SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JANUARY 28. 



xxxiii 



of an hour. I do not imagine it would injure them in any way ; the injury 

 does not seem to have gone very far below the surface, so that it might 

 be well to cut out the injured portion before putting them into the warm 

 water. I should be very careful not to allow any of the earth in which 

 these plants were grown to get upon the potting bench, or to be mixed 

 with any uncontaminated soil. 



" As to the Cyclamen, I was unable to find any eel-worms in the roots, 

 but they are affected so exactly in the same manner as others in which I 

 have found them that I have no doubt but that the ' root-knot eel-worm ' 

 (Hetcrodera radicola) is the cause. I cannot suggest any remedy, but to 

 prevent the pest spreading the plants and the soil in which they are 

 growing should be burnt, and on no account thrown on to a rubbish-heap, 

 or any of the soil allowed to come in contact with non-infested soil." 



Since the previous meeting, Mrs. Batten Pool sent specimens of the 

 Richardi a in growth to supplement the conns above alluded to. On 

 examining the plants, the older roots were found to be decaying, but an 

 attempt was being made to form new roots. The appearances were 

 thought by the Committee to be due to a check caused by cold. 



Ptcris serrulata. — Fronds partially destroyed by some insect supposed 

 to be black fly were sent. The condition is very common, but the cause 

 is not perfectly ascertained. The senders were requested to forward 

 specimens of the fly for determination. 



Pelargonium Leaves. — With reference to the report on these leaves, 

 Mr. Fraser writes : — " I should like to say a word in reply to the sugges- 

 tions made : (1) As to faulty cultivation. I can plead that I have been 

 an amateur plantsman for over forty years, during fifteen of which, in my 

 younger days, I, single-handed, grew stove and greenhouse plants for ex- 

 hibition with good success. I always use the best materials I can buy 

 for compost, and have never yet put a plant into a dirty pot. (2) The 

 wash I used was sulphide of potassium and soft-soap, applied both by 

 spraying and liberal ablution, and, as fungus and sulphur do not agree, 

 the former may have got the worst of it. (3) My greenhouse has the sun 

 on it sixteen hours a day in the long days, and a fair share in the short 

 ones. It is glazed with glass 16 ins. wide, between rafters 1 in. thick, 

 and the glass is. washed when necessary, so the plants enjoy all the light 

 it is possible to give them in London. We have had little fog so far. In 

 all my experience I have never seen Pelargonium leaves decay in the same 

 way before, and to me the cause is still obscure. I now intend to try 

 nitrate of soda, to induce leaf-growth, and later on will report the 

 result." 



Chrysanthemum and Cornfloiver Bust. — Dr. Cooke made the following 

 communication : — " Recently, when I reported to the Committee upon these 

 rusts, I applied a scientific name to the fungus doubtfully, and with a 

 mental reservation that in each case they were the Uredo form of Puce in ia 

 Hieracii, and this was precisely what the book-makers led me to do. 



" I am since informed that, in spite of all the efforts and experiments 

 of the heterocismists, they are unable to claim the Uredo of the Chrysan- 

 themum as the Uredo form of Puccinia Hieracii, or of any other Puce iu in, 

 which I believed in my own heart all along. Nowadays we are not 

 permitted to trust our eyes, but must have faith in experiments. Hence 



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