Nov. 10, 185 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



741 



plant is attached to the sides of the streams in which it 

 <rrows by immense numbers of very long; fine fibres, 

 which penetrate and an here firmly to the loam or clay 

 of the bnnks. Entangled among these fibres were large 

 quantities of decayed leaves and other vegetable sub- 

 stances, from which the plant probably derived a large 

 portion of its nutriment. Mr. Ellis was told that it also 

 crew in places which were dry at certain seasons of the 

 year, that the leaves then died down, but the root 

 buried in the mud retained its vitality, and when the 

 water returned, fresh leaves burst forth. The natives 

 spoke of the plant as tenacious of life, and said that 

 wherever the earth around, even the smallest portion of 

 it, remained moist, the plant would in that part put 

 forth leaves when again supplied with sufficient water. 



This plant is not only extremely curious, but valuable 

 to the natives, who, at certain seasons of the year, 

 crather it as an article of food, the fleshy root when 

 cooked yielding a farinaceous and nutritive substance 

 resembling the Yam. Hence its native name, Ouvian- 

 drano, literally water- Yam, or Yam of the water. 

 Ouvi in the Malagasy and Polynesian languages signify- 

 ing Yam, and rano in the former signifying water. 



We are also enabled by Mr. Ellis to give the following 

 extract from that gentleman's Madagascar Journal : — 

 " But the great charm of this plant to an admirer of 



^ & ^ 



change inimical to 

 cannot sav : 



vegetable growth takes place 1 

 but this I know, if manure-water rich in 

 stable urine and soot is used, the disease is much in- 

 creased, while lime-water, on the contrary, as effectually 

 checks its virulence. Indeed lime-water has been my 

 sheet-anchor, and, though those I have recommended it 

 to have not succeeded so well as myself, still I think 

 their want of success is more attributable to the 

 difficulty of applying it in sufficient quantity to dung- 

 beds or plants growing in open soil than to plants in 



pots. But to more practical details — 



At the time I took the charge of this place two houses 



of Cucumbers for the winter supply were in a very bad 



state, indeed, so bad, that with the ex ption of two 



plants in one of the houses, 1 found it quite impossible 



to recover them. On making inquiries I found the 



disease had been troublesome for several years, and that 



the soil in which the plants were then planted had been 



used for Cucumbers several times before, merely having 



a little fresh compost added with each fresh lot of 



plants. I also found that the leaf-mould which it 



contained bore evidence of being formed partly 



from evergreen leaves and branches, as Laurel, 



Holly, &C ; and with the exception of mould from 



slowly decomposed Grass, 1 believe there is nothing 



more injurious to soft-wooded plants than leaf-mould 



nature consists in the extreme delicacy of the texture j from evergreen trees. Finding it. however, quite hope- 



of its almost transparent leaves, and their graceful 

 manner of floating upon the water. When examined 

 they appear to be composed of fine and even threads 

 placed at equal distances, so as to resemble the most 

 exact and delicate needlework. Many of the leaves 



as in growing they rise 

 to the surface of the water, they may be seen of all 

 sizes, down from this to the most minute, as when first 

 emerging from the earth they appear of fairy-like 

 dimensions, and thin as the finest gossamer. 



viceahle fruit than any of the long kinds, ltatrirs, they 

 are fit to eat, and I cannot say that much for some 

 of the long varieties. Ipswich amlard, though fine 

 in form, is coarse in flavour; *r of the West, thick, 

 soft, and watery ; General Canrobert. ribby and un- 

 eatable : and Sir Colin, not much better. The best long 

 kind which I have grown for length, qualitv, and crop, 

 is" Fioud's Long Hybrid," raised by Mr. Floud, gr. to 

 R. Fothergill, Esq., " A herd are, South Wales. It bears 

 very profusely, showing three and four fruit at almost 

 every joint, aud brings more good fruit to perfection at 

 the same time than any Ion kind I ever cultivated. At 

 the time Messrs. It* mile's fruit of Star of the West 

 were noticed in the Chronicle 1 had fruit of Floud's 

 Hybrid, the same length and not quite half the 

 thickness ; indeed I have had it upwards of 4 20 inches 

 in length, and not more than an inch in diameter. 

 For the regular daily supply of a family from yearV 

 end to year's-end, and for superiority of flavour, I 

 believe the true Syon House and Lord K en y on' s stand 

 unsurpassed. I have two black spined varieties, capital 

 bearers, and from which 20 fcsft of fruit have been cut 

 at a time from a single plant (the Bame thing has been 

 done scores of times with the variety of Syon House my 

 father used to grow). One of them is rather short, 

 rarely exceeding 10 inches in length, but the other 

 averages about 1 foot. Carries a beautiful bloom, and is 

 as near perfection as need be for a gentleman's table, 

 where flavour is of much more importance than almost 



Such at any rate is my hobby in 



exceed a foot in length ; 



O 7 



but 



with a different soil. The 15 



were planted, being 

 all from the same sowing, but I could not get those in 

 the Cucumber soil into healthy growth. I had the 

 mould removed from about, the roots and replaced with 

 fresh soil ; then the plants progressed a little, but as 

 so transparent as to have obtained the name of Lace- I soon as the roots got to the old soil they then came to 

 plant, these leaves are surprisingly crisp and firm to the a stand-stil), and at last I was obliged to remove 



less to expect anything from the old plants, 1 had one 

 house cleared out, and the soil not being such bad look- 

 ing stuff, I had it removed to an adjoining house for fabulous length. m 



French Beans. About two-thirds of the bed were relation to Cucumbers, but far be it from my wish to 

 covered, the other portion having been previously filled prevent others crowing the long kinds if they think proper 



Although 



to do so. W. P. Ayrts, Wh lUbury Lodge, Oct 30 



touch. When seen in, the water they lie lightly one 

 above another without confusion, and they are easily 

 distinguishable as separate leaves, in consequence of the 

 great variety of colour which they assume, from the 



\ * & A _ -a- _b- A. & 



them altogether, and renew the bed with fresh 

 soil. The plants in the other part of the bed grew 

 as well as could be desired, and from that part of the 



THE RESUSCITATION OF SEEDS. 



The Memoranda in the last Number ofthe Gardener^ 

 Chronicle, communicated by J our correspondent P C," 

 are interesting as connected with some important 

 questions of geographical botany now under discussion. 

 The phenomena mentioned of the sudden ascendancy 

 acquired by Clover over Graminece in certain pastures, 



dark 



olive of the older leaves through all the inter- 



mediate shades of a rich grass-green, and even of a pale 

 and delicate yellow." 



CUCUMBER DISEASE. 



In the early part of the present year some remarks 

 were offered by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley and 

 other correspondents on this troublesome disease, and 

 .having hud to contend against it myself from the day I 

 entered my present situation to the present time, per- 

 haps my experience on the subject may not be without 

 interest to those who have been or may be similarly 

 troubled. I may remark that the disease has been very 

 prevalent in this county for some years past, both with 

 Cucumbers and Melons. One of my neighbours, a first 

 «lass cultivator, lost, in dung pits and frames, six crops of 

 Melons in succession, and another showed me fruit 

 nearly half grown, two-thirds of which were black, and 

 looked just as if it had been parboiled. These 

 also were grown on dung beds ; in fact, as far as I have 

 observed, the disease appears much more troublesome 

 4o cope with in dung beds than where the plants are 

 grown in pots, or have their roots confined within a 

 certain prescribed limit. I have not to complain of the 

 loss of* any fruit worth notice, which I attribute to not 

 allowing the plants to overbear themselves at any time; 

 but my plants have, first by flagging, theu by specking, 

 And lastly by dying round the margin of the leaves, 

 without any direct or, to an ordinary observer, appre- 

 ciable CHUvse, worn at times an aspect, and given much 

 more trouble than was by any means agreeable. 



asses 



bed renewed with iresii sou a ma^mneeni crop was pro- »•"» «• ■» •"■>»* ••&— ■ ■ ~ rr r ~ .' • „r «„„ i;„,i «r 



duced Acrain, in re-arranging the Cucumber house for a few years, and the frequent substitution of one kind of 

 S crop,°a li tie of the best°soil was mixed with dung j tree for another after a forest 1ms l*»«td° -V « 



F ' ----- , ' traced to their right causes. Ihey depend on a prin- 



ciple recognised in the most recent works on the sub- 

 ject. Where several species of plants are crowded 

 together, if, during the age or season when they are in 

 full growth, circumstances of soil, situation, &c, are 

 peculiarly suitable to one and less favourable to the 

 others, that one will obtain the predominance, to the 

 gradual diminution or even total extinction of the others. 



and put in the bottom of the bed. Some plants were , 

 then turned out in prepared compost in bottomless pots 

 (Seakale pots reversed); they progressed splendidly till 

 they got into crop, and then the roots having penetrated 

 into the old soil they gradually began to fail. Between 

 the pots the bed was filled up with fresh loam for 

 Melons ; they also made very satisfactory progress, but 

 as the roots got into the old soil they likewise showed 

 a disease. Thirdly, in the second Cucumber house some 

 of the bottomless pots, filled with prepared compost, 

 were plunged in the old bed. The plants here grew 

 with unusual vigour, but again the old soil was 

 inimical to success, and as the roots got into it the 

 plants decreased in health. 



Thus I think, considering the fact that Cucumbers in 

 the same soil had failed more than once before ; that 

 French Beans refused positively to grow at all in it ; 

 that where the soil was used as a mixture the plants 

 became diseased ; that where the roots of plants in pots, 

 previously in rude health, got into it, they showed the 

 disease immediately; and, finally, that seed from the 

 same packets in other places produced plants as healthy 



This principle acquires great practical importance, as 

 treated by " C.," in the search after the best mode of 

 treatment for the improvement of natural pastures, 

 by the encouragement of good nutritive species and the 

 expulsion of hurtful or unproductive plants. On a 

 larger scale it may also be applied to the improvement 



of young forests. 



The instance quoted of a bulb having vegetated after 



having lain for 2000 years in the hand of a mummy, is 

 incapable of sufficient authentication to be made the 

 subject of physiological argument. Such a fact would 

 be too much in opposition to the results of universal 

 experience of the limits of the vitality of bulbs, not to 

 suggest the idea of one of the tricks played by the ma- 

 nufacturers of mummies or other impostors, always 



as need be, I am justified in concluding that in my case — j~-™ ~~ , , ^a.ilitv of travellers in 



the disease was attributable to the soil and to that only, ready to make a profit of the credulity ot travellers in 



Some of the old plants which 1 found have, when Egypt as elsewhere. 



taken up, showed the nasty excrescences on the roots as 

 described by Mr. Berkeley from Mr. Bailey's (of Nune- 



but 1 have noticed nothing of the 



ham) specimens; 



sort iu the summer grown plants, neither have the 



leaves of my plants presented much of the want of 



The case of the Charlock quoted by " C." is one of 

 the numerous instances of the sudden appearance of 

 that weed under circumstances which seem unaccount- 



able, except on the supposition that the seed was, as he 

 says, buried in the ground awaiting its day. Tins 



. aisease lA-L.*-!, »d l.enc, l«.«»|«-'^.«!».H~r«*Sa£j2 ) 231^ SXt»rS ^ ii conTmd-1 pro.1%„d do»b«d b y 



many who are aware how numerous and effective are 



the causes of destruction to which seeds buried in the 



ground, without immediately germinating, are exposed. 



I certainlv strongly partake of these doubts, my 



the 



mended particular caution to be observed in saving seed 

 from healthy plants. The convictions of a gentleman 

 who has devoted so much attention to vegetable diseases 

 demand great respect, but my experience leads me to 

 an opposite conclusion. I may remark that. I have 

 grown this season 25 varieties of Cucumbers, some from 

 seed 12 years old, and others from seed from China, 

 France, Germany, aud several parts of England, Scot- 

 land, and Wales, and yet in every instance the plants 

 have been more or less diseased. Some kinds of Melons 

 I could not induce to urow at all, such as the Egyptian 

 Green Flesh, Bromham Hall, Windsor Prize, Jones's 

 Green Flesh, and several others of that class ; but from 

 the Trentham Hybrid, Hybrid Cashmere, Hoosainee, 

 And Ispahan, I have cut fine handsome fruit, some 

 weighing as much as 10 lbs. each, yet in all cases the 

 plauts were diseased. I have inquired of friends who 

 gave me the seeds, but not one of them k 



disease was a strong fact I think aga 



" constitutional." 



first I thought that the soil was deficient in nutriment, 

 and hence I resorted to stimulating mauures, especially 

 soot-water or liquid manure, in which soot was the prin- 

 cipal ingredient ; but with badly diseased plants that 

 certainly increased it. With fresh soil and half-decayed 

 manure mixed with soot, I also found the plants much 

 diseased. For the prevention of the disease I believe 

 nothing is found so effective as pure well annealed turfy 

 soil, intermixed with good leaf-mould and thoroughly 

 decomposed old cow-dung, or the dung of a spent 

 Mushroom bed ; avoid soot and charcoal by all means, 

 and prepare your manure- water from fresh cow-dung, 

 to which a very small portion of common salt (1 ounce 



.•_ on ii \ «^«« Vn» orWutttacTAnns.lv added- and clear 



As . 



ggest 



which might tend to solve them on the one hide or on 



correspondent right, the 



the other. 



If 1 understand your 

 Charlock seed on the spot he mentions has been com- 

 pletelv ^ot rid of in the surface soil to the depth ot 

 about 4* inches, but if the subsoi. is turned up to the 



additional depth of 2 inches it P^^^ns 

 crop from seed supposed to be contained in a 11ns 

 would be a peculiarly favourable opportunity for ascer- 

 taining whether the seed does in fact exist there. 



it 

 O 



For my own part, I feel more disposed to attribute 

 it to improper soil, and perhaps in some instances it 

 is increased in its virulence by the injudicious use of 



In this locality a 



over-stimulating liquid manures 



really good loam for horticultural purposes is difficult 

 to meet with, most of the soil being strongly impreg- 

 nated with oxide of iron, and others with magnesian 

 ] »'uestone ; in fact, it is just the soil in which, for years 

 past, I have fouud ail solt- wooded plants the most subject 

 to that troublesome gangrenous disease called " spot,' 

 and which has been like a pest among Calceolarias and 

 Geraniums to the London nurserymen. Whether by 

 the infliiprwao «f *ii« {rnrt nn magnesia anv chemical 



the whole with a lump of lime before using it. I also 



fancy, though I have had no means of trying it that super- """^SH^cto sur f ace .oil were carefully removed 



. . phosphate of lime would be beneficial; 1 have always ^P^£ a Bqttire yard, another 2 inches 



w what the found superphosphate one ofthe most usetul concen- Horn g« F / , ,, ^_„ *_ 



trated manures— for Pines it is not to be equalled. As 



a further preventive, if I were growing Cucumbers in 



dung beds or pits I should put my plants in pots or ""^r^T ~ v ^ ry goo d seed there must, under those 



boxes, and then I think, with a judicious use of lime looked, bat ery g ... ..... __ 2 



water, and by growing the plants as hardy as possible 



something like ordinary success might be insured. 

 In conclusion, after growing as before stated u 



varieties of Cucumbers this season, including all the 



newest kinds, such as Ipswich Standard, Star ot^ tiie 



West, General Canrobert, Sir Colin Campbell, Ne Flus 



and many more, I am ^ nh ™^ . . f . 



opinion expressed many years ago that these .great ™« f £ r5men t as to the duration 



iroin » given »pa<-") «v ** -i---- j- > 



of the subsoil taken up and carefully washed, then 



Charlock seeds ought to be there found. Some two or 



three seeds 



a k«+ iA* dvprv pood seed there must, unoe 



gernii 

 nZtiniT power, *a* they must present themselves in con- 

 siderable numbers. If similar researches were repeated 

 at different times in different localities, we should soon 

 obtain important data positive or negative. The results 

 of the few partial examinations I have tins summer 

 uon m M*d to make in cultivated lands have been all 



Ultra, and many 



opinion expressed mait^ jvt— — ??- \ 



Cucumbers are comparatively worthless, and ^f^ e J a | of ^ity'iu'burSl'^ediwMld be artificially to bury 



oftheshortkinds-riietrueSyonHouseforinstance 

 produce in a given time a much greater length ot ser 



sua- 



