452 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Остоввв 19, 1895, 
dotted curve in fig. 78 - - - - "он the varia- 
tion from a normal number of rainy days. The 
rit number of rainy days in the four months 
May to August is 603. The actual amount 
recorded in any joie is then compared with this 
average number, and the difference forms the 
distance above or below the line a—————5. 
The plain line represents the crop returns, or 
rather the average yield per acre of Turnips and 
Mangels combined throughout Great Britain in 
а similar manner. The normal crops of each 
root, taken from the average of the ten years, 
that is for Turnips 13:09 tons рег acre and for 
ith the amount 
in each year, and the result is given as the е 
The thin line represents the 
returns, taken in the same way і for the ten n years, 
n by — а коре Сеин 
Ve. +b 
Mangel стора are seen to follow with extraordinary 
accuracy the amount of rainy days in those f 
months, but there is one exception. In'the year 1889 
& very g cro to some 
particular manner in which the red were distributed 
во as to give a maximum of moisture with as few 
rainy days as possible, 
This proves what Sir John Lawes pointed out in 
1855, Journal of the Agricultural Society, vol. iii., 
“the most favourable conditions of growth for our 
cultivated bos "forming Turnips are a low degree of 
temperature, а large n umber of rainy days, and а 
large etal sd of к. 
Bat when we turn to the Potato ор, there is 
exactly 5 opposite e Whereve a 
great rise or in the рети of dad days it is 
followed by the reverse in the Potato curve curve; this 
“= result sa geenid due e така 
п favouring Potato » for in h of 
PU m dry countries gener ally, it is not — 
h tos do particularly well, but as а rule 
out ааа Оа the whole, the — 
seems pretty safe that it is the number of rainy days 
эр, 
The following table shows their етта 
1585 1886/1887. 1888 1889, 1890 э im 1894 
Leaving the statistical чине it is best to 
examine the result of actual Ore paw to toes 
whether this result is actually borne out by ind 
pendent observers, who examined the behaviour of 
plants artificially under various 
that from the wi ish (Raphanus raphanistrum 
2 Tarnip-like fleshy root could be obtained b 
growing it in clay, while only а lon and n 
root appeared in a sandy soil. я е 
also adopted by 
Bretfeld in Vienna, with quite similar res 
who 
Mer d rete ith 
y 
precem а curious and 
quite unpractical experiment which was conducted 
by Birner, who cultivated a number wi eem in 
pots, which contained different amounts of water. 
He found that the number of tubers ase the weight 
of each in any pot — exactly on the amount 
of water in the particular case, The more water, 
the more and heavier were the tubers. 
In a case of this kind it is always interesting to 
see how and why this underground store of farina- 
ceous food has n formed, Now, every out- 
of-door botanist expects to tubers, 
and so on, in а dry o rt i 
one. Thus,in Africa they are far the most abun- 
dant (that is to say, in proportion to the rest of 
the ana in the e the Kalahari Desert, and 
Nam and. such places one finds all sorts and 
kinds с 2 min to this habit—Pelargoniums, 
for instance, which usually never attempt anything 
of the kind, аел large bul 
The reason why this arrangement has been 
adopted is obvious to anyone who has passed through 
т е Karroo in South Africa before and after а 
rain. Before, everything except a few 
dauere kan pcd plants is dry and appa- 
ntly dead; after it, the ground is covered by the 
* prô of Lilies, 3 and hundreds of other 
bulbous plants, which only require moisture to 
develop with magical rapidity. As the wat 
pc bas 
** MS POTATÓ 
8 
с" 
‚ х92 
18258 E 
1337 1559 n 137! 
FIG. 78,—RAIN AND ROOT-CROP DIAGRAM, 
15 SG 
Leer 
seven or —— years the-e will be enough food 
material accumulated to enable the plant to send 
out a stalk —— with magnificent flowers. 
It seems to be the case that e in Africa, 
Asia, or America — З these dry conditions, 
then there is be a large number of bulbous 
or tuberous plants, k^ our own coun 
themselves, and are ot exposed to the 
state of things which prevails in summer—that is, 
they live in moist and fairly cold рэку" Тал; ae 
point out in what 
been 
1 
leaves immediately, so е they have the soil all to 
Pm sag 
is responsible for the Horseradis 
possibly also the Тагир, Тһе 
native of Greece an 
to be Spanish, while 
ca а а pen species, 
dese has been proved be 
— room for 
ает T and that is the tendency for the 
branch ‘ome short, or in other words, for the 
internodes to be 3 rtened or suppr ‚ This is 
Being unable to increase 
in length, the stem expande in thickness, This 
explanation is more or less clear} 
Professor Henslow’s book, and it EUN h 
understand the origin of bulbs i ina e ий |. | 
In our own country we fin mparatively fay 
bulbous plants because the clim ab is too moist fe 
them to be formed naturally; and hence, if We want 
them, we have to get them from elsewhere, 
pleased when hy 
found that they were capable of drinking а very great 
deal more than they ever had the chance of doing at 
their home in the sands, and now this habit has been 
improved and rendered to & certain extent h 
Still, even now, these plants would in England u 
once take to forming M if they had the te 
tunity. G, F. Scott Ellio 
ad NOTES, 
HanENARIA Susann®, — When grown in m 
intermediate Aes the flowers of this bean 
n 
tiful Orchid are quite as fi those 
in hot-house, but P is only about hill 
as 1 Th s are less likely to fall 1 
this year of flowers upon plants of this Habenaria 
grown thus at Kew, some of the plants having had 
six flowers open at once, each 2 inches across, pure 
white, with a large comb-like lip, and we look upon 
it as a useful addition to summer - flowering terres 
ge Orchids. According to Major-General Berkeley, 
Orchid 
Kew a my ese їп 
Bavuinta GALPINI, 
This plant was described by Mr. Brown in Tj ; 
1891, xi., p. 728, and d E 
Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
of it was published in Hooker's Icones Plantarum. 
Seeds of it were sent to Kew from я Transvaal by 
Мг, Galpin, — om it was named, and who 
deseribed 
ends of the bran 
the top of the principal branches; they are in 
short racemes, each consisting of five f 
"— by which are 1 inch long; the ep 
reflexed, and the equal petals 13 inch long, 
h 
The leaves are bilobed, and 2 inches across. Clow 
to the Bauhinia, which is about 6 feet ый, 
fine examples of petro 
and Diospyros latter bearing 
ciana 
frait, and thoy all recie the same — art 
ARISTOLOCHIA EL 
^ his note on this plant (see p. р. 309) M. Неш) 
ars to have overlooked а —— pert z 
lished in the Gardeners” Chronicle ИЙ ilk 
the description of the Baader ге Dr. 1885, 
appeared (see Gardeners’ Chronicle, Верное 
рр. 301, 338), This note contains ап extract 
Сарапета, of Rio, who sent р Lin 
Kew in July, 1885, One of — punt - 
in the Botanical Magazine, so that the Baron am 
of the plant into European gardens 88 
and Mr. Ball, The Baron dite sito 
raised the n from seeds which he hye 
years prev y from Pa n, 
became a Score garden plant in Blo 
poe 
чь 
— — 
фла ENSE 
