SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, MAY 7. 



xlix 



water is a mild stimulant and general plant food. Owing to the partial 

 removal of the lime salts, it ought not to spot the foliage with a white 

 deposit. 1 should not like to say anything as to its peculiar suitability to 

 Orchids, terrestrial or epiphytic, but I think its use cannot be injurious." 



Odontoglossum crisimm, i)eloric. — Mr. T. Rochford sent a specimen in 

 which the lateral petals were more or less crested and spotted like the lip. 



G/oa:mms.— Specimens with internal paracorolla and external linear 

 crests were exhibited by Mr. Houston. 



Hymenocallis siilphurea. — Mr. Worsdell showed this plant, being the 

 same as one of Dean Herbert's hybrids. 



Seedling Lilies groiviiuj under gnmnd. — Mr. Worsdell referred to this 

 subject, and added remarks upon the germination of certain monocotyle- 

 dons without a cotyledon. Mr. Elwes said that he had observed how seeds 

 of Daphne Mezereum and Lily seeds remained a long while in the ground 

 — even three years — and then germinated. Cej)halanthera rubra, he 

 observed, was said to have germinated after some seventy years. Rev. C. 

 WoUey-Dod remarked, with reference to this subject : — " In my garden 

 the seed of Lilies often germinated, and the bulbs grew for three or four 

 years without any visible growth above ground. This statement has 

 been very fairly questioned, and it was said that it could not be admitted 

 as a fact of vegetable physiology without minute and particular details. 

 I confess that I have never made careful and continuous observations in 

 the matter, chiefly because I assumed that it was generally known and 

 admitted. The particular Lily about which my impressions are very 

 strong is L. monadelphuin. This species thrives particularly well in the 

 heavy, retentive soil of my garden. I have been in the habit at any time 

 during the last twenty-five years of taking a handful of the seed of this 

 when ripe and throwing it on the surface and raking it in where there 

 were two or three square yards of untenanted soil. At first I used to 

 suppose that the seed perishe l, as no growth appeared above ground ; 

 but on digging at the end of a year or two, bulbs were found from the 

 size of a Pea to that of a Hazel-nut, but it was not till the third or fourth 

 year that above-ground growth, nearly ready to flower, or perhaps with 

 one flower-bud, appeared. The bulbs had not only increased in size, but 

 had dived several inches beneath the surface. As it appears that this 

 habit is doubted by competent botanists, it would be well to have it 

 settled by some observer more likely to see the experiment through than 

 I am, and I shall have much pleasure, next August, in distributing 

 packets of seed to any amateurs who will make the trial, and at the end 

 of four years announce the result of their observations." Some years 

 ago the question came before the Scientific Committee as to the possibility 

 of fully developed bulbs increasing in size below the soil without having 

 any external stem or foliage. It was maintained by some growers that 

 such was really the case. 



Hybrid Carnations. — From Mr. Percy D. Williams, of Lanarth, 

 Cornwall, came flowers of ' Lady Buxton ' Carnation x Sweet William ; 

 also the latter x ' Uriah Pike' (crimson) Carnation; also 'Duchess of 

 Fife ' (rose) x Sweet William. They were very intermediate in character, 

 with no scent, but having more of the Sweet William foliage, and with 

 flowers showing a tendency to cluster. (See fig. 185.) 



