550 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



gas of the air as fuither material for con- 

 struction. Under the influence of light, 

 from the issue of the first cell from the 

 spore husk, there has been engendered 

 within tlie cell walls a number of tiny 

 green bodies, known as "chlorophyll," or 

 leaf green, and it is this chlorophyll which, 

 alone in this world is capable of being so 

 influenced by light that it can ibreak up the 

 earthy salts of the sap provided by the 

 Toots, decompose the carbonic acid gas into 

 its components of carbon and oxygen, throw- 

 off the oxygen, and utilise the solid carbon 

 to form starchy and innumerable other sub- 

 stances for constructive or other purposes. 



With the aid, therefore, of this marvellous 

 substance, the cell-work now goes actively 

 on, and the designing work ordained by the 

 parental influences which have 'been incor- 

 porated from the first in the nucleus " of 

 the spore cell, now commences to be appa- 

 rent. The mere chain formation of the 

 first cells is abandoned in favoir of lateral 

 multiplication on definite lines, until pre- 

 sently we see a heart-shaped green scale, 

 perhaips a qua^rter of an inch across when 

 completed. We may now loosen such a 

 s<*ale from the soil, reverse it, and place it 

 on the field of our microscope for further 

 investigation. We now find that it was at- 

 tached firmly to the soil by a bunch of many 

 hair-like roots, and that where the heart 

 is indented is cleaily mucli thicker than 

 elsewhere, forming a sort of cushion. On 

 this cushion, close to the indentation, is a 

 little cluster of teat-like bodies, the " arche- 

 gonia " or female parts of the prothallus, 

 at the base of each of which is an embryo 

 seed. Elsewhere, scattered irregularly 

 among the root-hairs, is a number of shorty 

 round pimple-like bodies, the antheridia, or 

 male portions, and from these, if water be 

 present, we may see issue little swarms of 

 antherozoids (each one an animated cell) 

 which swim activelv about in the water, 

 and ev^entually rea<-li the archegonia,'' 

 penetrate them, and fertilise the embedded 

 seeds beneath them Now to form a fair 



parallel to all this wonderful cell-work, we 

 must imagine a vitalised brick being laid on 

 a clear space of ground, and, all by itself, 

 breaking up into other bricks which spon- 

 taneously arrange themselves, construct 

 laboratories in which complex materials of, 

 other kinds are chemically fabricated, make 

 little chambers, and engender living organ- 

 isms to occupy them, and in short do an 

 infinity of wonderful things until a colossal 

 edifice is erected (the adult fern), which is 

 endowed with the faculty of scattering 

 broadcast a few millions of equally gifted 

 bricks, each one capable of doing the like if 

 called upon. 



All this, and far more, can be partly seen 

 and partly conceived by anyone who will 

 take the trouble to sow a pinch of fern 

 spores, and follow through these perform- 

 ances with the aid of a microscope and an 

 intelligent imagination. Having done this, 

 and thereby gripped to a slight degree a 

 sense of the marvels of cell growth, look 

 around, as suggested at the outset, and 

 study the work accomplished by the cell 

 in other directions. Leaving unsophisti- 

 cat^ Nature on one side, study the con- 

 tents of every shop we see, save those of 

 metal ware, jewellery, and other inorganic 

 products, and a little thought will show 

 us that all such contents are, or have 

 been, primarily the work of busy cells, while 

 the infinite diversity of such work is all 

 determined at the outset by invisible and 

 inconceivably subtle potencies innate in that 

 minute bundle of vital fibres in the cell 

 which w© term the nucleus, the absolute 

 embodiment of all vitality. Then we may 

 go a step further, and consider that our 

 own appreciation of all these wonders is 

 solely due to the action of the innumerable 



brain cells which, as the writer of these 

 lines progresses, are working up his memo- 

 ries, and simultaneously actuating the 

 mechanism which drives his pen and en- 

 ables him to transfer his intangible ideas 



into words for his readers. 



Chas. T. Drueht, V.M.H., F.L.S. 



''THE GARDENERS' 

 MAGAZINE" GOLD MEDAL. 



As our readers have been informed we 

 offered a handsome gold medal as a special 

 award for the most meritorious exhibit in 

 the competitive classes at the recent exhi- 



bition of the National Hardy Plant So- 

 ciety at the Royal Horticultural Hall. 

 The offer of the medal greatly stimulated 

 competition in the principal classes, and 



induced the exhibitors to do their best in 



The iudffes who 



staging their collections. 



combined for the purpose of making the 

 award, did not find it a particularly easy 

 task to determine the relative merits 

 of the several collections that ranked high 

 for the first place. They, however, sur- 

 mounted any difficulty that was met with, 

 and aiwarded the meilal to Messrs. F. Smith 

 and Co., of Woodbridge, for their collec- 

 tion of hardy flowers arranged in vases. We 

 heartily congra*tulate the firm on their 

 success. 



The River Route to Kew.— Dur- 

 ing the hot weather many visitors to Kew 

 take advantage of the river route to the 

 famous gardens, and certainly the journey 

 is more pleasant by water than by road. 

 It is estimated that no fewer than 13,000 

 people patronised the steamboats from 

 London to Kew during a recent week-end 

 period, while 12,000 travelled hy river to 

 Greenwich in the same three days. 



THE CULTURE OF EARLY 



SMALL CABBAGES. 



Every spring demonstrates the value of 

 the cabbage, when it is produced early and 

 of good quality, and, though I have oo- 

 thing to say against larger and later varie- 

 ties, for home supplies there is no question 

 whatever but that the small, early forms 

 are of most value. Each year those who 

 have to rely upon market supplies krow 

 that there is always a dearth of good early 

 oahbages, .and no matter what the season, 

 this want is always felt, and I think those 

 who supply the markets would find the 

 early small cabbages a profitahle and 

 valuable crop. 



There is little rest for the grower who 

 wishes to secure the hest results. It i& 

 always diflBcult to recover lost time, and 

 those who study vegetable culture must be 

 in time to obtain the best returns. July 

 may appear full early for sowing the earliest 

 varieties, but I have, after a long experi- 

 ence, never found it too early ; of course, as 

 regards the novth and south, ten days or a 

 fortnight difference may be allowed. Much 

 depends upon the season, so it is impossible 

 to give a fixed date for all places and under 

 diverse conditions. In the north I always 

 made it a point of sowing from July 15 

 to July 20 ; and in the south from the 20tli 

 to 30th of the month. Soils alter condi- 

 tions, and a heavy clay soil means greater 

 diflBculty in germination, though this can be 

 met by improving the surface soil by addi- 

 tions. Again a few wrecks' hot weather 

 without moisture makes a considerable dif- 

 ference to the w^elfare of the seedlings in 

 their early stages of growth, so that, to 

 be successful, the seed-bed should, for a 

 short time, be shaded from hot sunshine, 

 and then moisture given will readily be 

 retained. 



Many good growers make two sowings 

 according to locality, one early as advised 

 (a small one), and another two or three 

 weeks later, and where a numher of plants 

 are required it is an excellent plan, lears 

 ago, with only the older varieties to rely 

 upon, it was courting failure to sow at an 

 early date, as almost invariably a large per- 

 centage of the early sowing holted, that is, 

 run to seed, and time and labour were lost, 

 but this, so far as my experience goes, dees 

 not now apply to the early small forms or 

 which the newer Harbinger is a fine type. 

 For years I grew a small cabbage of my 

 own, a cross between Ellam's Early Dwarf 

 and Sutton's Favourite. This never belted. 

 I have so much faith in these small earty 

 varieties, and frequently, when sown at the 

 early date named, I have been able in a 

 mild winter to cut perfect heads in abund- 

 ance quite early in February. 



A cabbage I grew for many years on a 

 stiff clay soil, though small, was most valu- 

 alble. This, il should add, was the Imperial ; 

 indeed there is no lack of splendid vane- 

 ties. The newer Hai^binger I consider a 

 great acquisition for small gardens, and n 

 sown at the time noted there should be no 

 difficulty in having good heads very early 

 in. the year. For large supplies it may be 

 well to' make a sowing of an early ^^^p^ 

 kind, say April or Flower of Spring, but 

 much depends upon the demand, and the 

 supplies must be regulated thereby. 



I should say that inrariably I planted oa 

 land that had given us a main crop ot 

 onions ; this was well enriched for the 

 onions, and it gave an excellent site for tne 

 cabbages. A point that should not be over- 

 looked is that these email, sturdy varieties 

 do not suffer nearly so much in severe 

 weather, ibeing closer to the soil than tue 

 larger growers. G Wtthes. 



