692 
THE.GARDENERS* 
CHRONICLE. 
[Oct. 17, 
Jussieu, and others, as branches. Having carefully ex- 
amined the structure and relations of these so-called 
branches, he had come to the conclusion that they were 
truly leaves. In tracing the analogy between these 
organs and those of other species of the same genera 
and the same order, it would be found that it was with 
the leaf and not with the branch. It would be found 
that these organs possessed the structure of leaves, and 
If the Grass of these fairy-rings be examined in the 
spring and early summer, it will be found to conceal a 
number of Agaries, or “ toad stools,” of various sizes. 
They are found situated either entirely on the outside 
of the ring, or on the outer border of the Grass which 
composes it. De Candolle’s theory, that these rings in- 
creased by the excretions of these fungi being favour- 
able for the growth of Grass, but injurious to their own 
1 eS) 
Tike leaves were deciduous, and were d d in the 
same way as leaves. The author described several 
nd Phyllanthus, and ill ted 
" p on the same spot ;—was re- 
marked on, and shown to be insufficient to explain the 
l chemical examination of some fungi 
species of Xylophyllum ai d 
this part of his paper with numerous drawings. In 
conclusion, he suggested whether the additional leaf- 
buds which are sometimes seen in the axils of leaves do 
not originate from the base of the petioles. Such buds 
occur in the genus Rubus, in some species of which the 
additional bud is developed beneath the axillary bud 
instead of on one side of it, Also in Equisetum the 
lateral branches spring from a verticillus of scales situ- 
ated at each node in the stem ; this may be ascertained 
by removing them,when it will be found that the lateral 
branches, which appear as if they proceeded from the 
node, come away with the detached scales ; from the 
external surface of these scales they distinctly arise, nor 
are they at all connected with the stem. 
Mr. W. Hogan read a paper * On Potatoes raised 
from seed as a means of preventing the extension of the 
prevailing disease." T greater portion of Mr. 
Hogan’s paper was a translation of a paper which we | 
gave with many others on the same subject in the Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle in the month of May last. The read- 
ing of this paper lead toa long discussion, in which Mr. 
Morris—Stirling, Dr. Crook, Dr. Daubeny, the Dean of 
Westminster, Dr. L. Playfair, Mr. E. Solly, Mr. Busk, 
Professor Balfour, Mr. A. Strickland, Mr. Monckton 
Milnes, and Dr. Lankester, took part. Nothing more 
was said than has been often said before in the Gar- 
deners’ Chronicle, and the subject, as far as the British 
Association is concerned, is in statu quo. 
In the Cuemicat Szction—Prof. DAuBENY communi- 
cated a paper “ On the Rationale of certain Practices 
employed in Agriculture,” specifying amongst the rest 
the use of quicklime and of gypsum as fertilisers to the 
land. The former of these substances he supposes to act 
in part, by rendering those inorganic substances which 
are present in the soil more soluble; or—in accordance 
with the views laid down by the author in 4 memoir 
which he has published in the Philosophical Transac- 
tions of last year, —by converting the dormant consti- 
tuents of the soil into active ones, or into a state in 
which they become immediately available. He appealed 
to the authority of Prof. Fuchs, confirmed by Mr. 
Prideaux, of Plymouth, that the alkali may be readily 
extracted from granite by.water, after the rock in a 
unded form has been heated, together with quick- 
lime ; and he stated that a soil exhausted by long-con- 
tinued cropping, after having been mixed with quick- 
lime, was found by himself to yield to water twice as 
much alkali as it had done before. Hence the frequent 
application of lime tends to produce exhaustion in the 
land: not only because it supplies in itself no fresh 
alkali, but likewise, by rendering that which the soil 
contains more soluble, it causes it to be washed away 
more readily by atmospheric water. Ploughing, and 
other mechanical methods of pulverising the soil, ap- 
pear to act in the same way ; and so, also, we may sup- 
pose, do the sprinkling of the soil with sulphurie acid, 
as is practised in some parts of the Continent. The 
author then alluded to the various modes of explaining 
the advantage attributed to gypsum, which certain 
leading agricultural chemists had proposed; one as- 
cribing its virtues to the direct influence of the salt; 
another to its property of fixing ammonia ; a third, re- 
garding its acid constituent as of the principal utility ; 
and a fourth, its base. Dr. Daubeny gave reasons for 
rejecting the third and fourth of these hypotheses ; but 
considered that the use of gypsum may be in part attri. 
butable to the first, and in part to the second, of the 
causes pointed out. He supposes that this substance is 
merally useful to all plants, from its property of 
ing ammonia ; and also especially serviceable to cer- 
(the true St. George's Agaric of Clusius—Agarie gra- 
veolens) whieh grew in the fairy-rings on the pasture 
around the College at Cirencester, was made. They 
contained 87.46 per cent. of water, and 12.54 per cent. 
of dry matter. The ashes of these were found to 
contain :— 
Silica .. m .. 
Lime 
Magnesia... 
Peroxide of Iron 
Sulphuric Acid — .. 
Carbonic Acid .. m 
Phosphoric Acid .. 
Potash  .. .. m 
Soda .. m m . 
Chioride of Sodium  .. i 
The author thought these rings were formed as fol- 
lows :—A fungus is developed on a single spot of ground ; 
sheds its seeds, and dies; on the spot where it grew i 
leaves a valuable manuring of phosphoric acid and alka- 
lies, some magnesia, and a little sulphate of lime. It 
thus appears that the increase of these fairy-rings is 
due to the large quantity of phosphates secreted by the 
fungi, and whilst extending themselves to seek their 
own nutriment, they leave an abundant supply for the 
Grass. y 
(To be continued.) 
ON THE TRANSPARENCY OF CERTAIN 
POTATOES 
As the condition of the Potato has of late so much 
engrossed the attention of the public, I have thought it 
worth while to describe shortly an alteration of the 
tuber, of whieh I have seen many examples among 
Potatoes grown in Essex. They are very different from 
the ordinary diseased ones, as they appear of a healthy 
they grew, some light may be thrown on the nature of 
the cause which tends to arrest the development of the 
starch grains.—Edwin J. Quekett, Wellclose-square s 
Sept. 30. 
HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES 
FOR COTTAGERS. 
Bees may be made a source of considerable profit, 
especialy where Broom, Heath, Wild Thyme, Lime- 
trees, and Blackberries abound, as well as White 
Clover aud other wild flowers. With these advan- 
tages, they will store up, in tolerable seasons, a large 
supply of honey, but I am sorry to find that a cruel 
practice prevails in many counties of suffocating them 
in autumn. 
When you consider a good hive will contain about 
36,000 of these industrious insects, you will at once see 
what a sad waste of life takes place. In my own 
neighbourhood this practice has been discontinued, and 
the cottagers find it greatly to their advantage. I will 
now relate the method I have recommended to them. 
If the hive be very strong, wait till it has thrown out 
aswarm. Then with a sharp knife cut two or three 
laps of the straw from the top, leaving a hole large 
enough to admit the thick end of a common quart 
bottle. Have ready a small straw hive which will hold 
from 7 to 10 lbs. of honey, with a piece of glass on one 
of the sides, and place it over the hole, plastering it 
round the edges with a little clay or mortar. This 
small hive in the south is called a eap, and it should be 
protected from the weather by a straw hackle. When 
the bees have worked into the cap, look at the glass, 
and if you find that the cells next to it are sealed up, 
you may be sure that it has been filled. Take it off in 
the evening, carry it to a little distance, and as the 
bees come out brush them away with a little bush, and 
they will return to the parent hive. In very good 
seasons a strong hive will fill two caps, but even a 
swarm and one cap is no bad return from one stock. In 
this way you increase your capital in bees every year, 
and I believe that with care every cottager may pay the 
rent of his cottage by means of his bees. If your 
swarm is an early one it will generally fill a eap. Now 
there is another great advantage in the method I have 
proposed. The queen bee will seldom deposit her eggs 
in the cells formed in the cap, as she dislikes light. 
T 
aspect, yet exhibiting such a degree of p 
when held before a lamp as a sperm candle would do 
under the same circumstances. These Potatoes are 
equally infeeted with the disease as the other kinds. 
On dividing such examples with a knife, the exterior 
of the section presents much of the usual appearance-of 
healthy Potatoes, but a short distance from the margin 
the p portion and is separated 
from the more opaque by a distinct boundary, in which 
are many dark points. 
When such Potatoes are boiled the external parts 
become mealy as usual, but the internal remain very 
hard, and when eaten resemble very much the half- 
dressed portion of the stem which belongs to every 
head of Broccoli. 
When sections are submitted to the microscope, those 
taken from the circumference exhibit the cells full of 
starch grains, as in ordinary Potatoes ; but those taken 
from the centre appear to contain scarcely any grains, 
the contents being chiefly limpid. 
The absence of starch from the central portions is not 
owing to the Potatoes having given origin to secondary 
tubers, which might have exhausted the starch from the 
cells ; if such a change had taken place the most ex- 
ternal would have suffered first; but on looking 
minutely into the cells of the transparent portion, it is 
evident that something has interfered with the develop- 
ment of the starch, as in most of the cells can be ob- 
served the first commencement of the process, such as 
I have described in a paper read before the Linnean 
Society, an abstract of which appeared in the “ Annals 
of Natural History ” for September last, viz., that the 
cytoblast, after the cell is formed by it, becomes itself 
a minute cell with a distinct nucleus, and develops on 
its exterior several minute granules, which after under- 
going certain changes become perfect starch grains. 
t 
require for their d 
of this process is evident in most 
tain species, by supplying them with a salt which they 
lopment. A long discussion fol- 
lowed ; several g g o 
the effects of carbonate of lime on Wheat crops, and 
on the resulting weakness of the straw; owing to a 
deficiency of the silicate of potash necessary for the 
f ion of the supporting epidermi ass. ` 
Some specimens of the disease in Turnips, com- 
monly called fingers-and-toes, were exhibited ; and 
it was stated that the superphosphate of lime 
as a remedy for that disease, — The Bisnop or 
Nonwicn, however, remarked that the cause assigned 
for this disease was not that to which he believed it 
must be attributed. The flow of the sap was checked 
hy the action of an insect, and then an abnormal con- 
dition developed. This year, in many parts of the 
country, this and similar diseases were very prevalent ; 
and the rev, prelate was disposed to regard the exis- 
tence so abundantly of this insect as in some way con- 
nected with the electrical condition of the atmosphere 
during the exeeedingly hot weather which has pre- 
vail roducing with extreme rapidity the decompo- 
si nimal and vegetable matter. 
the Fairy- of Pastures," by Prof, J. T. 
A description of these patches, with which most 
ns are familiar, was given ; and it was stated that 
e Grass of which such rings are formed, is always the , 
-vegetate in the spring, and keeps the lead of the ! 
ry Grass of the pastures till the period of cutting. | 
E 
he 
of the cells, and it appears that some cause has inter- 
fered with the process going on to completion ; and thus 
it is that the cells contain very few granules, but are 
filled with an extra quantity of watery fluids. 
Potatoes to become “ mealy,” by the action of boiling 
water, depend on two circumstances: firstly, the heat 
of boiling water continued for a while is sufficient to 
loosen the adhesion of one cell to another ; secondly, 
the temperature is more than sufficient to cause the 
rupture of the cell containing the gummy materials of 
which starch is composed, so that every starch-grain 
bursts, and its contents become mixed with the fluid of 
the cell and constitute a viscid mass, on account of the 
density of which some water from without enters the 
cell by endosmose, and its figure, by the distension, is 
made to assume a sphere; and as spheres can only 
touch each other at one point, thus it is that the cells 
(previously presenting a hexagon in section, and nicely 
adapted to each other on all sides) are now so separated 
as to constitute that condition known as “mealy.” In 
the centre, as they are not filled with starch, the meali- 
ness cannot obtain; and probably instead of amyla- 
ceous matters albuminous ones may take their place; 
so that it may be accounted for, why, under boiling, this 
portion of the Potato becomes hardened. 
If persons, taking up Potatoes answering to this de- 
scription, would observe the conditions under which 
he q is that the honey is of a much purer 
quality than that from smoked hives, and with me it 
will always bring double the price in the market. 
When cells which have had young bees in them are 
afterwards filled with honey, the latter is discoloured by 
the impure state of the cells from the breath and ex- 
crement of the brood. If there is any difficulty in pro- 
curing a straw cap, a box with a bit of glass in it, or 
even a flower pot, will do, although not so well, as suf- 
ficient light/cannot be admitted. 
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend every 
cottager to keep bees, as I know how much money may 
be made by them. Treat them like deposits in the 
savings’ bank, and they will pay you good interest ; but 
if you do away with your capital your interest ceases. 
Edward Jesse, Belle Isle, Bowness, July 14. 2 
POTATO DISEASE IN DENMARK, 
Fon the following /iera/ translation of a report made 
officially to the Danish government, and for the original, 
we are indebted to a kind but unknown correspondent, 
signing himself * X. Z. D." It was made to the Poly- 
technic Institution of Copenhagen, is written by Profes- 
sor Lrepmann, and is in Denmark thought to give a 
satisfactory solution of the cause of the sickness :— 
“Although the P. intalreadyin th f several 
years has been known in various places in Europe, it did not 
become the subject of general attention before last year, when 
almost all over Europe i reat devastation, Aso this 
year the sickness has b ut suddenly, and with great 
violence at the same time, all over the country, and has in short 
time destroyed the greatest part of the parts of the Potato plant 
vegetating above ground; but it is not yet decided whether the 
complaint will have as great influence on the tubers as was the 
case last year. According to all accounts we have been able to 
collect, as well as from our own observations, the complai 
this year has chiefly attacked the early ripe Potatoes; bui 
those later ripe have been much more free, Although, where the 
Potato complaint last year made its devastations, it has become 
subject of investigation carefully conducted by individuals as 
well as by committees appointed to this effect, employing large 
sums of public money for the promotion of these inquisitions ; 
still, notwithstanding all that is done in this direction, and that 
our literature has been increased to an enormous extent, still 
the result of all these endeavours is comparatively nothing. 
None of the remedies so variously peo onda have been effective. 
irawn to the illness when far 
parts of the Potato above ground, and which shortly, in the way 
peculiar to fungi, destroys the cellular texture of leaves, flower, 
and stem; this fungus presents a fine cobweb texture of 
uncoloured branched fibres, and increases with great speed by 
elastic germinating grains, which only appear by aconsiderably 
n ci it inating grains are so small and 
so light that they are floating about in the air, and descend 
with the dew drops on the sound plants, develop themselves in 
few hours to threads, and destroy the leaves. It is certain 
that the illness is produced by this parasitical fungus. 
“The sickness in the tubers appear 
