788 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



fDEc. 1, 1S55 



last is no favourite of ours, but it looks better 

 grouped with Ash than in any other way, we think). 



4. Spanish Chesnut and Weymouth Pines, 

 Strobus, &c, Ayacahuite, Lambertiana, excelsa, 

 Coulteri, Sabiniana, and macrocarpa ; Birch may 



also be added. 



5. Maple and Sycamore (and in some situations 



the Plane) will look well mixed with the Cedars 

 of Lebanon, African, and Deodar. 



6. The Larch mixes well with Yews andTaxodium 



sempervirens. 



7. The Wild Cherry and scarlet Oaks require a 

 bright green, such as Pinus insignis. 



Elms, H 



Chesnuts, and Limes ought, in our 

 opinion, to be planted by themselves on a fiat sur- 

 face near roads or buildings; they are unsuitable 



for mixing with Conifers, as are all the Poplar tribe. 



Hollies, Junipers, Box, Laurels, and Rhododen- 

 drons harmonise well with almost all, and form in 

 clusters a good base for a group. 



These appear to be the best principles for a 

 planter — at least to our own eye, but other persons 

 may have different tastes. It is observable that 

 when growing mid all natural trees and shrubs 

 harmonise well with each other ; but we have now 

 such a number of foreign Pines collected from the 

 four quarters of the globe, that we can hardly 

 expect them to look well indiscriminately mixed 

 like patchwork on a harlequin's jacket. When 

 judiciously chosen they will form the greatest orna- 

 ments of parks and pleasure grounds. These 

 remarks will be made more intelligible if our 

 readers who intend planting would get a few small 

 branches of each of the trees above named, and 

 arrange them on a table as has been formerly sug- 

 gested ; they will then see the effects of judicious 

 and injudicious mixtures in combination. G T . D. 



In Pa yen's charming little book on the diseases 

 of some of our principal agricultural plants, w r hich 

 forms part of the French " Railroad Library," two 

 maladies are described which affect the Sugar Beet, 

 differing far more in their chemical than in their 

 external characters. In the one the sugar is either 

 already turned into glucose, or has such a tendency 

 to this chemical condition, that every root which is 

 affected is at once cast aside by the manufacturer as 

 useless, inasmuch as he knows from experience that 

 it will yield nothing but molasses ; the reaction of 

 the diseased tissue is acid, and the glucose itself 

 gradually vanishes, as the starch does in the tubers 

 affected by the Potato murrain. In the other 

 disease the reaction is alcaline ; the density of the 

 juice is sensibly diminished, and the return of 

 sugar is reduced in the proportion of 10 to 8 or 10 

 to 6, though sugar is still produced instead of 

 glucose. We do not recollect that the subject has 

 been noticed before in this Journal, and as there are 

 some interesting points about it, we have taken 

 occasion of a communication of some slices of dis- 

 eased Mangel Wurzel from one of our corre- 

 spondents, accompanied by a few details as to the 

 case, to call attention to the maladies so well de- 

 scribed by Payen. 



The specimens before us agree in several respects 

 with Payen's first disease. The tissues are affected 

 principally on one side of the root, being injected or 

 saturated with brown matter like that of diseased 

 Potatoes; the affected tissue after long boiling is 

 harder than that of the sound cells ; the reaction is 

 acid,* and the glucose drips out abundantly from 

 the diseased portions. Previously to the affection 

 of the roots the foliage had become yellow, and had 

 in great measure perished. There appears to have 

 been nothing in the agricultural treatment likely to 

 produce disease, the ground being well-drained, and 

 the manure of an ordinary character. It is stated, 

 however, that the bottom of the roots was affected 



in all cases confined 



first, and that the disease 



to the 



of the 



root beneath 

 to that 



principally to the part 



the soil or immediately above it ; to that part 

 of the plant indeed, which in a healthy condition 

 contains the greatest quantity of sugar. Now as 

 regards the first disease of Payen, nothing is said of 



the probable cause, whereas in the second case, not 

 only is a reason assigned, but a mode of treatment 



suggested which has proved successful, and may 

 possibly be useful in cases of diseased Mangel 

 Wurzel, as well as of Sugar Beet. For though the 

 chemical condition may be different, theoriginal cause 

 may have been the same and the two maladies may 

 be modifications of one and the same disease. 



It appears then that this second affection com- 

 mences uniformly at the very lowest point of the 

 tap root, or of the numerous adventitious radicles, 

 the spongelets at the same time being much decom- 

 posed, and incapable of transmitting pure and 

 healthy fluid to the plant. Crops like Beet are 

 often grown for many successive years in the same 



* After boiling for three or four hours, neither litmus nor 

 turmeric paper were the ieast affected by contact Tvith the tissues. 



ground and when the produce is lifted a portion of exhibited by plants in their natural condition. It 



the root is almost always left behind, equal fre- 

 quently in length to tnat which is secured for storing. 

 The plough penetrates only half-way down, and 

 fragments of the old roots are, therefore, left to 

 decay in the soil, and may injuriously affect the 

 descending root of the new crop, so as to render it 

 unhealthy. Some proof that this is the case is 

 afforded by the fact that while plants from seeds 

 sown on the spot are affected, transplanted indivi- 

 duals in which the tap root is broken, and in which 

 the adventitious roots do not consequently descend 

 so deep, remain perfectly healthy. 



We do not indeed feel convinced that the evil is 

 due to noxious gas ascending from beneath, or to 

 want of oxygen, inasmuch as the transplanted roots 

 which are equally exposed to any ascending noxious 

 matter do not fail. It is, however, well worth the 

 cultivator's while to consider whether he is right in 

 planting such a crop year after year on the same 

 land, and if he does, as such plants abound in 

 alcalies, whether he ought not to take some pains to 

 restore the necessary loss of such matter, and if he 

 does not whether he ought to be surprised at any 

 failure. It must, however, be remembered at the 

 same time that too strong a proportion of alcalies is 

 unfavourable to the production of sugar, and in the 

 cultivation of Mangel Wurzel the same principle 

 will hold good to a certain extent, though in the 

 Sugar Beet part of the evil arises from the prac- 

 tical difficulty attendant on the separation of the 

 sugar where the proportion of alcalies is excessive. 

 M. J. B. 



New Plants. 



150. Lycaste mesochLvEva, Rckb.f. in Bonplandia. 



L. mesocTucena ; spatha subrotunda ventricosa apiculata columnse 

 longitudine, mento obconico obtuso infra spatbse basin pro- 

 ducto, sepalis oblongis : lateralibus multo majoribus, petalis 

 lanceolatis minoribus, labelli lobis lateralibus semiovatis 

 obtusis iucurvis nanis intermedio oblongo obtuso margine 

 inferiore lacero superiore integro, appendice retuso secus 

 unguem sulcato, columns facie villosa. 



Among a collection of Orchids formed by Mr. Warcze- 

 wicz at the head waters of the Maranon, and sold by 

 Stevens in May, 1853, was one named provisionally 

 Maxillaria conica, and represented to have ivory white 

 flowers, ou the authority of a drawing made by M. 

 Warezewicz in its native country. It was especially 

 remarkable for a very large inversely conical spur, and 

 a great inflated spathe. One of the plants then sold has 

 just flowered with the Lord Bishop of Winchester, at 

 Farnham Castle ; but with green, not white flowers ; 

 a circumstance that may be owing to the season of the 

 year. The only white about the blossom is to be found 

 on the column and outside the spur. The lip is dull yellow 

 like that of L. Barringtomce, to which it nearly ap- 

 proaches, as it also does to L. ciliata, both which species 

 have the lip fringed throughout the edge of its middle 

 lobe. Here, on the contrary, the upper half is perfectly 

 entire, the fringe being confined to the lower part. 

 Prof. Reichenbach has a Lycaste mesochlcena, from 

 Warczewicz's collections, the description of which reads 

 i so much like this that although he does not notice the 

 ) peculiarity of the lower half only of the middle lobe of 

 the lip being fringed we cannot doubt its being the same 

 plant, and therefore adopt his name ; but we may add 

 that it is uncertain whether the plant ought not to be 

 referred to Lycaste costata. 



The species before us belongs to a race in which the 

 column, next the lip, is always more or less shaggy with 

 dense hairs. Can any one suggest the use of so unusual 

 an apparatus ? 



We learn from the noble prelate, in whose rich collec- 

 tion this has first opened its flowers, that, although the 

 blossoms want colour, the habit is particularly good, the 

 stem standing up well and showing them to great 

 advantage. They are among the largest in the genus, 

 measuring 3 J inches in length before opening. 



151. Catalpa Bungei, De\Candolle. 

 The name CataTjJa is so associated, in this country, 

 with delicate and beautiful flowers that it is as well to 

 mention that the plant at the head of this notice 

 resembles it in little except name. It appears from a 

 statement by M. Jacques, formerly the Royal gardener 

 at Neuilly, that it forms but a small tree 2 or 3 yards 

 high, with a slender stem and heart-shaped leaves with 

 an unpleasant odour like that of Stramonium. The 

 flowers grow in small terminal panicles, but are small 

 and yellowish green, except the interior of the tube, 

 which is dotted with brownish purple, and marked with 

 a few yellow streaks. The plant, therefore, although 

 hardy, has little to recommend it. 



however, as far as the interests of the cultivator go a 

 formidable disease, and as such deserves to be treated 

 separately. 



389. Two forms of this malady may be distinguished 

 the first in which the walls of the cells are indurated* 

 though the induration in such cases never equals that 

 which is so common in Pears ; the second in which the 

 woody tissue itself accompanying the vascular bundles 

 as well as the vessels themselves, becomes solidified* 

 and instead of presenting the delicate nutritious mass 

 which renders the several organisms which are affected 

 useful for food, yielding nothing except a woody mass 

 completely indigestible. The new layers of woody 

 matter which are thus deposited, grow at the expense of 

 the contents of the several cells ; and hence all their use- 

 ful products, such as starch, gum, sugar, or proteinoos 

 matters, are wholly suppressed or diminished to a greater 

 or less extent iu quantity. Both these forms may exist 

 together or separately, and according to the organs 

 which are affected, or their several relations is the 

 extent of mischief. The first is far less common than 

 the second, at least separately. Slight cases of the 

 second often exist in soft tubers like Potatoes, where the 

 general cellular mass is altogether unaffected ; and such 

 tubers are known familiarly as stringy, a state which is. 

 by no means incompatible with great perfection in other 

 respects, and even with a superabundant development 

 of fecula, the same cause probably which produced 

 thickening of the walls of the vascular tissue having 

 induced an excessive development of starch granules in 

 the cells. 



390. Every case, however, in which the cellular 

 tissue of such organisms is indurated does not come 

 under this head. All those cases must be excluded ia 

 which a greater or less degree of decomposition accom- 

 panies the induration. Tissues may become hard from 

 large deposits of humates or other analogous substances, 

 and may in consequence resist prolonged boiling wheo 

 neighbouring tissues give way under the process. 



391. The most complete cases are those in which 

 without any change of colour all the tissues acquire & 

 firm and woody texture, or in which while the cellular 

 tissue is little affected the vascular bundles and their 

 accompanying wood cells are completely solidified, so 

 as to have their cavities entirely obliterated. This may 

 take place without any change of size. The tubers, 

 roots, &c, may be just as plump as ever, and give no 

 external siizn of mischief, whereas on examination they 

 may be either quite unfit for food in consequence of 

 their hard, close, stringy texture, or their nutritious 

 properties maybe so diminished as to make them compa- 

 ratively useless even for cattle feeding. In such cases not 

 only does the external appearance of the tubers remain 

 the same, but the condition of the foliage does not indi- 

 cate any evil. In other instances a great diminution oJ 

 size takes place, and this is predicated by the plant 

 itself having sent up a flower stem, to the exhaustion of 



the root. 



392. Amongst seed selected with the utmost care 



from picked plants, there will be always some which 

 have a tendency to revert to the original wild condition, 

 and this tendency is of course purely constitutional* 

 A tendency, equally constitutional, may exist in other 

 individuals to form indurated tissue where that tissue is 

 in general soft and delicate. Against such tendencies 

 little can be done on the part of the cultivator. At 

 times all his care will meet with only partial success. 

 Such evils may, however, arise where there is no con- 

 stitutional tendency at all ; dry and ungenial weather, a 

 penurious supply of manure, bad drainage, &c, may 

 prevent the development of the more succulent p*rt* 

 and induce the deposit of ligneous matter instead of 

 those substances which are more immediately profitable 

 to the cultivator. But though he cannot always guar* 

 against mischief, it is quite certain that the more perfect 

 his cultivation is and the more carefully he selects his 

 seed, the more certain he will be of general success. 

 Nevertheless, however perfect his cultivation way be 



i 





VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.— No. XCVII. 

 388. Sclerogenia.* (Induration of Roots, Tubers, d-c.) 



This perhaps would more correctly come as a subdivi- 

 sion of Phytolitbes, inasmuch as it depends upon a 

 similar principle, but the phenomena are so distinct that 

 I follow Meyen in placing it under a distinct head, re- 

 marking with him that it is Re's Fitoliti di Hadice.f 

 Like grittiness in Pears it is a reversion from thehyper- 

 trophied productions of art, to the more solid forms 



• From (rzkr,eo<; bard, and ytyveuau, I become. 



t This, however, is true only to a certain extent The espe- 

 cial instance brought forward by Re is in all probability identi- 

 cal with the disease called Potato curl. 



in other respects, he will be always liable to vexation » 

 his seed be taken indiscriminately from bad or g^ 

 individuals, or if he obtains it at a low rate fron* 

 quarters on which he ought not as a prudent man to 

 place dependence. 



393. Fruit may be affected to a greater or less extent 

 in a similar way. Apricots, for instance, during the pre- 

 sent year, though perfectly ripe, were frequently ■ 

 stringy as to make their use almost disagreeable. * 

 was, doubtless, owing to long continued drought ; but 

 have observed the same condition to hold good in ^g 1 ! 

 favourable seasons, where too large a crop had bee 

 left. From a similar cause individuals often become 

 hard, but such fruit always falls off premature** 

 M. J. B. 



Tbia 



PROBABLE CHARACTERS TO BE 



FOR IN A SEEDLING PEAR-TREE. 



LOOKED 



in* 



It is by no means a difficult task to discover m 

 seedling Pear-tree the indications of its probable wor- 

 It is only necessary to observe the characteristics 

 five or six good varieties raised in the end of the 

 century, which have been worked on the Pear «o^J 

 and which bear good fruit when the trees are P' a *T 

 the conditions required for producing well. It IS A^j 

 also, that the characters are displayed to the fu ^ 

 extent in the stem, in the branches, in the shoots, 

 wood, the fruit, and the leaves. .. ^ 



Once these distinctive characters are understood i 

 easy to discover them in seedlings, and the estimate 



