June 22, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE 



405 



The acidity of the manure noted by Dr. 

 Voelcker is so little that it cannot have had any 

 unfavourable influence on the soil. Dr. Voelcker 

 mentions that he found iron compounds in the 

 soil present in the ferrous condition, and it seems 

 to him " that it was the result of the liberal use 

 of an organically-acid body, such as the peat- 

 moss, and that an unhealthy, imperfectly oxidised 

 condition of the soil has been brought about.* * 



This seems to me to be an unsatisfactory ex- 

 planation. If the soil contains no fully-oxidised 

 iron compounds, which are well known to be in- 

 jurious to the plants, this must depend on causes 

 other than the addition of peat-moss litter 

 manure, as such unfavourable results have not 

 been recorded with this manure on soils of the 

 most different composition in our and other 

 countries 



That the effect of peat-moss manure is better 

 if it is stored for some time than if it is used 

 quite fresh is well known, and therein it agrees 

 with other farmyard and stable manures, but to 



4. Peat-moss litter manure has a much better 

 fertilising value than the same amount of manure 

 with other litters. 



5. It is used with excellent results on field and 

 garden crops. 



6. There are no records in other countries of 

 injurious effects on vegetation produced by the 

 use of peat-moss litter manure. 



7. The results obtained in the Roval Botanical 

 Gardens, Kew, must have been due to other 

 causes than the use of peat-moss litter. 



Appendix. 



Through the kindness of the Board of Agri- 

 culture I received a sample of the Kew garden 

 soil, where the moss-litter manure had caused the 

 injurious effect, and the first chemist of the 

 laboratory of our experiment station, Mr. T. 

 Lugner, has carefully analysed the soil. 



It was sandy and of grey-brown colour ; its 

 reaction with litmus solution neutral. The 



let it rot for one to tw r o years, as is proposed, is amount of lime in water-free soil was : soluble in 



not necessary. 



We have used it with very good effect two to 

 three months after its production. 



strong (27 per cent.), hydrochloric acid 0.26 per 

 cent., and soluble in 10 per cent, ammonium 

 chloride 0.20 per cent. The amount of sulphuric 



Fig. 192.— l^lio-cattleya aphrodite "lord faber. 



1* 



from horse stables, cow stables, and closets, 

 where peat-mull was used as an absorbent and 

 disinfectant. 



The results were, according to the analyses of 

 Mr. Lugner : — Moss-litter, sample (a), 0.11 per 

 cent, acidity, reckoned as acetic acid in the sam- 

 ple considered water-free, and in sample (b) 0.12 

 per cent. Moss-litter manure from cow stable, 

 sample (a), three months old, reaction alkaline ; 

 sample (b), three months old, reaction neutral ; 

 from horse stable, sample (a), fresh, reaction 

 neutral ; sample (b), stored from three to four 

 weeks, reaction neutral ; from closets, sample (a) 

 fresh, acidity as acetic acid water-free, 0.87 pec 

 cent. ; sample (b), stored from three to seven 

 weeks, reaction neutral. 



With one exception all samples of the manure 

 had no acid reaction, which is due partly to the 

 formation of alkaline compounds during the 

 fermentation of the manure, and which fermen- 

 tation begins as soon as the excreta leave the 

 animal body. 



From this analysis of the peat-moss litter 

 manure there is no evidence to suggest that 

 the application of it on the soil as a manure 

 would have an injurious effect on vegetation. 

 Hjahnar von Feilitzen, Ph.D., Director of the 

 Experiment Station of the Swedish Peat Society 

 in Jbnkoping. 



ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



L/ELIO -CATTLEYA APHRODITE 



"LORD FABER." 



Our illustration (fig. 192) represents the showy 

 Lselio-Cattleya exhibited by Messrs. Sander & 

 Sons, St. Albans, at the Royal International 



Horticultural Exhibition 



May 22. 



on iuav zz. The 



■r 



variety is probably the finest in colour yet 

 shown. The sepals and petals are flushed with 



a glowing crimson purple ; the front of the label- 



lum is a deep shade of violet-crimson, the tube 



being white with red lines. It is the result of a 



cross between a fine form of Laelia purpurata 



and a dark-coloured Cattleya Mendelii. The 



plant 



In the article it is said that the moss-litter was 

 imported from Denmark. This must have been 

 an error ; in Denmark there exists, so far as 

 I know, only one moss-litter factory — at Her- 

 n "*g. It must, then, have been rather from 

 Sweden, if the author means that it was imported 

 from Scandinavia. 



Summary. 



1. Peat-mo.ss litter is the best absorbent sub- 

 stance for liquid excretions of horses and cattle 

 in stables. 



2. Peat-moss litter is the best litter to diminish 

 losses of nitrogen and other nutrient substances 

 from the farmyard manure. 



8. It is deodorising and, to a certain extent, 

 -disinfectant. It keeps the air fresh and odour- 

 less in the stables, and is an excellent substance 

 to use in closets (as peat -mull). 



acid as sulphates (of lime, &c.) determined in the 

 hydrochloric acid solution was 0.11 per cent. 

 Iron compounds in ferrous condition could not 



be detected. 



If this soil is treated and manured in an 

 ordinary way I cannot see how it is possible for 

 the peat-moss litter manure to have an injurious 



effect on it. 



It has been said that the reason was that the 



manure was mixed with the soil and not used as 

 a top-dressing, but we have used the same 



manure in our experiment field in Flahult both curved, and bearing on each side a row of bright- 

 mixed and as a top-dressing for different plants, yellow, insect-like flowers, each appearing to be 



•- mm coming out of a singular bract, with which the 



base of each flower is covered. The almost black 

 M. triste, the singular M. minutum, M. falcatum, 

 and another species not yet determined have also 

 samples" oi moss-litter and moss-litter manure flowered in these gardens lately. 



was snown under tne name given by 

 Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons to the batch originally 

 raised by them, namely, L.-C. Eudora. 



CATTLEYA MOSSLE. 



A flower of a fine specimen of this showy 

 species, together with a photograph of the plant, 

 is 6ent by Mr. A. E. Luttmann, gardener to 

 G. A. Gale, Esq., Crockley Park, Horndean, 

 Hampshire, who states : — " It was a very small 

 plant when imported four years ago. Since then 

 it has grown into a very fine specimen. It is now 

 growing in a 10-inch pot and bears 49 fully- 

 developed blooms at the present time, which is 

 20 more than last season." The photograph 

 showed that the plant is a mass of bloom and 

 almost a perfect specimen. Few growers can 

 cultivate Cattleya Mossise so as to improve the 

 plant for many years, and its culture testifies to 

 the skill of Mr. Luttmann. 



MEGACLIXIUM LEUCORHACHIS. 



This tropical African species is one of the most 

 remarkable of the singular genus, and a very 

 attractive plant when well grown and flowered. 

 A handsome specimen is in flower in the collec- 

 tion of J. S. Bergheim, Esq., Belsize Court, 

 Hampstead (gr. Mr. H. A. Page). The inflor- 

 escence is about 10 inches in height, the lower 

 part of the stem being terete, the upper part 

 consisting of a thick, waxlike, white rachis, 



and have never seen any bad effect in either 



case. 



To get exact information 



of moss -litter manure we 



about the acidity 

 collected different 



