14 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[January 5, 1895, 
PORENGES S A . TT—T—᷑———Y: !!!... r ů D 
EDITORIAL NOTICES. 
a HE should be sent to the PUBLISHER. 
ld be 
Newspapers.—Correspondents sending newspapers ne 
careful to — the ee they wish the Editor 
Local News. will greatly oblige by sending 
to the iý reat — of new hi events likely y to be 
of interest to o r of any ‘matte ers which it is 
. 
Ander 
Mustrations —The Editor will thankfully receive 5 select 
photograp 
hs or drawings, suitable for ee hide n these 
N of gardens, or of remarkable plants, powers trees, 
but he cannot be responsible for e injury 
pints for Publication. — 4% commu nications 
na plants for andi 
ellington 
pa 
munications or illustrations, ene special eee ag 
APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
SALES. 
1925 Lots of Dutch Bulbs, at Pro- 
roe & Morri s’ Rooms, 
MONDAY, Jan: T a hae 
arnati sn Picotees, Hardy 
“Perennials, e &c., at Prothe eroe & 
\ Morris’ Roo: 
Tuberoses, a Peeonies, Roses, 
TUESDAY, JaN. sf &c., at Protheroe & Morris 
Rooms, 
ignment of Lilies from Japan, 
Greenhouse Ferns and Plants, 
WEDNESDAY, Jan. A Roses, &c., at Protheroe & Morris’ 
Rooms, 
FRIDAY, 
Orchids, from Messrs. F. Sander & 
JAN. nf e Co., s Protheroe & Morris’ 
Room 
N AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE ENSU- 
_ ING WEEK, DEDUCED FROM THE OBSERVATIONS 
_ OF FORTY-THREE YEARS, AT CHISWI! . — 36.4. 
Mn. C. D. Warner, an American 
The Effect of agrioulturist attached to the 
m egetabies Massachusetts Experiment Sam 
in the United States, has 
making a series of very instructive experimenta 
one being 
used as a check. Around the test plot was con- 
a framework made of 2 by 4-inch tim- 
bers, on which were fastened porcelain insulators 
4 inches apart; a continuous non-insulated 
copper wire was strung on these apeg insu- 
lators, and the whole structure w. uried 
so that the wire should be 2 ‘haa below the 
surface of the ground. Near at hand was a 
transformer, a small house in vee were placed 
switches, meters, voltmeter, ammeter, reducer, 
and resistance lamps, On the eighth of one 
nonth, Parsnips, , eto., were 
planted in both’ the plots the seeds in the 
Carrots, Parsnips, Salsafy, and 
early each | breakfast Radishes, all showed in 
the electric — a substantial increase in weight 
over n the non-electrified plot; but, on 
the other ad, German Turnips and Beets 
were better without the electric currents. 
Again, Strasburg Radishes, Purple-top 
White Globe Turnips and Parsnips all did better 
in the electric plot. It was noticed that one- 
third of a row of Parsley which had been 
accidentally placed in close contact with an 
electric wire grew more rapidly than the rest. 
Eight non-insulated wires were placed among 
the roots of three Tame plants of it Champion 
variety. A current of 39 am was used. 
The fruit on the plants thus — invariably 
ripened three to four days earlier than the fruit 
of other plants used as a check. 
It is interesting to nae the results of these 
experiments at Massachusetts with some of the 
results that have been obtained of recent years 
by 
field of electro-horticulture. 
France, found that Beetroot was much influenced 
for good by electric currents induced in the soil. 
Mr. Serr LRMSTRO, in Finland, and also in 
France, found that the following plants were 
favourably influenced by electricity :— Wheat, 
Barley, red and white Beet, Potatos, Beans, 
Strawberries, Rye, Oats, Parsnips, Celeriac, 
; while, on the other 
the culture of Lettuces, &c., for ma 
winter, In this country, however, very little 
work has been done in a field which may yield 
very fertile results, Our County Councils seem 
to be taking up the subject of agricultural 
education, and to be looking after the wants of 
the farmer; it would be a good thing if they 
were to institute experiments on the influence of 
electricity on vegetable growth, in order that 
our horticulturists and market-gardeners may 
understand definitely whether electricity is likely 
to be of any service to them or not. Not a few 
investigators believe that we have at our dis- 
posal a new force which will in a measure render 
us independent of sunlight. Where natural power 
is available, an installation would require no 
very large outlay, and, mi from experience 
already ob arket-gardener would 
fi that + he was able to bring on his vegetables 
during the d 
ing rapidity. But we dinnat: tjet En lish 
gardeners to start a new line of business Baia 
only on the data supplied by foreign investi- 
gators working in another r con- 
ditions perhaps very dissimilar from their own. 
We want some practical results obtained at an 
English station, such as were obtained at Tun- 
bridge Wells by the late Sir WILLIAM SIEMENS, 
as recorded in our columns at the time, Elec- 
tricity can be useful to vegetable life in two 
ways; in the form of insulated systems of wires 
stretched over the fields, and in the form of the 
arc lamp in the greenhouse, It is not at all 
unlikely that in the future we may be able, 
by the aid of the light of the electric arc, to 
bring our vegetables, flowers, and tees to such a 
state of perfection as we have er realised 
before, 
E publication of the first part 
THE 
e of a Hand. list of trees and shrubs 
correctly named as practicable. The develop- 
ment of the Arboretum has been steadily pur- 
sued, under the ne direotion, so that the 
present instalment of the catal 
sents the results of many years 
is the more noteworthy from the 
comparatively little outside encouragement given 
to those who study this class of plants, and from 
the intrinsic difficulties and obstacles conn 
with it. We have often had occasion to deplore 
the lack of interest in ornamental trees and 
shrubs, a ciroumstance that of course leads to 
their elimination from our great nurseries; and 
yet, were a demand to arise for them, these in- 
teresting and beautiful subjects could, for the most 
part, be grown as easily, and at as cheap a rate, 
as the commoner stuff which fills the nurseries, 
and imparts needless monotony to our planta- 
tions, It is most important, then, that as full 3 
collection as circumstances will allow, should be 
kept up in our national and university gardens, 
It is equally important that the nomenclature 
should be accurate. The attainment of this 
accuracy is an even more difficult matter than 
in the case of other plants, seeing that the 
trees and shrubs are usually received in a young 
state, and that in many cases years may elapse 
before the flowering, and still more the fruiting 
stage, requisite for verification, is arrived at, 
Again, there is not only the innate tendency to 
variation in spec 
phases of growth through which the individual 
itself passes. It sometimes happens, especially in 
certain Conifers, that these phases are numerous 
and persistent for a relatively long period. The 
consequence is, of course, an irruption of many 
names, and it may be years before those names 
are found all to apply to one and the same 
protean tree. 
which has been formed for use in the garden, 
will, from this point of view, be of inestimable i 
190 71 in the future. 
A rough census of the plants gives twenty e 
the approximate number of species 
thousand as 
and varieties cultivated at Kew, and of these 
three thousand are hardy shrubs or trees. 
„which havenow 
only an historio interest, though they attained 
in their way a greater degree of completeness than 
has been attained since, it is im rtant 0 
plants (1856), Aroids (1878), Bromeliaces (1879 
, Yuceas, and Agaves (1880), economic — 
Plants (1881), Palms (1882), Primulas (1886), 
and Orchids (1891), Some of these have been 
issued separately, others in the Kew Bulletin 
It is greatly to be desired that they should 
ultimately be revised and issued in one volume. 
The present “ hand-list” is a tthe 
Polypetale only, extending from the Ran 
lacem to the Cornacem 
plan upon which the list has been dra wn up: 
“CLEMATIS CALYCINA, Ait. ; 
t. 959. Balearic Isla 
ies to be reckoned with, but the 
A herbarium of garden specimens : 
dy herbaceous plants (1853), ca 
It contains a cia 
‘ 
F 
; 
A 
Ld 
7 
i 
i 
F 
i 
i 
$ 
$ 
+ 
j 
p 
$ 
Bot. Magy 
„C. balearica, Rich. (not Pers.), Gard. Cron 
501.“ pe: 
ser. ii. 1878, vol. ix. 
list. The Kew Index and 
ing 
publication, and 
plant is described. Those to whom, from 
of tances, access to the works 
mentioned, is denied, may still derive 
information from such standard garden- 
NicHotson’s eee of Gardening, Case“ 
Popular Gardening, THOMSOx's 
Assistant, and other works. 
Bis is dan wo can expt from a hig, 
PRITZE 
5 
a f 
Botanists will, of 
