NATURE 



\Nov. 4, i< 



rosaria Pas/i"), are moved with astonishment at the 

 sight of a second crop of flowers on an apple-tree or a 

 laburnum. Common as the phenomenon is, however, not 

 many persons, even among botanists, bestow a thought 

 as to how it is brought about. Gardeners recognise two 

 distinct modes in which flowers may be produced, either 

 from the " old wood," meaning the wood formed in the 

 previous season, or from the shoot of the present year's 

 growth. A rhododendron with its flowers packed up in 

 a "winter-bud"' destined to unfold in spring, an apple or 

 a laburnum with their winter-buds at the ends of short 

 contracted shoots or "spurs," afford illustrations of the 

 one type, while a rose, with its newly-formed shoots 

 crowned with one or more rose-buds, supplies an example 

 of the latter. There is the same sort of difference be- 

 tween these two kinds of flowers that there is between the 

 so-called " annual " plants whose course of life is outrun 

 in a single season, and ''herbaceous perennials " which 

 die down in winter, leaving a winter-bud to carry on the 

 work when circumstances become propitious in spring. 

 The second growth of flowers in autumn may, therefore, 

 be due to two different causes. In the one case it is 

 an anticipation of spring ; the flowers being produced 

 afore time. Conditions of growth being persistently 

 favourable, the winter-bud, instead of remaining dormant, 

 bursts prematurely into growth, and repeats in autumn what 

 its predecessor had done in spring. The great difficulty in 

 such a case is to explain why one bud, or at any rate only 

 a small proportion of the total number of buds, acts in this 

 way when the circumstances of the case would appear to 

 be substantially alike in all. To talk of the individuality 

 of buds is to denote a fact which every observer must be 

 conversant with, but which does not supply any explana- 

 tion. In the second class of cases the flowers are, as in 

 " hybrid perpetual " roses, placed at the ends of some of 

 the shoots of the year. In this case gardeners have availed 

 themselves of what was originally an occasional tend- 

 ency to continue the development of flowers on the 

 end of certain shoots, and have, as it were, converted an 

 accidental into a constant occurrence. Doubtless they 

 might do the same in the case of the laburnum, were 

 they so disposed. It is here that the skill of the 

 gardener comes in, and even enables hiin, to some 

 extent, to baffle adverse climatic influence and induce a 

 plant, as a regular thing, to flower twice in a season, or 

 even more or less continuously, when, if left to itself it 

 would either not do so at all, or only in a fitful, uncertain 

 manner. It is worth notice, too, that these second blooms 

 are often (but by no means invariably) malformed. Some 

 rhododendrons now before me are so, while the double- 

 flowered apples that one occasionally sees are always, in 

 my experience, formed on the midsummer shoots of the 

 tree. So, again, with pears, the second crop of flowers 

 is usually produced on shoots of the year, and very 

 generally the flowers are more or less imperfect or mis- 

 shapen. The " Napoleon " pear behaves in this way every 

 year. Every year, too, I am indebted to Mr. Burbidge, 

 of the Trinity College Botanic Garden, Dublin, for speci- 

 mens of " Bishop's Thumb " pears, produced on the 

 summer shoots. These pears are more like fingers than 

 thumbs, and are destitute of core. The flower-stalk 

 swells up as usual, and produces an eatable pear, 

 but the carpels and seeds are conspicuous by their 

 absence. The developing force has been energetic 

 enough to produce flower- and fruit-stalk, but it has 

 failed in the more essential process of seed- and embryo- 

 formation. Possibly in some cases the absence of seed 

 may be the result of want of fertilisation. It may be that 

 in the flowers some at least of the carpels are present with 

 their contained ovules, but, owing to the want of effective 

 fertilisation, they have dwindled away and left no trace. 



It would be a curious and important matter to ascertain 

 whether, and to what extent, this repeated flowering pro- 

 cess exhausts the plant. If no seed were produced the 



extra outlay of energy would probably not be severely 

 felt. But every rose-grower knows how great are his 

 losses, and how difficult it is to keep his "standards " in 

 good form and good health. (_)f course there are many 

 causes for this, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that 

 one of them arises from exhaustion from continuous 

 flowering, which produces a condition that predisposes to 

 disease. 



Another phenomenon of a somewhat similar character 

 is very commonly met with this autumn, although, not 

 unnaturally, it does not attract so much attention. I 

 allude to the production of buds and leaf-shoots on the 

 partially withered stems of herbaceous perennial plants, 

 such as various species of Epilobium, Malva, &c. The 

 branches of these plants usually dry up after flowering, 

 leaving only a rosette of leaves or a winter-bud to carry 

 on the growth next season ; but occasionally they retain 

 some amount of vitality, and, as at this season, produce 

 a new generation of shoots from the old ones. 



These variations show how artificial are the distinctions 

 denoted by the terms annual, perennial, herbaceous, and 

 the like, and they show what a wide range of physio- 

 logical diversity may exist within the limits of the same 

 species. Maxwell T. Masters 



ARROIV-RELEASE^ 



\ T the commencement of this very interesting and 

 ■^*- instructive monograph, Prof. Morse tells us that 

 when he began collecting data illustrating the various 

 methods of releasing the arrow from the bow, as practised 

 by different races, he was animated merely by curiosity ; 

 nor was it until he had accumulated cjuite a collection of 

 sketches and other memoranda on the methods of arrow- 

 release, not only of existing but of ancient races, as 

 shown by frescoes and rock-sculptures, that he realised 

 that even so trivial an art as that of releasing the arrow 

 might possibly lead to interesting results in tracing the 

 affinities of races. Hence he publishes in the present 

 pamphlet the data which he has thus far collected, in the 

 hope that further material may be secured for a more 

 extended memoir on the subject. The great difference 

 which Prof Morse observed between the ordinary English 

 and Japanese methods of using the bow first led him to 

 investigate the subject, with the curious results to be 

 presently narrated. The various forms of release, with 

 their diflerent modifications, are classified, and perhaps 

 Prof. Morse's investigations may be most succinctly 

 described by using his classification. 



(i) Ordinary Ju'lcasc. — This is the simplest form of 

 release, and is that which children all the world over 

 naturally adopt in first using the bow. It consists in 

 simply grasping the arrow between the end of the 

 straightened thumb, and the first and second joints of 

 the bent forefinger (Figs. I and 2). With a light or 

 weak bow, says Prof. Morse, this release is the simplest 

 and best ; it makes little difference on which side of the 

 bow the arrow rests, provided the bow is held vertically. 

 ( )n the other hand, however, a stiff bow cannot be drawn 

 in this way, unless one possesses enormous strength in 

 the fingers. This simple or primary release is that in use 

 amongst the Ainos of Vezo, by the Demerara Indians, 

 apparency also by the Utes. The Navajos employ it 

 when shooting at prairie dogs, so that the arrow will not 

 penetrate the ground if it misses its mark ; so do the 

 Chippewas. The Micmac Indians of the Cascapedia settle- 

 ment, on the north shore of the Bay of Chaleur, used it, and 

 it is said that the other tribes in this part of Canada draw 

 the arrow in the same way. A member of the Penobscot 

 tribe at Moosehead Lake, seemed incredulous when Prof 



' "Ancient and Modern Methods of An 

 Morse, Director Peabody Academy of Scie 

 October- December. i!S5. 



