412 Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. 



" On the 21st of October, ISS^, a gourd of the same variety, but of a size 

 still more enormous, was exhibited, from Lord Rodney. It was 8 ft. in cir- 

 cumference, and weighed 212 lb." 



16. On the Grafting of Vines. By Mr. William Gowans. Communicated by 



the Horticultural Society of Glasgow. Read June 7. 1836. 



This communication, somewhat varied and enlarged by its author, has 

 appeared in the Gardener's JMagazine for 1837, p. 117. 



17. Upon the supposed absorbent Powers of the Cellular Points, or Spongioles, 

 of the Pools of Trees, and other Plants. By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq., 

 F.R.S., Pres. Read May 17. 1836. 



" An opinion is very extensively, if not generally, entertained, that the 

 nutriment which trees and other plants derive from the soil in which they 

 grow is exclusively taken in by the cellular extremities of their roots, which, 

 from their texture, have been called spongioles, and which, in their organisa- 

 tion, differ from other parts of the root in being totally without any alburnous 

 or woody matter distinct from bark. But it is through the alburnum alone of 

 trees, as I have proved by a great variety of experiments, and as is, I believe, 

 generally admitted, that the ascending sap, under ordinary circumstances, 

 passes up from their roots into their branches and leaves ; and, as this sub- 

 stance does not exist in the spongiole, my attention was directed to an 

 enquiry, whether the spongioles possess the power of transmitting fluids, and, 

 if such power were found to exist in them, through what peculiar channels 

 such fluids pass up : and as these questions are necessarily interesting, and to 

 some extent, in particular cases, may become important to the practical 

 gardener, I communicate the result of my experiments. 



" Spongioles are obtainable in the most perfect state from large seeds, such 

 as those of the common or French bean, which have been permitted to ger- 

 minate, by simply detaching them from the cotyledons, as they thus remain 

 united to the caudex of the plant, and its bud and plumule. Many of these 

 were obtained from the seeds of plants of several kinds, and subjected to 

 various modes of treatment in soils of different qualities ; but all perished 

 without a single plumule having expanded, or having apparently received any 

 nutriment, either from the soil or other source. Yet the spongioles, in these 

 cases, must have contained greatly more living organisable matter, derived 

 from their cotyledons, than the whole body of the seed of a very large majority 

 of plants can possibly contain; but they were, I conclude, incapable of trans- 

 mitting it into the plumules, owing to the want of alburnum. 



" I therefore believe my opinion, that spongioles are imperfectly organised 

 parts of the plant, which neither absorb from the soil, nor transmit fluids of 

 any kind for the service of other parts of it, to be well founded : but alburnous 

 matter is generated with great rapidity within them ; and they become to a 

 very great extent transmuted into perfect roots, long before the growth of the 

 stem or branches of the tree commences in the spring ; and by these newly 

 formed roots (but not by these exclusively) I conceive that nutriment is 

 absorbed from the soil and sent up into the leaves, to be there converted into 

 the true sap of the plant. I am aware that the above-stated opinions are In 

 opposition to those of many eminent physiologists, to which much deference 

 is due; but I think that they have erroneously included within their spongi- 

 oles portions of alburnous fibre, a substance never found in the organ properly 

 called a spongiole." 



18. Observation on a Seedling Pear, raised by Thomas Andreiv Knight, Esq., 

 called the Althorj) Crassane. By Mr. Robert Thompson. Read Jan. 19. 1836. 



This variety, Mr. Thompson observes, will bear competition with the finest 

 of the varieties introduced from Belgium or France. It bears well as a stan- 



