SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE, AUGUST 9, 



cxix 



as shown in the Drill Hall by Mr. Hudson, Mr. Freeman Mitford, 

 C.B., and others, with the purpose of calling attention to the 

 different arrangements and numbers of the air-canals in the 

 stems of the flowers and in the petioles. He observed that the 

 Nymphseas could be grouped by means of them. 



Plymouth Strawberry. — A specimen was received from Mr. 

 J. Arrowsmith, of Bank Road, Glazebrook, Manchester. It is a 

 monstrous condition of the ordinary fruit, in which some of the 

 ac^ienes are replaced by leaves, as in the well-known Alpine 

 Strawberry, of which the present case is a variety. It was 

 described by Ray, who gave the name, having received it from 

 Plymouth. It resembles the green Rose in thus having its 

 floral organs more or less in a state of reversion to leaves. 



Strawberry Plants defective. — Some plants were received 

 from Mr. J. Lyne, of The Gardens, Foxbury, Chislehurst, in 

 which the crowns were generally blind. The variety is Royal 

 Sovereign. Mr. Lyne writes : — " Last autumn we planted a bed 

 of last season's runners, with the object of getting early runners 

 this year. They grew well, and made a fine lot of early runners. 

 All trusses of bloom were picked off the parent plants as soon as 

 they appeared. The runners were layered, four in a 6-inch pot, 

 and all rooted well ; but last week, when transferring them into 

 single pots, we found about half were blind, the crowns being 

 brown within. A healthy plant would be often growing in the 

 same pot with defective ones." Perhaps some growers of Straw- 

 berries may have had a similar experience, and can throw some 

 light on the mystery. Sections of the crown buds revealed no 

 visible fungi nor insects, but the scales were turning brown from 

 the exterior part inwards— apparently suggestive of an external 

 source of the mischief. 



