March 33, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



20 



w 



The Boird of Agriculture 



indeed been preserved, but that this letter said 

 " S. Australia " is almost certain, because in a 

 subsequent communication, under date January 

 27, 1912, Sir William Hebschel savs that the 



terest, which may prove of economic importance 



Larch 



to the attack of numerous parasites, from among 



, ■ , 4 , „, • which it may prove possible to find one deadly 



acknowledgment sent by Sir Joseph Hooker enough to act as a destroyer of the saw-fly on a 



has the words " S. Australia " and these words scale large enough to keep down the mead of 



are in Hooker s own hand." That the seeds that pest. 



and Fisheries have received the following tele- 

 gram from the International Agricultural Insti- 

 tute : — The area sown with winter wheat is in 

 British India 29,444,000 acres, and in the follow- 

 ing countries 94 million acres, or 2.2 per cent, 

 above the area sown in the autumn of 1910. — 



Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, did actually come from Australia in The first 



Hungary (including Croatia and Slavonia), Lux- instance is almost certainly correct. But it was 

 emburg, Roumania, Switzerland, Canada, the 

 United States, British India, Japan, and Tunis. 

 The area of winter wheat in these countries was 

 40 per cent, of the total area in 1911. The con- 

 dition of winter cereal crops is good. A pre- 

 liminary statement of the production of Rice and 



cleaned cotton in British India gives Rice cumstances, more properly follow the " S " left *""**?" U1 l " e Keenest wmaa. Two trees are 1'inus 

 521,992,000 cwts., and cleaned cotton 11,196,000 his entry incomplete for the moment and'never * ustrmca ™ d P®« montana. The Austrian Pine 



apparently known at Kew that these seeds had 

 been sent to Sir John Herschel from South 

 Africa, as explained in Sir William Herschel's 

 letter; the writer of the entry in our Record 

 book, undecided as to whether the word 

 " Africa M or " Australia " should, under the cir 



IRELAND. 



SEASIDE SHRUBS. 



The note dealing with this subject (p. 157) is 

 of special interest. There are several subjects 

 which have proved to be very satisfactory here in 

 the face of the keenest winds. Two trees are Pin us 



cwts. 



Preservation of Cut Flowers.— Accord- 

 ing to La Tribune Horticoh, cut flowers may 

 be indefinitely preserved by means of a 

 process of metallisation, although the colours 

 of the blooms are destroved. The flower to be 



his entry incomplete for the moment, and never 

 subsequently had his difficulty satisfactorily 

 cleared up. The main interest of the correspon- 

 dence lies, however, as Sir William Herschel 

 points out, in its affording what appears to be an 



has proved to be much hardier than the Monterey 

 Pine, P. insi^nis. The latter species is very 

 hardy, but we find here that the late autumnal 

 growths are affected by the south-west gales, 

 even under partial shelter. I would add as sub 



authentic record of « a flowering two-year-old jects for planting in most exposed posit ions ': 



pie^eivea is soaked in an alcoholic solution of interesting nlant has nnw K*pt* *aa»a » a *i* 1 t,„; k:, nJ^L v £ , ! . ' 



nitrate of silver until the alcohol is evaporated 

 It is then placed in a flask, at the bottom of 

 which is a little sulphohydrate of ammonia (or it 



interesting plant has now been added to the col- 

 lection at Kew. 



Colutea arborescens 



Ulex europaeus, the common Honeysuckle, Elders 

 The Origin of Cultivated Stocks rha (common and variegated), Ivy (growing her< on 



sulphurate). The silver penetrates into the tis- St °° ks l Matthiola ) appears to be less a matter of 

 sues of the flower and becomes transformed into uncertamt y than is the case with most cultivated 

 a salt of silver, which is capable of conduct- plants ' Accordm K to Herr Springer (Die Garten- 

 welt, xvi., 9, 1912) Matthiola incana, the main 



Stocks 



ing electricity; it only remains, therefore, ™ 



plunge the subject thus treated into a galvano W°& mtm of 0UI 



plastic bath of sulphate of copper to obtain an Wldel * v > though intermittently, distributed 



" " throughout the Mediterranean region. Among it* 



most noteworthy varieties are M. incana grseca, 



everlasting " of a fine bronze colour. 



Longevity of Seeds. •_ An interesting in- 

 stance of prolonged vitality in the case of the 

 seeds of a Leguminous species is recorded in a 

 letter addressed to Kew by Sir William Her 

 schel, Bart. Sir William writes, under date 

 January 22, 1912 :— " Albizzia lophantha.— An 



Rubus in variety, and Blackthorn. I am inclined 

 to think that the Sea Buckthorn is much over- 

 rated as a seaside shrub, and Tamarisk, how- 

 ever well it may flourish in some places, 

 should not be planted in all soils and situations. 

 Judging from correspondence received from time 

 to time seaside arboriculture is a matter of in- 

 terest to many, and I have been asked to give 

 names of subjects for exposed positions. The 



with smooth leaves and lac-red flowers, and M. plants I have mentioned' are of special value for 

 incana fenestralis, a Cretan form, a semi-dwarf this pu 



perennial with short leaves and the ancestor of 

 our winter-flowering Stocks. It is particularly 

 interesting to observe that M. incana occurs wild 

 in a wide range of colour-forms — dark blue, vio- 



interesting case of germination and flowering of let " r06e > carmine, cramoisie and white. The hor- 



»g 



A. lophantha after the seeds had been lying dor- ticulturist has apparently had little to do with the 

 mant 68 years induces me to write to you. The development of colour varieties, he having been 



anticipated in the case of the Stock by nature 

 herself. He has not, however, been content with 

 nature's handiwork, but has crossed varieties and 



seeds were part of a packet received by Sir John 

 Herschel from the Cape of Good Hope in 1843, 



and preserved, since his death in 1871, in his 

 cabinet. Seven plants have been successfullv 

 reared in 1910 and 1911, of which one, two year's 

 old, is now some 10 or 11 feet high, and has 

 flowered abundantly (not seeded) this autumn. 

 From several letters that have passed between 

 Professor Vines and myself, I have gathered' 

 much interesting information about the prove- 

 nance of these seeds, and from Sir John's corre- 

 spondence it is clear that so far back as 1834-5 he 



perhaps species with the object of moulding the 

 form as well as of fixing the colours of the plant. 

 Our 6uaimer-blooming Stocks, derived from M. 

 incana and its varieties, occur wild in Greece, 



also r „ 



Corfu in the neighbourhood 



In 



was studying them in Africa. I find also now a 

 letter from (Sir) Joseph Hooker, acknowledging 

 (to a Mrs. L. Wilson) the receipt at Kew, March 

 16 or 26, 1844, of what he describes as 

 mg seeds . . . 



In 



• . - gathered in Australia ' passed 

 on to him as from Lady Herschel. I have little 

 doubt they formed part of the 1843 packet " 

 the same letter, Sir William was so good as to 

 otter to send to Kew the flowering example of A 

 lophantha referred to above ; at the same timej 

 he asked whether the letter from 

 Hooker CO uld be verified. 



addition to M. incana and its natural varieties, 

 &L sinuata, a red — rarely blue — species has been 

 used for cross-breeding purposes. It has lobed, 

 deeply-cut leaves, is commoner in Greece than 

 is M. incana, and is specially fine in Crete. 



The Large Larch Saw-fly.— A paper on the 

 interest- Economics of the large Larch saw-fly (Nematus 



Sir Joseph 



Heksche 



encksoni), contributed to the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, by Dr. R. Stewart MacDougall, 

 contains the proof of the interesting fact that 

 the female saw-fly is capable of reproducing 

 itself parthenogenetically. In the course of 

 breeding experiments Dr. MacDougall obtained 

 from cocoons collected in the spring 165 females 

 and one male. Previous records by Dr. Hewitt 

 had shown a similar disproportion between the 

 sexes. In order to test the hypothesis of par- 

 thenogenesis, females known to be newly issued 

 were placed on Larch growing in pots, and 

 covered to prevent the access of other insects. 

 In spite of these precautions the saw-flies laid 

 eggs, which developed normally into cater- 

 pillars. The caterpillars produced cocoons, from 

 which, in the following spring, adult insects 

 T Wtt + ° issued — all of which proved to be female. Hence 



t'Z i S0N trans l mittill S it is to be concluded" that the female Xematus is 



tnis purpose. 



, THE VEGETABLE CROPS. 



A breadth of Late Queen Broccoli, planted 

 just above high water mark, looks very promis- 

 ing. A portion of this bed had a dressing of sea- 

 weed only, whilst the rest was manured with 

 farm-yard dung and seaweed in about equal pro- 

 portions. The latter dressing has proved more 

 effectual, the plants being stronger. The differ- 

 ence was noticeable during the growing season, 

 although the land on which the seaweed was used 

 was in more fertile condition originally. Kales of 

 various kinds are all good, whilst Celery and 

 Leeks furnished excellent crops. Brussels Sprouts 

 were not so satisfactory. Savoys were good, 

 but their season here is a short one (even 

 the late varieties come into use early), and 

 are soon unfit for the table. White Sproutin 

 Broccoli is a most excellent crop. I have never 

 had such good results with this vegetable on 

 any previous occasion. The variety is Improved 

 Sprouting. Red Globe Turnip has been in use 

 throughout the winter, the roots being pulled 

 for consumption direct from the land on which 

 they were sown. Rhubarb and Seakale both 

 seem to delight in our salt-laden atmosphere. 

 The Rhubarb has not been manured for several 

 seasons; last year a heavy crop was pulled, and 

 the crowns promise to furnish an equally good 

 return this year. Colin Ruse, Lambay Island, 

 Bush, Co. Dublin. 



cr 



_^ In the collection of 



fo7n7r^ nCC at KeW D0 Feference has been 



books tZ S T^' but lD ° ne ° f the Rec °rd 

 books there is the following entry in March, 1844 : 



s^zV TOm Lad -> H T r cHEL « r pers of 



the on*, i. i ' • • The cun °us fact that 



ufficW , % b6en l Cft inC ° mplet3 in itself -ems 

 <Z"!! 6Vld , ence that * ^fers to the same con- 





MAGNOLIAS. 



x v WA vj^CUO III 



s cabinet, some of which have 



Rerminawi n ^ . ' ^ U1 vvlll cn nave 



the seed? !TV¥™' L * Wilson transr— 

 ^Lf^onbehalf of Lady Hehschel h 



Ext 



as not 



' lriCt flom th e Kew Bulletin, No. 2, 



10.2. 



capable of producing fertile eggs without having 

 been fertilised by a male. Another point of in- 



Magnolias are not so extensively grown in 

 Ireland as their merits deserve. As wall plants, 

 they have few equals. M. grandiflora flowered 

 earlier this year than for some seasons past. M. 

 stellata is generally the first species to bloom, and 

 makes a conspicuous object. Both M. stellata and 

 M. conspicua may be grown in a bed in a shady 

 place, where they may receive protection from 

 severe cold. The best method of propagation is by 

 layering. M. Watsonii and M. parviflora are 

 very good this year, probably owing to the ex- 

 ceptionally mild winter. Magnolias frequently 

 die when transplanted. W. A. M., Cool fin, 

 Banagher, King's County. 



