January 12, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



25 



well-bnown as one of the largest, most snccessM, and scarcely- 

 cqaalled forced Strawberry-grower for maket. He forces some 

 thousands of plants, and when in full work the fruit is a sight 

 not seen every day, and probably he is able to gather from 

 50 lbs. to a hundredweight several times a- week. He conse- 

 quently requires a large area of glass in frames and bouses, 

 and they are of the best form I have seen for the purpose. The 

 Strawberries are lirst started in frames in bottom heat, and 

 di'afted tc the houses as wanted. The Cyclamens then succeed 

 them in the frames, and are grown in a gentle bottom heat 

 during the summer, and removed to the houses in September, 

 the Strawberries again following them for the winter. It must 

 be understood his collection of Cyclamens was exhibited as a 

 collection of about eighty or a hundred plants for quality and 

 variety of colour, all in 48-pots, with from five to ten dozen 

 blooms. Mr. Clarke's houses are now all filled with them, 

 their number amounting to some thousands, all for market, in 

 different stages of bloom, and, taking the whole as a lot of ten- 

 months plants, I think they are not to be equalled. The plants 

 in the early bouse, which is about 120 feet long by 12 wide, 

 are now in bloom, and a sight worth going miles to see. — 

 Geokge Edgeeton, Strawberry Hill. 



[Mr. Edgerton sent us some fine specimens. Some of the 

 flowers were semi-double. — Eds.] 



RED AND WHITE EXHIBITION POTATOES. 



Beat.TiY it does seem like a reverse of history when a 

 " Ealeigh " comes to seek instruction from a " Fenn " relative 

 to Potatoes. Yet so it is, and I beg to inform a correspondent 

 — " SiK Waitee Ealeigh " — who wants " red varieties and 

 white varieties, both Kidney and Bounds, for exhibition" pur- 

 poses, that be cannot do better at the present time than to 

 procure the Early American Eose, a flattish obtuse Eidney ; 

 and there is a rather early red round, rough-skinned Potato, 

 which I often meet with wrongly shown as the Bed Eegent ; it 

 has various local aliases, but mostly bears the name of the Prince 

 of Wales. If " SiK Waltee " can secure it he will gain a fine 

 model for a round red Potato, and well-flavoured, though it is 

 yellow of flesh. The next shapely round, though a later and 

 a larger sort, is Buttons' Eed-skin Flourball. 



Two models for exhibition, and really first-elass second-early 

 white Potatoes, are Thomas Almond's Yorkshire Hero, a flat 

 obtuse Eidney, and Transell's Seedling, Bound. I have grown 

 the latter as large as my child's head, but that only happens 

 when two or three tubers are found at one root, which often 

 occurs in a breadth of this variety ; and then I know of no other 

 sort that produces such perfect spheres, unless it be the Eoyal 

 Albert, but that is a smaller, and altogether an inferior kind to 

 Transell's Seedling. It has always been a scarce kind, and 

 should " Sir Walter" find it difficult to procure, there is the 

 Eing of Potatoes, whose feature is to "run out" in sample, 

 and it would give him both Bounds and Kidneys sufficiently 

 large and shapely to suit. Eintoul's New Early White Don 

 also yields very fine round tubers, and it is withal one of the 

 best modern sorts, a capital market and household Potato. 



I recommend the above sorts to be planted on good ground 

 at the following distances apart between the rows : — Early 

 Eose, 2i feet; Prince of Wales, 3i feet; Suttons' Eed-skin 

 Flourball, 3i feet; Almond's Yorkshire Hero, 3 feet; Tran- 

 sell's Seedling, 2 J feet; and the New Early White Don, Si feet. 

 — Boeeet Fenn, Rectory, Woodstock. 



NOTES ON SILPHIUM LACINIATUM, L. 



THE COMPASS PLANT. 

 [Esad before the Academy of Natural Sciences of PhiladelpJda.} 



It is at once the strength and the weakness of science that it 

 •takes little on trust. One would suppose that after the positive 

 facts given by President Hill in his paper before the recent 

 meeting of the American Association, there was no room for 

 doubt that the edges of leaves of Silphium laciuiatum had an 

 average bearing north. But I find men — excellent acute ob- 

 servers^who doubt the facts. They say, " We took the trouble 

 to examine the plants on the spot, and found not the slightest 

 trace of any such tendency ; we want no better evidence than 

 that of our own senses." 



As before suggested, it is an excellent habit to verify, for our- 

 selves, the facts reported by others — there is far too little of 

 this habit — but when the observations conflict, it is safer to 

 assume that both are right, and that there is something yet 



undiscovered which would harmonise the opposition, than that 

 eith,er one is wrong. 



In this matter of the Silphium or " Compass Plant," I was 

 able to find this missing Link, and to see that both parties were 

 right. 



When I first saw the Silphium to any great extent in its 

 native loeaUties, there was not the slightest indications of this 

 northern tendency. It was a great surprise, as a limited know- 

 ledge of it before bad taught the reverse. I determined to 

 watch a plant carefully on my own ground the next year. The 

 result was just as described by President Hill. There was the 

 unmistakeable northern tendency in the edges of the leaves 

 when they first came up, and until they were large and heavy, 

 when the winds and rains bore them in different directions, 

 and they evidently had not the power of regaining the points 

 lost. This often took place by their own weight alone, especi- 

 ally in luxuriant specimens. Mr. Hill said it was in June 

 when he saw them on the prairies, all bearing north ; when I 

 saw them, and not doing so, it was early in September, and 

 then no doubt the mechanical causes I have referred to bad 

 been in operation. 



The plant I have had in my garden, now for some years, 

 affords much interest in many respects. I learned a useful 

 leason from it this year in reference to the relative rates of 

 growth in the different parts of the inflorescence. Noticing 

 that there appeared to be no growth in the disk florets in the 

 day, I determined to note accurately, one morning during the 

 last week in August, exactly when growth did commence. The 

 ray flowers close over the disk during night, and at 4 a.m., with 

 day just dawning in the east, I found the ray petals just com- 

 mencing to open back. In the disk there are about fifteen 

 coils of florets in the spiral. There appeared no motion until 

 4.40, although no doubt growth commenced at 4, when the ray 

 petals were in motion, but too slow to be perceptible. At 

 4.40, however, the five outer circles were evidently slightly 

 elevated above the others in the disk. Then follows the follow- 

 ing record in my diary : — 



4.45, the five divisions of the corolla split open. 

 4.50, corollas grown three thii-ty-seconds of an inch. 

 4.55, divisions of corolla fully expanded. 



5, florets two-eighths above the rest of the disk. It might be well to 

 say here, that there was no growth in any this morning but in the five 

 outside rows we are speaking of. 



5.0, 5.10, no apparent change except that some which were not so 

 perfectly opened as the others seemed to become so. 



5.15, pistil and masses of stamens slightly elevated above the level 

 of the corolla. 



5.20, corollas now about five-sisteenths of an inch above the others* 

 n disk. Pistils and stamens about two lines above the corollas. Long 

 yeUow ray petals half open, with no appearance of pollen on their pistils. 



From this time forward there was no further growth of the 

 corolla, so that this portion of the daily labour was acoom- 

 plished in about three-quarters of an hour. 



5.25, pistils and stamens beyond the corolla 1-32 inch. 

 6.30, „ „ „ 1-16 „ 



5.35, „ „ „ 1-8 „ 



5.40, „ „ „ 3-S „ 



5.45, 5.50, no change. 



5.55, pistils begin to project beyond the stamens. The first insect, 

 a sand wasp appears. He inserts his proboscis down between the 

 clavate pistil and the stamens, carrying away the pollen, which is all 

 over his head. 



6, 6.5, pistUs one line, stamens no longer lengthen, 



6.10, anthers are falling away from the pistUs, which are two lines 

 beyond. 



6.15, no change. 



6.20, the ray petals now fully open, that is horizontal. 



No change was noticed after this, except the free visits oJ 

 the sand wasp, none of these however, carried any pollen to 

 the pistils in the ray florets. 



About 9 o'clock (there had not been the sUgbtest indications 

 of any growth since 6.20) heavier insects began to arrive, and 

 then the slightest touch broke off the florets, which fell on the 

 ray pistils which happened to be below them, and in this way 

 they were fertilised. These pistils died very soon after. Those 

 pistils on the uppar side (the flower leaning a little) were quite 

 fresh the next morning, awaiting some chance to be fertilised, 

 insects evidently not performing that office. 



We here see that there were three phases of growth, with a 

 slight rest between each, the pistil taking the most time, then 

 the stamens, and the corolla the least, but the whole growth 

 of the day included within two hours. 



I have used the word pistil for the clavate process which 



