294 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE 
[Manon 9, 1895, 
Daring recent years, however, the subject has been 
investigated, particula arly in France, by many workers, 
with considerable vigour. Results have been reported 
from the Cornell University Experiment Station, 
New York State, where zonale e . oe 
upon the common rose Geranium; and Coleuses of 
many kinds were used with uniform We ‘the 
acio ons of some of ae were vigorous a year after 
n tos, and Potato 
to the open ground where so 
flowered, and fruited, until oe by the frost, 
Tomato on Potato e good Tomatos above 
and — Potatos 8 even 3 no Aegu y 
from the Potato stock were bane tb 
Chrysanthemums are com 
peti stated Hayato — 
ikado’s gardens, during his visit to 
Exhibition of 1889. The yellow Sres delicate 1 
de Lyon can, for instance, be grafted on the white- 
flowered and more vigorous Comtesse de Ghkambord, 
where several varieties of Chrysanthemums, ae 
present certain kindred characters, are sometimes 
united on the same plant. 
The researches made by M. Lucien Daniel, which 
that its effects, 30 far 
the inference of very important, if not definite, 
results. 
M. Daniel grafted forty-six plants, whieh he mse 
whic 
without here enumerating the list at rte ea 
—included ox combinations as n Bean 
Cabbage on Kohl Rabi and on 8 Pind à 2 
Toad-flax Apenina gon, Celery 
on ip, and vic 4 
His observations led him to certain conclusions 
regarding the herbaceous graft, among which may be 
named its lesser resistance to cold; 5 ee 
in size by the stock in most cases; depre- 
ciation, as a ere of 5 quality of a ee plant 
grafted on to a wild one. M. Daniel also found root - 
graſting of e eee plants to be the most 
successful, 
It was already well known that, under the influ- 
ence of transpiration, herbaceous scions wither very 
quickly after the operation of grafting. But M. 
Daniel has observed that inet certain plants of this 
nature wither only to others graduall i np 8 
nd that these e are dependen a 
great extent, on the thickness of Pes eos 4 nf 
plan 
He investigated this —— subject by making 
experiments on the Bean, which was selected 
82 of thin-leaved plants, and on the Cabbage, 
2 which was taken as a type of plants with thick leaves, 
e grafted two two Bean plants, and placed 
began to show signe of union after seven 
although complete re-union ntually obtain 
between the stock and the scion, this Bean- plant 
died after fifteen days, The Cabbages, on the con- 
„Which were placed under similar conditions 
overcame the effects of transpiration for a consider. 
ys aniel, as 
regards thin-leaved herbaceous plants, such as the 
destroyed, these plants die; but, as regards thick - 
leaved eb ry plants, that they are better a 
_ withstand the effect of abnormal transpiration, 
. om grafting of such plants is not nearly so 
yaa followed by fatal consequences. B, 
NEW oR NOTEWORTHY PLANTS. 
DENDROBIUM x APOLLO (NOBILE PUL- 
— CHERRIMUM 35 AINSWORTHII SPLEN- 
DIDISSIMUM 
Tuts is one of the lar, hipik and most beautiful of 
the garden hybrid Dendrobiums, and ve inc 
regards the textur 
more closely W a large form of D. x 0 
ianum. The three- flowered inflorescence has flowers 
over 4 inches across, borne on a footstalk about 
2 inches in length, which allows of each being 
well displayed. The se are white, tinged wit 
rose-purple, the reverse side being the darker one. 
sr are also white, veined and tinged wi 
rose-purple, the tips being the darker in colour, 
tnd the paw halves nearly wiii, The large label- 
oon disc, surrounded by a broad ban 
of ‘eulphar-yellow, and is tipped with rose-purple. It 
was raised and flowered by Mr. J. er Queen's 
Road Nursery, Cheltenham. James O 
= 
THE VITALITY OF SEEDS. 
Tue subject of the duration of the vitality of 
seeds under various conditions has been so 
exhaustively discussed in these columns and else- 
where, that little remains to be discussed, or is 
worth while discussing, except new facts revealed 
by careful experiments, Nevertheless, it would 
be an advantage to havea thorough sifting of 
the evidence put forward to substantiate the 
assumed germination of seeds of exceedingly 
great age, together with a collection of the 
records of a more trustworthy character. There 
is no doubt that some seeds do preserve their 
vitality for a very long perla, but what the limit 
is under the most favourable conditions is 
pet and, it may be added, from the nature 
of the factors, practically indeterminable. Yet 
there is much room for exact experiment in this 
direction, and Dr, Peter, the Director of the 
Botanic Garden at Gottingen, who has devoted 
considerable time to the subject, has pub- 
lished* the results of a second series of 
experiments on the germination of seeds, 
taken from different depths in the soil of woods 
and pastures, ow to have been undisturbed 
r a long per t series of experi- 
ments dealt with seeds from the soil of wood- 
land which had been under the plough less than 
fifty years ago. The second series, partly with 
seeds from the soil of a dense wood of older 
growth—100 to 150 years, also known to have 
formerly been arable land. Dr. Peter gives his- 
torical ee and other n establishing 
in ques 
kh 
© 
pe empf of ion, on which it is 
y here to say more, 
ho pfr principal 2 was to ascertain how long 
the = of weeds f tilled land would retain 
i r being buried in 
the soil to a on at which they could not ger- 
minate, For this purpose samples of the soil, 
with all it contained, were taken at depths of 
0 to 8,8 to 16, 16 to 24, and 24 to 32 centi- 
Stres, every care being taken to prevent the 
intrusion of foreign matter. hese samples 
were then subjected to aan 2 to 
the 5 of any liv ey might 
contain, uld be: nes that although 
the forest 925 only from 100 to years 
old, there is evidence that the land it covers 
ceased be arable between 300 
years ago. The plants thus raised were. , 80 far 
as possible, cultivated on to the flowering stage. 
As might have been expected, 
o Maia a a iaa 
Nachrichten von d r iglichen Don der Wi 
Haften zu Goettingen, 1591.1 * 373 — 1 
woodland plants predominated in those ose raised, 
yet weeds of cultivation were abundantly repre. 
sented, From woods of 18 to 35 years, on the 
88 hand, weeds of cultivation strongly predo. 
minated over essentially woodland plants, The 
ong peri 
proved is, that the 
pasture plants retain their vitality considerably 
more than half a century. This being estab 
lished, and supposing the conditions to continue 
exactly the same, it is difficult to fi 
why such seeds sho 
their vitality for an indefinite period. Of 
there must be a limit to the continuation 75 a 
certain combination of conditions; but for 
indefinite period apart from alteration of con- 
dition. W, B. Hemsley. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
DENDROBIUM RUBENS GRANDIFLORUM. 
Tae original Dendrobium Rubens was first flowered 
by Mr. James Cypher, of Cheltenham, and 
in the Gardeners’ Chronicle in 1893. It was the 
result of a cross between D. x Ainsworthii Leech- 
iauum ih D. nobile N which latter, in point 
of bea and richnes 
3 th an did aera othe 
This year a still 3 n 
y Mr. Cypher he e direction, by crossing 
b 
D. n aa adifior um and D. nobile pet- 
appropriate name and its 
c may be indicated by stating that it is equal 
n beauty to the true D. nobile nobilias, ‘althoagh i 
rt more nearly resembles that of D. splendidit- 
simam grandiforam. J. O' 
Oaxcaips at Bocina PLAce, BRAINTREE. 
The nin of mid Courtauld, Esq, is chiefly 
noted for its co set of Masdevalli 
time of irc of — showier species of 
coccinea class is approaching, and the many 
dissimilar varieties of it were giving promise of a f 3 
display of brightly-coloured flowers throughout 
spring and early summer. Among those at 
in bloom, the prettiest were M. X Courtauldians, d 
showy TE r hybrid, brained byi 23 
; caudata var. Shuttle ii; M.X 
(Veitehians x Sige 
coloured variety, 
lower sepals; M. Xx Hincksi 
ignea); M, „ M. Shu 
hieroglyphica, and the singular, large, 
peoipsion of small white and purp 
hh s . 
species of "Pleurothallis, the ee 
ye flo wern wr 1 
sequent coins 1 . 
