NOTES AND ABSTEACTS. 



307 



Groundwater. By W. P. Headden (U.S.A. Exp. Stn, Colorado, 

 Bull. 72 ; August 1902). — A careful investigation of the surface water as 

 regards its level and chemical qualities, with several tables of analyses. 

 The writer concludes that the question of alkalisation resolves itself into 

 one of drainage for that State. — E. A. B. 



Weather, How to Foretell frosty. By A. H. Bell. (Gard. Mag. 

 n. 2568, p. 37 ; 17/1/03). — He would be a bold writer indeed who would 

 attempt to formulate rules that would be in any way reliable for fore- 

 casting any kind of weather in the capricious climate of these islands. 



The writer of this article is careful not to commit himself to any rash 

 assertions on the point, but he nevertheless gives some useful hints, the 

 result evidently of close observations. Gardeners as a class are weather- 

 wise by instinct, having generally from their youth intuitively studied 

 the weather, though in most cases their deductions are acquired more 

 from the observance of natural phenomena than by the aid of scientific 

 instruments, as the barometer and hygrometer. As weather forms such 

 an important factor in gardening, every young gardener should study 

 meteorology, and perhaps after reading this article he may be induced 

 to probe more deeply into the subject. — W. G. 



Welwitschia mirabilis (Joum. Hort. Jan. 8, 1903, p. 38).— An 

 engraving and description of this remarkable vegetable production of 

 tropical South Africa, which has never been seen alive in England. 

 A specimen may be seen at Kew in No. 1 Museum. — C. W. D. 



Wendland, Hermann (Gartenflora, Heft 5, p. 122; March 1903).— 

 No German horticulturist and botanist was more respected in this 

 country than the veteran Herr Wendland, who died at Herrenhausen, 

 near Hanover, in January last, in the seventy- eighth year of his age. 

 The news of his death, although not unexpected, was received with 

 profound regret by all who had had the pleasure of knowing him. 

 Dr. Wittmack tells us that Hermann Wendland was born on October 11, 

 1825. At that time his grandfather, Johann Christoph Wendland, was 

 superintendent of the Royal Gardens at Herrenhausen, and was in due 

 course succeeded in that capacity by his son Heinrich Ludolph, the 

 father of Hermann. All three were not only practical gardeners of the 

 first order, but also accomplished botanists. After leaving school, 

 Hermann learned gardening under his father from 1841 to 1844. He 

 then removed to Gottingen to study botany, and afterwards to the Botanic 

 Garden at Berlin. Thence he passed to the Imperial Garden at Schon- 

 brunn. After making botanical excursions to the Tyrol and Northern 

 Italy, he came to England in 1848 and entered the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew, where he remained nearly two years. In after life and up to within 

 a few years of his death, he visited the Royal Gardens almost annually, 

 spending several days amongst the Palms, Orchids, and other collections ; 

 and on its formatiou he became a member of the Kew Guild, in the 

 Journal of which for 1900 his portrait forms the frontispiece. In 1850 

 he returned to Herrenhausen. Six years later, at the request and 

 cost of King George of Hanover, he undertook a botanical mission to 



