OX THE DEODAR. 



Ill 



coil, not unlike a boa constrictor, a foot across, 6 inches deep, 

 and weighing 7£ lbs. Although we have no record of its weight 

 at the time when the stem perished, yet, as it has continued to 

 grow for nine years and a half, and was originally in a small pot, 

 it is not unreasonable to assume that it has acquired at least 

 seven times its original weight. Although no leaves have been 

 formed, yet many attempts at the production of stems are visible 

 upon the specimen, in the form of short stunted tubercles or 

 incipient branches ; and the root is now so full of vitality that I 

 entertain no doubt of the possibility of compelling it, by artificial 

 means, to resume its growth. 



Here then is a very striking proof that plants have an inherent 

 power of growth without leaves. It is probable that in this case 

 the bark, of which a lar^e surface has been exposed to light, has 

 acted as a substitute for foliage, perspiring, and assimilating food, 

 as all green parts do, whether leaves or not. It is also probable 

 that the surface of the root which rested upon the earth, and 

 which still is colourless, has constantly attracted from the soil 

 the food which the bark is assumed, in this case, to have assimi- 

 lated. But if such a power can be recognized in an Ipomoea, we 

 must also admit its existence in the tuber of a Potato, even 

 although that tuber is not exposed to light ; and the vital force of 

 the latter must be allowed to be capable not only of converting 

 into starch the gum which was supplied by the leaves, but of 

 absorbing gaseous and fluid matters from the soil, and, by their 

 assimilation, of continuing to grow, although perhaps for only a 

 limited time. 



It would indeed be an experiment worth trying, whether, by 

 some artificial means, the Potato itself might not be made to go 

 through the same kind of leafless enlargement as that now re- 

 corded in the Ipomoea. 



XIV.— On the Deodar. By Robert Errington, C.M.H.S.. 

 Gardener to Sir Philip de Malpas Grev E^erton, Bart., 

 M.P., F.H S. 



(Communicated November 24, 1849.) 



This splendid tree bids fair to become a general favourite, from 

 the prince to the cottager, and most deservedly so. At the present 

 moment our nurseries are becoming well stocked with it, and 

 from the great facilities offered for obtaining seed, I have no 

 doubt that in a very few years they will be advertised by their 

 hundreds of thousands, precisely as the larch and other forest- 

 trees. 



