18 ON THE CONTINUED CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 



sequently from the lower end of the column. Right and left of 

 its base are placed two softisli flesliy pale ear-liUe lobes, which 

 are organs of secretion, a sweet fluid continually dripping from 

 them as long as the flower is in vigour. At the other end this 

 horizontal arm expands into a convex cap or hood, hairy in front 

 but bald on the crown; a little compressed from the back, and 

 two inches across in its principal diameter. From the cap hangs 

 down a large fleshy goblet smooth at the edges, flattened at the end, 

 two inches deep and as many wide, and connected with the cap 

 by a hollowed fleshy stalk, which is strongly marked by various 

 transverse fleshy folds, warts, and ridges ; into tliis goblet drips 

 the honey, secreted by the two ears at the base of the horizontal 

 arm which carries the lip. On the "side next the column the 

 goblet is opened, and near the bottom of this opening it is fur- 

 nished with three fleshy sharp-pointed lobes, of wliich tlie lateral 

 curve downwards and the middle one stands erect, rising just 

 high enough to come in contact with tlie liead of the column, 

 which grows downwards so far as almost to touch it. 



The column is a large fleshy club-shaped body two inches and 

 a half long, and throwing back its head till its bosom becomes 

 so round and large as to be comparable to the breast of a 

 " puffer " pigeon. The head of the column divides into two 

 short flat fleshy curved arms, between which the anther is 

 seated. 



This extraordinary species is perfectly distinct from Cory- 

 anthes macrantha, not only in size, but in the form of the cap, 

 its hairiness, the truncated termination downwards of the goblet, 

 and the plaits or tubercles that occur on tlie stalk of the latter. 

 Its flower is the largest yet known among orchids. 



III. — Memorandum of an Experiment on the Continued Cul- 

 tivation of Wheat, in the Gardens of the Horticidtural 

 Society. By Edward Solly, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry 

 to the Society. 



(Communicated Oct. 23, 1847.) 



In the year 1843 a portion of ground in the Experimental 

 Garden of the Horticultural Society was sown with Talavera 

 spring wheat, and manured with a series of different saline sub- 

 stances. It was proposed to continue the cultivation of wheat 

 for several seasons in the same ground, and with the same 

 manures, applied precisely as the first year ; the crop obtained 

 each year being not only carefully measured, but likewise pre- 

 served, in order that it might subsequently be submitted to 

 chemical examination, should it appear desirable. This experi- 



