CXX PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE. 



July 25, 1893. 



Dr. H. Mullee, F.R.S., in the Chair, and five members present. 



Dianthm sp., etc. — Dr. Miiller showed a specimen of a Pink 

 from Val d'Annivieres, in the Rhone Valley. It was referred to 

 Mr. F. N. Williams for identification, and proved to be Dianthus 

 prolifer, L. He also exhibited an " Edelweiss," from Mount 

 Cook, New Zealand. Though the inflorescence bore much 

 resemblance to the European form, the foliage was quite distinct, 

 the leaves being obovate, and one -quarter of an inch in length. 

 It was referred to Kew for identification. He also exhibited a 

 Peach, apparently attacked by fungi. It was also referred to 

 Kew for investigation. 



Fir-leaved Clover. — Dr. Bonavia showed a specimen of this 

 tolerably well-known form from garden culture. 



Preserving Fresh Ripe Fruit. — Mr. W. Sykes, of Woodleigh, 

 East Dulwich, described some methods for preserving fruit in 

 tins and otherwise, the air being exhausted from the tins. The 

 following is the description of Tomatos : — " The fruit was quite 

 ripe and perfect ; after seven days they had not altered, and kept 

 two or three days after being exposed to the atmosphere. After 

 fourteen days the fruit showed signs of 1 sweating.' They kept 

 the same time exposed, and ate all right. After twenty-one days 

 there was considerable sweating, after thirty days more so, after 

 thirty-seven days still more, the juice draining out badly. The 

 fruit throughout never lost its bright, brilliant colour." A dis- 

 cussion arose as to the advisability of adopting the plan of 

 exhausting the tins of air. Both Dr. Miiller and Dr. Russell 

 were of the opinion that this method was unadvisable, inasmuch 

 as the vacuum can never be perfect, and it tended to expand the 

 cells, and so, by rupturing the tissues, " sweating " would increase. 

 Another method described was to bury the fruit like Potatos or 

 Mangold. " Apples buried straight from the trees in heaps like 

 Potatos, surrounded by straw, and covered with earth a few 

 inches thick, keep well into the following year. Nonpareil, a 

 very astringent, bright-coloured, and bad keeper, loses neither 

 colour nor flavour after being buried. Similarly Peas in jars 

 covered over with a bladder, and buried, were quite 1 fresh ' at 



