262 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ AprU 11, 1867. 



think their opinions will be changed on the instant. The Vines 

 have been planted aboixt six yeara, and there are five rows of 

 four-inch pipes on the top of the border. To make a border 

 outside 12 feet wide, and 128 feet long, will cost Mr. Meredith, 

 I should think, not less than £130, as he will he obliged to 

 buy all the soil, bones, .tc. ; but, of course, he will not make the 

 whole width at once. He will, probably, make the border in 

 three four-feet sections, but he will bo obhged to make it, and 

 that soon, or spoil his magnificent Vines. I entered this house 

 at the east end, and the first Vine that met my view was a 

 Lady Downe's bearing tweuty-two bunches <jf beautiful Grapes 

 as black as sloes, the bunches averaging lUb. each, and 

 several of them would weigh not less than i^lhn. to 3 lbs. 

 What does " G. H.'* say to the show system of Vine-border 

 making after this ? 



I find I have omitted to mention that there is a front light 

 to this house which is opened by means of a spindle and lever ; 

 the light is 18 inches wide. At the time of my visit there 

 were hanging close to the front lights many bunches of Grapes 

 ■which reached from the top of the lights to the soil. Mr. Mere- 

 dith's reason for planting a large number of different kinds of 

 Grapes in this house is, that gentlemen about to plant may 

 select those most suitable to their taste and requirements. 



After passing by the Lady Downe's, the next Vine that Mr. 

 Meredith called my attention to was a Barbarossa, this had 

 three bunches, the united weight of which would not be less 

 than 30 lbs. The next Vine, a Lady Downe's, had sixteen fine 

 bunches, and then there was a Barbarossa with three bunches, 

 weighing about 20 lbs. The next that attracted my attention 

 was Child of Hale, with four bunches, the united weight of 

 which -would be about 36 lbs. ; one of the bunches I should 

 think would weigh 12 lbs. ; this measured IG inches across the 

 shoulders, and 17 inches in length. When standing under it 

 it appeared almost large enough to shelter one from a shower 

 of rain. This hunch was near the top of the Vine, and hung 

 just over the walk, so that I had a good chance of thoroughly 

 examining it. — J. Wills. 



(To be continued.) 



PtOY/VL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Dr. Masters, in his second lecture on Plant Architecture on Sa- 

 turday last, after recapitulating some of the more important heads of 

 his previous discourse, took for his subject the Root, that being the 

 first part which is protruded when the seed bef^ns to fserminate, and 

 constituting the basement of the vegetable edifice. After describiug 

 the usual mauner in which roots are formed, he remarked that adven- 

 titious roots, for such is the distinction usually made, may be emitted 

 from almost any part of a plant, and occasionally from the most ex- 

 traordinary places, as from the fruit of the Cucumber, and mentioned 

 that in France Cacti are occasionally propagated from cuttings of the 

 fruit. Some of the principal modifications of the root were then 

 pointed out, as well as the immediate causes of these. One important 

 nse of the root was to fix the plant in the ground, and Dr. Masters re- 

 marked any one who had visited Chveden must have been delighted 

 with the ancient Yew trees growing on a chalk cliff overhanging the 

 river. There the rugged roots not only help the trees themselves, but 

 perform an important office by keeping the chalk from slipping. One 

 reason for roots generally going downwards was that they thus more 

 effectually secure the plant from the wind ; but they did not always 

 assume a do\vnward direction, the Mistletoe and Cattleya citrina being 

 given as instances, in fact in the latter the roots actually go upwards. 

 Another most important office of the roots was to serve as a feedinfij 

 process, and in connection with the fact that they lent^then at their 

 points only, and their consequent power of insinuating themselves 

 into small cre^-iees, the lecturer referred to a plan proposed by an Irish 

 gentleman at the Botanical Congress in May last, of })lacing drain 

 pipes on stones instead of on soU, with the view of keeping the roots 

 oat of the pipes, by temptinj; them with moisture which would escape 

 from the latter among the stones. The importance of the feeding 

 roots being near the surface was then insisted on, and Dr. Masters 

 observed that he had lately been to Sawbridgeworth, where Mr. Rivers 

 had shown him trees growing most luxuriantly, with their roots liot- 

 ing near the surface in porous soil charged with manure. Some years 

 ago, when his orchard-house trees in pots were placed on a loose border 

 and httle or no surface -dressing was applied, the roots constantly 

 formed spiral coils in the pots, passing out at the bottom and then 

 throwing out fibres ; but now that the pots stand on a hard border, and 

 rich surface-dressings are given, the roots no longer become cork- 

 screwed, but form a mass of fibres in the pots. Roots also acted as 

 storehouses of food, their cells being filled with starch or sugar, and 

 often a large amount of water. Here, the lecturer said, he might men- 

 tion a curious circumstance which had only come to his notice last 

 week. Mr. Barron, the Superintendent at Chiswick, had sent up a 

 number of cuttings to the lecture, and on examining these under the 

 laicroBcope Dr. Masters said he found the cailas, or mass of cells 



formed by the cutting in striking, contained starch, which, no doubt, 

 would become converted into sugar. Hence he concluded that the 

 callus acted as a storehouse of nourishment for the future plant in the 

 same way as the seed and some kinds cf roots. After the importance 

 of fibrous roots in transplanting and in fruit-tree culture had been re- 

 ferred to, the Stem was announced as the subject of the next lectnre. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S MEETING. 



The first meeting of this Society for the month of March was held 

 on the 4th, the chair being taken by Mr. F. Smith, Vice-President. 



A small collection of Beetles and Lepidoptora collected in Mada- 

 gascar was presented by M. Fram^oi'i Pollen, of Leyden. Mr. F. 

 Bond exhibited some specimens of a small species of Ichneumon, of 

 which as many as 447 individuals had emerged in the larva state from 

 the body of a catei-pillar of Dasypolia Temph. This caterpillar is aa 

 undcrgi-ound feeder ; but about the time when it ought to have formed 

 its cocoon and undergone its change to the chrysalis state it crawled 

 above the surface of the earth, and almost simultaneously the entire 

 mass of these parasites burst through the skin in various parts of the 

 body, and each immediately shrouded itself in a small cocoon of its 

 own. leaving only the shrivelled-up skin of the unfortunate caterpillar 

 within which they had been reared. Mr. Bates inquhed whether those 

 larvai which are most subject to be attacked by Ichneumons are espe- 

 cially conspicuous from their pecuhar colouring. 



Mr. A. R. Wallace requested members to make observations to assist 

 him to a solution of a difficulty connected with the colours of insects. 

 Mr. Darwin had come to the concluyion that, as a rule in natui'e, 

 brilhant colouring was due to sexual selection ; but in opposition to 

 this the brilliant colours of many larv», particularly of Lepidoptera, 

 might be adduced. Mr. Wallace suggested that the brilliantly coloured 

 larvre were those which were distasteful to birds, and it was on this 

 point that he desired to obtain statistics. If this suggestion should 

 ])rove to be well founded it would afford a solution of the difficulty. 

 Many caterpillars were known to he mimetic, imitating the flowers on 

 which they fed ; others were hairy or spiny, and thus obtained pro- 

 tection from their enemies ; some were agreeable and others distasteful 

 to birds. But he had observed that a very shght wound was sufficient 

 to kill a growing larva ; and if it was seized by a bird, though after- 

 wards rejected as naiiseous, its death would nevertheless ensue : con- 

 sequently the distasteful larvai requii'ed for theh preservation some- 

 thing which would distinguish them from those upon which birds 

 delight to prey ; and their brilliant colour was such a distinction, and 

 mipht supplv to the distasteful larvse that protection which to the 

 others was afforded by mimicry or other causes. 



The following papers were read : — 1, " On the habits of a species of 

 Phasma found in Jamaica," by Mr. C. B. King. 2, " Notes on the 

 Genus Raphidia," by Dr. Hagen. 3, " Description of Damaster anri- 

 collis, a new Caribideons insect from Japan ;'' and 4, '* Notes on 

 DipehcuF. (Hope), a Genus of Dynastideous Lamellicom Beetles," both 

 by Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse. 



The second meeting for the month of March was held on the ISth, 

 Professor Westwood, V.P., in the absence of the President, being in 

 the chair. Amongst the donations announced as received since the 

 preceding meeting were the "Transactions" of the Natural History 

 Society of Lyons ; and the first number of a new periodical work, 

 '* Insectologie Agricole," devoted to economic entomology, published 

 in Paris. The President announced that the Council of the Society 

 had in contemplation the publication of a general catalogue of British 

 insects, the different orders to be undertaken by gentlemen versed in 

 each ; but inasmuch as but little attention had hitherto been paid to 

 the order Diptera, or Two-winged Flies, the members of the Society 

 were recommended to devote some portion of their attention to col- 

 lecting those insects during the ensuing season, noticing especially the 

 locality and time of capture of each specimen, so as to furnish the 

 Council with facilities for completing that portion of the catalogue. 



Mr. F. Smith read a memoir containing descriptions of a number 

 of new species of Ants belonging to the remarkable family Crypto- 

 ceridoB, of which he had already published a monograph in the "■ Trans- 

 actions" of the Society. The new species now described were natives 

 of Australia, Borneo, Brazil, and Mexico, and many of them are 

 remarkable for their curious forms. The number of known species 

 now amounts to sixty-eight. 



The Secretary also read ft paper, forwarded to the Society by Capt. 

 T. Hutton from India, " On Species and Varieties," in opposition to 

 the views of Mr. Darwin, and with especial reference to the modifica- 

 tion of the species and races of Shlrworms and other domesticated 

 species of animals. 



rORTRxUTS OF TLANTS AND FLOWERS. 



Saccolabium giganteum (Gigantic Saccolabinm). — Nat. ord., 

 Orchidacea?. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. First grown at 

 the Bishop of Winchester's, Faruham, but recently Messrs. 

 Veitch have had it from Rangoon. It was exhibited at one of 

 the Tuesday Meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, ex- 

 citing, as well it might, universal admiration. The flowers, 

 which are more agreeably perfumed than those of S. violaceum, 

 continue in beauty for nearly a quarter of a year. As to cul- 



