800 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



[May 4, 1912 



EDITORIAL NOTICE. 



ADVERTISEMENTS should be sent to the PUB- 

 LISHER, 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, 



W.C' 

 Letters for Publication, as well as specimens of plants 



for naming, should be addressed to the EDITORS, 

 41 Wellington Street, Covent Garden, London. 



Communications should be written on one side only of 

 thk paper, sent *s early in the week as possible and duly 

 signed by the writer. 1/ desired, the signature will not be 

 printed, but kept as a guarantee of good faith. 



Special Natlce to Correspondents.— The Editors do not 

 undertake to pay for any contributions or illustrations, or 

 to return unused communications or illustrations, unless by 

 special arrangement. The Editors do not hold themselves 

 responsible for any opinions expressed by their correspon- 

 dents . 



Local News.— Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending to 

 the Editors early intelligence of local events likely to be of 

 interest to our readers, or of any matters whichit \s desirable 

 to bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



Illustrations The Editors will be glad to receive and to select 

 photographs or drawings, suitable for reproduction, of 

 gardens, or of remarkable plants, flowers, trees, &c % but 

 they cannot be responsible for loss or injury. 



APPOINTMENTS F8R MAY. 



SATURDAY, MAY 4- 



Soc. Fransaise d'Hort. de Londres meet. North of 

 Eng'a id Hort. Soc. Conference at Newcastle on Horti- 

 culture in Secondary Schools and Farm Institutes." 



"TUESDAY, MAY 7— Scottish Hort. Assoc, meet. 



WEDNESDAY, MAY 8-Croydon Spring FI. Sh. 



MONDAY, MAY 13- 



United Hort. Benefit and Prov. Com. meet. 



TUESDAY, MAY 14— ^ w 



Royal Hort. Soc. Corns, meet an! Tulip Sh. (Masters' 

 Memorial Lecture by Prof. I. Bayley Balfour on M Gar- 

 dening and Drought.") Devon County Sh. at Plymouth 

 (3 days). Horticultural Club meet. 



"WEDNESDAY, MAY 15- 



Royal Meteorological Soc. meet. North of England 

 Hort. Soc. meet at Leeds. (Lecture by Mr. J. H. 

 Priestley on M Electricity in Relation to Horticulture.") 

 Paris Spring Sh. 15-22. 



THURSDAY, MAY 16- 



Manchester and North of England Orchid Soc. meet. 



WEDNESDAY, MAY 22— 



Royal International Hort. Exh., in the Chelsea Hospital 

 Gardens. Exhibition open to the public on every week 

 day until May 30 inclusive. Bath and West and Southern 

 Counties Sh. at Bath (5 days). Royal Botanic Soc. meet. 



FRIDAY, MAY 24- 



Linnean Soc. meet, and Anniversary. 



THURSDAY, MAY 80— 



Manchester and North of England Orchid Soc. Ann. 



Meet. 



Average Mean Temperature for the ensuing week 

 deduced from observations during the last Fifty Years 

 at Greenwich— 50 1°. 



-Actual Temperatures: — 



London.— I Vednesday t May 1 (6 p.m.): Max. 64°; 



Min. 44°. 

 Gardeners' Chronicle Office, 41, Wellington Street, 

 Covent Garden, London. — Thursday, May 2 

 (10 a.m.) : Bar. 296° ; Temp. 63° ; Weather— 

 Fine. 



Provinces.— Wednesday, May 1 : Max. 59° Leicester; 



Min. 53° Scotland, N. 



SALES FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 



WEDNESDAY— 



Border Plants, Hardy Bulbs, &c, at 12; Liliums and 

 Miscellaneous Bulbs at 3.30 ; Palms and Plants at 5 ; at 

 67 & 68, Cheapside, E.C., by Protheroe & Morris. 



FRIDAY - 



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

 & Morris, at 12.45. 



is solved it will not be long before alcohol 

 takes its place beside coal and petrol as a 



source of power. 



For the material for the production of 

 alcohol is universal— every plant which 



Of stems, the Sugar-cane is the main 

 tropical source of sugar, but the stems of 



other 



many 



plants— Maize, 



Sorghum, 

 Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea Preisii, &c.), 



and various Palms, including the Date 



produces sugar is potentially a source of Palm, are also used in the manufacture of 



alcohol. 

 The plant synthesises sugar from water 



spirit. 



In addition to the sources enumerated 

 and carbon-dioxide, and another plant, already are the woody parts of hard- 

 the yeast fungus, converts the sugar into wooded trees, sawdust and peat, 

 alcohol. Hence if alcohol may be used as That this source of power is well under 



a source of power there only remains the way toward successful commercial ex- 

 ploitation is indicated by the remark 

 of Mr. Holland that it is not unusual even 



question of suitable plants for sugar-pro- 

 duction. Already, in Germany, alcohol is 



produced on a large scale from Potato now in agricultural operations for alcohol 



to be employed in working machinery over 

 the same ground which grew the material 

 from which it was developed. 



refuse, as well as, of course, from Beet. 



Having regard to these considerations, 

 the article by Mr. J. H. Holland in 

 The Bulletin of Miscellaneous Informa- 

 tion (Kew, No. 3, 1912) is of more than 

 ordinary interest. In that article are con- 

 sidered the various vegetable sources from 

 which alcohol is obtained. These sources 



An Orchid Conference. 



mounced in these r 



As already 



Royal 



on November 5 and 6 in the Society's Hall, 



include all parts of the plant— fruit and Vincent Square, Westminster, to demonstrate 

 seed, stem, leaf, inflorescence— and also the g^^g importance of Orchids as autumn- 

 flowering plants. A Conference will conjointly 

 be held in the Lecture Room on the second day 

 from 11 to 1 and from 2 to 4. Luncheon will be 

 obtainable between 1 and 2 p.m. Those inter- 

 ested in the subject are invited to prepare 

 scientific or practical papers on the particular 

 branches of the subject in which they are speci- 

 ally interested. As it will be impossible in the 

 few hours of the Conference to deal with all the 



the partially decayed plant remains known 



as peat. 



For wherever starch occurs in the 



plant, there we have a source of sugar. 



Thus it is easy to obtain sugar from starch 



and easy also to derive alcohol from sugar. 



The list of fruits which serve as sources 



of alcohol is of course extensive, and in- 



cludes, besides the Grape, Apple— from p apers prepared, it is proposed to read on the 

 which in the United States of America occasion those only which lend themselves most 



readily to discussion. But all papers will be pub- 

 lished in the Society's Journal. Papers and dis- 

 cussion are invited on the following subjects: 



A 



close upon three-quarters of a million 

 gallons of spirit were distilled in 1905 



which contains 10 per cent. 



Pear, 



of sugar and provides France with large (•) The early history of fertffl»tion. ^ *5*™'; 

 quantities of spirit, Peach, Cherry (used in ■*•* *• £« ««• ^!^*M£ 



Germany in the production of the popular 

 Kirchwasser), Plum (from which the Ger- 

 man extracts 64,000 gallons of spirit per 

 annum), and many others. The Straw- 

 berry tree, Arbutus Unedo, yields much 

 spirit in Italy, and the virtues of the 

 Banana in the way of spirit production are 

 much appreciated in the "West 



not generally known or published; (b) the ger- 

 mination and early stages of growth of the seed ; 

 (c) method of sowing, possible germination with- 

 out the presence of fungus, &c. ; (d) points of 

 good cultivation ; quick methods of growing, time 

 being an important factor; (e) the selection of 

 plants possessing qualities which, though not 

 very decorative in themselves, might be utilised 

 in breeding for producing favourable results in 



Palms, Prickly Pears, Dates, the Pine- the next genera. ion; (1) the .deal Sower, «• 



apples in Malay and the Mulberry in the «*--- *-«£ &£?& » 



Caucasus all yield their quota ot alcohol. 



Of roots and root stocks, the Potato 

 comes first in Mr. Holland's list, and in 



Germany the industry of alcohol produc- 

 tion from the Potato is fostered by the 

 Plants There are not lacking prophets State and search is made for the most suit- 

 able varieties. The extent of the Potato 

 industry in Germany may be gauged by the 

 fact that in 1910 the area under cultivation 

 was upwards of eight million acres and the 

 crop more than 42 million tons. The aver- 

 falling water of cascades and rivers, and, a ge yield of spirit is 44 gallons proof per 

 perchance, the heaving waters of the tides. ton— roughly a gallon per bushel. In spite 

 Such prophets foresee the migration of in- c f the magnitude of this industry in Ger- 

 dustries to countries like Norway and many, responsible opinion doubts whether 

 Switzerland, where water power is all but there are in growing Potatos for spirit the 



and the ^ pre( ji ct that when the last 



Production . 



of seam of coal has been won, 



Alcohol. anc i the last gallon of petrol 



pumped from the earth, the power on which 



men rely will be " white coal," that is the 



unlimited. 



stry 



production of albino varieties and othsrs of de- 

 finite colours, as, for instance, a yellow Cattle}* 

 or a blue, spring-flowering Odontoglossum ; W m 

 what direction should Orchid growers look for im- 

 provement? Have we reached a suitable limit i 

 size, in colour, or in the amount of flower 

 individual plant will produce ? (j) is the amoun 

 of heat necessary for some hybrids prejudice 

 to their general cultivation ? Is it, for example, 

 possible or worth while trying to create a coo 

 growing section of Laelio-Cattleya, &c, by tlie . 

 of parents of cool-growing species, euch M j* 

 Jongheana and L*elia pumile? (k) the wonde mi 

 results obtained from the use of certain sp 

 in hybridisation ; (1) the cultivation of <um 

 species might with advantage te*™™*^ 

 for example, Vanda ccerulea and V. banae 

 It is not proposed to touch on nomenclature 



is used for household purposes much 

 more largely than here — Sweet Potato, 



Croydon 



Croydon and District 



Show. - The 



Horticultural Society hai 



They overlook, however, one great country. Other roots yielding spirit are the scientific classification of species 



source of power which is likely to come to Beet— especially in France, where alcohol 

 the aid of the manufacturer of the future ; 

 that source is vegetation, and the material 



whence it may be obtained is alcohol. At Cassava, Arrowroot, Artichoke, and Yam, 



the present day experimenters are actively and many another. Grain represents yet 



•at work in solving the problem of the use another source, Barley, Rye, Maize and 



of alcohol in petrol engines for the propul- Rice being among the chief plants used 



-•sion of motor-cars, and when that problem for this purpose. 



Spring Flower 



r _ District 



arranged to hold a spring flower show 

 Horniman Hall, North End, Croydon, on ^ 

 nesday, the 8th inst. Admission will d ^ 

 and there are neither entrance fees nor i ^ 

 The honorary secretary is Mr. H. Boshi , 

 High Street, Croydon. 



