608 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



parasitism, there is no reason why there should not be a 

 terrestrial arborescent species as well as a fruticose 

 one." We unsuspectingly began to gather abundance of 

 specimens, but our .habit of never, when possible, 

 collecting from one individual, soon led to the dis- 

 covery that this was no terrestrial plant at all, but 

 simply that of an Elaeaguus-like Loranthus, growing on 

 an Elaeagnus, parasitically, of course. Both Elaeagnus 

 and Loranthus were extremely abundant on all the hills 

 there and t lsewhere in the Khasia, the former often 



KB ■ _ _ _ 



contributing largely to the copse wood, and we were not would undertake these experiments, he would be 



a little surprised that Griffith, who had twice, after an 

 interval of several years, visited Myrung, should have 

 fallen into such a mistake. We congratulated ourselvesall 

 the more on the genuine crop of our terrestrial Loranthus 

 of the foot of the hills. We were, however, ourselves 

 doomed to disappointment, for on finally leaving the 

 Khasia^ by the same road we had followed so often 

 before, we stopped to procure a larger specimen of the 

 Loranthus wood than we had previously obtained, and 

 to do so cut down the tree, when we observed a very 

 suspicious looking minute but familiar green leaf amongst 

 the apparent Loranthus branches, and the truth came 

 out that this was a case of the parasite possessing itself 

 wholly of the branehesof an Orange tree, its own branches 

 covered with green leaves spreading out on all sides, and 

 their branchlets hanging down, completely concealed the 

 few remaining leaves of the Orange in one case, and 

 wholly so in another close by. It may well be asked how 

 experienced botanists can make such mistakes, especially 

 how they came to be made in the field, and by persons 

 who were not merely collecting for specimens, but 

 endeavouring to observe every plant accurately in its 

 living state. But for Dr. Thomson and my having 

 visited Griffith's locality in one case, and having spent 

 months in the Khasia, and collected wood specimens in 

 the other, the anomaly would have remained almost 

 indisputably verified by three botanists of there being 

 such things as terrestrial tree Loranthi in India. I 

 need hardly add, that when both the Elaeagnus and 

 its Loranthus were known to us, we saw so much differ- 

 ence between them as they grew, that to make such a 

 mistake appeared impossible ; and so in the case of the 

 Orange and its parasite, it puzzled us to conceive how 

 we had failed to recognise the trunk of our supposed 

 Loranthus to be that of an Orange tree, abundauce of 

 which of the same size and height were -rowing around 

 it. These are perhaps remarkable cases, but they are 

 far from solitary ones ; I have been so often deceived my- 

 self, and have been sent after so many mares'-nests by 

 honest but inexperienced observers, that I have learnt 

 by experience to mistrust all paradoxes in science. 



The cases of seeds 



and 



examining them seriatim alter certain stated intervals, 

 say one or two yearly. We should thus at any rate 

 solve the first question, whether the seed can resist the 

 effects of damp aud for how long. The operators, too, 

 would certainly have the advantage over Nature, for the 

 seeds as shed from the plant must lie long on the sur- 

 face exposed to birds and the weather before they are 

 covered at all ; and indeed it is difficult to imagine how 

 it is that they can get buried in any abundance without 

 germination taking place. If my friend Mr. Darwin 



[Dec. 8, 1855. 



conferring a great boon on sceptics like myself, and 

 on science in general. I can assure him that there is no 

 one into whose care all classes of naturalists would rather 

 see them intrusted, for there is none in whose acuteness, 

 judgment, and sagacity they place more confidence. 

 He has already conferred a lasting benefit on both 

 botanists and horticulturists by his admirable experiments 

 upon salted seeds ; and until these experiments were 

 tried by him, I did not at all believe that many of the 

 seeds he steeped would have withstood as many days 7 

 immersion as they have weeks, and even mouths. I 

 shall be only too glad .to change my opinion, or rather 

 to dismiss my doubts as to the Charlock seeds, if he will 

 kindly undertake to help me to do so. J. B. Hooker. 



Meteorological Summary, for September, 1855. Pre- 

 pared from the Comparative Observations in the Irish 

 Land Schedule of 15th October. No. 98. 





have se^n of it in Ireland ; many of the fpondTTh^ 

 measured this season have been 8 and 9 feet high Th 

 situation in which these plants grow is bog, which i! 

 Hooded every season. I have dug for the caudex 

 3 feet deep, but I never could get one entire ; could we 

 get such noble specimens to grow in our Ferneries their 

 effect would be truly striking. There would, I think 

 be some difficulty in procuring specimens of this Fern 

 for all the Roman Catholics in Ireland to use upon 

 Palm Sunday ; the favourite Palm there for that day j. 

 the common Yew. J. D., North Wales. 



White Thorn. — Forty years ago it was the practice to 

 give the Haws to turkeys or other fowls and to sow 

 their dung, by which it is believed that the germination 

 of the seeds in the first year was secured. Is the prac- 

 tice exploded or forgotten 2 J. Q., Bury St. Edmunds. 



Apricots in Orchard Houses. — With some cultivators 

 these have not done so well as Peaches and Nectarines 

 ha vine failed to set their fruit. I have alwavs had good 



Month of September, 



Locality. 



!■* 



England. 



1 Durham 



2 Exeter 



3 Greenwich 



4 Hawarden 



5 Lampeter 



6 Norwich 



7 Nottingham 



8 Worcester 



• ■ 



- - • 



« ■ . 



• • 



■ * • 



Mean 

 Barometer 



• • » 



• • ■ 



• • . 



Ireland. 



9 Armagh 



10 Cork... 



11 Dublin 



12 Portarlington 



13 Sligo 



• •I 



• • • 



a ■ • 



Ill 



■ * 



Inches. 

 # 30.165 



30.250 

 •30.139 

 *30.227 



30.196 

 130.248 

 •30.195 



30.261 



Means 



Mean Thermometer 



Jm 



lying 



buried in the ground for 



after 



Scotland. 



14 Ann at, Perth 



15 Edinburgh ... 



16 Glasgow 



17 Inverness 



♦ ■ ■ 



30.216 



130.001 



•30.173 



*30 169 

 30.2 17 



Means 



• •• 



• • • 



i • 



• * # 



years, ana springing up after the soil is 

 disturbed, belong to "almost another class from 

 the Raspberry case ; for there is sometimes no 

 proof of the seeds having been buried at all, and at 

 others there is no possibility of approximating to the 

 length of time that they have been buried ; they may, in 

 short, be quite recently deposited. Mr. Darwin's 

 Charlock seed case appears to me to be for various 

 reasons by far the best instance yet adduced, for he 

 proved that the seeds grew from below the surface of 

 the disturbed soil, and therefore could not have been 

 recently deposited on its surface. My objection to 

 placing implicit confidence in this case, is the want of 

 evidence that Charlock seed will withstand the destroy- 

 ing effects of moisture for any number of years. A 

 vast accumulation of observations have been made, 

 some intentionally and some accidentally, on the vitality 

 of seeds, and all fail to show that this can be long 

 retained under moisture, except those few of whose 

 early history (as of the Charlock) we can obtain no 

 satisfactory iu formation. This of itself appears to me 

 to be suspicious ; and another fact is still more so, viz., 

 that as observers and means of observation increase, the 

 number of well attested facts does not multiply propor- 

 tionately. How is it that we never find scarce or in- 

 teresting plants under such circumstances ? how is it 

 that the seeds never are seen in the soil % If I am 

 answered that they are too minute, I would ask why 

 it is that only minute seeds lie so buried. Again, we 

 are as yet very ignorant of the habits of many animals 

 and this interference of the animal kingdom with the 

 laws that regulate the. vegetable, are constantly giving 

 rise to apparent paradoxes and anomalies. Such being I 

 the case we have surely a right to demand the most 

 rigorous investigation of every case of anomaly by the 

 reporters of them, if they wish to command our con- 

 fidence ; it is hardly fair to pitchfork paradoxes at 

 naturalists' heads and tell them they may believe them 

 or not as they like. 



30.035 



30.143 



+30.139 



*30.079 



Means 



* Observations are reduced to 32 deg. 



t Height of cistern not given in these localities, and, therefore, 

 the observations are not corrected for height: all others have 

 been corrected. 



Remarks. 



Thermometer.— Mean daily temperature in England, 56.4° • 

 Ireland, 56.7 C ; and Scotland, 54.0 5 ; being a mean of 55.7° for 

 the United Kingdom during the month of September. 



Ratn.- Average fall : England, 0.88 inches; Ireland, 1.28 inches; 

 and Scotland, 0,55 inches, being a mean of 0.90 inches for the 

 United Kingdom during the month of September. 



Wind.— Prevailing direction in England, north-east; Ireland 

 and Scotland, south-west. Taking the above 17 localities, the 

 following is the average number of days during the month of 

 September that the following winds have prevailed :— North 

 2£days; north-east, 4J; east, 2}; south-east, 2J; south, U; 

 som h-west, 7 J ; west, 3 ; north-west, 3 ; and calm days, 3. 



■Henry Allnutt, 27, College Green, Dublin. 

 The Double Crimson Chinese Peach.— Th\s is the most 

 beautiful of all double rosaceous trees, and when gently 

 forced so as to bloom in February it is one of the 

 greatest ornaments to the conservatory. After being 

 removed from the forcing-house it retains its blossoms 

 a long time in a greenhouse temperature. My tree in 

 a 13-inch pot blooms every year admirably, and gives 

 me a good crop of its curious pointed fruit, which as the 

 tree is stationary in a corner of one of my forcing- 

 houses ripen in July. They are juicy and really agree- 

 able, although not rich or high flavoured. The tree is 

 every year a beautiful object when in bloom. T. R. 



Heating.— I have a pit and a hothouse heated with 

 warm water. The boiler I use is one recommended 

 by Mr. Rivers, and placed over a brick Arnott stove. 

 On the top of the stove is a strong iron plate, which 

 becomes very hot soon after the fire has been lighted. 

 I Now 1 do not get so much heat in my hothouse as I 

 | require in severe weather, and my object is to know 

 how bf st I can make use of this hot plate to convey hot 



air into the house. At present I have a small hot-air 

 chamber, about 30 



crops, I believe owing solely to my having had the 

 trees placed, while in bloom, near the openings for air 

 so that a brisk wind always blew on them. The Apricot 

 while in bloom seems to defy the coldest winds if they 

 are dry ; but with the least stagnation of damp air its 

 blossoms drop without setting their fruit. T. R. [They 

 fruited well with the free ventilation of the orchard- 

 house in the garden of the Horticultural Society.] 



Cypresses. — After reading your leading article of 

 Oct. 27, where you observe that in <he neighbourhood 

 of Bouloukli in Asia Minor, M. Balansa had met with 

 a grove of wild Cypresses, all of the spreading sort, 

 my attention was drawn to the great number of spread, 

 ing Cypresses in the cemeteries north of the arsenal on 

 the Golden Horn here. They are of all intermediate 

 shapes, from the closely compressed spiral to the open 

 round-headed form of evergreen Oaks* Most of the 

 open sorts, however, have the general appearance of 

 Spruce Firs — many of them like Scotch Firs — with 

 drooping branches ; from one of these I cut a specimen 

 of leaves and buds to make quite sure they were really 

 true Cypresses, which I found they were. Some took 

 the shape of the flat-headed Stone Pine, but these were 

 rare. In the other cemeteries round this city and 

 suburbs, as well as at the large cemetery behind 

 Scutari, I have not observed so great a variety as in the 

 one behind the arsenal. But, doubtless, observers whQ 

 have had greater opportunities than I have had must 

 have seen the same thing in other places, though I 

 should think there are few places, if any, where such 

 an extent of cemetery and such numbers of planted 

 Cypresses exist as round Constantinople, with its Euro- 

 pean suburbs and Scutari. T. S. P., Const anthwpU t 

 Nov. 19. 



Oenera Plantarum Flora Germanicce. — As some of 

 your readers may have taken in the early numbers of 

 this work by Professor Nees v. Esenbeck and others, it 

 will be satisfactory to them to know that there is a 

 reasonable prospect of its being continued and completed. 

 By a direct application in Bonn I have learned that, in 

 spite of many and peculiar difficulties, the publishers are 

 proceeding, that three competent editors are occupied 

 in the work, and that four or five fasciculi may be looked 

 for in the coming year. Up to the present time 28 

 fasciculi have been issued. G, Bath. 



nr«. a* .i v*l , , j r,* — T~ 9 ?"" ut ow inches S( l uare and 4 inches high, 



With regard to the Charlock seed, closed on three sides, and opening into the house Of 



one of the correspondents in the Gazette remarks that 

 being an oily seed it is likely to retain its vitality unim- 

 paired, and quotes Melon seeds as a case in" point ; 

 but the seeds of Cucurbitaceae are better protected 

 than those of Crucifera*, and the latter order is con- 

 sidered by some gardeners as not good keeping seeds 

 in general. That many oily seeds become rancid 

 and spoil quickly is certain, but I am not aware that 

 any relation has been discovered between the vitality and 

 chemical or other qualities of seeds. The su -gestion 

 of your correspondent » G. B." that the ground in which 

 the supposed buried Charlock seed sprang up should be 

 examined, is an excellent one, nor can I conceive its not 

 giving conclusive evidence on one side or the other, for 

 the Charlock seed, as "G. B.» says, is not small, and 

 for every living one there must be many dead in the 

 soil. I would further suggest the burying Charlock 



seeds under a series of sods at different rUr^he «n^ 



course from this I 



get some heat, but not so 

 much as I think I ought and might. Would the 

 heightening of the air-chamber, closing it all round 

 and introducing a pipe at top and auother at bottom 

 of the side which joins the house have a better 

 effect by producing a circulation ? and if so, what 

 should be the diameter of the pipes ? and should one be 

 larger than the other, or one shorter than the other ! 

 Or could Mr. Rivers, or any of your correspondents 



propose a plan which would succeed ? I could introduce 

 m*h air from without also, but how best to do this is 

 the question. Any advice that can be given me on the 

 subject I shall he grateful for to your experienced 

 practical correspondents. A Constant Reader, Eentleii 

 near Parnham. * 



Otmunda Regalis. — Allow me to inform your corre- 

 spondent * R." that finer specimens of this noble Fern 

 may be seen in this county (Denbighshire) than any I 



societies;* 



Linnean, Nov. 20. — The President in the chair. 

 Among the presents announced was a collection of about 

 200 species of dried plants from the Australian Alps^- 

 collected and presented by Dr. Miiller. Mr. F. Ruffe, 

 of Tamworth, exhibited specimens of a Cardamine, sup- 

 posed to be a hybrid between C. amara and C. pratensis, 

 gathered at Dunstall, near Tamworth ; but which Mr. 

 Syme was of opinion differed in no respect from the 

 former species. The following papers were read I— h 

 " Observations on the mode in which the Argyroneta 

 aquatica forms the bell of air with which it sur- 

 rounds itself beneath the surface of the water," by 

 the President, In one of the experiments detailed, 

 the following results were observed. In an up- 

 right vessel of water furnished with a plant of 

 Stratiotes, six Argyronete were placed. The one now 

 referred to began to weave his beautiful web about 

 5 p m. After much preliminary preparation, he as- 

 cended to the surface, and obtained a bubble of air, with 

 which he immediately and quickly descended, and the 



bubble was disengaged from the body, and left in con- 

 nection with the web. The nest was on one side in 

 contact with the glass, and enclosed in an angle formed 

 by two leaves of the Stratiotes, so that the movements 

 could be easily observed. Presently he ascended again 

 and brought down another bubble, which was similarly 

 deposited. In this way no less than 14 journeys were 

 performed, sometimes two or three very quickly 

 in succession, at other times at a considerable in- 

 terval, during which he was employed in extend- 

 ing and giving shape to the beautiful transparent 

 bell, getting into it, pushing it out at one pla<*> 

 rounding it in another, and attaching it more 

 closely to the supports. At length he seemed to 

 be satisfied with its dimensions, when he crept 1°*** 

 and settled himself to rest with the head downwards. 

 The cell was now the size, and nearly the form of b»j 

 an acorn, cut transversely, the smaller and rounded 

 part being uppermost. Similar observations were made 

 in other instances. 2. m On some new species ot 

 Chamselanciese/' by Dr. C. F. Meisner. The group o* 



m>..irfi ^n..n Jn„| B «rl^„U „,«„ «„*«U;«Un^ Kv lift C$B>~ 



