212b 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



March 16, 1912. 



time will be iost, and it may result in the 

 abandonment of the study of the subject. 

 The book must of necessity be sound, but 

 it should also be of a more or less elemen- 

 tary character, for when the beginner com- 

 niencee, as is frequently the case, with an 

 advanccxl text-book, he makes such slow 

 progress, however strenuous may be his en- 

 deavour, that he becomes possessed of a 

 feeling of hopelessness, and gives up the 

 work in despair. The book should he of an 

 elementary cluitracter, whatever may be the 

 ience with which it deals, for it will give 

 a general view of the w'hole subject, a point 

 of no small importance, and it will not be 

 overburdeneil with terms difficult to re- 

 member and still more difficult to plro- 

 nounce. By mastering the elementary work 

 the student will have acquired sufficient 

 knowledge to be of service to him, and if 

 he is disposed to carry his studies further 

 he will be able to do so ivithoait meeting 

 with any great difficulties. 



Considerable numbers of elementary 

 books on the natural sciences have been 



published during the past tw^enty y 

 and, for the most part, they evince an im- 

 mense improvement on those of older date. 

 Especially is improvement evident in the 

 4^1ementary works on botany, of which there 

 is a good range on my bookshelves. Among 

 them is one that is especially adapted to 

 the requirements of young gardeners who 

 have to pursue their studies without the 

 a d of lectures or class teaching. It is 

 simple and inexpensive, two points of im- 

 portance, and complete in itself. Yet it is 

 sufficiently advanced to contain practically 

 all that is necessary the gardener should 

 know^ relating to the general morphology, 

 the simple structure, and the physiology of 

 plants. With its aid, and the free use 

 of leaves, flowers, and other specimens that 

 can be readily obtained in gardens, it will 

 l>e possible for the student to become suffi- 

 ciently acquainted with the various parts of 

 plants, and with the lw>tanical terms relat- 

 ing to them, within a year to be able to 

 lecognise and descrilje eacli one in scien- 



In like manner he will 



tific language, 

 obtain a soiuid 



of the 

 The 



manner 

 elementary knowledge 

 leaf, root, and other organs, 

 book referred to is Liverse<lge*s 

 Elementary Botany,'' publishe<:l by 

 Messrs. Blackie and Son at Is. 6d. When 

 this book has been mastered there are many 

 excellent books of a more advance^l char- 

 acter from which to select. Whether the 

 young student carries his botanical studies 

 further or not is a matter to be determined 

 by himself; but it should be remembered 

 that there are other subjects to be studied, 

 and that the object of the writer is not 

 to show how^ a gardener may become a 

 botanist, but how^ he may acquire a know- 

 ledge of botany sufficient for his everyday 

 requirements, and also to enable him to 

 fully understand the scientific papers on 

 botany that are constantly being published. 



To advise on the study of geology by 

 ^/oung gardeners is not quite so simple a 

 matter as giving advice on the acquisition 

 of botanical knowledge. It cannot be 

 shown that geology is so closely related to 

 the work of the garden as is botany, and 

 the book has yet to be written w^hich is 

 especially adapted to the nee<ls of the young 

 gardener. There are plenty of good books 

 on geological science, but for reasons that 

 can be readilv understood the information 

 they contain is not directly associated wnth 

 cultural methods. Yet an elementary 

 knowledge of the crust of the earth is so 

 useful that the study of geology as an es- 

 sential paii; of the education of the young 

 gardener can be strongly recommended. It 

 not only greatly enlarges the breadth of 

 view in relation to soils, but the study 



most fascinating, and forms an admirable 

 foundation on which to commence the study 

 of soils with a view- to the application of 

 the information gained to practical pur- 

 poses. The young gardener will do well to 

 combine the study of elementary geology 

 and physical geography, and he may be 

 advised to select as his text books Sir A. 

 Geikie's "Geology" and ''Physical Geo- 

 graphy," published by ^lessrs. Macmillan 

 and Co. in their series of science primers 

 at Is. each. The first will tell the student 

 what an intelligent man should know of the 

 crust of the earthy and the other will en- 

 able him to more clearly understand how 

 the various changes therein have been 

 brought about, of .special interest being the 

 chapters on the air, the circulation of water 

 on the land, and the origin and work of 

 brooks and rivers. The lessons the books 

 contain are, as for the most part, taken 

 from the common /phenomena of eveiyday 

 exi:>erience, and the facts are so stated as 

 to possess sufficient interest to hold the at- 

 tention of the student. The most satisfac- 

 tory progress in the use of these primers 

 will be to study them section by section, 

 and as each one has been studied to turn 

 to the questions at the end of the book, and 

 answer these without referring to the 

 text, until all the answers have been 

 carefully written out. The writing Out of 

 the answers will be of much value as a 

 test of knowledge^ and be useful as a mental 

 exercise. 



Much the same advice may be given with 

 regard to chemistry as that relating to 

 geology. It is not essential to pi-oceed be- 

 yond the elementary stage, but it is de- 

 sirable the gardener shoidd know something 

 about the constituents of air and water, 

 and also be acquainted with the chemistry 

 of the non-metallic elements and the metals, 

 fo<r such knowled'ge will be found of great 

 practical value. There is no occasion to 

 have a text-jbook that is costly or difficult 

 to master. Sir H. G. Roscoe'js '^Chemis- 

 try," belonging to the series of science 

 primers already mentioned, will suffice for 

 obtaining a general knowledge of the sub- 

 ject. Those who desire to at once proceed 

 to the study of those fungi and insects in-- 

 jurious to the occupants of the garden will 

 do well to use Mr. T. W. Sanders' Garden 

 Foes," published at the Gardeners' Maga- 



office at 2s. 6d. net, and study it tho- 

 roughly. 



Not o n ly sho uld the young g a rd e n o r 

 study the sciences to Avhich reference has 

 been made, but he should give sufficient 

 attention to the practice of writing to en- 

 able him to write legibly and clearly. 

 Generally speaking, the writing as taught 

 in Englisli schools is indifferent, and the 

 age at which boys usually leave school ren- 

 ders it impossible to teach them composi- 

 tion. Legible writing and good composition 

 will not enable gardeners to grow plants 

 and crops to a higher degree of perfec- 

 tion, but they will afford them material 

 assistance in obtaining good positions 

 among their fellows. A well-<w ritten lettfu- 

 produces a favourable impression at a'l 

 times, and when a gardener is making an 

 appli<*ation fcr a fresh position, the im- 

 portance of being able to produce an im- 

 pression that will he favourable to hiiu 

 will be freely acknowledge^!. The writer 

 would like to ^;iy nuuli more upon this 

 point, but tho limits oi f^pace have been 

 reached. G. 



Grape Cuiture.—An illustrated guide 

 to the culture and management of vinee in 

 greenhouses and in the open air is published at 

 Gardenkrs' Magazine Office, 148, Aldersgate 

 Street, London, price Is. net (by post Is. 2d.), or 

 bound in cloth Is. 6d. (by post Is. 8d.). Full 

 particulars are also given as to renovating old 

 vinos, and the best varieties to grow. 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL 



SOCIETY* 



SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, 



MARCH 5. 



DISEASED TULIPS.— Mr. Massee reported 

 that the tulips referred to liim at the last 

 meeting making poor growth and showing 

 brown spots on the foliage and brown flecks 

 in the tissues of the stem had been attacked 

 by the fungus Botryti^ cinerea, which had 

 app a ren tl j in f ec t ed' the f oj i a ge from the 

 air in the first place, not from sclerotia in 

 the soil, as is frequently the case. 



DISA SAGIITALIS. — Messrs. Veitch 

 showed this species from S. Africa under the 

 name D. caulescens, to 

 It received a Botanical 

 Messrs. Veitch also showed a malformed 

 Cypripedium Fairrieanu^i, in which the 

 scape was almost entirely suppressed. 



GALLS ON OAK.— iMr. Aldersey sent a 

 branch of oak having roundish swellings of 

 considerable size at intervals along the 

 branches. A fungus, Dichlsena quenina, was 

 probably the cause of these growths, which 

 occur with considerable frequency on youn^ 

 oaks, but rarely upon old ones. 



GRAPES KILLED BY FOG.— Some small 

 flowering shoots of grapes were sent to illus- 

 trate the damage done by London fo^s, 

 which had caused the grow^ths to turn quit© 

 brown and shrivel. 



NARCISSUS CALATHIXUS x MINIMUS. 

 — Mr. Chapman showed a hvbrid between 



which it is allied. 

 Certificate in 189^J. 



these two epecies having the unusual charac- 

 ter, which it shares with N. Triandrus pul- 

 chellus, of a corona paler than the perianth 

 pieces, the difference being quite evident. A 

 Certificate of Appreciation was luianimously 

 voted to Mr. Chapman in recognition of his 

 work in raising this hybrid. 



MALFORMED NARCISSUS.— Sir F. W. 

 Moore sent a flower of a narcissus 

 somewhat of the incomparabilis form, 

 though not quite agreeing in come 

 characters, having the perianth tube 

 split half-way down between the seg- 

 ment's, and an evident difference in colour 

 between the inner and outer pieces. The outer 

 perianth pieces had no corona, but the inner 

 ones had. so that the flower bore a superfi- 

 cial likenests to an iris. The stamens were 

 six, three rising from the top, three from 

 near the base of the tube. The plant pro- 

 duced this type of flower every year. Mr. 

 Bowles remarked that he had seen a similar 

 form in Mr. Polman Mooy'c^ garden, wliich 

 wa^ also constant. In that case the plant 

 was a bieolor trumpet, and had three pale 

 perianth segments, three strap-shaped strips 

 of corona bent down upon them, three peta- 

 loid anthers standing upright. In this case, 

 since the petaloid stamens alternated with 

 the three perianth pieces, the outer perianth 

 pieces were apparently wanting. 



PRIMULA KNUTHIANA. — Messrs. J 

 Veitch showed a primula which had been 

 identified at Kew a.^ P. Knuthiana of Pax* 

 but which was a much finer flower than that 

 figured by Pax in his monograph under that 

 name. It had been raised from seed sent 

 home bv Messrs. Veitch's collector, Mr* 

 Purdom/and was much like the form ot r. 

 farinosa grown in gardens under the erro- 

 neous name of P. frondosa. It was, ho 

 ever, ditstinct from that plant. The c^- 

 niittee expressed a wish to see further seea- 

 lings of this plant. 



AMYGDALUS x PR^.COX. — Messrs. 

 Veitch sent flowering branches of Amygda us 

 X prsecox, raised by crossing Amygdajufi 

 persica magnifica with A. Davidiana 

 The hybrid had pink flowers like A. persica. 



but of about the size of A. I^^^^J^f^J 

 and retained the early-flowenng habit 



Davidiana. 



DOUBLE HYACINTH. — An unconnnon 

 double form of hyaeinth, like those figur^ 

 in old herbals, was sent by Mrs. Rooper. 

 had been purchased under the name 

 Italian Hyacinth. 



alba. 



