532 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, 



[August 11 



dutv of tasting it was confided, to be unapproached 

 for richness of flavour. If we mistake not our own 

 statement was that it ranked among Nectarines as 

 the Greengage ranks among Plums. . 



When, however, other samples of the fruit, in 

 another season, were sent from Stan wick they were 

 declared to be, what in truth they were, no better 



They were not properly 



fruit beean to be 



the 



as is the upper part of the stipei ; the lower primary 

 pinnae are sub-opposite, triangular-elongate acuminate ; 

 the pinnules lanceolate-oblong deeply pinnatihd ; the 

 secondary pinnules oblong, with simple acute falcato- 

 incurved teeth. The sori are solitary on the inner side of 

 the falcate segment*, and have short oblong cup-shaped 

 truncate involucres. The fertile fronds are copiously 

 bullate with oval swellings on the upper surface. It is 

 sometimes called in gardens the Fox-tad Fern. A 

 Fern very similar to this was imported from Java in 

 1853 by Messrs. Rollisson. 



*49. 



than an Elruge, if so good. 



ripened. Afterwards, when 



borne by the trees propagated from the celebrated 



tree at Stanwick they were still found to be destitute 



of the high qualities first ascribed to the variety, 



and it was also discovered that the fruit was apt to 



crack before ripening. 



Last year, however, rumours began to prevail that 

 the fruit was getting more like its original state, and 

 that cracking was not a necessary accompaniment of 



its maturation. And now the experience of Mr. 



M'Ewev the Duke of Norfolk's skilful gardener at Chronicle, 1850, p. 406, from a plant received from 

 Arundel,' has come to the support of the original Yorkshire, and one other notice appears 



He savs it vet will 



VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.— No. LXXXIII. 



Capsomania {Bladder Plums). — The curious 

 affection described uuder this head is not confined to 

 cultivated Plums ; it is found also in Cherries, and is 

 common on a species of Cerasus which occurs in the 

 Himalayas, and which has in consequence been named 

 Cerasus cornuta. A figure is gi^en of it in Gardeners* 



reputation of the variety, lie says 

 realise the high expectations entertained of it ; and 

 we repeat that the specimens just sent from 

 Arundel still show it to be among Nectarines 

 whit the Greengage is among Plums. To that 

 description we adhere without reserve. 



As to cracking, Mr. M'Ewen pooh poohs what 

 is said about it, as he very well may. Stone fruits 

 crack because they receive more w T ater than they 

 can digest or throw off by evaporation. There is no 

 other cause whatever for "the malady, unless the skin 

 is dead, which is not the case with the beautiful 

 and clear-skinned Stanwick. Ths remedy is less 

 water and more heat, or both ; the commonest sort 

 of common sense tells that. 



We therefore feci justified in reasserting the admir- 

 able quality of this variety, and in regarding it as a 

 real Horticultural treasure. It has but one fault, 

 that of requiring, when ripening, more heat than the 

 inferior sorts found in everybody's garden. 



Advices from Malaga announce the reappearance 

 of the Vine Mildew. In 1853 it attacked the 

 Muscatels or Raisin Grapes to such an extent, that 

 tin the case of one of the great growers there, only 

 14,000 boxes could be sent to the English market 

 instead of 20,000, the usual quantity from his vine- 

 yards. In 1654 it left the Muscatels, or nearly so, 

 and attacked the wine Grapes. We now learn that 

 it has once more seized the Muscatels as well 

 others. What is very curious, the bunches 

 Grapes which touch the earth are free, those alone 

 being attacked which appear on the higher branches. 

 Of course, therefore, the trellised Vines have 

 suffered most. Another remarkable fact is an- 

 nounced, namely, that the mildew now attacks the 

 Grapes, leaving the foliage sound and healthy, 

 •whereas it formerly attacked the leaves first, and 

 the Grapes at a later period. 



in our 



Journal* of the malady, which is, perhaps, not very 

 uufrequent, though it has been little noticed by authors. 



• 



351. The structure wnen closely 

 extremely curious The fruit, external \o Sj? * 

 its ordinary condition, consists of thre* p*«LTr * 

 carp, sarcocarp, and endocarp ; of which theWt 

 the cuticle, the second the flesh, and the fed kl 

 of the perfect Plum. Of these the first i, S 

 altered ; it, however, loses its even surface and 

 wrinkled, and instead of putting on red oriwrJ.^ 

 assumes a decided yellow The sarcocsr7C5 

 almost entirely its fleshy condition, presenting Zk? 

 and dry cellular tissues of an ordinary leaf, witk 

 radiating and anastomosing bundles of TasciW 

 of which the two largest correspond with tkt t fa , 

 and the external suture. The endocarp BeemiiJ^ 

 sight entirely deficient, but close examinatiou «bon2 

 the ovuliforni body attached to the placenta BLbt? 

 the endocarp greatly contracted and separated^S 

 from the sarcocarp at an early stage of grwitkk 

 consequence of the more rapid developments? £ 

 latter, except at the single point of attachment hi 

 in fact, instead of a stone, a membranous iac **l~ 

 which are seen springing equally from the ptoe§n«i 

 or two ovules, each of which presents three 



of 



NEW GARDEN FERNS.— No. III. 



Hook 



7. Davallia. bullata, Wallich. Cat. No. 258. 



Sp. FiL i., 1GD, t. 50 b. 



Fronds ovately-deltoid, sub-membranaceouF, tripinnate; lower 

 pinnae obliquely elongate-triangular acuminate ; pinnules lan- 

 ceolate oblong pinnatifid, the. ultimate segments forming linear- 

 acute falcato-incurved teeth, the inner side of which usually is 

 occupied by the sori ; involucres oblong cup-shaped ; rhizome 

 creeping, clothed with spreading subulate entire tawuy scales, 

 fronds articulated. 



A very elegant small growing Fern, native of Nepal 

 and Assam, introduced to Kew in 1852, and about the 

 same time by Mr. Nuttall. We have also seen it in the 

 collections of Mr. Veitch and Messrs. Henderson, 

 probably all from the same source. It appears to be a 

 deciduous species, the creeping rhizomes, clothed with 



. 



bright tawny gubgq 



subulate scales, being often if 

 cot always without fronds through the winter. The 

 fronds are articulated wi h the rhizome ; 9 inches to a 

 foot high, bright green, sub membranaceous, glabrous, 



deltoid, tripinnate, with the rachis winged throughout 



De Candolle speaks, in his memoir on the Leguminosse, 

 of a case which occurred in Chablais, and must have 

 closely resembled that figured above, in which the trans- 

 formed fruit assumes somewhat the form of a pod. No 

 notice, as far as I have observed, is taken of it by 



I Loudon. 



350. Though a mere matter of curiosity or speculate on 

 amongst ourselves, the disease is so frequent in some 

 parts of North America as to make the Plum scarcely 

 worth cultivating, and it is from a memoir of Dr. Ilobb, 

 in the 3d volume of Hooker's " Journal of Botany," 

 p. 91 3 f tab. iv.,that I extract the following information : 

 The Plum is extensively planted in New Brunswick, 

 but seldom bears a crop in consequence of this disease. 

 Before or soon after the fall of the blossom the ovary 

 acquires a greenish yellow tint and becomes soft and 

 flabby ; it, however, increases rapidly in size, becomes 

 darker, and somewhat ruddy, and at the end of two or 

 three weeks is as large or larger than a ripe Walnut, 

 insomuch that on a casual glance the tree seems loaded 

 with ripe Apricots ; on trial it is perfectly insipid and 

 tasteless. The fruit in general as soon as it has acquired 

 its full size is infested with a green mould, in all proba- 

 bility Cladosporium herbarum, soon becoming black and 

 shrivelled, so that at the end of a few weeks from the 

 time of flowering the whole is rotten and decomposed. 

 The flowers appear about the beginning of June, and 

 before August there is hardly a Plum to be seen. 



I Sometimes, however, a portion of the fruit advances to 

 perfection, and occasionally of two ovaries proceeding 

 from the same common point one assumes its normal 

 form, size, and condition, while the other is enlarged 

 and iuflated. The form of the diseased ovaries on the 

 same tree varies greatly, being sometimes perfectly 

 globoBc, sometimes depressed, sometimes elongated, and 

 even pod-shaped. 



• See Gardeners' Chronicle, 1643, p. 319, where an abstract is 

 iveu of a paper by Dr. Harris, of Cambridge, Massachuse , in 

 lloveys Magazine. 



t Erroneously printed p. 00. 



the innermost of which is filled with a witoyiaj 

 without a trace of embryo. When two onfaiait 

 present one is usually smaller than the other. 



352. The cause of this extraordinary cbtnet q « 

 present extremely obscure. It has been supposed tab 

 due to the action of some aphis or thrifts, bit u 

 many cases no insects are observed about the immi 

 fruit, or any trace of puncture. The oceurri«^io* 

 of the disease in three such remote qunrttn 4 

 the globe is also against its insect oripa, Dfe 

 Robb is inclined to think that it is due to tit 

 changeable weather of May and June, which no 

 rainy season of New Brunswick, when the m, 

 cooled by the melting ice and snow, is subject to tin 

 rays of an already powerful sun. This, however, At 

 most climatic theories, does not rest upon iimrf 

 accurate observations, without which they ciubce» 

 sidered merely as suggestive of what is possible. Wim 

 isolated observations are made, we ( have oiten 

 statements, directly contrary to each other, 

 forward in explanation of the same fact, as in the far 

 disease described in our last article. The inhaUtimrf 

 New Brunswick believe that lime water is a ffto&t, ** 

 this wants confirmation. M. J. B. *» 



GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 

 The article upon the Economy of the Gowekiflj 

 Caterpillar, published in p. 517, contains one or tff 

 observations which require notice, as it seems to » 

 that improper deductions have been drawn it m 

 cases from insufficient data. It is certain that the V 

 of this pest are deposited on the ribs of the Jew 

 That a number of caterpillars were liatcued iP 

 your correspondent having discovered tne •»■ * 

 proof that the caterpillars were not produced JJ 

 ordinary way, or that they were brought bjtw«j 

 which one mi-ht almost infer was the opinw»» 



writer. 



Again, the 



circumstances mentioned in 



the 



paragraph prove that the writer is not * *■»£ 

 close observer. He found the cast akinsofJJJ 



pillars on the surface, and yet the caterpilta .tfj* 

 selves had disappeared, he knows not bo* 

 taken the trouble to break up some of tit ■ BJgJ 

 of what he supposed to be mould, he won w, ^ 



K0* 



have found a nicely-formed oval cell mthe 

 the mass, within which he would either have 

 curled up caterpillar or the pupa itoelh 

 which the caterpillars burrow doab less paries 



condition of the soi 

 It of the preceding 

 lsC to enforce the necessity of removing tue 



tue caterpillars uuu«« — ~- ^ ^ 



ing to the nature and condition of tue w . k 

 "The practical result of the V^^f 



the Gooseberry bashes as soon after _ u. -, 



have entered the ground as possible , ^ 



collect every female (this sex being e ;^ *«* 

 guishablfl by its bright yellow body), » 



they make their appearance on u e » * ^ 



garden has this year been almost entity . 



* l -i.i. - u ™„ „»; V.hoiirs trees tw™ u , , f 



nest, although my neighbours irew «-'£ j^., 



of their leaves, by ^J^fT^A^K 

 collecting the females in the middle o ^ ^ 

 in this Journal at that time; an d, M, ^ mft 

 fully over the trees as soon as 1 saw iBg * r 



of the leaves had commenced, and ~ 



caterpillars then found. /. 0. »«"*» 





Home Co^respon^ce. 



I fully agree with 



•iS 



Peas.-I fully agree m*m your 

 Memoranda, p. 520) m ^*J " ,«1 * 

 Sungster's No. 1 Pe* «■ * ^ . k J«wledg. 



earnest of which }*»"$&«**!& 

 .....~.4l v hnvinff tried most ot me ^ 



* 



assuredly, having 

 vat ion. This season I 



vauou. au'b ov«~- — «r .-ipf'a .ban* ** -t» ^^* 



than a fortnight after * arner B> ^ 



No. 1 was in first by a week, i H ., ( tTtt e* ^ 



tras in nrss uy » - -~ bW , .». ••- 



it is at all times, and in all casej *j~ 



the Tall ^ rroWfl - beiag true *■ l 



as 

 like 



tied wi 



that 



ith those I bave 



iia* 









vested sufficient for ^.^T^ ^^ 

 .•ate that I pursue P«*i»V l w ,, ^ * 

 ■ .i.„ „«j w B ,i« ners as thai " _„»£./, 





in the early sowings a* »•-• - & »gv,. ^n 



hi yonr pages some two or three . - , & ^ „ 



i„ pots and turning «u^ 

 '* the most advantageous V 



them out «£> ^ 



t!ia£ 



Is the most 



