GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



585 



September io# i8 9 8 ' 



ZZ^^ - The 2 reat autumn ^ t 1 fT ^V^^T 1 Sf bUdS> iD Which **T hybernate, is the only effectual remedy. 



r S^o^i^ Society to be held at Waverley Market Edmburgh, Three or four solutions are named as useful ; but the mixture'said to complete* 



f Zdav and Thursday ne*t, is expected to be better than usual ; and Mr. destroy the mites is prepared as follows : Boil 5 lb. of unslaked lime, 5 lb liver 

 ° he Queen's gardener, has received Her Majesty's gr acious permission to of sulphur, and 5 gallons of water in an iron vessel for an hour. Dissolve in 

 Th u°^h e Roval fruit at Edinburgh. It will be observed that the show is a week 

 \ \Jt vear and this is in favour of its greater success, as the season 

 ^ n nd its products in most places are fully a fortnight la ter than usual. 



L for fruit, plants, flowers, and vegetables at this show amount to £366, the 

 , f nr es being those contributed by the Lord Provost and Corporation of 

 Edinburgh, for the best a most tastefully decorated table of dessert fruit ten feet 

 long by fou'r feet six inches wide. 



The British Association.— The meeting of the British Association now 



held at Bristol has the promise of proving one of the most successful 



this important body, and the presidential 

 the question of the wheat supply and the 



eing 



of 



the annual gatherings 

 dress, in dealing fully with 

 iintenance of the fertility of the land, has rendered it more than usually 

 teresting to those concerned with the affairs of the garden and farm. The 

 mud inauguration of the meeting took place on Wednesday evening last at 

 eople's Palace at eight o'clock, at which upwards of two thousand members 

 ere present. Sir John Evans having introduced Sir W. Crookes, that gentle - 

 an took the presidential chair, and proceeded to deliver his address.. In the 

 -st place the President discussed the question of food supply, pointing out that 

 present the United Kingdom grew only twenty-five per cent., and imported 

 venty-live per cent, of its annual consumption of wheat, and that two successive 

 ilures of the world's harvests, or a hostile combination of European nations 



eP 



water 15 lb. of slaked lime, adding 5 lb. of common salt, and mixing these 

 ingredients well. Then add the mixture to the lime and sulphur first mentioned, 

 letting the whole boil for half an hour, adding 25 gallons of water with 2 lb. of 

 soft soap dissolved in it. This mixture is sprayed through a coarse nozzle on to the 

 trees, taking care to keep it well stirred during the process. 



Changes in the Moorland Flora.— Central Europe, before man appeared 

 within its borders, or while men were still few, little resembled the Europe which 

 we know. Much of it was covered with woods, morasses or wastes, and inhabited 

 by animals and plants, of which some ranged into the Arctic circle, others to the 

 Mediterranean, Africa, and India. The worst lands of all— cold, wet, and wind- 

 swept—had doubtless then, as now, the greatest proportion of Arctic species. 

 But Professor Miall, F.R.S., in discussing the aspects of a Yorkshire moor, ex- 

 pressed the opinion that it is likely the passage from the bleak hills to the more 

 fertile valleys and plains was not then so abrupt as at present. All was alike un- 

 drained and unenclosed; and what we know of the distribution of life in 

 Pleistocene Europe shows us that a large proportion of our European plants are 

 not restricted by Nature within narrow limits of latitude or climate. Species 

 which are now isolated, at least in Central Europe, occupying moors or other 

 special tracts, and surrounded by a population with which they have little in 

 common, were formerly continuous over vast areas. In the early days of man in 

 Europe, many plants which are now almost exclusively Arctic may well have 



ght expose the population to imminent danger of starvation, while the constant ranged over nearly the whole of Europe. As men gradually rooted themselves in 

 rease in the number of bread-eaters and in the rate of consumption rendered it what are now the most populous countries of the world, the flora underwent 



sweeping changes. The forests were cleared, and trees of imported species 

 planted here and there. The land was drained and fenced and tilled. During 



w almost impossible to secure any accumulations. After reviewing the sources 

 the present and possible wheat supply, and arguing that on the most favourable 



calculation they could not keep pace with the world's requirements beyond 193 1, the long attack of man upon wild Nature, many plants are known to have perished 



Sir W. Crookes said starvation might be averted through the laboratory. Wheat altogether. Others have probably disappeared without notice. Useful plants 



pre-eminently demanded as its " dominant " manure nitrogen in the form of have been introduced from ancient centres of civilisation, and common farm -weeds 



ammonia or nitric acid. There were several available sources of fixed nitrogen, have managed to come in along with them. Many species of both kinds are 



the chief of which — the treasure locked up in the sewage and drainage of southern, many eastern, none are I Arctic. In our day the cultivated lands of 



towns— was at pre 

 nitrogen to the 



value of 



000 



He estimated that fixed 

 per annum was sent through 



Europe are largely occupied by southern or eastern forms, and the wastes appear 

 by contrast with the imported population more Arctic than they really are. Even 



our drains and water courses into the sea. The store of nitrogen in the atmosphere the wastes are shrinking visibly. The fens are nearly gone, and we shall soon 



wis practically unlimited, but it was fixed and rendered assimilable by plants only 

 by cosmic processes of extreme slowness. The only available compound con- 

 taining sufficient fixed nitrogen to be used on a world-wide scale as a nitrogenous 



have only a few scattered moors left to show what sort of vegetation covered a 

 great part of Europe in the days of choked rivers and unfenced land. The moors 

 themselves cannot resist the determined attack of civilised man, and thousands of 



we was nitrate of soda, or Chile saltpetre. By increasing the present average acres which used to grow heather are now pastures or meadows. 



wheat crop per acre from 127 to 20 bushels the supply would keep pace with 

 the demand, and that could easily be done by dressing the soil with nitrate of 

 «a. But the Chile supply, though great, was not inexhaustible, and the problem 

 f the fixation of the unlimited supply of nitrogen contained in the atmosphere 



It was one of the great discoveries awaiting the 

 ■pnuity of chemists. He expressed the opinion that the solution might be found 

 a the burning of the nitrogen in the air by means of a powerful electric current. 



*d not yet been solved. 



Lily of the Valley Culture in Germany. —As the result of the ever 



increasing popularity of the flowers of the lily of the valley, the production of 

 roots in Germany for forcing or retarding, according to the requirements of the 

 cultivator, has undergone material extension of late years. The city of I lamburg 

 has now become the most important centre of the lily of the valley culture in 

 Germany, as for some purposes the roots are preferred to those produced in the 

 environs of Berlin. The production of these roots appears to have been corn- 



et Nlaa.r, fi a : " " : . ' , \ K »«™ environs of Berlin. Tne production 01 u, cac iw» A rr ^ 



nugara hxed nitrogen might in this way be produced at a cost of £$ per ton ; menced - m the vicini ty of Berlin and Hamburg in the year 1856, and the industry 



■ artificial production of nitrate was clearly within view, and by its aid the pro- „. „ c„ C re^(a\ that in four years the annual output of roots at Hamburg 



•etion of wheat might be brought up to thirty bushels per acre. In future 

 -.onions, moreover, instead of trusting mainly to wheat, they would probably 

 ■Wmore and more to the exuberant foodstuffs of the tropics. Sir W. Crookes 

 P^ewed to review certain recent developments of science— low temperature 

 ■Kuches, new gasses, wireless telegraphy, and Rontgen and allied 



proved so successful that in four years the annual output of roots at Hamburg 

 was sixty thousand, and at Berlin, sixty-two thousand. In 1870 the lily of the 

 valley had about one hundred and twenty acres devoted to it in the neighbourhood 

 of Hamburg, and about one hundred acres near Berlin. At the present time it is 



.... . , " **— * * u ~ annual — 



rays, and his duction of roots near that city aiiounts to between fifty aad sixty millions annually, 



* 1 T _ _ _ A 1 



«n investicatinn ; n ,„„, _ "VLT . f. 7 ' ' duction of roots near that city awauw ^ j - - 



1 ife* v 6 , s P ectrosco PV> a nd in certain psychic phenomena, with regard , m v , nf twenlv .f oU r shillings per thousand. 



LI K hC « Md he adhered to his alread v P ublished statements, and might add ° Un aVerage ^ ° f *** \ 



Chtheret0 Messrs. Wills and Segar s Plant Group. -1 



ft*seK« ! ? a ,r Chr y s anthemum Growers are evidently bestirring 



k mr* t ° f thC fl0Wer in which the y Uke s P ecial interest. Early in 

 CthTh u Cd a SOdety ' Which has now fifty members, and the other 



The surpassingly beautiful 



group of flowering and ornamental leaved plants exhibited by Messrs. Wilis and 

 Segar, of Onslow Crescent, South Kensington at the recent flower show at 

 Brighton, not only received from the visitors much attention, but obtained for the 



^thvhl a . S ° Clety ' wMch haS D0W fifty memb «s, and the other ^7 honour of a gold medal, which was awarded by the committee, 



^they held a meeting to hear an address from Mr. W. H. Lees and bring the ex "P tl0 f J"?™ * g class awa ' rded on this occasion, and once only 



"Pthtrasm 6 ~ „», au auuiob iiuui i«r. vy. 11. j,ees and bring 



^durimr th^r possible of those interested in the promotion of the show to be 

 rW^ * V* hrst wee k of November. Mr. Lees had a large audience, and in 



society 



Course 



■wiorai Chrvs th " s " wmw > »cicneu iu «.uc gooa work done by trie 

 ■•"Mion of th k Cm S ° Ciety iD fosteriD g and encouraging a more general 

 be of valu C t rySanthemum - H e gave several useful hints which he thought 

 *°»wh and ad amteurs - He Pointed out that it was unwise to feed plants 

 PWpoie. a regular and instant change in the material used for 



« <he rwu x h j ^ Said aD excessive appiication of manure tended to 

 ■<*, iad.4 .1 ,ree da >' s ' consecutive use of one manure was, he considered, quite 



1,1 ^ found vJr! k f • hat timC an ° ther kind Sh0uld be tried - Lim e water 

 The Pea beneficial to th e plants, especially at this time of the year. 



J^J^ewble^'-*!? ! )aS .° f kte yCa " SprCad S ° ra P idl y in some districts 



If hwdry neces« *s 



w mm uuKiiown rungus. 



^ ^ attack and *7 ^ mUeS seriouslv dim ™5h the vitality of the trees 



»«op or' Hi, • V te readily unde ^tood that they often prevent them 

 . " : N*S»1 c' 7' ! he siM of the fruit - Mr - V. Theobald, of the 



Sr^ 00 <* U»e rZT' a deV ° ted a considerab,e sh are of attention to an 

 *« 'ttult of ^ir 1 ' and ln the current issue of the College journal he 



£^ 'Ue mite is n jr iSali0nS ' Ut ' Theobald statei in ^ course of his 

 jTS P^ng back tK ► ln hand when U tim ^Pears, picking oft the galled 

 C N N wh.: P f :* trCes wdl in wmt cr , and burning the refuse, it may he 

 ^ ^ then the Spra CC " ° btains a stron g hold, these measures are not suffi- 



ymg of the trees in winter with a dressing that will kill 



German Flower Industry.-The .mportations of cut flowers into Germany 

 t tTIh the south of France have of late years assumed such large propor- 

 from Italy and the apprehe nsive as to their effect upon 



tions ^ the G«^» ^ ^ Gover P n P meDt to impose a m upon all cut 

 their trade. They according y ^ s ^ f ^ ^ 



flowers imposed from jbicad ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ the higheJt 



not exactly the same to ^ q{ ^ suppHes 



possible prices for ^ flower ^ ^ ^ -J Gcrmany . 



at a low rate. Con^uenUy ^ protest 



meeting at Mayence a few dajj » - Germany imported 



against the ^^^JL to'ns of flowers of the value of ,£80,000, 

 The presence of the pest is indicated ^^SJ^SSm of " owers amounted t0 one thouSand aDd tW ° t0nS ' ° f 



000 



u iS it^d Fxcursion.-About fifty members of the Isle of Wight 



Horticultural Excursio r (Saturday). The 



Hordcatand^A-oe^^ ^ £ ^ and 



party will arrive rtjtae «^ inspecting the gardens 



Worth Park, the re idenc :eo^ » ^ Montefiore . From Worth 



the members will be ^ente ^ ^^.^ ^ ^ dev()ting two or 



Park the party will drive to ^ ^ 



programme 



party 



