120 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[February 24, 1912. 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



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w.c. 



Local News.— Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending to 

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Letters for Publication, as well as specimens of plants 

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Communications should be written on one side only of 

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Illustrations. - The Editors will be glad to receive and to select 

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Newspapers.— Correspondents sending newspapers should be 

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supply for the whole world. It is true subject in the American Florist, the kelp 

 that France, with that genius for groves along a portion of the coast have 

 economy which characterises her, ekes 

 out this supply by the use of muriate 

 of potash (potassium chloride) obtained 

 by the evaporation of sea water, and 



been mapped, and it is estimated that they 

 will yield more potash than is at present 

 imported. The method of extraction of the 

 chloride of potash from the seaweed is very 



the thrifty Scotch extract the same sub- simple. The kelp is dried and, as it dries, 



stance from seaweed (kelp). Among the the potassium chloride exudes. The kelp 



by-products of the Sugar-beet industry groves of the Pacific are often many square 



is carbonate of potash — an added reason miles in area, and consist mainly of two 



for the encouragement of the cultivation of great brown algse belonging to the genera 



that crop. These, and similar minor 

 sources of supply, pale into insignificance 



Macrocystis and Nereocystis. These sea- 

 weeds reach a gigantic size, plants of 10Q 



before the gigantic output of the Strass- feet in length being common. It is esti- 



furt industry. Thus the amount of crude mated that a proper exploitation of these 



salts of potash (Strassfurt salts) amounts gardens of the sea will yield annually 



to 7,000,000 tons per annum. The rate at 1,000,000 tons of potassium chloride, worth 



which the use of potash salts is increasing nearly $40,000,000. Moreover, and therein 



is remarkable. According to the booklet is much to rejoice the heart of the in- 



referred to, the consumption, which in 1890 genious American, the by-products to be 



APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. was 71,456 tons for agricultural purposes, obtained from the kelp — iodine, glue, pro- 



and about 50,000 tons for industrial pur- vender for cattle, after the example of 



WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28- 

 Roy. Botanic Soc. meet. 



SATURDAY, MARCH 2. 



Soc. Fran^aise d'Hort. de Londres meet. 



poses, reached in 1909 the gigantic totals Japan — may be expected to contribute 

 of 590,000 and 85,300 tons. The agri- materially toward the cost of collection 

 culturists' hunger for potash has increased and nrenaration of the ootash. Life arose 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Years 

 at Greenwich— 40-8°. 



Actual Temperatures:— 



London.— Wednesday, February 21 (6 p.m.): Max. 48°; 



Min. 36°. 



Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 



Covent Garden, London— Thursday, February 22 



(10 a.m.) : Bar. 29*3° ; Temp. 54° ; Weather— 



Dull. 



Provinces.— Wednesday, February 21 : Max 48° Ireland, 



S.W.; Min. 44° Yorkshire. 



eight-fold (by 825 per cent.) in 20 years, 



so we are told — from the sea, and when 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



MONDAY and WEDNESDAY- 



Rose Trees, Fruit Trees, Perennials, Liliums, Trained 

 Bay Trees, Palms, &c. y at 12.30, at Stevens's Auction 

 Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C. 



MONDAY and FRIDAY— 



Herbaceous Plants and Perennials. Lilies and other 

 Hardy Bulbs, at 12; Roses and Fruit Trees, at 1.30; 

 at 67 St 68, Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe 8t Morris. 



WEDNESDAY— 



Japanese Lilies, Gladiolus, and other Hardy Bulbs, Bor- 

 der Plants, Perennials, &c, at 12; Roses and Fruit 

 Trees, at 1.30; Palms and Plants, 5; at 67 & 68, Cheap- 

 side, E.C., by Protheroe St Morris. 



FRIDAY— 



Orchids, at 12.45., at 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., by 

 Protheroe & Morris. 



Periodical efforts are made by 

 The ^ well-meaning, prophetic souls 



supply of to scare the wor ld by pointing 

 Potash, out an approaching shortage 



in this or that essential 

 material. At one time they threaten us 

 that the Wheat-supply will give out, 

 or that timber is on its last legs. 

 At another it is the world's supply 

 of available nitrogen that is running low, 

 or that the bunkers of the earth are 

 fast becoming depleted of coal. Soon 

 potash will have its turn as the bogey 

 to scare us into economy, and although we 



decline to share the apprehensions, the 

 facts as to supply and use of potash in the 

 world's agriculture and industries are 

 striking enough and deserve to be widely 

 known. These facts are brought out in an 

 impressive manner in a booklet recently 

 issued by the Potash Syndicate. As is 

 generally known, Germany enjoys a 

 unique place in the sun with respect to the 



whereas industries have been satisfied with Strassfurt has given us its last ounce of 

 an increase of only 167 per cent. Holland potash salts, the life of our fields and gar- 

 heads the list of potash users — as judged dens will be prolonged by the potash which 

 by the amount applied per acre. In that the sea will yield, 

 country potash salts are applied to the 

 land at the average rate (reckoned as pure 

 potash, K^O) of 1,300 lbs. per 100 acres. 

 Germany uses 915 lbs. per 100 acres, Bel- 

 gium 426 lbs. ; Scotland leads in the 

 United Kingdom with 357 lbs. England is 

 content with 130 lbs., and Ireland remains 

 unsatisfied with 116 lbs. ; yet it might be reason 

 remarked in parentheses that " no nation 

 needed it so much," for as is well known 

 light, peaty soils are generally deficient in 

 potash. Lest our remark should be con- 

 strued as reflecting on the progress of Irish 

 agriculture, we hasten to add that Ire- 

 land's use of potash has increased enor- 

 mously of recent years. For whereas in 

 1900 a mere 25 lbs. per 100 acres was given 

 to the potash-hungry land, between four 



Professor Bateson on Genetics.— In his 

 fifth lecture at the Royal Institution Profes- 

 sor Bateson returned to the problems of specific 

 variation in the light of recent research in 

 genetics. He gave many examples, in which 

 the differences are such that there is no 



for thinking that they play any 

 part in the struggle for existence. For in- 

 stance, the house-sparrow and the tree-sparrow 

 closely resemble each other, but the sexes in the 

 house-sparrow are unlike, whereas in the tree- 

 sparrow they are alike, resembling the cock of 

 the house-sparrow. Yet these two species live 

 closely similar lives. Again, in the scarlet 

 tanager there are two nearly-related forms. In 

 one form the cock is a brilliant scarlet; in the 

 other he is a more carmine red. The hen of botn 

 forms is a greenish bird. In winter the cock oi 



and five times that amount is now used. the scarlet form moults and becomes like the 



hen, but the cock of the carmine form shows very 

 little seasonal variation. The study of specific 

 variations makes us realise the difficulties witn 

 which the systematist has to deal. For instance, 

 a case which has puzzled botanists for some time 

 is that of the classification of the Elms of Great 

 Britain. Henry and Backhouse set out to stud) 

 the genetic relationship of the three forms, Ulmus 

 montana, U. glabra, and the Huntingdon Elm. 

 They found that the Huntingdon Elm is a hybrid 

 between U. glabra and U. montana, and that the 

 difference between these two species is a simple 

 difference involving two pairs of Mendelian fac- 

 tors. Yet another case of a polymorphic species 

 which offered difficulties to the systematist is that 

 of Capsella bursa pastoris. This case has been 

 worked out by Shull. Here there are two 

 pairs of factors involved, namely, pointed an 

 blunt lobes to the leaves, and broad and narrow 

 lobes. It is to the various possible combinations 

 of these characters that most of the different 



Although, as we have pointed out recently, 

 scientific knowledge as to the uses of pot- 

 ash to the plant is by no means exact, and 

 although practice very rightly refuses to 

 wait till science sanctions its procedure, 

 yet it is well to remember that the use of 

 potash manures is due to no one so much 

 as to the great founder of bio-chemistry, 

 Justus van Liebig, who first demonstrated 

 that potash is an indispensable constituent 

 of plants. So far as is known, this sub- 

 stance takes a hand in the upbuilding and 

 transmutation of the proteins (albuminous 

 substances) which are the chief and essen- 

 tial constituents of protoplasm. 



The United States has been bestirring 

 itself of late years, and has subsidised the 

 Department of Agriculture to seek out 

 sources of supply. Up till the present 

 time the search, so far as the earth 



sale of potash salts; for the ownership of is concerned, has not been very successful : forms are due * There * only one , ? t ;J. 



- " " - " - which the systematist can discover the relatiw 



ships of the multitudinous forms with which &* 

 has to deal, and that is by experimental bree - 



the world's supply of this raw material for but guided, perhaps, by the kelp industry 

 the industries and agriculture rests almost of Scotland, the Agricultural Department 

 exclusively with that country. The crude has extended its range of seeking to the 

 Strassfurt salts are derived from Saxony, sea. Therein — or rather in the giant sea- 

 in the neighbourhood of the Harz Moun- weeds of the Pacific — potash has b 

 tains, and the potash salts, Kainit, found in sufficient quantity to pay for ex- 

 extracted therefrom, constitute the main traction. According to an article on the 



ing. Failing that, he must be content to r€ma ^ r 

 a cataloguer of differences. Finally, Profess 

 Bateson discussed some problematic cases 









the distribution of nearly allied species in r c0 ^ 

 tiguous areas. These included that of the JN° 



