Mabch 23, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



187 



T 



examination, that its particles are coarse Sir Joseph Hooker— Mr. Pennachine has 

 and sharp-angled. Failing sand, or sup- completed a portrait bust of the late Sir Joseph 



Hooker, from a sitting taken just before his 

 death. The bust, which is at Mr. Pennachine's 

 the greens. If a crusade against worms stud i° at Ealing, is an excellent piece of work. 



plementing it, cinders, crushed breeze, 

 ^nd the like should be employed through 



School Gardens. — According to statistics 

 recently published in the Standard there are at 

 the present time school gardens attached to 

 2,000 elementary schools. The number of 



,000 



is undertaken, it must be carried on in no 

 half-hearted manner and not without pre- 

 viously counting the cost. That ths worms 

 may be killed out is certain, but the cost 



The Surveyors- Institution.— The next 

 ordinary general meeting will be held at The 

 Institution on Monday, April 15, when a 

 paper will be read by Mr. R. M. Kearns 



1,200 girls. 



Lo 



is a serious consideration, and the opera- (Fellow) entitled " The Cost of Labour in Con- 

 tion must be repeated every year or two. nection with the Erection and Maintenance of 



The annual dinner will be held at 



200 school gardens. The movement for the 

 establishment of such gardens is not confined to 

 this country, but has spread to the United 

 States, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. 



Buildings. 



Metropol 



On the whole, we think that it will be 

 found more profitable to attempt to ame- the Whitehall 

 liorate the physical conditions of the soil ; day > April 23 * 

 to make it less worth while as a place of Failure of a Society.— The Shirley, Mill- 

 residence for worms and, in consequence, brook, and Freemantle Horticultural Society, an 

 more worth the while of the long-suffering offshoot of the Royal Southampton Horticultural 



Californian Plant Diseases. 



Bulletin 



player over inland courses. 



Society, after being in existence for 46 years is 

 to be wound up, owing to a lack of support. At 



No. 218 of the College of Agriculture (Univer- 

 sity of California) — a substantial volume of 

 about 150 pages — is almost a text book on the 

 subject of plant diseases. It is prefaced by a 

 brief outline of the principles of plant 

 physiology, and deals with injurious atmo- 

 spheric and soil conditions before proceeding to 

 give a list and brief descriptions of the more 



4 Botanical Magazine. 



i i 



the annual meeting the position of the society s P eclfic P lant diseases in California with direc- 

 The issue for was discussed, and it was stated that the com- tlons for treatm ent. The Bulletin, which is 

 March^ contains illustrations and descriptions of mittee were, last year, unable to pay the whole co P iousl y an <* well illustrated, concludes with a 

 " *~" ' ' list of fungicides. Armed with such ample in- 



structions the grower in California ought to be 



the following plants : 



Brunfelsia undulata, tab. 8422.— This is an 

 old-garden plant, a native of Jamaica, having 

 been introduced to this country about a century 

 ago. In some gardens it is grown under the 

 name of Portlandia grandiflora, also a West 

 Indian plant, but with opposite leaves. The in- 



of the prize money. In 1898 £115 was received 

 for admission to the society's exhibition ; in 

 1902 the gate money amounted to £55 ; whilst 



well 



prepared for dealing promptly with the 



last year the takings were only £15. 



When numerous pests which attack his plants. 



Shirley was an urban district gardening was an 

 important industry in the neighbourhood, and 

 the annual horticultural exhibition was made the 



florescence of the Brunfelsia is extremely hand- occasion of a public holiday. 



some, forming clusters of large white flowers at 

 the ends of the branches. B. undulata differs 

 from most of its congeners in having a cup- 

 shaped calyx, and very short, obtuse lobes, a 

 distinction which is shared by B. americana, 

 from which it is distinguished by the leaves 

 tapering at both ends, those in B. americana 

 being obtuse. The plant requires a warm house 

 and grows best in a loamy soil. 



Complimentary Dinner to Cumberland 

 Landscape Gardeners. — In order to mark the 



A Beneficent Soil Constituent.— Experi- 

 ments recorded recently in these pages have 

 demonstrated that various poisonous substances 

 may be isolated from soils. The converse dis- 

 covery is now announced by Messrs. E. C. 



Shorley, M. X. Sullivan, and J. J. Skinner 



completion of extensive alterations to the (U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Bureau of Soils 

 grounds attaching to Rhine Hill, Strat- Bi U> No. 83), who have isolated from soil an 

 ford-on-Avon, the residence of Miss Smith, 

 by Messrs. Hayes, landscape gardeners, Keswick, 

 Miss S3 



organic compound creatinine, which appears 

 to exercise a markedly beneficent action on the 

 invited the staff of Messrs. Hayes, growth of plants. This substance (creatinine) 

 her own gardeners, and those intimately con- 

 nected with the scheme to dinner at a local 



Syringa Juliana, tab. 8423. — This species has hotel. 



been confused with S. villosa, Vahl., and the 



Forestry Report. — The University Press, 



specimens from which the Botanical Magazine Cambrid has published, at the instance of the 

 figure was prepared, were received at Kew from FoMst Committee, the report of Mr. E. R 

 Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, under that name. 



Burden on his recent visit to the United States 



well known to the animal physiologist as a 

 decomposition product of proteins, and may 

 therefore be expected to occur at all events in 

 small quantities in the soil. Mr. Shorey finds 

 that it is also present in various organic 

 fertilisers, including stable manure. Creatinine 

 occurs also in plants, and indeed the amount of 



Seeds were sent from Western China by Mr. E. H. and Canada Mr BuRDEN > s object in maki this substance which occurs in the soil appears 



Wilson in 1901, and plants were raised in the ^ ^ was to study the methods of re8e arch t ° i de P end on cultivation; planted soil showing 



Wo 



S. Julianse forms a 



into the structures, properties and utilisation of 

 timber employed in the United States and 



moderately -sized bush, flowering at the end of 



May and in June. The blossoms are a purplish- Canada, and to enquire into the nature of the 



lilac colour and fragrant. training given to Forestry students in this branch 



Dombeya calantha, tab. 8424.— This plant is c f the subject, 

 an erect shrub, growing about 12 feet high, and Th£ Fqod qf EpipHYTIC B RO.v.ELiADS.-The 

 bearing corymbs of rose-coloured flowers which Bromeliace ^ to which order the Pi ne . app le be- 

 have a superficial resemblance to those of the 

 Musk Mallow. Plants were raised at Kew from 

 seeds sent in 1911 hv Mr. J. M. Wood, Director 



longs, contains many plants remarkable for their 

 epiphytic habit and peculiar form. Recent in- 

 vestigation (see Nature, March 14, 1912, by 



a larger amount than unplanted soil. The most 

 interesting observations from the practical point 

 of view are those made on the effects of these 

 substances on plant-growths. From these ex- 

 periments, carried out by Mr. Skinner, it would 

 appear that creatinine is capable of replacing to 

 some extent at all events other sources of 

 nitrogen. Thus plants cultivated in solutions 

 containing only potash and phosphates grow 

 more vigorously when creatinine is added. 

 Further, the effect of creatinine on plants sup- 



n f 4-v t* • * At j t\ u i « 4.\** y^v-o v — ' --9 i -* runner, uie enect oi creatinine un uianus auu- 



of the Botanical Garden at Durban, where the M c piCADQ pr0V6 that the epiphytic B rome- plied both with it and with nitrates is to Wr 



species has been in cultivation under the name 

 of D. spectabilis. The plant has grown vigor- 



liads are able to absorb by means of parts of 

 their leaves, not onlv mineral ealts but also 



the absorption of the latter without detriment 

 to the growth of the plant. It seems probable 



ously in the Mexican house at Kew, and but for Qrganic nitrogen compounds> such as proteins, that th & 6 long . known beneficent action of such 



severe pruning, would have attained tree-like 

 dimensions. 



which compounds are produced as by the diges- 

 tion of the vegetable and animal substances 



Corokia cotoneaster, tab. 8425. — This plant which fall into the cavity formed by the over- 

 is a native of New Zealand and almost hardy in lapping bases of the leaves. 



this country, a specimen in Canon Ellacombe's The Mycet0 zoa. _ students of that most 



garden at Bitton, near Bristol, having supplied f . ti though lowly g^p f organisms %A/ c g _. .. .. WW u miM 



the materials for the Botanical Magazine plate. ^ * J to J and £ imed a ! ike by Weather FoRECASTS.-This little bookshould 



The flowers are a bright yellow colour, and are *£** , , ^ - ts as ,- within ^ prove useful to the young gardener who wish* 



slow-acting organic fertilisers as horn shav- 

 ings and wool waste may be due to the 

 creatinine and allied bodies produced during the 

 decay of the fertilisers. 



Meteorological Instruments and 



This little bookshould 



succeeded by small, orange-coloured berries. The 



botanists and by zoologists as falling within their 

 respective territories, will welcome the new 



to gain an intelligent understanding of the use 



wr u-n - instruments. A simple account 



leaves are nnlv Uo ft lines lone and 2 to 4 rei5 P c ^ tiV ^ ' , of meteorological instruments. A simple account 



^*veb are only o to o lines ioii^, ana * lu -t j lt ; orl f Lister s Monograph, which has now : P . . . . ., „ rt4 .„^ 



lines wide : thev are coloured on the under sides f mi °* A, * 5L " °i„L' «Wfc w w„ of the physical properties of air, of the nature 



lines wide; they are coloured on the under sides been issued * The new vo lume, which has been 

 with a white tomentum. prepared by Miss Gulielma Lister, contains 



of winds and snow is given in the introduction. 

 Subsequent chapters deal with thermometers, 



C«w. Sy E stk„, tab Mt-Tta flowers of much „,„ m ^ M d ■ „% illustrated ££££ w h instruments for the Measure 

 " """""'* ''""" "— * ' *■* by plates, many of whrch have been reproduced ^ of ^ ^ ^ ^ wMl miscelIaneom 



this succulent are very striking, being a bright 

 orange-scarlet colour ; the plant illustrated is 

 bearing ten inflorescences, and has the appear- 

 ance of being a good garden subject. The species 

 is a native of Argentina, and, in common with all 

 succulents, enjoys plenty of sunshine, needing 

 very little moisture during the winter season. 



bv the three-colour process. 



» A Monograph of the Mvcetoxoa : A Des:ripive Catalogue 

 of the Species in the Herbarium of the British Museum, by 

 Arthur Lister, F.R.S. Second edition, revised by Gulielma 

 Lifter Pp. 304, 201 plates (120 coloired), 56 woodcuts. 

 London, 1911. 8vo. Publish 3d by ths Trustee, of the 

 British Museum. Price £1 10s. 



instruments (sunshine recorders, earth thermo- 

 meters, sundials and the like). The final chap- 

 ter is devoted to weather forecasts. 



* The M niel Engineer Series, No. 16. Prije 6d. Illus 

 tia^ed. (LOaidon: Pexival Marshall & Co.) 



