. 





3(8 



THE GAJWENEliS' CHRONICLE. 



[February 17, 1912. 



ugly bush bearing beautiful flowers. A mass of 

 creepers ramblo at will over the undergrowth and 

 up th timber trees. The commonest of these is 

 the beautiful pale-blue Morning Glory ; whilst the 

 Moon H uver (Ipomuea Bona-nux), which open., 



its large, pure-white flowers at night, forms an 

 interesting feature. Here and there the com- 

 monest Fern in the islands, Acrcstichum aureum, 

 forms a fitting groundwork for the scented flowers 



- t> 



ground, 

 cultiva- 

 is filled 

 shrubs. 



of Crinum asiaticum. 



Leaving the coastland, the higher 

 which years ago had been cleared for 

 tion and allowed to pass back to nature, 

 to overflowing with wildly-luxuriant 

 Immense thickets of the wild Orange — always in 

 flower and fruit, but useless — mixed with wild 

 Guavas — also unused — vie for supremacy with 

 Lantanas. The lecturer cited the interestin 

 fact that whilst elsewhere in the tropics, and 

 especially in Ceylon, the indigenous Lantanas 

 have but little range of colour, here in Fiji all 

 possible shades of colour are present, which 

 points strongly to these plants being garden 

 escapes. The '* Mile-a-Minute M (a species of 

 Mikania) is overpoweringly present. The Sen- 

 sitive Plant (Mimosa pudica), grown in small 

 flower-pots in English hothouses, here becomes 

 a dense shrub 5 feet to 6 feet high, and in spite 

 of its stout spines, is valued as a fodder plant. 



The natural forests on the mountain sides con- 

 tain nearly the same species as on the lower 

 ground and coastline. A species of Podo- 

 carpus is typical of the mountains ; the Nettle 

 tree (Laportea gigas), with large, heart-shaped, 

 poisonous leaves, attains a great size. Medinillas 

 flourish beneath the shade, and Hoyas twine 

 around the trunks of the lar^e trees, while many 

 epiphytes find a congenial home on the branches. 

 A graphic word -picture was drawn of other de- 

 sirable flowering shrubs; some of them, for ex- 

 ample, a Carruthersia with beautiful flowers 

 varying from white to a deep red, are as yet un- 

 known to our gla houses. Ferns, with rich- 

 green fronds, and many terrestrial Orchids, thrive 

 in the dense shade, whilst in the moister pla 

 a huge Moss, often 2 feet high, occurs in great 

 patches. 



This, in brief, is the story told by the lec- 

 turer of the vegetation of the coast and steep, 

 rugged southern hillsides of the island. On the 

 northern slopes, where the rainfall is much less, 

 the vegetation is very different : trees are fewer 

 and smaller, Casuarinas and Pandanus (the Screw- 

 Pines) are much in evidence. The Bottle-brush 

 tree (Metrosideros) flourishes, and the Lrushes 

 bear gorgeous flowers of scarlet or yellow. A 

 Bracken, very like our British species, abounds, 

 and many introduced plants are gradually creep- 

 ing up the mountain side, slowly but surely driv- 

 ing before them the native plants, and so chang- 

 ing the character of the vegetation of that region. 



Scientific Committee, 



February 6. — Present: Mr. E. A. Bowles. 

 M.A., F.L.S. (in the Chair); Sir Everard im 

 Thurn, Messrs. J. O'Brien, A. Worsley. G. 



Massee, W. Hales, R. A. Rolfe, G. Wilson, 

 W. T. Ledger, A. D. Michael, and F. J. Chitten- 

 den (hon. secutary). 



Abnormal Cattleya. — Mr. Mander, of St. 

 Albans, sent a Cattleya bearing several flowers, 

 every one of which was abnormal, some much 

 more markedly than others. 



Catasetum Bandit. — Mr. Rolfe drew atten- 

 tion to a Catasetum shown bv Messrs. Charles- 



worth, which he recognised 



Catasetum 



Randii, Jiolfe (Bot. Mag., t. 7470, where both 

 male and female flowers are shown). This specie- 

 differs from C. barbatum and its few allies in 

 having the crest of the lip shortly truncate and 

 broken up into many short filaments, not form- 

 ing a single horn-like tooth. It is a native of 

 the Amazons. 



Floral drawings. — Miss Massee showed some 

 excellent coloured drawings of various types of 

 plants, faithfully coloured and showing dissec- 

 tions of the essential parts very clearly. 



New Hippeastrum. — Mr. Worsley showed a 

 new Hippeastrum, for which he proposed the 

 nam« of Hippeastrum Forgetii in honour of the 

 collector. The bulbs had been received by Messrs. 

 Sander from Monsieur Forget, their collector in 

 Bolivia, and the plant is closely allied to H. 

 pardinum, but without spots. A full description 

 will anpear in the Society's Journal. 



Chrysophlyctis endobiotica. — Mr. H. T. Giis- 



sow, of the Central Experiment Farm, Ottawa, 

 wrote: — 4< From Mr. Home's paper on ' Tumour 

 and Canker in the Potato ' in the Society's last 



m 



Journal we may conclude that all efforts to 

 >ecure confirmation as to the identity of the 

 Potato disease with Schilberszky's from the dis- 

 coverer himself were futile, and that ' it is neces- 

 sary, therefore, to rely upon Schilberszky's 

 orig ial, somewhat meagre, description/ Early 

 in 1905 I wrote to Picfessor Schilberszky, sub- 

 mitting a diseased tuber to him, but received no 

 reply. Again in 1909, when I discovered the 

 disease in Newfoundland, I wrote to Professor 

 Schilberszky, and received a letter from him, 

 which I very carefully kept. The following is a 

 translation :— ■ Budapest, 12 March, 1910. I 

 have the honour to inform you that I have 

 already sent you a little time ago a statement 

 regarding the Potato tuber which you sent me. 

 I am now appealed to by Dr. v. Degen to write 

 you again in the same connection. I beg to in- 

 form you that the Potato tuber was infected by 

 Chrysophh ctis endobiotica. The diseased por- 

 tions alone made the identification very easy by 

 their external characteristic appearance. I may say 

 that in one of the infected foci I found masses of 

 bacteria, which I have not examined any closer. 

 It would interest me to have your observations 

 on the spread cf this disease in vour country. 

 (Signed) Prof. Dr. K. Schilberszky/ " In refer- 



Mr. A. S. Home wrote: 

 find that Professor Schil- 

 the disease which was re- 

 corded by Dr. Giissow, of Newfoundland, as that 

 described by himself in Potatos derived from 

 Upper Hungary. There were two points at issue 

 in Britain, concerned both with the disease and 

 the organism: (1) Professor Schilberszky stated 

 in his published description that crater-like de- 

 pressions were formed in some tubers. Symp- 

 toms of this kind were not found in Potato 

 tumour in this country. (2) At first spores of 

 only one kind were found in this country. It is 

 a well-known fact that tumours of a similar form 

 may be caused by different organisms. There was 

 confusion between the tumour in Beetroot, caused 

 by Urophlyctis leproides, and Potato tumour. It 

 was possible, therefore, that the tumour in the 

 British disease might have been due to a dif- 

 ferent organism, or perhaps to more than one 

 organism. For these reasons investigators in 

 England desired the personal assurance of Pro- 

 fessor Schilberszky that Potato tumour was due 

 to his Chrysophlyctis endobiotica." 



\ w J — ____ — __„ 



ence to the foregoing, 

 " It is interesting to 

 berszkv has identified 



SC OTTISH HORTICULTURAL. 



February 6.— The first monthly meeting of 

 the above association for the current season was 

 held in the Goold Hall, 5, St. Andrew Square, 

 Edinburgh, on this date. Mr. Massie, the Presi- 

 dent, occupied the chair, and there was an at- 

 tendance of about 80 members. 



The President delivered his opening address, 

 taking as his subject " Garden City Problems." 

 We make the following extracts : — • 



11 1 have taken as my subject Garden City Pro- 

 blems, not only on account of its national im- 

 portance, but also because I consider it is one 

 about which an association such as ours ought to 

 have something to say. If the slums in our cities 

 were wiped out, and the dwellers therein placed 

 in a suitable environment, it would have such a 

 marked influence in the diminution of poverty 

 and crime, and probably also in the diminution 

 of the burden of taxation, and on the improve- 

 ment of the physical and moral condition of the 

 people generally, that we ourselves would be 

 astonished at the result ; and, further, I believe 

 it is a subject in which we, as horticulturists, 

 must take the deepest interest. For it is largely 

 to horticulture that we must look as the great 

 ameliorating and refining agent which will raise 

 to a higher moral plane the masses of our fellows 

 who are, perforce, compelled at present to live 

 under conditions which are not only a menace to 

 public health but a disgrace to our civilisation 

 and which is rapidly deteriorating the race. 

 When we read that in Liverpool alone (the only 

 city in the United Kingdom whose municipality 

 has made a systematic survey of insanitary dwel- 

 lings in its area) 500 insanitary houses are 

 cleared out every year, and the inhabitants re- 

 housed, and that a street-to-street examination 

 of the whole of the city in September, 1£02, re- 

 vealed the fact that, notwithstanding that some 



8,000 houses had been dealt with, there still re- 

 mained nearly 10,000 insanitary dwellings we 

 get some idea of the state of aftairs in our great 

 cities. The case of Liverpool is only one out of 

 hundreds of the same kind. 



"But all this may in time be changed, for 

 with the passing three years ago of the Housing 

 and Town Planning Act, there has now been 

 placed in the hands of local authorities a sys- 

 tem of administrative machinery which can Jo 

 away with slums. 



" The second part of the Act deals with town 

 planning, and it is to this that I wish more 

 particularly to draw attention. The obj t of 

 this part of the Act is to prevent a recurrence of 

 the conditions which have done so much in the 

 past to disfigure our cities and towns, more 

 especially our manufacturing towns. Under this 

 part of the Act municipalities may have the 

 power conferred upon them to prevent haphazard 

 building, and to control the widths of streets and 

 roads, the number of houses to the acre, the 

 height of houses, and the provision of open 

 spaces, gardens, etc. All that is necessary by 

 way of procedure is for the local authority to 

 place before the Local Government Board a 

 prima facie case for the preparation of a town 

 plan, after which a preliminary enquiry is held 

 regarding the need for action, followed by the 

 authorisation of the local authority to prepare a 

 detailed plan ; the issue of provisions relating to 

 co-operation on the part of the local authority 

 with the owners and other persons interested in 

 the land, and the formation, if necessary, of a 

 joint body of local authorities, where the land 

 to be planned is in the area of more than one 

 local authority ; the holding of a local and public 

 enquiry to fully consider the plan when prepared ; 

 and, finally, tne placing of the plan as approved 

 by the Local Government Board on the table of 

 both Houses of Parliament for 30 days and it 

 formal authorisation and publication. Hitherto, 

 the only control exercised over the planning of 

 new areas has been by means of local by-laws. In 

 the event of the plan being adopted, the Local 

 Government Board may suspend the ordinary 

 by-laws." 



(To be continued. J 



HEREFORDSHIRE FRUIT, ROOT, 

 GRAIN AND CHRYSANTHEMUM. 



January 31.— The 21st annual meeting of the 

 above society was held at the Town Hall, Here- 

 ford, on this" date. The Secretary presented the 

 statement of accounts, showing total receipts 

 during the year amounting to £208 Is. 3d., an 

 expenditure £207 2s. 6d. The society has now a 

 balance in hand of £46 13s. lOd. Sir Geoffrey 

 Cornewall, of Moccas Court, was elected presi- 

 dent for the ensuing year. The Mayor of Hereford 

 (Mr. E. L. Wallis) was elected vice-president. » 

 T. Carver was re-elected chairman cf committee,. 

 Mr. R. M. Whiting, vice-chairman; Mr. A. t. 

 Harmer, hon. trea irer; and Mr. E. S. ^°"^ J 

 secretary. The committees were also elected. 



FORDSHIRE FRUIT GROWERS' 

 AND HORTICULTURISTS. 



The members of this association recently wit- 

 demonstration at Waiham 



nessed 

 Court 



a spraying demonstration at "•*■ « 

 Petrol and oil engine and hand-punipea 



i of various kinds were seen at wo f* * 



and the 

 Mr- 



Mr 

 the 



sprayers 



an orchard extending over five acres, 

 company were hospitably entertained by 

 and Mrs. C. W. Powell. ,. 



A dinner was afterwards held at the - l ^ 

 Hotel, the president of the association, 

 George Marshall, of Breinton, occupying 



Mr. Pewtress, Tillington, said that the Here- 

 fordshire growers have had a most successful s^ 

 son from an exhibition point of view. More a 

 more attention was paid by growers to spray ^^ 

 manuring, washing and pruning, aLo to g 

 packing. . i 



The president said they wanted legislation 

 compel people to spray for the ordinary "^ ' 

 in order to keep their trees reasonably h^v 



Mr. Everall spoke of the loss Englwn " 



growers sustained bv the importation of i° & 



" 't— about £4.OCO.00O a year— and said ^ 



of Bn 



rand 



fathers. 



