404 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[June 22, 1912. 



flowers arising from their axils, when they be- 

 come divergent, and the calyx is destitute of 

 hairs except the tufts at the tips of the lobes. In 

 M. intonsum the stems are procumbent, the 

 leaves are widely spreading, and the tube of the 

 calyx is covered with long spreading hairs. As it 

 has already been well figured and a description 

 given in the Botanical Magazine, it is unneces- 

 sary to give more than such characters supple- 

 mentary to those given in that publication, 

 where, however, the colour of the hairs at the 

 tips of the leaves and of the flowers do not cor- 

 rectly apply to this plant, but are partly taken 

 from the description of the true M. intonsum. 



In M. decorum the branches are erect or 

 ascending, usually terminating in one or a cyme 

 of three flowers, subwoody, greyish, slightly 

 rough from a covering of minute hardened 

 whitish papillae. Leaves ascending or erect and 

 parallel to the stem, terete, with a short abrupt 

 curve at the base and similarly recurved at the 

 apex and there bearing a tuft of 7-9 radiating 

 white hairs, otherwise entirely covered with con- 

 spicuous bead-like papillae, which are usually ob- 

 tusely rounded, but on some leaves are occa- 

 sionally tipped with a minute hair or point; in 

 colour the leaves are somewhat bluish-green, but 

 not at all glaucous. Calyx papillate and the seg- 

 ments tipped with tufts of hairs like the leaves, 

 but otherwise quite glabrous; the tube and 

 basal part of the lobes in unopened flowers are 

 somewhat globose-pear-shaped, from being con- 

 stricted just above the base of the lobes, which 

 are terete and two of them much longer than 

 the other three. Petals bright rosy-mauve, entire. 

 A native of the western part of Cape Colony, 

 probably collected between Piquet Berg and the 

 Orange River by Prof. Pearson during the Percy 

 Sladen expedition there in 1910. N. E. Brown. 



LILIUM BROWNII LEUCANTHUM. 



I do not agree with Mr. E. H. Wilson (see 

 p. 385) as to the identity of Lilium Brownii 

 leucanthum. This name was given by Mr. J. G. 

 Baker to a Lily which flowered for the first time 

 at Kew in 1894, particulars of it having been 

 published in Gardeners' Chronicle, 1894 (2), 

 p. 180. It is there noted that the plant differed 

 from other forms of L. Brownii u by the perianth 

 being without any tinge of red-brown outside, 

 not being narrowed so gradually to the base, and 

 tinged with pale yellow in the lower half inside." 

 Also, perianth M rather rounded to the pedicel." 

 The plate (No. 1,000) published in The Garden 

 the following year was prepared from a drawing 

 of the same plant as that described by Mr. 

 Baker; of this I am positive, because I invited 

 the late Mr. H. G. Moon to draw it and saw him 

 doing it a day or two after Mr. Baker decided to 

 name it. The description by Baker in Gardeners' 

 Chronicle and the plate by Moon in The Garden, 

 therefore, are a botanist's and an artist's present- 

 ment of this particular Lily. On the other hand, 

 the figure published as leucanthum in the 

 Botanical Magazine, t. 7722 (1900) represents a 

 different Lily. I hesitate to say what, but cer- 

 tainly not leucanthum. Nor does the description 

 there given tally with that given by Baker in 

 Gardeners' Chronicle. Whether these various 

 Lilies of the L. Brownii relationship are more 

 than mere forms of one species need not be dis- 

 cussed here. The presence or absence of the 

 brown purple colour on the perianth means very 

 little. Colour in the bulbs of Lilies, we know, is 

 not a character of any value. They may be 

 white or yellow when in the soil and change to 

 pink, brown, or purple on exposure. They also 

 vary in the same species, as for example in L. 

 speciosum, the bulbs of which may be either yel- 

 low, brown or claret-coloured, in which respect 

 they behave like Potatos. Nor can much im- 

 portance be attached to the particular shape of 

 the bulbs. I do not remember to have seen what 

 Mr. Wilson describes under the name of L. 

 Sargentiae, but, as Mr. Farquhar has promised to 

 send bulbs of it to Kew, we may hope soon to be 

 able to see what it is like. IF. W. 



THE MANURIAL VALUE OF PEAT-MOSS 



LITTER. 



The Journal of the Board of Agriculture for 

 December, 1911 (pp. 756-758), contains an article 

 which reports very unfavourably on the value of 

 peat moss litter manure. Since the results ob- 

 tained in the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew 

 do not agree with the experience in other coun- 

 tries, and since the article might lead farmers and 

 gardeners to form a wrong opinion on the manu- 

 rial value of peat-moss litter, I give herewith a 

 brief account of my experience in the subject. 



Peat-moss litter or moss-litter is manufactured 

 from Sphagnum-peat on a large scale, chiefly in 

 those countries in Europe which contain large 

 areas of peat-bog, e.g., Sweden, Norway, Finland, 

 Germany, and Holland. The peat must be as 

 little humified as possible, as it is the high ab- 

 sorbent power that gives this substitute its great 

 advantage over other materials used in stables 

 and byres for the purpose of absorbing liquid 

 excretions of animals. 



According to analyses made m the laboratory of 

 our experimental station in Jonkoping the ab- 

 sorption of water by different materials used as 

 litters is — in well-air-dried state — as follows : — 



■Sawdust absorbs from 2f to 5£ times its own 

 weight of water; straw absorbs from 3§ to 4£ 

 times its own weight of water; moss-litter ab- 

 sorbs from 8 to 16 times its own weight of water. 



The higher mechanical absorption for liquids is 

 not, however, the only advantage which moss- 

 litter possesses over the other materials in general 

 use in stables, &c. Thus, it is a better absorbent 

 of the gases which are given off from decompos- 

 ing manure, and, hence, it renders the air in the 

 stables, where it is used, odourless, and makes 

 for more hygienic conditions therein. 



C. ^ von Feilitzen has found, from his inves- 

 tigations, that peat-moss litter absorbs in air- 

 dried conditions in different camples (15 samples) 

 1.80-3.30, or on the average 2.51 per cent, am- 

 monia as a gas, and that the loss of this valuable 

 substance is less in a stable where this litter is 

 used than with other litters. 



This is due partly to the colloid substances 



months, was then used for a fertilising experiment 

 on very poor, sandy soil for Potatos in the vear 

 1909. There were given 50,000 kgr. per hectare 

 of each manure, and each manure was tried sepa- 

 rately on three plots : six check plots were un- 

 manured. 



The crops were as follow : 



Unmanured 



50,000 kgr. 

 manure with 



Straw 

 Sawdust 



Potato tubers, 



1 hectare, 



kgr. 



2,466 



farmyard 

 moss-litter 13,334 



7,400 



4,400 



Average. 



More than 



anured. 

 kgr. 



10,868 



4,934 

 1,934 



We studied iko the after-effect for two years 

 (1910 and 1911) on Potatos, and the total effect 

 was then reduced to the amount of manure pro- 

 duced at the same time from the same number of 



cows 



For manure with peat-moss litter 



• ■ • 



99 



99 



99 



99 



straw 

 sawdust 



* • • 



100 

 49 



44 



and partly to the humic acid in the peat 

 litter, which neutralises the ammonia by forming 

 humic salts or humates 

 Aa to the effects of peat-moss litter on the 



We have also made many other experiments 

 with peat-moss litter manure, but in no cases 

 have we seen any injurious effect on the vegeta- 

 tion. On the contrary, the effect was alwa\ i 

 favourable, and much better than that obtained 

 with other litters. 



In Flahult, peat-moss litter alone was also 

 directly used for the amelioration of sandy soil, 

 poor in humus, and in this case there was no 



unfavourable effect, as is said to have been seen 

 in Kew. 



As to the effect of peat-moss litter manure on 

 garden plants and flowers, our experience in 

 Flahult in the garden of our inspector and of the 

 labourers has been very favourable, and in our 

 experimental farm in Torestorp there were made 

 in the last four years special experiments with 

 different market-garden crops, which show that 

 this manure may be used without disadvantage. 



Moreover, it is used in our country, not only by 

 the farmers, but also by the gardeners, to a great 

 extent. 



A few months ago I met one of our most 



famous practical gardeners, Mr. M. P. Andersen, 



Jonkoping. I told him of the results at Kew, and 



he said, laughing, that he had for many years 

 used 



farmyard manure as compared with those of given the manure to different plants in his gar- 



straw and other litters, many investigations have 

 been made, especially by Fleischer in Bremen, 

 Immendorff in Jena, Rhodin in Stockholm, and 

 also, more recently, in our experimental farm 

 in Flahult (1909). All results agree that 

 the losses of manurial constituents, and chiefly of 

 nitrogen, are much less with moss-litter than 

 with other litters in the stable. 



dens, and never had he seen any bad effect ; on 

 the contrary, very good results were obtained by 

 its use. 



■ 



^ In further proof of the value of peat-moss 

 litter is the fact that the production and con- 

 sumption of this litter has increased in Sweden 

 so rapidly that there are now more than 200 

 factories for its production, and the yield has 



In our investigations, which were carried out reached to about five million bales yearly. 



with the greatest possible accuracy, each litter 

 moss-litter, straw, and sawdust — was used for 10 

 days and to 10 milking cows. All foodstuffs, 

 litter, milk, and dung were weighed every day, 

 samples were also taken daily for analysis, and 

 the cows were weighed at the beginning and 

 end of each period. Our results were as fol- 

 low : — 



Loss of Nitrogen ter cent, 



Litter used 



Peat-moss 



Straw 

 Sawdust 



Loss 



in the stable 



• • • 



7.1 



19.8 



11.1 



Loss during the 

 storage for 

 3J months. 



... 7.4 .. 



... 20.0 .. 

 -. 7.5 ... 



Total 

 Loss. 



14.5 

 39.8 

 18.6 



(In this experiment much more sawdust was used 

 than is usual, as we could not get a dry sample, 

 and, therefore, the results, we believe, are un- 

 duly favourable for that litter.) 



As to the effect of peat-moss litter manure on 

 the field, very good results have been recorded, 

 both in our country and elsewhere (in Germany, 

 Denmark, Austria, &c.). 



The dung from the above-mentioned experi- 

 ments in Flahult, which was kept stored for 3i 



Then the moss-litter and peat-moss mull are 

 used to a large extent for closets in the towns, 

 and in many towns in Sweden (and also in Ger- 

 many and other countries) the use of peat-mull 

 for that purpose is made compulsory. There the 

 peat acts as an absorbent, deodoriser, and to a 

 certain extent as a disinfectant. 



To come back to the uses of moss-litter in 

 gardens, many experiments have been made in 

 Germany, and all have given good results, both 

 in the open and also in greenhouses. 



In Belgium the moss-litter is also used for 

 Mushroom beds. 



As to the moss-litter manure, Dr. Biirstenbin* 

 der says that horse manure with moss-litter alone 

 is not eo suitable for hot-beds, as this manure 

 does not heat quickly enough, but, mixed with 

 straw-litter manure, it regulates the too-rapid 

 fermentation of the latter, and hence is valuable 

 for early hot-beds. 



Lastly, regarding the unfavourable results ob- 

 tained at Kew and reported in the Journal of 

 the Board of Agriculture, there is no evidence 

 that it is due to the moss-litter used, as no 



comparable experiments appear to bav« been 



made. 4 



