^9§ 



P 



I once suggested to the present Mr. Lewis Harcourt tliat tliis 

 characteristic Parliamentary anecdote should be recorded on the 

 Temperate House itself/' 



Kew and the War. — Of the two hundred and five men serving: 

 m various capacities on the staff of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, 

 one hundred and fifty are between the ages of 18 and 45, Of these 

 up to the present forty-six are now serving with His Majesty's 

 forces on land or sea. At the outbreak of hostilities ten men, 

 Reservists and Territorials, were summoned to the colours. Two 

 of these were members of tlie Eoyal Fleet Reserve, and two 

 members of the Territorial force. 



Four ex-soldiers have rejoined the colours as instructors in the 

 New Army. Three of these were members of the uniformed 

 section (two constables and one museum porter), and one from the 

 labour force who had seen long service in India. Six ex-soldiers 

 have also rejoined the ranks. 



Twenty-six members of the staff have enlisted either in the Army 

 itself or in the New Army since the beginning of the war, and the 

 recruits have been as follows : 



Foreman, 1. Herbarium Porters, 2. 



Sub-foreman, 1. Labourers, 6. 



Young Gardeners, 10. Carters, 2. 



Garden Boys, 3. Horse Boy, 1. 



One of the young gardeners has already been promoted to the 

 highest rank among the non-cominissioned oflB.cers. It should be 

 pointed out that one young gardener was already a member of 

 the Territorial force, and is counted among those called out ut 

 the commencement of the war. 



Transmission of Cuttings from Abroad. — Some remarks on 



this question were published in the Kew Bulletin of the present 

 year, see *' Hints for Collectors," p. 98. Supplementing them, 

 the following observations, suggested partly by directions given 

 in a valuable publicafion of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, entitled '" How to send living plant material to 



America, '* are now^ offered. 



The term cutting should be taken to include also '* scions,'' or 

 pieces of living branchlets used for grafting. It is more often 

 possible to establish imported twigs as grafts on stocks of an older 

 species of the same genus than it is to make them take roo't on their 

 own account. In selecting pieces to send, they should, if from 

 deciduous trees, be sent in the winter or leafless state, and they may 

 be nine inches or more long. Growths well ripened and of average 

 vigour should be chosen, neither too gross and sappy on the one 

 hand, nor too weak and twiggy on the other. Shoots scarcely the 

 thickness of a penholder are on the whole the most convenient size 

 for grafting, and in cases where the one-season wood is much more 

 slender than that, two-season shoots should be sent. Cuttings for 

 rooting are nearly always made of one-season -wood. Shoots of 

 woodv evergreens! like hollies or oaks, if to be sent long journeys. 



