Novembeb 24, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



601 



This fact seems to indicate a sort of balance 

 between the two modes of reproduction by the 

 tubers, and by the seeds : the energy of the one 

 seems to bring about the decadence of the other. 

 In fact, Knight and Langenthal have found that they 

 may increase the blooming by detaching the young 

 tubers as they appear. Inversely, they found that 

 suppressing the flowers favoured the development of 

 the tubers of many varieties. An anonymous English 



the number as well as size of the tubers. However, 

 the early varieties, and the plants which had not 

 been topped till late, gave a contrary result, one 

 crop being poor, probably because there remained 

 some little time between the operation and the 

 maturity of the tubers, and the season had been 

 especially dry from July 14 to August 25. 



These experiments enable us to understand why 

 the Potato does not thrive alike in Chili and Ger- 



^ 



Fig. 83.— calandhinia oppositifolu ; flesu-coiouked. 



author has obtained by this method an increase in 

 harvest of 2670 lb. per acre. 



Wollny recognises that, from his experiments, the 

 development of the flower is prejudicial to that of 

 the tubers. Experiments were conducted in 1886 on 

 many varieties that produce flowers. Four plots 

 were planted with each variety, one acting as a dupli- 

 cate or control, being left to itself; the inflorescence 

 on the other three was cut at three different periods. 

 The inflorescence oftenest cut off produced the crop 

 of greatest weight ; it also exercised an influence on 



many. It is probable that dryness and sunlight 

 induce bloom, and humidity, and a sky more or less 

 cloudy, the formation of tubers. In fact, in dry 

 years a great number of varieties flower, while the 

 same varieties do not bloom when the weather is 

 moist and the sky is obscure. 



The influence of light upon the production of 

 flowers is a fact that has been long known, and very 

 recently Sachs has shown that it is the chemical rays 

 which provoke flowering. Plants of Nasturtium, a 

 flowering plant of the first class, produced no flowers 



behind a~screen of a"solution"of [sulphate of quinine. 

 But it seems to us that it is necessary to divide the 

 problem into two, and to distinguish one im- 

 mediate influence and another indirect influence, the 

 effect of which is itself accumulated by heredity, in 

 order to become a race-characteristic. These two 

 features necessarily combine, and act in the same 

 way in our country. We do not think, however, 

 that these things are brought about by purely 

 physical influence. 



There are, in fact, many examples of plants being 

 reproduced artificially or naturally by budding, root 

 grafting, tubers, &c, and which in flowering do not 

 produce fruit, or which, producing fruits, are none the 

 less sterile, as seeds are not formed in them. Lysi- 

 machia nummularia, a creeping plant; the Tarragor, 

 which flowers but does not set seed ; Garlic rocambole, 

 which produces bnlbs in place of flowers ; a variety 

 of Ficaria ranunculoides, which produces tubercles 

 in the axils of the leaves ; and Sugar-cane and 

 Bananas which are nearly always sterile. AbstraU 

 in Annalcs Agronomiques, xiv., pp. 383 — 4. 



CALANDKINIA OPPOSITIFOLIA, 

 S. Watson, sp. nov. 



The contrast between the rich deep maroon of the 

 so-called C. umbellata and the pure white or rose- 

 blush of the present species is striking in the 

 extreme, and as we have no reason to doubt its com- 

 parative hardiness, it will, no doubt, prove a great 

 acquisition to the outdoor garden. The plant from 

 which the sketch (fig. 8.3) was made was grown 

 through the winter in an unheated house, and, in con- 

 sequence, may be a little drawn, although the descrip- 

 tion from wild plants gives the scape as 3—10 inches 

 high. The tuberous root is very thick and fleshy, the 

 lower leaves oblanceolate, narrowed to the scaly 

 margined underground base ; from 2 — 3 inches long, 

 thick, succulent. The flower-stem is branching, 

 with one terminal three-flowered umbel ; the 

 pedicels 1 or 2 inches long, sepals round, short, 

 acutely dentate ; flowers over 1 inch in diameter, 

 pure white, in some blush-rose, the latter espe- 

 cially very lovely. It was collected by Thomas 

 Howell at Waldo, Oregon, and in the coast moun- 

 tains of Del Norte County, California, near Smith 

 Biver, and published in the Proceedings of the 

 American Academy of Ar/s and Sciences, vol, xxii„ 

 p. 355. D. 



Fruit Register, 



P E A E S . 



It would be scarcely safe for a gardener to limit 

 his varieties to fifteen, in view of the uncertainty of 

 cropping in some of those named by Mr. Sheppard 

 in these pages on November 10. I would like to add 

 Jargonelle, a Pear which everyone likes ; Eyewood, 

 piquant in flavour, and a good grower and cropper. 

 In both of these the spurs are naturally long, and 

 should be shortened only when they have become 

 unsightly. I think the Pears with long spurs and 

 long stalks to the fruits usually have pendulous 

 blossoms, and are thus rendered less liable to injury 

 from snow and frost when open. Beurre Diel is an 

 excellent hardy Pear, and Marie Louise d'Uccle is 

 also good, and equally hardy ; Monarcli should not 

 be omitted ; Hacon's Incomparable also, where it 

 does well, is welcome for its tender flesh and 

 pleasant flavour. It usually crops well every other 

 year ; but by thinning out the fruits when too 

 abundantly borne, this Pear, and others with the 

 same peculiarity, may be made to crop fairly well 

 every year when not prevented by frost from setting 

 their blooms. Beurre d'Aremberg is another variety 

 which bears well and pretty constantly. Well grow n 

 and ripened it is excellent, but as it is a very fit 6 

 setter the fruits ought to be thinned on wall treer, 

 pyramids, &c. Nouveau Poiteau audJEaster Beun5 

 can hardly be omitted, although the period at which 



