604 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Legumes, A Test for Commercial Cultures for. By Geo. C. 



Butz (U.S.A. Exp. Stn. Penn. State Coll., Bull. 78 ; July 1906).— Nitro- 

 culturo on absorbent cotton prepared by the National Nitro-culture 

 Company, when scientifically tested, gave the following results : 



Alfalfa (Lucerne). — Pot and field experiments showed no decided 

 advantage from inoculation with nitro-culture. 



Vetch. — Pot experiments gave one improved plant. In field experi- 

 ments no strong development of nodules occurred. 



Cow-pea. -The slight difference in favour of pot inoculation alone 

 cannot support tho great claims made for nitro-culture on cotton. The 

 medium in which the bacteria had grown had a great effect upon the 

 formation of nodules, being greatost in tho field experiments, less in 

 the greenhouse soil, and least of all in tho sterilised sand supplied with 

 mineral plant food. — F. J. B. 



Lilac, New Varieties of. By G. T. Grignan (Eev. Hon. 

 January 1, 1{)07, pp. 18-1G ; coloured plate and 2 woodcuts). The 

 illustrations show four very fine doublo varieties and one single — viz. 

 1 Etoile do Mai,' rich red lilac, double ; ' Kdouard Andre,' delicate rose- 

 pink, Large doublo flowors ; 'Bene* Jarry- 1 )esloges,' similar, but palo bluo 

 slightly suffused with pink; 'President Loubet,' deep rose, double, 

 very large flowers ; and ' Pasteur,' remarkable for tho length of the 

 inlloroscenco, lilac-red, single. — C. T. D. 



Lily, White {Bev. I fori. January 1, 1007, p. 9).— Tn Floronce, 

 grown under oxtromely starved conditions in a vase with an Agave 

 americana, this lily has produced annually a nu rubor of seed pods 

 containing perfect seed. This is attributed to the check in tho pro- 

 duction of reproductive scales, the ovules consequently resuming their 

 function.— C. T. D. 



Lomatia ferruginea. By S. A. Skan (Bot. Mag. tab. 8112).— 

 Nat. ord. /'rotcacrac; tribe E 'mho ti hrie ac ; Chili and Patagonia. A much- 

 branched shrub, 9 feet high and 27 feet in circumference; very hardy. 

 Leaves bipinnatiseet ; flowers \ inch long, golden yellow and scarlet 

 without, 11,11(1 bright scarlet with a yellow base within. — G. II. 



Lopeziahirsuta, Jacq. By 0. Bprenger (Bull. B. Soc. Tosc. Ort. 1-2, 

 1907, l>. 22). -This gonus is allied to Fuchsia. Twenty-throe good species 

 are known. Thoy aro perennial and shrubby, rarely annual ; almost 

 all from Mexico; only a few belong to Guatemala. All aro mountain- 

 lovors, found in moist meadows, on the margins of woods and copses, 

 near streams and springs, loving open placos and sun. This species was 

 known to Jaoquin, doctor, botanist, and traveller, who possessed it at 

 Vienna at tho beginning of last century — whothor alive or not is not 

 known. It was rofound last year at Salto di Agua, in Moxico, and tho 

 seeds wore sont to the writer by Dr. 0. A. Purpus. The ologant plant 

 is woody, perennial, evergreen, and distantly resembles a Fuchsia. It 

 flowers in the tat year aftor sowing, from October uninterruptedly 

 until January. The young shoots are red-purple, the old, chestnut- 

 colour. The alternate leaves aro oval, acute, slightly pubescent, those 



