436 



JOUKNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ Jane 80, 1870. 



"Why these names were applied?" The Spanish Iria was 

 called Xiphinm angustifolium by Tonrnefort, and the English 

 Iris was called xiphioides, because it is like that Xiphium. 

 Both are natives of Spain, and the " English " Iris was so 

 called by the Dutch bulb-growers, who first obtained it from 

 England. 



GALVANISING PLANTS. 

 I saw the other day in a gentleman's 'garden a contiivance 

 Jo get an electric current to pass along a bed thus : — 



A was a zinc plate, e a coil of copper, and c a copper wire 

 Tunning on the top of the bed, and joining a and b. a and b 

 are bmied. It was supposed to encourage the growth of the 

 plants, and certainly some plants of Hollyhocks looked very 

 fine. Can yoa tell me if the supposition is correct? — A. 

 Dowtras. 



[A series of experiments conducted by Professor Solly in the 

 garden of the Eoyal Horticultural Society led some persons to the 

 conclusion that electricity has no influence over plants, but we 

 have strong doubts as to the soundness of the conclusion. At all 

 events Sir H. Davy has left this record : — " I found that corn 

 sprouted much mora rapidly in water positively electrified by 

 Jhe voltaic instrument than in water negatively electrified ; and 

 experiments miide upon the atmosphere show that clouds are 

 usually negative ; and as when a cloud is in one state of electri- 

 city the surface of the earth beneath is brought into the oppo- 

 site state, it is probable that in common cases the surface of 

 the earth is positive." Many other chemists have made experi- 

 ments. Eequerel found that seeds germinate quicker and more 

 ■rigorously when in contact with the copper plate than when 

 in contact with the zinc plate of a voltaic battery. It is also 

 found that tho leaves of the Sensitive Plant, Mimosa pudica. 

 close when a galvanic current is passed through the branches. 

 Other chemists have shown that the stalk end of the Apple 

 and Pear is positively electric, and the eye end negatively 

 electric ; but in the Peach, Apricot, and Plum these electric 

 states are reversed. The authorities who consider electricity 

 beneficial to plants are detailed in the first volume of the 

 " Eoyal Horticultural Society's Journal," by Prof. Solly, who 

 anally concluded that his experiments were opposed to the 

 idea that " free electricity has much influence " over plants. 

 -The gentleman you refer to should have had one row of Holly- 

 hocks ungalvanised and one row galvanised by the zinc and 

 copper arrangement. This would have afforded" a test. — Eds.] 



EFFECTS OF TRANSPLANTING A TREE AT 

 REST. 



I am in doubt about the following question. Can a wood bud 

 tie transformed into a bloom bud by lifting the tree in the 

 period of rest? A transplanted tree blooms more freely than 

 a similar tree undisturbed, and the inference is that from 

 amputation of roots in transplantaiion the wood buds have 

 not a supply of sap sufficient to make leaves, and so make 

 petals, which I understand are merely leaves in a feebler form. 

 — C. C. E. 



[" Can a wood bud be transformed into a bloom bud by lift- 

 ing the tree in the period of rest?" We answer, No. No 

 merely mechanical operation, such as the lifting or root-pruning 

 of the plant, without natural influences and natural agencies, 

 can tend to its further advancement or development. There is 

 mo transformation. We may, however, arrest or check develop- 

 ment, and this we do by transplanting. 



Bloom buds are parts far more highly developed than wood 

 bnds ; we may, indeed, call them fully-developed wood buds, 

 ifor their production are required the influences of far more 

 intense agencies — a greater degree of light, and a greater 

 degree of heat. 



According as the tree is influenced during its period cf 

 growth, so will the bloom or wood buds be the following year, 

 and every part is formed and settled before the period of rest, 

 as it is called, arrives. The parts being formed, then, it is im- 

 possible that they can be transformed, or that development 

 can still proceed while the plant is at rest, or that any mecha- 

 nical agency can cause it. Your theory that " a transplanted 

 tree blooms more freely than a similar one undisturbed " is 

 only true with respect to its existence after a season's growth. 



The action is this : In transplanting a tree we injure and 

 destroy a good many of the roots, and thus lessen its sources 

 of supply ; less sap is passed up into the tree, and less foliage 

 is produced. The sap, therefore, by being less in quantity, 

 is more influenced by the season, is more highly developed, 

 and bloom buds are formed where otherwise, if the sap had 

 been more abundant, wood buds only would have been. The 

 tree may be called weaker, but only in so far as the production 

 cf woody matter is concerned. This condition of the trans- 

 planted tree, however, is only caused through the natural in- 

 fluences of the succeeding season. 



It is a well-known fact amongst gardeners that only well- 

 ripened wood will produce fruit, as, for example, in Tines. It 

 is also well known, and we have ourselves proved it over and 

 over again, that to root-prune a tree severely, or to transplant, 

 or to pot a Vine or a Strawberry, not only will not transform 

 wood buds into bloom buds, but will very frequently destroy 

 what might have been bloom buds. We have transplanted 

 many hundreds of trees, and in no case have the bloom buds 

 been in any way increased until the following season. — B.] 



KITCHEN-GARDEN CROPPING— STRAWBERRY 

 AND BROCCOLI PLANTING. 



Me. Gilbeet says at page 420 of "our Journal," " I never let 

 Strawberries stand longer than two years." Does he mean to 

 say they will not produce any fruit worth speaking of after 

 that time, or does he mean not fit for exhibition purposes? 

 Surely Mr. Gilbert's soil is very light and poor if the foimer is 

 the case. His practice is quite the opposite of that which I 

 recommend to my friends here ; and after they had read Mr. 

 Gilbert's remarks they asked me if I thought they were going 

 to bury cartloads of manure in order to make a Strawberry bed 

 that would only last two years. I have always considered, if 

 the ground is well prepared and has any " heart," that Straw- 

 berry plants will produce a fine crop of fruit in the fourth 

 year, and even in the fifth with good management. In proof of 

 what I say I intend sending to the meeting at Kensington On 

 the 29th inst. some plants of Keens' Seedling which I forced 

 in March, 18G7, and then planted out, and they produced a 

 second crop, but small, the same season. If Mr. Gilbert be 

 there he will see the plants with the benies on ; the latter may 

 be small, as the best are overripe now, and we shall be obliged 

 to pick them. 



I hope to try Mr. Gilbert's mode of planting Broccoli. As 

 the soil is light and much more rain falls here than in many 

 parts of England, I have no doubt I shall be able to save more 

 Broccoli through the winter than I have done of late. Not 

 being able to get my Strawberries off in time — by the first 

 week in July — until the last two hot summers, I have been 

 obliged to adopt quite a different plan. Not having an over- 

 large kitchen garden, I plant early Potatoes in rows 2J feet 

 apart, and do not earth them up, and plant the Broccoli be- 

 tween the Potatoes. As soon as the Broccoli begins to grow 

 the Potatoes are generally ripe enouph to dig up. Broccoli is 

 succeeded in the following season by Peas in rows 8 feet apart, 

 with Celery between the Peas. The Peas afford shade to the 

 Celery. By planting such Broccoli as Imperial Winter, Late 

 May, &c, it comes off in good time for successions of Peas. — 

 T. Elcome. 



Me. Eichaed Stains. — The death of Mr. Eichard Stains 

 removed from our midst another of those floricultural worthies 

 that so largely helped to make the past of floriculture famous ; 

 while to some of them, and notably to Mr. Stains, it was given 

 that they should be valuable helpers in aiding its present develop- 

 ment. For many years he was a cultivator and exhibitor of 

 florists' flowers ; but during the latter years of his life, owing 

 to the claims of business, &c, he had almost entirely, if not 

 quite, abandoned their culture. He was a firm friend and con- 

 stant supporter of the once National Floricultural Society, he 

 was an active member of the Committee of Management on its 

 formation in 1851, and was the treasurer of the Society in 1859, 

 on the occasion of its dissolution. For many years also he was 

 one of the judges at the exhibitions of the Eoyal Botanic 

 Society in the Eegent's Park, and at the time of his being 

 stricken down with paralysis in 1863 a member of the Floral 

 Committee of the Eoyal Horticultural Society. His genial 

 character and open-handed hospitality were known to all who 

 came in contact with him ; and it was painful indeed to many 

 of his old friends and associates to know that, though living, he 



