8 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[January 6, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



ADVERTISEMENTS should be sent to the PUB- 

 LISHER, 4i, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, 



■Letters for Publication, as well as specimens of plants 

 for naming, should be addressed to the EDITORS, 

 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Communications should be written on onk side only of 

 the paper, sent as early in the week as possible and duly 

 signed by the writer. Ifdesiroi, the signature will not be 

 printed, but kept as a guarantee of good faith. 



with the normally exposed control, showed tion, the botany of the densely-wooded m- 



a reduction of 13.5 per cent. Further ex- terior was known but very imperfectly, 



periments of this kind cJ:e in progress in and doubtless much yet remains to be 



order to determine to what extent, if any, done before the survey is completed. The 



this reduction of yield is to be attributed total number of species of flowering plants 



to the reduced light-intensity owing to 



shading by the wired network of the cage. 



The experiments in electrification were 



of two kinds. In one the atmospheric 



and Ferns already recorded from the 

 island is 2,660, belonging to 836 genera 

 and 156 families; so that nearly three- 

 fourths of the families of the world 



APPOINTMENTS FBR THE ENSUING WEEK. ing along overhead wires, and in the other 



electricity was intensified by currents pass- are represented. There are three im 



portant publications of the Botanical 

 Survey* two of which have already been 



SATURDAY, JANUARY 6— 



Soc. Francaise d'Hort, de Londres meet. 



MONDAY, JANUARY 8— 



Roy. Hort. Soc. Exam, of Public Parks' 

 United Hort. Benefit and Prov. Soc. meet. 



TUESDAY, JANUARY 9- 



Roy. Hort. Soc. Corns, meet. 



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10— 



Deal, Walmer and District Hort. Soc. Ann. Meet. 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 11— 



Manchester and North of England Orchid Soc. meet. 

 Bolton Hort. and Chrys. Soc. Ann. Meet. British 

 Gardeners' Assoc. (London Branch) meet. (Lecture on 

 11 Chrysanthemums M by Mr. Cooper.) 



high-tension electricity was applied. , , ... , 



The plants used in the experiments in- noticed m these columns, and the third, 

 eluded Spinach, Kadish, Corn Salad, and now to be considered, is not the least im- 



Empioyds. Cabbage Lettuce. 



portant, as Dr. Hayata brought over the 



The results were generally in favour of whole of his material to Kew in order 



the former mode of electrification, that is to make comparative studies He also 



of electrification by intensifying the atmo- visited Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg 



u \ . A . .. J rp, . i „^«r+Via where many types of eastern plants are 



spheric electricity. The increased growths __ , *>? J 



under these conditions ranged from 15-40 

 per cent. The high-tension electricity 



preserved. The following note in his in- 

 troduction is characteristic of the Japa- 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Y 

 at Greenwich-37'9°. 



-Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— Wednesday, January 3 (6 p.m.): Max. 51°; 



Min. 46*. 

 Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London— Thursday, January 4 

 (10 a.m.) : Bar. 29'3 P ; Temp. 52° ; Weather— 

 Dull. 

 Provinces.— Wednesday, January 3 : Max 50° Ire- 

 land W. ; Min. 40° Scotland N. 



. T j.«^«- nese devotion to duty: " During my stay 



(direct current) caused, when a strong ^ ^ j ^ ^^ f ^ my wQrk foj , & 



current was employed a yield of 90-10o per j.^ mQre th&n & ^^ when j went tQ 

 cent, as compared with the normal control ; Brusselg to take part in the Inte rnational 

 in other words, a slight average decrease. Botanical Congress .» Dr . Hayata's two 



independent contributions to the botany 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



MONDAY and WEDNESDAY— 



Rose Trees, Fruit Trees, Perennials, &c, at Stevens s 

 Auction Rooms. 38. King Street, Covent Garden, at 

 12.30. 



MONDAY and FRIDAY- tt 



Herbaceous and Border Plants, Liliums and Hardy 

 Bulbs, at 12 ; Roses and Fruit Trees, at 1.30 ; at 67 & 68, 

 Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe & Morris. 



' WEDNESDAY— 



Japanese Liliums and other Hardy Bulbs, Perennials 

 and Herbaceous Plants, at 12; Roses and Fruit Trees, 

 at 1.30 ; Palms and Plants, at 5. 



Trade Sale of Miscellaneous Plants and Bulbs, at 12 ; 

 2,370 cases Japanese Liliums, at 2 30 ; at 67 & 68, Cheap- 

 side, E.C., by Protheroe 8c Morris. 



Choice Imported Dendrobiums, also Established 

 Orchids, at 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe & 

 Morris, at 12.45. 



The weak high-tension current, however, 

 affected the yield more favourably, and 

 produced, in some cases, as much as 



25 per cent, increase. 



With electrified Strawberries a hastening 

 of the crop by several days was observed. 

 Certain conclusions with respect to the 



time of application of the current are note- ££ *£ "££££ 

 worthy. In summer it is best applied m 



of Formosa add 660 species, 135 genera, 

 and three families to those previously 

 known ; and a large proportion of the 

 species are new. The collections dealt 

 with in the present work, as well as those 

 in his Flora Montana, are in greater part 



region ; but the 

 element is very small. 



genuine Alpine 



early morning and evening ; m spring and ^^ Morrisonensig> from an altitude f 



autumn from 7.30 until 9.30, and two hours 

 before dusk; and in winter only in the 

 morning from 9.30 until 11.30. It is useless 



upwards of 13,000 feet, is one of the few 

 recorded from a great elevation. The 

 paucity of peculiar genera in the For- 



to apply electricity during rain, but foggy ^^ ^ & ^ ^ after 



weather is a particularly suitable occasion ^ ^ ^^ ^^ by ^^ &nd 



for its application. 



Western 



There are new species of 



•* . , i i _ -fi, o western v^iuiia,. jliicic aic new c^ctico ui 



The Dahlem report concludes with a distribution 



very definite caution. It ponfe _oui that Clematis 8 to Arundinaria in the clas- 



the whole question of the utilisation of 



V . .. - .- i-u^ ~™ w +li unrl smcation or Dentnam anu nuu&ci o 



electricity for augmenting the g jojth and ^^ Flantarum . The descriptions are 



sification of Bentham and Hooker's 



Electro- 

 Culture. 



The application of electricity 

 to horticultural practices is 

 brought a definite step nearer 

 general realisation by the experiments 

 which have been carried out cf recent 

 years, both in this country and abroad. 

 With the chief of the experiments carried 

 on at home our readers are familiar; but 



speeding up the development of plants is 

 in an experimental stage, and suggests that 

 growers should be cautious in adopting 

 schemes of electrification for these pur- 

 poses, since the stage at which electricity 

 can be used on a commercial scale with 

 assured results has not yet been reached. 



Nevertheless, with the results of the 

 Dahlem experiments and those of Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, Professor Priestley and 



in Latin and the notes in English, so that 

 it is an open book to western botanists, 

 and the book is purely botanical, syste- 

 matic and geographical. Even approxi- 

 mate dimensions of the new trees are not 

 given. Of the dozen species of Quercus 

 and five of Castanopsis described there is 

 no indication in any instance whether it 

 is a shrub or tree. A new Beech, Fagus 



the results of other experiments carried Oliver Lodge ^essor , ™J^ ™ HayatjB , is described as » arbor ex celsa." 

 «nt elsewhere have but recently become others, it can scarcely be doubted tnatuie j .»_*.». ^ „:„ Q ;« „„. 



out elsewhere have but recently oecome ouiers, i, -" — — ' " widespread adop- The omission of all details of size is un- 

 available for consideration, and it is cf near Juture may see^a J^™^ fortunate . Among the imperfectly-known 



these that we now propose to speak. The 

 experiments in question were conducted at plants. 



the Imperial Biological Station at Dahlem 

 (Germany), and in them not only were the 

 plants subjected to different modes of elec- 

 trification compared with others growing 

 under normal conditions, but they were 

 compared also with plants covered with 

 wire cages so arranged as to exclude 

 natural atmospheric electricity. 



By these means it was possible both to 

 determine the effects of the electric 

 currents to which the plants were sub- 

 mitted, and ascertain the effects of the 

 electricity normally present in the air. 



Since the Island of Formosa Hayata, sp. nov. ! 



trees is a Sweet Chestnut, designated 

 Castanea sativa, Mill. var. formosana, 



The author probably 



The Flora was formally ceded by China intended describing' it as a new species, 



and then changed his mind, but omitted 



There are large numbers of 



of 

 Foriroosa 



to Japan in 1895, the new 



rulers have accomplished mar- to delete. 



vels in the development of its resources. newOrchids, and few Liliace^, excepting 

 A botanical survey has been instituted, and 

 Japanese botanists have been exceed- 

 ingly active in the investigation of the flora it in having narrower leaves. 



Smilax. Lilium konishii is the only new 



Lily, " near L. japonicum, but differs from 



Under 



of the island, and in publishing the results. 



Formosa 



has an area of about 15,000 square miles. 

 The elevation of the highest point, Mount 



ArthTresulT^ Morrison, is usually given as about 



12,850 feet, though Dr. Hayata cites an 



Scirpus triquetra we read : " The present 

 plant is one of the most useful in For- 



It is the principal source ofthe 



mosa. 



Octavo 



French Beans) beneath insulating wire 

 .cages, and hence screened from atmo 

 spheric electricity, the yield, as compare* 



elevation of 13,094 feet on the same moun- 

 tain. Previous to the Japanese occupa- 



* I. Enumeratio Plantarum Formosanarum, by J. ^^5 

 mura and B. Hayata. Octavo, pp. 702, with 18 plates- w 



II, Flora Montana Formosa, by B. Hayata. 

 pp. 260, with 41 plates. 1908. . . ,t y 



III. Materials for a Flora of Formosa, &c, P rinCl ? >v / 

 made at the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, ** 

 by B. Hayata. Octavo, pp. 471. 1911. 



