166 JOURNAL OF THE iiOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



For details as to the degrees of specialisation the original paper must be 

 consulted. It is suggested that this remarkable division of labour has 

 been brought about by the necessity of making an underground storage 

 as rapidly as possible, and that the different forms of biological 

 adaptation which are found represent the response to the peculiar 

 xerophytic conditions of the several localities. Adaptation to new con- 

 ditions, says the author, must have appeared first in the adult structure 

 of the plant, and the tendency to bulb production must be due to the 

 shortening of the internodes ; with further advances towards geophily 

 the modifications of the adult would be thrown back more and more 

 into the early stages of the plant's development, until finally the 

 structure of the embryo itself would become involved. 



It is suggested that the geophilous Peperomias may represent a 

 recent attempt, by a fairly simple group of Dicotyledons, to attain to 

 the geophilous conditions reached by Monocotyledons. — A. D. C. 



Phaseolus multiflorus papilio (Benary) (Le Jardin, vol. xxi. 

 No. 178, p. 28 ; January 1, 1907). — New haricot bean ; large white winga, 

 with salmon-pink standard. Beans white, flecked with brown. Equally 

 valuable in kitchen and flower garden. — F. A. IF. 



Phosphates, Availability of, in relation to Soil Acidity. 



By A. R. Whitson and C. W. Stoddart (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Wisconsin, 

 23rd Ann. Ecp. pp. 171-186 ; October 1906). — The authors conclude 

 from a comparison of analyses with the known requirements of soils 

 that if a soil gives an acid reaction with litmus that soil will benefit 

 by a dressing of a phosphatic manure. — F. J. C. 



Pinks, Mule. By C. Blair (Garden, No. 1798, p. 248 ; May 5, 1906). 

 Few dwarf border plants make a finer show than these hardy Dianthuses. 

 True they do not possess the delicious fragrance of the ordinary garden 

 pinks, but their brilliant and freely produced flowers make up, in part at 

 least, for the want of perfume. Probably the finest variety is the brilliant 

 crimson-scarlet 'Napoleon III.' I am aware that there is great difficulty 

 in some localities in keeping this variety in health. It has the annoying 

 habit of suddenly dying off in the most unexpected manner. After careful 

 study of the plant, I find that the reason for this lies in the fact that it 

 literally flowers itself into such a weak state that it is unable to survive 

 ordinary hardy plant treatment. To overcome this I propagate annually 

 in August. The difficulty of procuring cuttings may be got over by 

 planting a few good young plants on a north border, or by keeping 

 a few of the plants from flowering. I have been successful with these 

 Dianthuses on stiff clay soil by simply making a hole about six inches 

 deep, and as much across, at planting time, and filling in with good light 

 soil, in which a good quantity of wood ashes was mixed. — E. T. G. 



Pinks, The Wild (Garden, No. 1811, p. 51 ; fig. ; August 4, 1906).— 

 The beauty and fragrance of the Dianthus family render them one of 

 the most valuable groups of hardy plants that we have. Some of the 

 talier-growing kinds, like D. Cartkusianorum and D. cruentus, are useful 



