ACID-SOIL PLANTS—COVILLE 373 
in Plate 6 was taken, they were in a healthy condition contrasting 
sharply with the bad condition of the plants shown in Plate 5, 
which had received no aluminum sulphate. The experiment shows 
that for this period, three years, the beneficial effect of the aluminum- 
sulphate treatment was continuing and cumulative. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH FRANKLINIA 
One of the rarest and most beautiful of trees is Franklinia alata- 
maha, a species discovered in 1765 by John Bartram on the Alta- 
maha River in Georgia (at that time spelled Alatamaha) and named 
by William Bartram in honor of Benjamin Franklin. It belongs 
to the same family as tea and camellia and in late summer and 
autumn produces a succession of beautiful white, sweet-scented 
flowers 2 to 4 inches in diameter, with a mass of brilliant golden 
stamens in the center. The species has been referred by some 
botanists to the genus Gordonia, under the technical name G. pubes- 
cens, G. altamaha, or G. alatamaha, but its peculiar pods and seeds 
mark it as a distinct genus. All the plants have disappeared from 
the only place at which it has ever been found in a wild state. 
It is now known, therefore, only in cultivation. From experiments 
that I began in 1911 it was found that the tree is an acid-soil species, 
that it is easily propagated from cuttings and seeds, and that it grows 
luxuriantly and flowers profusely in the very acid soils of the pine 
barrens of New Jersey. Its rarity in cultivation and its reputation 
as a difficult plant to grow have been due chiefly to a lack of under- 
standing of its soil requirements. 
To obtain material to illustrate the behavior of franklinia in 
acid and nonacid soils a new experiment was begun on February 
8, 1923. Ten well-rooted, dormant, leafless cuttings were potted in 
3-inch porous earthenware pots in a standard acid-soil mixture 
consisting of two parts of kalmia peat and one part of sand. Eleven 
other rooted cuttings of franklinia were potted in the same manner 
in a neutral soil consisting of one part of rotted turf loam, one 
part of well-rotted cow manure, and one part of sand. Both lots 
were plunged in sand in a greenhouse maintained at 55° F. at night 
and 70° during the day. The plants varied somewhat in size, but 
they were selected pair by pair so that the two lots were exactly 
comparable except for the soil in which they were potted. 
Eight weeks later all 10 plants in the acid soil were growing 
well, their leaves of a healthy green color, and their average height 
41% inches. Of the 11 plants in the neutral soil 2 were dead. The 
9 that were alive had yellowish-green leaves, and their height 
averaged 314 inches. 
20837—27——25 
