lvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



descendants. Most of them have a more or less blue colour ; 

 some having less of the blue-plum colour, and are apparently 

 nearer to a true blue than has been hitherto obtained. 



Daffodils and Bot. — Rev. C. Wolley Dod forwarded some 

 daffodils suffering from rot. with the following remarks : — 

 " Owing, I believe, to the cold spring and summer of last year, 

 rot has been unusually destructive, and I have lost nearly one- 

 third of my crop. I have divided the daffodils sent into two 

 lots. Those in No. 1 are affected with a rot too well known to 

 daffodil-growers. I attribute it to the presence of too much wet 

 in the soil at the ripening stage of growth, assisted by coldness 

 of soil. You will see that few or no new rots are made. The 

 way in which whole clumps die off has led me sometimes to think 

 the disease may be contagious. The bulbs in No. 2 are differently 

 affected, and I think from a different cause. Last year I lost far 

 more daffodils from this affection than I have done this year. I 

 attribute it simply to the mechanical effect of severe late frosts 

 coming when the soil is wet, as the seat of the damage is on the 

 surface line. The violent constriction in the heavy soil caused 

 by the frost cuts the leaves nearly in two, and no further growth 

 is made. These ' No. 2 ' daffodils seem all to have made a 

 healthy start. " The general opinion of the Committee seemed 

 to coincide with Mr. Dod's, that both results were probably due 

 to some defective conditions of the soil. In the first case, in 

 which no roots were produced, most probably this was an 

 insufficient drainage ; and in the second the decay was due to 

 the land being heavy and wet, and then probably roughly forked 

 over, so that clods were partially resting upon the growing bulbs, 

 which could not satisfactorily raise the foliage. It will be 

 observed that Mr. Melville strongly advocates good drainage, 

 whether it be naturally or artificially made, for all bulbous 

 plants. 



Warts on Vine Leaves. — Mr. J. Wright sent leaves thus 

 affected from a Black Hamburg vine, a Royal Muscadine in 

 the same house being unaffected. Last year the atmosphere of 

 the house was kept rather moist, and this year much drier : but 

 neither condition appeared to have any effect upon the state of 

 the leaves. The cause was suggested by Professor Marshall 

 Ward and others to be deficient ventilation, the effect of this 

 being to increase the humidity of the air to too great an extent ; 



