THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



January 27, 1912. 



sugiir^ dextrose^ and Isevulose under dif- 

 ferent conditions in the leaf of the snow- 

 drop for the purpose of testing Messrs. 

 Brown and Morris's view that cane sugar 

 is the first product of carbon assimilation 

 in plants, Mr. John Parkin obtained some 

 interesting results. It was found that mal- 

 tose is always absent from the snowdrop 

 leaf, so that it appears probable that nial- 

 tose, when present in leaves, is a hydrolysis 

 product of starch. The total quantity of 

 sugar in the snowdrop leaf is considerable, 

 being from 20 to 30 per cent, of the dry 

 weight in leaves, actively assimilating. 

 The amount of sugar increases from above 

 <iownwards in a single leaf, and at the same 

 time the ratio of cane sugar todextrosc and 

 lievulose diminishes. In the early part of 

 the season there is more cane sugar in pro- 

 portion to redvicing sugar than later, the 

 comparison being made between leaves 

 gathere<l about the same period of the day. 

 During any single day the percentage of 

 dextrose and Ifevulose in the leaf remains 

 fairly constant, but that of cane sugar fluc- 

 tuates considerably, increasing during the 

 ^lay and decreasing during the night. As 

 the result of his investigations, Mr. Parkin 

 is inclined to the opinion that cane sugar 

 is, as suggested by Messrs. Brown and 

 Morris, the first sugar formed in the leaf. 

 3Ir. Parkin also considers that it is within 

 the bounds of probability that cane sugar 

 itself may take a direct part in the forma- 

 tion of cell walls. 



Honour to Mr. Ha.rma.n Payne. 



— Among the French New Year's honours 

 our old friend and correspondent, Mr. Har- 

 man Pavne, has been awarded the " Palmes 

 Academiques " by the French Government 

 in recognition of his many years' writing in 

 the French .gardening press. This is the 

 first time the decoration has been bestowed 

 upon an English horticultural writer, and 



it carries with it the title of Officier de 

 rinstruction Publique. 



Daphne odora.— At the recent 



meeting of the R.H.S. Scientific Oommittee 

 Dr. Otto Stapf drew attention to the fact 

 {hat most of the figures in botanical works 

 under this name represented Daphne 

 sinensis, the true D. odora beinsc verv rarelv 

 figured, and apparently only >of conip.;ra- 

 tivelv recent introduction into this countrv. 

 In times past, at any rate, it would appear 

 that D. sinensis was the more common 

 p'ant. It differed from D. odora, a Japa- 

 nese species, in having the calyx tube ex- 

 ternally hairy. Messrs. J. Veitch exhibited 

 the true D. odora at the show on this dav. 



^ _ 



Dr. Stapf .showed a figure from the Gar- 

 den," winch was named D. odora, but which 

 differed markedly fjom that species in the 

 arrangement of its flowers. 



R.H.S. Colonial Fruit Show.— - 



We are informed by the Roval Horticul- 

 tural Socriety that, owing to unforeseen cir- 

 cunistaiues, the Colonial Government have 

 been <*onipe]le(l to abandon the exhibition 

 of South African fruits, which hnd been 

 arranged for March 14 and two following 

 <lavs. 



mula obconica from 



tiam 



From Mr. I? . Bradford, 



gardener at High wood, Roehampton, we 

 liave received a gathering of finely de- 

 veloped trusses of Primula obconica^ which 

 represent a strain of much merit. The 

 trusses we have received bave, we are in- 

 formed, been cut from plants that were 

 raised from offsets that were taken off and 

 pottetl in April of last year. Mr. Bradford 

 -commenced the cuHivation of his present 

 strain of Primula obconica six years ago by 

 purchasing frnni one or two firms tlie btvst 

 ■«eed obtainable. From the progeny thus 

 %btained he has year by year made careful 



selections^ and, as the result of his method 

 of procedure^ he has obtained finer flowers, 

 bolder trusses, brighter colours, and larger 

 flower stems. Mr. Bradford states that the 

 flowers are used freely in a cut state tor 

 indoor decorations and that they retain 

 their freshness in gas-lighted rooms for 



fully a week. Last year lie was able to 

 maintain a supp'y of flowci's over a period 

 of six months. 



Big: Bud of Black Currants.— 



A small but useful experiment was carried 

 out by an ofticer of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture at Harinngton, Worcestershire, in 1911^ 

 to test the efficacy of various sprays for 

 combating big bud on black ciu'rants. The 

 sprays used were lime and sulphur in the 

 dry form at the rate of one part of lime to 

 four of sulphur; quassia and soft soap at 

 the rate of 21b. of quassia chips, lib. of 

 soft soap, and ten gallons of water^ and soft 

 soap alone at the rate of lib. soft soap to 

 ten gallons of water. The quassia chips 

 ^vcre boiled for two hours previous to the 

 s;)tt soap being added. At the first spray- 

 ing, April 20, the sprays wei'e used as 

 above. At the second, May 4, the lime and 

 sulphur were used in the proportion of 1 to 

 8, and at the third, May 25, sulphur alone 

 was used. The soft soap spray did not pro- 

 duce any effect upon the mites, but the 

 lime and sulphur treatment reduced the 

 amount of disease to two-thii ds of the 

 untreated bushes, and the quassia and soft 

 soap to four-fifths. 



Royal Horticultural Society 



of Ireland. — At the recent monthly 

 meeting of the Council of this society 

 AMerman Bewley and Mr. B. d'Olier were 

 elected chairman and vice-chairman respec- 

 tively for the current year. Messrs. H. 

 XichoUs^ Farmleigh Gardens, Castlerock ; 

 J. Shekleton, Seafield Gardens, Donagate, 

 and D. M'Intosh, Danum Gardens, Rath- 

 gar, were elected practical members of the 

 society. The society will hold three exhibi- 

 tions during the year. The spring show 

 will be held April 17 and 18 at Ballsbridge 

 in connection with the Royal Dublin So- 

 ciety's exhibition; the summer f^how wil! 

 be held July 11^ and the autumn show 

 August 27, both in the grounds of Lord 

 Iveagh's St. Stephen's Green residence, 

 Dublin. 



Mr. William Ward, who for manv 

 years represented Messrs. Osman and Co., 

 London^ and more recently occupied the 

 position of general manager for Messrs. J. 

 Backhouse and Son, Lim., York, has been 

 in indifferent health for upwards of twelve 

 months. Upon the advice of his doctor, 

 he has, for the present, retired from active 

 business life^ and has gone to Lincolnshire 

 far a complete change and rest. We are 

 quite sure that Mr. Ward's many friends 

 will join with us in the hope that he may 

 be speedily restored to health. 



Fung^icidal Action of Bor- 

 deaux Mixture.^The problem of the 



tatCj but in the latter case only at a little 

 distance from the precipitate itself. In 

 the final experiments films of Bordeaux pre. 

 cipitate were allowed to dry on cover-slij)^ 

 and films of Nectria conidia were super- 

 imposed on these films, overlapping them. 

 After twenty-four hours in a moist atmo- 

 sphere there was a sharp limit between \ 

 dead and living conida which coincided 

 practically exactly with the edge of the 

 copper film. Beyond the copper zone 

 nearly all the conidia were Ihnng^ and had 

 germinated in many cases, especially in the 

 region farthest removed from the copper, 

 With regard to the practical outcome the 

 results ol)tained support the views of the 

 fruit-growers, with reference to the neces- 

 sity for thorough spraying, so as to coat 

 as completely as possible the surfaces liable 

 to infection^ the importance of the finely 

 divided form of the copper precipitate, and 

 of the adhesive properties of the spray. 



Trees in PariSi— According to some 

 recent statistics given in Le Jardin/' the 

 number of trees in the Parisian boulevards 

 is 86,154^ representing some 21 species. 

 The planes are the most strongly repre- 

 sented, and of these tliere are 26,254 trees: 

 the horse chestnut ranks next with 16.662 

 trees, followed by 14,173 elms, 8,920 Aiian. 

 thus glandulosa, 5,960 maples^ 4,788 vsyca- 

 moreSj 3,903 a/cacias (robinias), 3,197 limes, 

 942 paidownias^ 539 cedars, 344 America!) 

 walnuts, 238 sophoras, 123 poplars, 34 ne- 

 gundos, 27 service trees, 26 planeras^ 18 

 ]i t e r oc a rp us, t wo a sh , a n d one mulberry 

 and catalpa. 



Extraordinary Muslirooms.- 



Mr. R. H. Legg writes as follows, from the 

 Gardens at Melksham House: Some three 

 or four years ago II put some mushroom 

 spawn in a melon pit at the time I planted 

 out some melons. In the autumn of that 

 year quite a good crop of mushrooms wa; 

 gathered, and in subsequent years several 

 nice lots have been obtained in the same 

 pit, although the manure and soil have 

 been cleared out several times. At the 

 present time, January 18, 1912, several fine 

 mushrooms have grown out from the brick 

 wall of the pit, a^ foot from the groiiml 

 level. Evidcntiv, the brickwork contains a 

 lot of mycelium. I should say it is rather 

 unusual to see mushrooms growing on a 

 brick M'all, although one often bears of them 

 doing most extraordinary things: I am en- 

 ■closing a mushroom from the wall for yon 

 to see." This is a remarkable case of per- 



sistence of mushroom mycelium : the irni>!'' 

 room sent was a very good specimen. 



Navel Orangfe ^Mr. H. S. Rivers 



sent to a recent meeting of the Scientifi<' 

 Committee of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety a large ''St. Michael" orange, pro- 

 duced on a plant which three years before 

 hnd been cut down. It had the ''navel' 

 form seen usuaMy in some varieties of 

 orange, but very unusual in this. App 



1 • 1 T) 1 , , rentiv, the ext ra vio;our of the p;'"<>^vtn \\^ 



manner in which Hordeaux Mixture exerts ■ i " i , ,- 



a- 



a fungicidal action has been investigated 

 by Messrs. B. T. Barker and C. T. (iiming- 

 hanij and reported upon in the ''Journal 

 of Agricidtural Science." The question of 

 the existence of a solvent action of the 

 fungus itself upon Bordeaux precipitates 

 has hitherto not been settled. In this in- 

 vestigat 'on hanging drop cultures of spores 

 were made with Bordeaux mixture and with 

 the filtrate from it. In the filtrate ger- 

 mination and subsequent growth were 

 fairly vigorous, while in the drops of the 

 Bordeaux mixture germination was rare. 

 Difl'usion tnbes were then used to separate 

 Bordeaux precipitate from its filtrate, 

 when the spores germinated both in the 

 filtrate outside the diffusion tubes and in 



induced its formation. 



Edinburgh Scholars and the 

 Botanic Gardens.— There was a bii>^ 



discussion at the meeting of the Edinbir 

 School Board on the question whether : > 

 school children should visit the 

 Botanic Gardens during or after s<'1i'^^'' 

 hours. The Committee on Day School f^' 

 commended that, as the visits are niatlc ; 

 educational purjjoses^ the children shoul^^ 

 be taken to the gardens in school hoiii'- 

 Some menibeis ret»:a.rded the viNits 

 creative and opposed the reconnnenditi<^;' 

 and moved an amendnient to the cotiim ■ 

 tees report. In the result it was 'f'' 

 cided by a majority of one that 

 children shall visit the gardens outsi'i' 



the diffusion tubes containing the precipi- school hours. 



