SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, JANUARY 14. 



xxxi 



charred refuse from rubbish heap, and twenty parts ordinary 

 kitchen garden soil, carefully blended. In this comparatively 

 dry and warm compost the trees made short growths of well- 

 ripened wood and bore well the second year. I have since had 

 lime and soot sown over the trees just before the buds began to 

 burst in the proportion of two parts lime and one part of soot, 

 and at the rate of half a pound of the mixture to the square yard. 

 This served as a protection against the larvae of certain moths as 

 well as a manure. The soot and lime should be used quickly to 

 avoid the escape of ammonia. The mixture caused a deeper colour 

 in Apples and Pears. This was especially so in Lane's Prince 

 Albert, Ked Joaneting, Mr. Gladstone, Irish Peach, Melon Apple, 

 Cox's Orange Pippin, Beauty of Kent, and Peasgood's Nonesuch. 

 The pale green varieties, such as Lord Suffield, were, I think, 

 made to assume a deeper green, just as Grass and Wheat do 

 when dressed with a similar mixture. My experience is that 

 Pears and Apples are more highly coloured when grown on a 

 soil abounding in iron and dressed with lime and soot than in a 

 soil deficient in iron and lime. Louise Bonne of Jersey, Beurre 

 Clairgeau, Trout Pear, Clapp's Favourite, Durondeau, Beurre 

 Ranee, Uvedale's St. Germain, Verulam, Vicar of Winkfield, and 

 Catillac are deficient in colour when grown on a cold clay soil. I 

 have also observed that Apples and Pears are more brightly 

 coloured in a good showery season that in a very dry and hot one, 

 and that some Apples, such as the Dartmouth Crab and some 

 astringent cider Apples are red all over or not merely on the 

 sunny side." With reference to other fruits, Mr. Roupell further 

 remarks : " Black Grapes colour best in partial shade, and white 

 varieties when exposed to the sun. They then assume an amber 

 tint. Thomson's Vine manure intensifies the purple or black of 

 Grapes. Green Tomatoes become red when ripened in the dark, 

 and some Apples gathered green become deep yellow and flushed 

 with crimson, according to the variety in the fruit room." The 

 Secretary observed that several letters had appeared in the 

 Gardeners 1 Chronicle upon this subject, some writers attribut- 

 ing the brightening of the colour mainly to " air and direct sun- 

 light," others to the presence of iron, sulphate of iron and soot 

 being given. " The iron helps the colouring by its absorbing 

 sun heat, and thus rendering the soil warmer." One writer 

 observed that of 100 trees of Wellington only one produced 



