Clxxvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



S. T. Wright, superintendent of Chiswick Gardens, is more elon- 

 gated than usual. It was received from Zeals (a village on the 

 borders of Wilts and Somerset), where there are two trees near 

 each other, very old, and 9 feet in circumference at a height of 

 3 feet from the ground. Nothing is known of the history of these 

 trees. The question was raised as to the form of the apple being 

 due to the locality where the tree grew, as Mr. Bailey has lately 

 published a book * showing how different kinds of apple trees, 

 though raised from grafts, often produce the same form of fruit 

 when growing in the same States of North America. Mr. 

 Wright informed Mr. Henslow that the importance of knowing 

 the locality in England whence an unnamed apple was received 

 had been already felt by himself, as it had also been by Dr. Hogg. 



Experiments with Salts and Pclargonia. — The following re- 

 ports were received from the Rev. W. Wilks and Dr. Russell. The 

 general result of the action of salts used upon the white flowers 

 was nil, but with cobalt an effect was noticeable on the leaves,, 

 in that the fibro-vascular cords remained of a dark colour,, 

 the interstices being yellow-green. This was the case with Mr. 

 Wilks's plant, and to a less extent with Mr. Henslow's. They 

 had pursued the same course as described by Dr. Russell, but with 

 no other positive result. All the plants flowered well, and were 

 perfectly healthy. 



Dr. W. F. Russell reported as follows : — 



" Ten white Pelargoniums were received from Messrs. Cannell 

 & Sons. They were all strong, healthy plants. Experiments 

 commenced on June 20. All the plants were taken out of their 

 pots, the soil gently shaken off, and then repotted. Two of the 

 plants were repotted in ordinary good soil, the others in soil 

 which had been thoroughly drenched with a solution of one 

 of the following salts, all of them being of the same strength, viz. 

 13 grains to the pint : sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper, 

 nitrate of cobalt, nitrate of nickel, acetate of chromium, sulphate 

 of manganese, nitrate of zinc, and chloride of ammonium. They 

 were kept in a conservatory and were watered with the respective 

 solutions, containing 6| grains to the pint. It was found that 

 the lime in the water used was precipitated by the sulphates, and 

 so carried down some of the metal ; consequently, on June 30, 

 the sulphate of manganese was changed for the chloride, the 

 * « The Survival of the Unlike," p. 99. 



