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APRIL 20, 1895.] 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
489 
— — — 
tion as to the 2 and price. The consumers come 
to the market te of which is published in the 
Frankfort e r at the 2 and . * 
orders to the Society which f 
— ot only fruits bas iaa Pe are 
sold “4 the Society. From the report of last year, 
recently published, I hear that 11 total 3 
were only a 3 2500 marks (1 mark = 1s.), which 
were met by the Government, 1 1 Pie of 
Frankfort, the Aaricltaral Society, and the Agri- 
cultural Club at Frankfort. U. D. 
ARGON, N 1 aa AND 
Tun announcement that Lord Rayleigh and Pro- 
fessor Ramsay have succeeded in proving that there 
been un cte eat interest, not only to 
chemists and physicists, but al eA 8 Ver 
soon the discovery of the que “pee 
But it is to be hoped that further experiments on 
this subject will be made, for the relation of the 
atmosphere to plant life is a very important one. 
Since the classic experiments of Priestley and von 
+ 
of a A Isborious character have been made to find out 
atmosphere is composed. We do not know yet 
wheth n is an a mixture o 
elements. If it is single element, its — 
weight rsa be about 40, and in that 
rit in Mendeléeff’s table of the 3 
be to 
flicting Brad as to this. Mr. his 
pectroscope, says one thing; M. Olezewski, with 
his low-temperature thermometer, says another. 
Plan e know, d the power of 
absorbing, or, at least, of assimilating, the fr 
oxygen and hydrogen gases; all probability, 
argon does not enter into their composition. B 
experiments m ight be m 
plants in an atmosphere of pure argon; or argon 
Fic, 69,—ODONTOGLOSSUM TRIUMPHANS, VAR. LIONEL CRAWSHAY ; 
OLOUR BRIGHT YELLOW AND CHESTNUT-RED 
Professor Ramsay elaborated a series of experi- 
ments to find out if he could throw some light on a 
urally interesting to botanical 
The first peis of course, was to find out 
We there was a 
work to see if he 
d then treated by Dumas’ method for extracting 
nitrogen, This consists of mixing the pow wdered 
mice or Peas with copper oxide and lead chroma 
in a heated tube, whereby all the 8 oxygen, 
carbon, sulphur, &c., are removed, and the nitrogen 
is collected. This, of course, was acting on the 
assumption that the process which liberates nitrogen 
also liberates argon, and this is by no means certain 
in fact, Professor Ramsay, by Damas’ method, failed 
80 it is underatood—to et argon either in Peas 
or in mice. 
It may be, of course, that the 3 gmi 
new arrangement will h — 
se prema at plants are quite unab 
a particle of the argon which is to be found 
— in the atmosphere. 
a with pure oxygen, on a bed of pure sand, 
will be remembered that it was with such 
3 at Hellriegel and Wilfarth in Ger- 
many coelsiely proved that free arc ie 
pine aid leguminous plants in symbiosi 
pears ti inhabiting soils, green alga, 
The chemical history of the atenoaphere, from its 
origin to the present day, an attracted the attention 
of many observers. 2 and Stas in Bru 
and Dr. T. L. Phipson in England, have all brought 
forward ries. Briefly amount to 
this. The primitive eee was composed of 
3 n, the 
combine directly with 
others. Into this atmo- 
aen volcanic action evolved large quantities of 
carbonic acid and water. There was no gn ie eas 
in this primitive atmosphere, but it was in 
primitive atmosphere ¢ of nitrogen, with more or — 
Carbon F 
LJ 
W E 
(ie n 
shown that many 53 day can vegetate 
in an atmosphere of this kind, in e sg angela life 
ia quite impossible, In fact, according 
physicists, all the oxygen now existing in the has 
atmosphere is due to vegetation extending over 
immense periods of time. It is generally allowed 
that the function of nitrogen in the ene te e is to 
dilute the 7 which would otherwise be too 
strong for huma ings. How ee, il combine 
with all these em remains to be seen. H. C. F. 
e . 
NEL CRAWSI 
two occasions a e Wee we been ex- 
hibited by De B. Crawshay, Esq, of Rosefield, 
Sevenoaks, at the Royal dere Ae. and 
occasion it received an A of Merit, 
and on its later appearance before the e Orchid Com- 
mittee, on April 9, it warded a First-class 
These facts are sufficiently — 
rata vender e e unnecessary. We are, 
however, pleas give an illustration of this 
beautiful 2 which is generally pro- 
nounced to be the finest variety of O 
ge, 
rich chestnut-red, and the base of the lip and 
ite. 
column whit 
COLONIAL NOTES. 
Lee ea CEILON, 
Tue report of the Director for 1894 notes the loss 
diram, the conductor of the 
ed tely 
like plant, with an erect spike 10 — Mek; jassa 
with 1 brick-red flowers. 
It ather startling to read in the report of a 
anni — that wild elephants are troublesome; 
than a wild elephant in a flower bed ! 
The ex ea remai i 
oe ie to be out * oa middle of the year, 
Dr. Trimen protests against the ped by the 
Botanic Garden of ordinary garden plants, such as any 
nurseryman can furnish, We have 8 expressed 
eee the one hand, that the mop work of a 
botanic garden cannot be carried out if it is made a 
commercial establishment ; and, on the other, that 
the T element must 8 financially 
afacto 
unsati 
SINGAPO 
Agricultural Bulletin of the Malay Peninsula 
for Jea nuary, which we have lately oe contains 
a valuable monograph on Sago Palm 
six in number, all belong to the cual ee been 
but of the six only two are of economic importanc 
M. Sagus, the smooth Sago, and M. Rum mphii, * 
spiny Bone. A full 2 of these two is given, 
with the plants, from the time + 
and some statistics given 43 the qu 
exported. The injary dome to the soil by 
the gro g grass (Imperata cylin- 
drica), is also the subject ar Foss 353 
Lin re he of 
Forest fires 
