The genus Berberis is now usually divided into two sections 

 — viz., the true Berberries with simple foliage, and the Ash 

 Berberries, formerly known as Mahonias, and still classed as 

 such in many trade catalogues. 



The section with simple leaves, of which the Berberis Dar- 

 winii is an example, are remarkable for the strong pungent 

 spines found at the base of the fascicles of leaves. These are 

 entirely wanting in tlie Mahonias, or those Berberries furnished 

 with pinnated foliage ; a circumstance quite in accordance with 

 the views entertained by most botanists with regard to the 

 origin of these somewhat formidable organs. 



The Berberis aquifolia should be in every garden, and it 

 thrives in any moderately good soil, especially if a little 

 shaded. The species repens, umbollata, empetrifolia, and 

 fascicularis, are all attainable for a very reasonable sum, and 



