March 2, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



133 



in the centre, bearing a conspicuous quadrangu- 

 lar bract. Seeds, two on each scale, brown, oval, 

 with narrow wings, and 



FLORISTS' FLOWERS. 



conspicuous resm- 



PERPETUAL-FLOWERIXG CARNATIONS. 



Of the novelties distributed last year, there 

 are three varieties from America that should 

 become favourites with both the large and small 

 grower. These are White Wonder, Washing- 

 ton, and Gloriosa. The last two are very fine 

 pink varieties. Of the English varieties, per- 

 haps the best are Orpheus, R. F. Felton, and 

 Regina. Orpheus is a yellow-ground fancy. 

 It varies in colour, but the best yellow form is 

 -peculiar variety, forma fonnosana, Hayata, with getting well on the way to the yellow-ground 



narrow wings, 

 vesicles. 



Cupressus pisifera differs in the foliage, bright 

 green on the upper surface, and marked on the 

 lower surface with well-defined white patches in 

 hollows, the leaves being distinctly acuminate, 

 with long -/micros. It has globose cones, with a 

 minute bract to each scale, and differently shaped 

 seeds with very broad wings. Both C. pisifera 

 and C. formosensis differ completely in foliage 

 from C. obtusa, which occurs in Formosa as a 



r 



[Copyright H. Clinton Baker. 



Fig. 54. 



TRUNK OF CUPRESSUS FORMOSENSIS. GIRTH, 67 FE 



(From a photograph taken on Mount Morrison.) 



leaves, cones, and seeds all smaller than the 

 typical form of the species in Japan. The main 

 distinctions are shown in fig. 53, where the 

 foliage, cone-scale, and seed of the three species 

 are drawn. 



Kawakami, in his List of Plants of Formosa, 

 published in 1910, gives no fewer than 22 species 

 of Conifers as natives of Formosa, a consider- 

 able number of which have not yet been intro- 

 duced. Mr. Elwes, F.R.S., and Mr. W. R. 

 Price, who are now on their way to investigate 

 the forests of this wonderful island, may be ex- 

 pected to return with valuable collections and 

 information. A. Henry. 



border variety. R. F. Felton is a large, salmon- 

 pink flower, but it splits its calyx rather badly. 

 Regina is a good pink variety, but it loses its 

 colour during winter. There is one other which 

 may be a very fine variety another year, namely, 

 Lady Alington. This variety has been over- 

 propagated, and, in consequence, its constitu- 

 tion is impaired. « 



Of the varieties to be distributed this year, 

 the only three of which I hear good accounts 

 from the States are Rosetti (pink), Delhi 

 (scarlet), and Benoni (fancy). We must' wait and 

 see how they thrive in England. There is another 

 American-raised variety that was grown in 



England in 1911, but was not generally in com- 

 merce, which I expect to hear further about. 



This is a very fine white flower named 

 Wodanthe. 



British novelties are plentiful. But two seem 

 to excel all the others, and these are probably 

 the two best commercial varieties that have been 

 distributed in England since Mrs. Burnett and 

 Britannia were sent out. They are Triumph 

 (which is considered by experts the best crim- 

 son yet produced) and Lady Xorthcliffe (a lovely 

 salmon-pink flower). There are others which 

 will make a name for themselves, such as 

 Baroness de Brienen and Lady Meyer, both pink 

 varieties. The Geisha will probably find many 

 admirers. Mandarin is a very pretty buff fancy ; 

 Wivelsfield Wonder is a white ground fancy; 

 and Mr. Lawrensen is introducing a fine white 

 flower that is likely to prove very valuable. A. E. 

 Usher, lianston Gardens, Blandford. 



NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



The Natural History of Clay. # 



Although this volume is written from the 

 standpoint of the industry of clay-working rather 

 than from that of the uses of clay in agricul- 

 ture and horticulture, those engaged in the lat- 

 ter occupations will find much that is of service 

 to them in its pages. 



Thus the chapter of the " Physical Properties 

 of Clay M contains an interesting discussion of 

 the peculiar properties of plasticity to which 

 clay owes so much of its importance as a soil 

 substance. 



This property is usually regarded as a :onse- 

 quence of the minute size of the clay particles. 

 Their minuteness enables them to pack closely 

 together, and to retain around each a film of 

 water which acts partly as a lubricant and 

 partly as an adhesive, causing the particles to 

 adhere closely to one another. Other theories, 

 however, have been advanced to account for the 

 plasticity of clay. Among the most interesting 

 are : first, that which holds that the particles of 

 clay are composed of small globular masses of 

 plates arranged in a network. In the presence 

 of water the plates are separated, and come to 

 lie flat on one another, forming a plastic and 

 impermeable mass. The second theory main- 

 tains that clays owe their plasticity to the 

 presence of colloid (glue-like) substances. In 

 support of this theory the author men- 

 tions the fact that the plasticity of clay may be 

 increased very considerably by the addition of 

 such substances as tannin, and makes the in- 

 teresting suggestion that the momentous plaint 

 of the Children of Israel at being compelled to 

 make bricks without straw was based on the 

 rul'e-of-thumb knowledge which this people had 

 gained that substances contained in straw 

 (tannins) increase the plasticity of clay, and 

 hence the quality of bricks. 



The chapter on " Clay and Associated Rocks" 

 is of interest in showing how variable is the 

 quality of clay for agricultural purposes, and 

 how this quality is determined in large measure 

 by the origin of the several clays. 



Thus Coal Measure clays are usually poor. 

 Permian clays, on the other hand, yield free- 

 working, good-cropping loams. The Lias clays 

 support mainly pasturage. Oxford clays are 

 difficult to work, and often yield cold and wet 

 soils. The tertiary clays, for example, London 

 clc*y, produce a heavy brown soil of slight 

 value till properly drained and manured. 



A perusal of Mr. Searle's interesting manual 

 shows at once the complexity of the problems 

 concerning the physical properties of one of the 

 commonest of substances, and the importance of 



of these properties. 



The easy "discoveries have been made. The diffi- 

 cult ones take a deal of time in the making. 



a thorough 



investigation 



* By Alfred B. Searle. 

 Science and Literature. 

 Press.) Is. 



The Cambridge Manual of 

 (Cambridge : The University 



