278 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



All plants, he said, in his second lecture, under whatsoever conditions they lived 

 — -whether on the earth, in salt water or in fresh — were divided into flowering 

 plants, or those that bring forth seeds and fruits, and non-flowering or cryptogamic, 

 whose fructification is concealed. The latter class, which until lately received 

 but scant attention from botanists, included such familiar forms as fungi, lichens, 

 mosses, ferns, and so on. Of this class, also, were such diseases as smut and rust 

 in barley. Seaweeds, which were of this class, were well known in appearance to 

 everyone; in reality, they were exceedingly small structures, commencing with, 

 cells. An examination of seaweeds would show them to be possessed of a large 

 quantity of mucilaginous material, which was secreted from the minerals in the 

 ocean by absorption, but not by means of the roots, as was the case with some 

 other kinds of vegetation. By this means they not only built up the solid parts of 

 their frames, but served to keep the sea pure. From capsules gt owing at the end 

 of branch-like projections were emitted male and female spores, which having 

 served the object of reproduction, were cast in some nook in the ocean to begin 

 life as seaweeds. Mr. Taylor proceeded to speak of the microscopic fungi, of which 

 he said there were at least three thousand species ; they grew in the utmost luxuri- 

 ance ; and assumed such strange conditions that it required no small amount of 

 observation to follow them through their various changes. The transitions by 

 which the caterpillar passes to the gorgeous butterfly, which had always been held 

 to be the most wonderful instance of metamorphosis that could take place without 

 changing the individual organism, were nothing as compared with the different con- 

 ditions of these fungi. The best known of this species of plants was fatal to 

 potatoes ; a single spore would settle on a weak plant — in all nature it was to be 

 observed that the weakest went to the wall — and so rapidly would its increase take 

 place, that in a iew days a field of many acres in extent would have caught the 

 infection. The spores were emitted with a slight jerk from the capsule, were 

 caught by the wind and borne no one knew whither. When the disease had once 

 settled on a field the only thing to be done was to mow down the tops and make 

 what use was possible of the unripe tubers. There was but one means of baffling 

 the potato disease. It did not appear before the month of August, and therefore by 

 producing early yielding potatoes, which come to maturity before the pest sets in, 

 its ravages might be avoided. Other well known forms of microscopic fungi were 

 what were commonly known as mildew, dry rot, cheese mould, and bread mould. 

 Another species of mould frequently attacked jams, but it was to be resisted by 

 simply tying down the tops of the jampots while the jam was still at a temperature 

 of 200 or 300 degrees, instead of letting it stand all night to harden and stiffen, a 

 chance being thus given to the atmosphere to rain down these spores in countless 

 millions. These plants were at the bottom of many diseases. A horrible disease, 

 prevalent in Poland, which mats the hair together, and that disease with which all 

 mothers are only too familiar, which causes the interior part of the mucous mem- 

 brane of infants to become white, and is commonly known as " Thrush," were 

 both to be attributed, along witli the ring-worm and many other diseases, to the 

 prevalence of microscopic fungi. In seeking, therefore, to discover and check the 

 workings of these tiny plants, scientific men were engaging in as philanthropic 

 an undertaking as ever human philanthropists devoted themselves to. 



The Bamboo. — A pamphlet has been published at Cairo by the Agricultural 

 Department of Egypt, on the Indian Bamboo, which, it is said, is being acclima- 

 tized there with great success. "We append a few notes therefrom : — The gigantic 

 bamboo, which is of colossal dimensions, growing to the height of 20 metres, 

 with a circumference of 40 or 50 centimetres at the base (say 65 feet high and 15 

 to 18 inches in circumference), from the joints of which, especially those of the 

 middle and upper parts, grow numerous branches with long leaves, is the most 

 vigorous species of this arborescent plant. It was introduced some years ago into 

 the gardens of the Khedive of Eg^-pt, at Ghezireh, from whence it has been mul- 

 tiplied in two or three other gardens in Egypt. It was so much admired by the 

 Emperor of Brazil, on his visit to the gardens of the Khedive last autumn, that 

 he expressed his determination to import it into Brazil, and to cultivate it upon 

 the Imperial estates as a shade for ;mimals during the heats of summer. The 

 gigantic bamboo originates in India and China, and is highly appreciated wher- 



