CC PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



stem. We then cut down the trunk of the parent tree to within a short 

 distance of these new shoots, and far below the place where it had 

 been grafted, with the result that these four shoots have strengthened 

 and this year have borne ten fine Pears, similar to the one sent." 

 The Committee thought the probable explanation of the curious 

 history was that the Pear tree had originally been double-grafted, the 

 variety ' Beurre Diel ' being used as the intermediate stock, and that 

 dormant buds had suddenly wakened into activity after a rest of at 

 least twenty-five years. 



Double Apple. — Mr. T. H. Dipnall sent an Apple which had two 

 cores and appeared from the outside to be two Apples cohering and 

 arising from a single stalk. This kind of double fruit is not very 

 uncommon, and apparently arises from a fasciated flower containing 

 two pistils. 



Damage by Hail. — Dr. J. A. Voelcker sent Apples and Pears from 

 a garden in Molesey, of which it is reported that the owner was certain 

 that prior to a hail-storm (which occurred either on July n or July 18 

 of this year) the fruit was unmarked, and that the next morning 

 he saw, on trees exposed to the full storm (hail-stones lay thick upon 

 the ground), the pittings or markings now to be seen upon the fruit. 

 On the Apples the pits were rounded depressions of a different green 

 from the rest of the fruit, and on the Pears they were similar but had 

 also cracked. In some places agglomerations of stone-cells occurred 

 just beneath and attached to the skins, similar to those seen in the 

 disease (which is considered to be of physiological origin) called 

 " lithiasis." Similar growths have also been ascribed to the attacks 

 of mites. 



Gall on Willow. — Lady Margaret Bickersteth sent from Cottingham 

 a terminal gall with a rosette of rather broad leaves from a Golden 

 Willow. This gall is the result of the attack of the gall-fly Cecidomyia 

 rosaria upon the terminal bud, and is of common occurrence in some 

 species of Willow. 







Scientific Committee, December 7, 1915. 



Mr. E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., in the Chair and six members 



present. 



Fruits of Purple Apples. — Mr. J. Fraser, F.L.S., showed fruits 

 of Pyrus Niedzwetzkyana and P. floribunda purpurea (=floribunda 

 X Niedzwetzkyana), the latter being much smaller than the former 

 and having some of the characters of P. baccata. 



Large Ascidium in Savoy. — Mr. G. Wilson, F.L.S., sent an ascidium 

 of large size from the garden of Lady Katherine Somerset, Reigate 

 Priory. This malformation is common in Cabbage foliage, and the 

 funnel-shaped growth appears to be terminal. The funnel in this 

 case measured about 10 inches across at its open end, and as much 

 deep. 



