272 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 



[Ariui. 27, 1912. 



aphides a week after an examination of the trees 

 with a lens has failed to show a single insect or 

 even any eggs. In the cases of such crops as Beans 

 and Peas planted in the spring, there cannot be 

 any eggs to hatch on the plants ; yet, quite sud- 

 denly, these crops are often infested. There must 

 be a great deal to learn about this pest. More- 

 over, one dark-coloured aphis which attacks my 

 Black Currants cannot be identified at all by one 

 of our best entomologists. 



A sustained trial of the rival plans of cutting 

 newly-planted trees back in the first or second 

 •pring succeeding the planting is also urgently 

 needed. 



The cause or causes of canker and the methods 

 of its distribution may be regarded as a 

 subject of great importance for investigation. 

 For my own part, I cannot believe that canker 

 is merely a wound parasite. Evidence seems 

 to favour the view that it is carried up from 



tions, as they would be in the way of cultiva- 

 tion ; but unless it is necessary to remove the 

 thousands of small pieces of shoots cut off trees 

 in pruning, their gathering up involves labour 

 and expense which commercial fruit growers 

 would be glad to avoid. 



Another assumption which needs verification is 

 that pruning, including spurring, promotes the 

 development of fruit buds on the cut shoots. It 

 may be a great heresy to doubt this statement, 

 but my observations lead to the opposite conclu- 

 sion. What docs happen is the formation of fruit 

 buds' where they are wanted, on fairly sturdy 

 branches and short spurs, instead of on weak and 

 lanky ones. Moreover, by opening all parts of a 

 tree to air and sunshine, the operation encourages 

 the development of fruit buds on the tree as a 

 whole. The question is whether the operation 

 has this effect per se. Taking the case of an 

 cutiiide branch, which cannot be robbed of air and 



Fig. 126. 



[Copyright. 



FLOWERING BULB OF L. MYRIOPHYLLUM (OF WILSON). 



dark mahogany, the inside scales lighter at the ba^e; a scale has been removed to exhibit this 



change in co'oration. 



a, b, c, new roots; d, offset. 



trunk to branches and side shoots in the sap. 

 One point of interest^to determine is whether the 

 infecting spores are carried up to trees from 

 pieces of cankered bark left on the ground when 

 these are cut out. It is a great labour to pick 

 up every little bit that falls. 



A similar investigation in relation to Apple and 

 Pear scab is desirable, including the question 

 whether infection can arise from scabby shoots cut 

 off and left on the ground. A^ to scabby leaves 

 that fall, their collection is quite impracticable. 

 Actual evidence is needed to prove that spores of 

 canker or scab arise from the ground to infect 

 trees. It is announced by mycologists that they 

 do so, but I have never seen any statement as to 

 this theory having been demonstrated. Of 

 course, large shoots which are cut off trees are 

 commonly taken off the ground in tillage planta- 



* 



sunshine, my contention is that cutting it or the 

 laterals upon it reduces, rather than increases, its 

 tendency to form fruit buds. Investigation might 

 be extended to determining the comparative 

 effects upon Apple trees of (1) pinching the 

 laterals when starting to lengthen, removing some - 

 entirely and spurring others ; (2) pruning in corre- 

 sponding ways in August ; and (3) pruning only 

 in winter or early in the spring. 



Other subjects of research highly desirable are 

 the best method of controlling Black Currant 

 mite ; the comparative results of thinning Apples 

 with varying degrees of severity; degrees of 

 frost fatal to the blossoms of various fruits and to 

 embryo fruits after the petals of the blossom have 

 fallen ; and the best method of producing heat and 

 dense smoke in orchards for preventing or reduc- 

 ing frost injury. A Southern Grower. 



NEW OR NOTEWORTHY 



PLANTS. 



LILIU 



MYRIOPHYLLUM 



now in 



I» quoting from my article on " Lilies and 

 Sunshine/' Mr. Thomas Chandler (see p. 131, 

 may not perhaps have noticed that I panic* 

 larly referred to this Lily as being 

 commerce under the above name. 



I wrote of it in this way intentionally, became 

 the Lily collected by Mr. E. H. Wilson for the 

 Messrs. Farquhar, of Bo€ton, U.S.A., and sub- 

 sequently distributed by them as myriophyllum, 

 does not tally with Franchet's description of the 

 species originally found in Yunnan by the Abbe 

 Delavay in 1888, and there has always seemed a 

 strong probability that what for convenience we 

 may call Wilson's Lily has, unintentionally, no 

 doubt, been christened with a name to which it 

 has no right ; it is, in fact, a nameless, though at 

 the same time, most beautiful plant. 



It is unfortunate that in drawing up his 

 description of L. myriophyllum, Franchet should 

 not have described the bulb rather more 

 minutely, instead of being content to refer to 

 it in general fashion as that of L. longiflorum 

 and Brownii, for though in some of their many 

 forms the two seem to run more or less into each 

 other, they are not considered botanically iden- 

 tical, and that of the typical Brownii is unmis- 

 takable. 



Franchet certainly does tell us that myrio- 

 phyllum of Delavay recalls Wallich's Lily, but 

 he adds that the former differs widely (s'en 

 cloignant beaucoup) in the character of it* bulb 

 from L. Wallichianum, which is ovoid with 

 acutely tipped scales, and no doubt his refer- 

 ence to it as that of longiflorum and Brownii 

 entitles us to consider it as oblate in shape and 



white in colour. 



In the so-called myriophyllum of the cata- 

 logue*, the bulb is not oblate but ovoid, and 

 entirely distinct from either Brownii or longi- 

 florum ; the colour, too, is that of L. Henryi 

 and sulphureum, and for want of a better name 

 one may describe it as comparable to that of 

 very old and dark mahogany ; in short, if the 

 character and colour of Lily bulbs go for any- 

 thing in the determination of a species, as, of 

 course, they do, though colour is perhaps of 

 secondary importance to shape and character, 

 the myriophyllum of Delavay is totally distinct 

 from the Lily now bought and sold under the 



same name. 



Seven years ago Max Leichtlin distributed 

 bulbs of L. myriophyllum ; botanically this Lily- 

 answers Franchet's description in every im- 

 portant particular, for we except as unworthy 

 of consideration a slight suspicion of purpla 

 colouring which emphasised the back of the 

 midrib of each segment of the perianth; the 

 trumpet is semi-erect and not spreading as 1Q 

 Wilson's myriophyllum, the bulb -is that of 

 longiflorum in miniature, and, of course, white* 



and the two Lilies are distinct. . 



Though undoubtedly a Lily of quality, tM 

 species of Leichtlin cannot compare either w 

 beauty or constitutional hardiness with the mote 

 modern plant which has appropriated the nam*. 

 What the latter really is does not at presen 

 seem clear; variable in stature, foliage, 



with respect to 

 axillary bulbils, * 



flower, as well 



the 



as 

 presence or absence of 

 has a bulb which, while bearing a suspicio 

 near resemblance to that of L. sulphureum 



Lilies? 



all 



resemblance. 



to k 

 ifc 



is common to several Chinese 

 possessing a strong family 

 Several of these have been fathered on 

 Brownii, rather thoughtlessly perhaps, for * ^ 

 the respective bulbs before him no one &^ 

 stifle his conscience sufficiently to admi _^ 

 relationship • a comparison of the varioua p 





