608 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. [Мотемввв 23, 1895, 
EEEENKERWEEEm 
als * 1-9 wad 
peratur air Was 
calm or PN Thus, in a strong north-east 
wind, the temperature of the room being 18° 
Fahr, and 17:5? Fahr. outside, it took twenty- 
six minutes to ascend to 21? Fahr. On a calm 
day when it was 536^ Fahr, in the т, and at 
freezing point outside, it took o e hour and 
eight minutes to descend to essing Fok 
B as M. De Candolle 1 this ex- 
, analogy 
he seeds 
metallic йер, graty facilitating the c 
ductibility o ox, He thinks, therefore, 
that not more 2n a quarter of an hour would 
be required to put the temperature of the box 
in equilibrium with that of the cold air. Ix 
taking out the seeds, they were at onoe 
Nearly all the Wheat, some of the бый, and 
some Fennel seeds quickly appeared, Of sixty- 
x seeds of the Sensitive plant, thirteen only 
came up; while of numerous Lobelia seeds, only 
ten germinate 
The failure of the seeds of the Sensitive plant 
was not solely due to the cold, as many failed to 
germinate, while many Lobelia plants grew in a 
The conclusion the author 
arrived 
functions, was completely a 
the protoplasm was inert, se could not either 
respire or assimilate, The cause of some being 
killed was that анан protoplasm had not yet 
become completely in 
If this result be ay then, one would expect 
that seeds could be maintained with impunity 
in a d unsuitable for Pe sime de pro- 
were which а 
0 effect upon the internal ЖОО 
processes, as does carbonio acid. 
He, кка tried the effect of plunging 
: thas, 8 grains of Wheat were 
‘5 em. of mercury for one month 
(October 19 to November 19). Of these four only 
germinated. Of 5 grains of Wheat under 13 cm, 
of meroury, from November 27 to December 28, 
four grew, Of 5 grains of Wheat under 5 om. 
of mercury, from February 5 to May 5, all grex, 
Similarly 13 grains of Cress, under 5 om. of 
mercury, for two months, all germinated. 
This experiment, therefore, as that with a low 
temperature, shows that seeds can exist in a state 
of complete vital inertia; and that the internal 
changes of metabolism can be arrested, as long 
as the necessary external conditions of tem- 
perature, moisture, &c., are withheld, 
M. De Candolle thinks that this state of 
chemical and vital inertia may last, perhaps, 
indefinitely. He then ee the fo ollowing oases 
ation йе да Candolle men- 
s plant 
years repose (Physiologie, p. 621), Om. 
has seen Haricot Beans 2 which were 
taken from the herbarium of Tournefort, where 
they had lain for a century. In 1850 Robert 
Brown sowed, for curiosity, some seeds from the 
collection of Sir Hans Sloane, 150 years old, 
several germinated, as for example, 
Nelumbium speciosum, of which — plant i is still 
preserved in the Natural History Muse 
grains were sterilised bef 
being placed in the tomb— "in 
f this. 
at least have been boiled. The most extra- 
he refers was observed 
Laurium 
species of Glaucium, G. Serpieri. It m 
appearance from under a thick layer 
of volcanic scoria, to which he would assign a 
date of 1500 years. He concludes with а 
reference to the investigations of M. Peter, who 
took soil from the interior of forests, and, after 
taking every preoaution, found that soil from 
ancient forests gave rise to woodland species 
only; but soil from recent forests supplied 
species of open pleins and fields, according as 
the forest laced these respectively. 
Admitting that his. experiments did not decide 
the question, М, Peter thinks it dp be safe 
to allow at least fifty years of duration of arrest 
of Mies 3 in the seeds buried in the soil 
of for 
NEW OR NOTEWORTHY PLANTS, 
n 8p. 
Ат &һе meeting of the Orchid Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on October 15, the Hon. 
Walter Rothschild exhibited what was unanimously 
agreed to be the handsomest of the plume-bearing 
section of 33838 and under the above name 
it was awarded a First-class Certificate -an honour 
only once meat accorded to a member of this sin- 
gular genu The nt was received from 
dade somewhere i in re hills rany Darjeeling a 
few years ago, but o 
ursing, has it succeeded in 
the cultivated pseudo - bulbs are 
scarcely one-third the size of = dece orted ones, it 
is but reasonable to in'er that t e flowers, beautiful 
though they are, will still aln: ав the plant gains 
strength, The pseudo-bulbs vary in form from ovate 
to ANT , each be 
ne-sid 
= peo 
the lower MEN The зае оар colour of the flow 
is bright crimson- purple, some = otches of clear yellow 
appearing on the sepals, 
ut similarly coloured t 
decorated, The тон не: show little other colour 
than rich crimson-purple, the same hue pervading 
their slender tail-like appendages, which sometimes 
intertwine, and at others are free, The triangular, 
grooved, hinged labellum is рар, and the whole 
flower so remarkably attractiv command 
attention even from those who „ 
nothing but the showiest Orchids, Its nea 
affinity seems to be С, Collettii, Hemel, 
CATTLEYA LABIATA BROOMEANA, 7% 
, va 
This is one of the finest of "od best Led boe. 
useful section of C. labiata kno “eu 
one of C. Warscewiczil (gigas), there — in this 
a similar broad expansion in the front of its velvety 
erimson-purple lip, which also bears on each side 
the roundish cream-coloured blotch n seen in 
C. Warssevictii. Te broad petals expand to рагу 
8 inches, and both they and the sepals are of а 
rosy-purple, the venation being distinctly — » 
a darker tint f ber same colour. It was flowered 
b е, Eiq., Баппу Hill, Llandudno 
(grower, Mr. Shill). who i is not only very fortunate in 
getting fine varieties of Cattleyas, but is also an 
adept at cultivating them up to their best, James 
O'Brien, í 
ANN U.A-LIBS 
only in every gardening paper, but also in 
Mant with any member of the ancient craft, 
do we frequently ми the pithy remark on 
floral or fruit exhibit: © they're what I call 
well done; or Mr, ——, €: * His Mic the 
Dake of Blankahire, ‘exhibited in classe 
it is needless to say all his cubic a were thoroughly 
„well done.“ 
confine my remarks to one very humble class 
of plants, though one more often ill done than the 
opposite, “annuals,” = — — — that there is 
scarcely anything a garden mateur $^ 
hand that will more liberally iul. care and proper 
cultivation 
'The cim amateur, and, I may as well say it as 
think it, nine out of ten professed gard look 
upon annuals from such an obtuse angle that rarely 
For the hardy kinds—to scratch 
ўе the Riom seedlings come up, and then are 
le e care of themselves. It may be, if the 
ae sown is what is termed half-hardy, that the 
seed is sown in a box or p 
germinate * a hot-bed, or = a shelf іп 
house, but n then eventually 
nurselings are ven till ed being sown thicker than 
should be, ome drawn, and get woody and hard, 
while the mm or e тт fall of roots; and 
when the time comes to transfer the seedling planta 
to the beds or borders, they are sickly, — and 
showing immature buds or blossoms—i in are 
only fit to be put on the ru 
now repay further trouble, & 
only ^et to disappointment. 
'* ill d 
— The us -— on the opposite of и I have in 
mi ind's eye oung man, whose tio n and 
T Poor things, oe are 
Beginning at the foundation, h E 
a generous coat of half-decayed dung, leaving th 
in soon as the 
1 ha 
ive selecting а d-y and still day, he just stirs 
surface with the Datch-hoe, and then drawing s dil 
of & s adapted to the size of the seed to — 
he commits the wonderful germs to the Care 
mother earth, rakes in the soil carefully, абы then 
gently treads the earth firm around an nd abor 
seed, If the weather be war 
8 8 
B 
^ a 
LI 
8 А 
it 
es 
ater distance in reason the plants remain 
the better бере final ovdi 
n the first 
clothed with healthy, well-developed foliage, ™ 
1 ў ob bjects, for 
flower well developed, the ample rewa ин gp 
care will be rea Many whonever saw & 
wn d a 
Clarkias, Godet hits, 
Xechscholisías, pesce гоа 
са single толе 18 inches hi 
h coarser-growing 
me through; while su 
and the 
subjecit 
