250 THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. [Fzsnvanv 19, 1887, 
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HE GARDENERS CHRONICLE, 
Volume XXVI., JULY to DECEMBER, 1886. 
- W. RICHARDS, 41, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C, 
HEURE ee hd CHRONICLE 
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APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. 
MEETINGS. 
нол xt Fin 1 Meeting of Counei. Society : Special 
DAY, FEB. 23— Society of Arts, 
ea FEB. 29] Ras NS даце зо яо ' Meeting at 
oe 
a ат Lilies from Japan, at 
evens' 
cs Stock a at the Hertford Nur- 
pies heroe & Morris (five 
MONDAY, FEB. at 
TUESDAY, pion d dishes Plants, Дек 4 8t the 
(ому їп o Бонер, at Protheroe & 
e etian Жоо, y Protheroe 
Wi and various Bulbs, at 
WEDNES ape e 
DAY, FEB.23 ilies es, » Roses, ‚Ке at Protheroe & 
reer pue in variety, 
THURSDAY, ven, 21) “Moors Messrs, Н. Low ,& Co., d bove 
FRIDAY, FEB. 25 { — Отон ^ Protheroe & 
p Pinte an о various Bulbs, at 
епз” 
SATURDAY, FEB. 264 Lilies, Roses, ко, at Protheroe & 
WE are so accustomed, at this 
e са season, to think of the Potato 
as an inert object when at rest, 
that we are apt to overlook the fact that the 
deal of work is going on—at least, whenever 
the temperature is above freezing. Some know- 
ledge of the nature of that work is Re 
for us as practic men, because upon the way 
in which it is done depends in great measure 
our success in storing Potatos for consumption, 
and the vigour and health of our crops for the 
future. Much of the complaint made of late as 
to the degeneracy of the Potato, and as to its 
іне quality as compared wit th past times, is 
probably due to the way in which these changes 
are effected. These again are dependent ke 
the " way in which the plant was able to do 
work in the preceding summer, This ар a us 
to the найы, whether the newer varieties are 
оре о constitution; at any rate, these. 
1 tion. If an ordinary 
t grower of or dealer ia ao Yere told tht the 
tubers he rightly sets such store by breathe as 
human beings do, he would probably think that 
some facetious hoax was being played upon him. 
The fact, however, remains that, although they 
have no lungs, Potatos, in the ground or 
out of the ground, breathe. We do not mean 
io say that they palpitate, draw long breaths, or 
heave deep sighs, but they breathe nevertheless. 
They inhale and exhale through their skin gases 
of various kinds, just as every one knows that 
un 
or “sweat.” The conversion of the sugary juice 
called glucose, derived from the foliage, into the 
solid starch stored up in the tuber, is associated 
with the emission of gases, while the reconversion 
of that starch into soluble sugar requisite for the 
maintenance and nourishing of the tissues of the 
tuber and for the shoots when growth commences, 
is also attended by an emission of carbonic acid gas 
m watery vapour, this latter process being more 
ss analogous to that which constitutes the 
respiration of animals; and thus it is that Potatos 
eathe, Starch grains are practically in- 
5 
solid form from the leaves in which they аге 
formed to the tubers in which they are to be 
Stored up; hence the necessity for their conver- 
sion into glucose, or some analogous liquid 
matter, by means ‘of which the transit may be 
made, айа from which the solid starch may be 
again deposited as occasion may require ; so that 
Potato tubers, whether stil in the ground, or 
removed and placed on the exhibition-table, or in 
the cellar, are, in a certain way, breathing. 
e chemical changes we have alluded to go on 
probably through the agency of some ferment in 
the detached tuber in the same manner, but to a 
less extent, than when it is still attached to the 
plant. A kilogramme (21b. 3 oz A of Patatos when 
the temperature was 20° С, (68° F.) gave o 
in August 6.5 milligrammes of а acid 
per hour, and in January and February, at the 
same temperature, 10 and 11 milligrammes pe 
hour. hen exposed, however, to the freezing 
point in the laboratory, whether in August or in 
ihe winter months, the proportion of carbon 
dioxide, alias carbonic acid gas, was reduced to 
about 2 milligrammes per hour. As the tempera- 
e rises, more and more sugary juice is found 
in the tubers, less an tarch, A tim 
comes when the sugar 1з no longer used up in 
the course of the respiratory process, and no 
longer converted into starch. An excess of sugary 
n occurs, which flows to the eyes or buds, 
and the period of comparative rest is at an end: 
The practical inference is that which careful prac- 
titioners have long arrived at from experience, 
viz., to store the Potatos in a uniform low tem- 
perature, in a dry condition, and in the dark, so as 
not to excite those chemical and physical changes 
associated with growth, and consequent upon the 
conversion of starch into sugar. Mr. H. MÜLLER, 
tended his researches to the buds of trees, in 
which exactly the same phenomena take place 
as in the tubers of the Potato. When the flow 
of sugary juice from the leaf ceases at the end 
of autumn, and is deposited in the form of starch 
in the buds, bark, and young w wood of the tree, 
growth. ceases, In the spring a little of the 
sugary juice left over in the bark flows towards 
the bal which m begin to swell and 
lengthen into shoo 
THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SociEeTY.—Day 
E. day the conviction becomes clearer that the Royal 
orticultural Society has v eci 
NM oe as other scientific societies have 
been, and that the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhi- . 
EEE ы | 
ишо would only be ig i their duty in ass signing 
adequate freehold site to the Society. Day b 
Е outsiders are E what the hal ed 
have felt all along, how unjust has been чн Biss 
judice against the Society, which lost its 
endeavouring to act honestly by the debenture т 
А. direct appeal to Her Maszsry, whose sympathy 
f 
nominated at the annual general meeting to con- 
sider the future of the Society’s affairs. 
NARCISSUS COMMITTEE OF THE ROYAL HOR- 
TICULTURAL SociETY.—The following aoi have 
been fixed for the ca ngs of the Narcissus Com- 
mittee, viz., March 22, April 12 and 26. Should the 
season be backws rd it may be found desirable to 
hold бет meeting on May 10 
PERMISSION TO GROW TOBACCO.-—With the 
view of furthering the experiments in the cultivation 
е 
үе 
tion йиш бнр their planting a plot of ground wit 
Tobacco for experimental purposes, my complying 
with the usual regulations and giving the pei: ssary 
guarantee to the Inland Revenue Departm 
THE Most EMINENT ORDER OF THE INDIAN 
EMPIRE.—A mongst many gentlemen AM with 
commerce, learning, and the arts, in our In dian 
Dependency who have been selected as Bars of 
the honour of tus Commander of the new 
Dra Honeys for India are Dietrich BRANDIS, 
„ C.LE., late Inspector-General of Forests ; and. 
x ыз CHRISTOPHER MOLESWORTH BIRDWOOD, 
„ C.S.I., special assistant in Uo Statistics and 
Commerce Department of the India Office 
“Le JARDIN."—Under this name а new garden- - 
ing journal is to be published in je t чарен ye 
e: of M. Gop EFROY-LEBEUF, W 
new journal will appear fortnightly, and will r 
among its Eoi le — Dg CHER 
VILLE, M. Cu. DE Francios any other horti- 
culturists. The ета атаан) is M. 
AMÉDÉE Picarp, Argenteuil, Paris 
FLORISTS’ JUBILEE, SCHEME. 1887.—А E 
cular has just been issued by а committee represen 
thern Section, imet by бамо BARLO 
ENTLEY, 
row's proposal that an extra effort should p^ 
to add to the attractiveness of the exhibitions 
circular states ia the members of these ет 
* are for the m oit, рай men of humble means ап 
small leisure, ini few advantages of garden | 
and often with very great difficulty of 
fund, to be divided among the floris 
soenda di Bir needs, to enlarge and € 
exhibitions of the present year, making calti- 
де аа of the different lowers 
