Novcnibor la, 1366. 



JOURI^AL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



309 



as much us 20*. per sieve (bushel), for early sorts, and the price 

 has been as low as Is. 6d.. but the average of four or five 

 years would give Is. to 5s. per sieve. Two advantages l'lums 

 have over other standard fruits — they soon mako a return for 

 the first outlay, and they fill up the void between the Cherry 

 crop and the harvest of Apples and Pears. — Thos. Buxyard 

 and Sons, i; 



EEtESINE HEBBSTIL 



I can unreservedly give my testimony from the west as to 

 the value of this plant' for flower-garden decoration. I have 

 this season seen it at many places round here, and it was 

 everywhere doing well. From about the end of July to Sep- 

 tember (I write from observation), it formed masses of a beau- 

 tiful bronzy crimson, yet varying much in tone of colour accord- 

 ing to situation and culture; from September to the present 

 time all the plants which I have seen appear to have changed 

 to a more crimson hue, greatly enhancing the usefulness of the 

 plant for late decoration. 



In my home garden, in the centre of the town of Taunton, I 

 have a circle of the Iresine, close and regular in growth, 1 foot 

 high, and lj foot through, it having been stopped and thinned 

 out only twice during the season. It is of such a bright colour 

 as to offer a perfect contrast to the Perilla, constituting another 

 row in the same bed. I have found a good number of branches 

 of much brighter colour than others ; these I have carefully cut 

 out, and I hope to propagate them and perpetuate the colour. 



I plant out strong plants, making the soil rich, and give 

 plenty of water. I contrast the colour with light-foliaged 

 plants or yellow Calceolarias, by which means its beauty is 

 greatly heightened when not quite so bright as at present. — 

 Robert H. Poyxter, Taunto ■ 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



Bp.aciiystelma Barberi.e (Mrs. Barber's Brachystelma). — 

 Nat. ord., Asclepiadaceaj. Linn., Pentandria Digynia. Native 

 of the river valleys of Kaffirland, South Africa. A tuberous- 

 rooted plant. — (Botanical Magazine, t. 5607.) 



Nierehbergia rivularis | Water Nierernbergia). — Nat. ord., 

 Solanacea\ Linn., Pentandria Digynia. Native of the banks 

 of the river La Plata; introduced by Messrs. Veitch, Royal 

 Exotic Nurseries, Chelsea. Flowers white. — {Ibid., t. 5608.) 



Notylia dicolor (Two-coloured Notylia). — Nat. ord., Or- 

 chidace.c Linn., Gynandria Monandria. A diminutive gem, 

 about 1 J inch high. Found on Oaks in the mountains of Coma- 

 lapan. Flowers lilac, spotted with blue. — {Ibid., t. 5609.) 



Glyi>h.ea Moxieiroi (Monteiro's Glyphaea). — Nat. ord., 

 Tiliacea?. Linn., Polyandria Monogynia. Native of Sierra 

 Leone, and other parts of western Africa. Flowers yellow. — 

 {Ibid., t. 5(510.) 



Vaxda Bensoki (Colonel Benson's Yanda). — Nat. ord., Or- 

 chidacea;. Linn., Gynandria Monandria. Native of Rangoon ; 

 sent by Col. Benson to Messrs. Veitch. Flowers yellowish 

 green, with reddish brown spots. — (Ibid., t. 5611.) 



Pentstemox Jaffbayanus. — Supposed to be a cross between 

 P. speciosus and some other species. Light blue streaked with 

 purple. — (Floral Moo., pi. 313.) 



Fancy Pelargoniums. — Sylvia, pink with white border. 

 Liberty, crimson with white border. Raised by Mr. Turner, of 

 Slough.— (Ibid., pi. 314.) 



Gladiolus. — Milton, creamy white, flamed with pale crimson 

 and purple, liaised by M. Souchet. — [Ibid.,j)l. 315). 



Alternaxtiieea sessilis rar. AiicEXA. — A variegated-leaved 

 variety. Leaves variously coloured with crimson, yellowish 

 brown, and green. — [Ibid., pi. 318.) 



Pelargoxium. — Dr.Hogg — "This was raised from the ori- 

 ginal stock of Beaton's hybrids, by Mr. Win. Paul, of the Nur- 

 series, Waltham Cross. Beaton's race is now so widely known, 

 and so generally appreciated, that it scarcely requires any com- 

 mendation at our hands. The majority of kinds have been 

 planted extensively in the Boyal Gardens at Kew, and at Bat- 

 tersea ; and while by means of their introduction the range of 

 colour among Pelargoniums is materially extended, it is also 

 found that these hybrids flower more profusely, and are less 

 spoiled by the weather — be it sun, wind, or rain — than the 

 kinds derived from other sources. Alexandra, Amy Hogg, 

 Indian Yellow, Duchess, Glowworm, Orange Nosegay, Mrs. Wm. 

 Paul, and Waltham Seedling, are now almost universally known 



and appreciated ; and their successors Fairy Queen, Nimrod, 

 Peach Nosegay, Robecca, St. George, Sir J. Paxton, Lord Chan- • 

 cellor, Tiara, Salmon Nosegay, and Waltham Lilac, have already 

 found their way into many of our principal gardens. Dr. Hogg, 

 which is as yet in the hands of the raiser, and will not be sold 

 before May, 1867, is an improvement in form on the preceding, 

 and has more of tho blue or purple shade of colour than any 

 previously announced. When shown in the sul lit of 



the exhibition tent it has some resemblanco to Ai ', but 



when seen in masses out of doors, in tho full (■!■ t day, 



it is of an entirely different shado of colour; and the- plant is 

 of so dense a growth, and the flowering so free, that it is worthy 

 of a place in the most limited flower garden." — (Florbi and 

 l'omoloyist.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS 



Tue gardeners' examinations, to which wo referred in our 

 last, have been fixed to be held at the office of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society, South Kensington, on Tuesday, the 18th of 

 December, and all candidates are requested to send in their 

 names to the Secretary of the Society not later than Tuesday, 

 December 11th. Any further information may be obtained by 

 communicating to the Secretary. 



It has been finally determined that tho long-talked-of 



Royal Horticultural Society's country Show shall lie held at 

 Bury St. Edmunds next year, in conjunction with that of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, the corporation of Bury and tho 

 local Horticultural Society having nobly come forward and 

 guaranteed the sum of £000 towards the expenses. 



We regret to learn that a large number of the salmon in 



the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens at South Kensington; 

 have been accidently destroyed whilst some of the water-pipes 

 were under repair, probably poisoned by red lead used for that 

 purpose. 



Boussixgault in his researches on the action of foliage 



has shown — 



1, That leaves exposed to sunshine in pure carbonic acid do 

 not decompose this gas at all, or only with extreme slowness. 



2, But in a mixture with atmospheric air, they decompose 

 carbonic acid rapidly. Tho oxygen of the atmospheric air, 

 however, appears to play no part. 



3, Leaves decompose carbonic acid in sunshine as readily 

 when this gas is mixed with nitrogen or with hydrogen. 



He proves that a leaf which has been decomposing carbonic 

 acid and water all day long is capable of doing the same work 

 the next day, if not allowed to dry, but the losing of a certain 

 amount of water annihilates this faculty, and irremediably 

 destroys the life of the cells of a leaf, vegetable life in this state 

 being far less tenacious than that of seme of the lower animals 

 (Tardigrades, Notipes, &c), which bear wonderful desiccation. 



It appears that detached leaves, kept in shade for many days, 

 with the cut end of the petiole in water to prevent desiccation, 

 preserve the power of decomposing carbonic acid whenever 

 brought into sunshine. But for this they must be kept in an 

 atmosphere containing a supply of oxygen ; without this they 

 soon die, as Boussingault thinks, from asphyxia. The oxygen 

 in darkness is slowly transformed into carbonic acid, through 

 an operation which is presumed to go on continually, whether 

 in light or darkness, and to answer to respiration. Of course 

 a healthy and active leaf decomposes far more carbonic acid 

 in the light than it forms in darkness. In eighteen experi- 

 ments with Oleander leaves exposed to the sun from 8 a.m. to 

 5 p.m., in an atmosphere rich in carbonic acid, a square metre 

 of foliage decomposed on the average over a litre of carbonic 

 acid per hour, while in darkness only 0.70 of a litre of car- 

 bonic acid was produced per hour. In air which contains 

 oxygen and carbonic acid, leaves will go on indefinitely pro- 

 ducing oxygen in the presence of carbonic acid, and carbonic 

 acid in the presence of oxygen. But the latter, though re- 

 latively small in amount, seems to be necessary to the preser- 

 vation of their vitality. In hydrogen, carburetted hydrogen, or 

 nitrogen, as well as in pure carbonic acid, they soon lose their 

 decomposing power, and die from the impossibility of respira- 

 tion —i.e. are asphyxiated. 



Leaves confined in a limited portion of atmospheric or other 

 air over mercury, lose the power of decomposing carbonic acid ; 

 and the experiments pretty clearly show that they lose it 

 through the deleterious action of the vapour of mercury. It 

 is thought remarkable that the leaf does not under these cir- 

 cumstances at all lose the power of transforming oxygen into 



