632 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



tiny, but always solid, atoms of wisdom, secreted and built upon a 

 definite plan to form a coherent and homogeneous whole. The man 

 without a note-book is like a floating, unattached coral insect, which, 



October i, ^ 



S. Lemstrom described some experiments that had been made with a 

 determine the action of electricity on growing Plants. After a brief skrth ^ 

 previous experiments on the subject made in 1885 and 11886, he referred t th 



while it assimilates the needful pabulum around it like the others, researches which he carried out last year on the Estate Brodtorp, with the 



secretes nothing, adds no particle to the structure, and consequently 

 lives in vain. 



Conference on the Chrysanthemum Rust.— In consequence of the 



injury done by the disease known as chrysanthemum rust, the General Com- 

 mittee of the National Chrysanthemum Society appointed, at its meeting 

 held on Monday evening last, a sub-committee consisting of the officers 



and Mr. George Gordon, to organise a 



consis ting 

 conference 



to be held on the 



friendly assistance of the proprietor, Baron Edvard Hisinger. Three fields of ' 

 were used for the experiments, and three of the same area as control fields I 

 general there was found an increase in the seeds of at least 40 per cent., in the 

 roots from 25 per cent, to 75 per cent., depending on the kind of plant and on the 

 nature of the soil ; in beans 75 per cent. ; in strawberries and raspberries as high as 

 75 per cent., the time for their ripening being shortened at least one-third. The 

 experiments proved, among other things, that electricity given to plants 'during 

 days with a clear burning sun might damage them very much if enough water was 

 not also given at the same time. Discussing in what way electricity exerted ai 



evening ot the first day of the society's October show, for the purpose of influence on plantSj the author said that either the gases in the air were transfonnS 



discussing the several aspects of the disease* The sub- committee has arranged 

 for a paper by Mr. P. Waterer, vice-chairman of the committee, on the " Practical 



to ozone and nitric oxides, which, being heavy, 



plants 



. increased the activity of their vegetation, or the electricity induced the iuicesrf 



Aspects of the Chrysanthemum Rust, and one by Mr. George Masse on the the lants to ascend more idl in their illa / tubes (the V* " 



ITZ^V? 'FT iTh th a T g n fT" > ^ Ti erenCe P h — n). Though much has yet to be explained, the method i ready to £ 



be held in St. Stephen's Hall, and the chair will be taken at six o'clock. - - - - — - - - y 



••Bacterial Disease" of the Potato. 



past 



used for practical purp oses. The author this summer carried out experiments L 

 Finland on some especially interesting plants. Of these the tobacco plant did no* 



cultivators of potatos, tomatos, and other solanaceous plants have had heavy losses yield, in earlier experiments, to the favourable influence of the electric currents, 



annually inflicted upon them by a disease, which the American scientists believe through want of water. Photographs of the experimental and the control field, 



to be caused by bacteria, the species responsible for the disease being described which were watered to the same extent, were taken at the same distance fro 



the name of Bacterium solanu The disease has caused some damage to fields, and showed that under the influence of the current the results were at 



and tomato crops in this country, more especially to the latter under glass, " east 4° P er cent - better than without it. The current was applied for four hours 



and therefore is something more than of academic interest to cultivators in the * n ^ e m o*ning and four hours in the afternoon, with many interruptions, however, 



under 

 potat 



United Kingdom. 



Ward 



from June 17 to July 30. The total number of hours was 161. Dr. E. H. Cook 



the results of his investigations he is convinced that it is not due to bacteria but rea( * at ^ e same meeting a paper on a similar subject, and in this he described 



to a true hyphomycetous fungus. The way into the tuber is prepared for bacteria 



agreein 



Lemstrom. Electrically urged plants 



by fungus hyphae, and the open passages of destroyed vascular bundles afford were f° un d to come to maturity sooner, but electricity had very little effect after 



the cotyledons appeared above the soil, the accelerating effect being exerted on 



them ample space 



Ward 



that after the fungus in question has opened up the way into the tuber, all sorts of the seed and the y° nn S P lant * The electricity was applied in various ways, with 

 bacteria and fungi can make their way down the destroyed vascular strands and ^ same resuIt in each case# 



Grants to Botanists. — We learn that the Berlin Academy of Science has 

 granted five hundred marks to Dr. Loesner for the completion of his monograph 



The evidence shows that the 



reappear in spring, when the tubers are replanted, 

 fungus in question, once in the tuber, leads a dorm; 



the winter, but gradually invades the new sprouts as they slowly appear in the of the Aquifoliace^ ; six hundred marks to Professor Graebner for the continua 



early spring, ana tnat tne parasite is actually replanted by the farmer or gardener 

 when restocking the ground in his new " sets." 



The Swanley Bees appear to have become demoralised by the sweetness 

 emanating from the jam factory situated in their midst, for according to the news- 

 paper reports, they raided the establishment and for a time compelled the operatives 

 to suspend work. They were not allowed to enjoy the sweets of victory for any 

 length of time, for measures for their suffocation were decided upon, and in the 

 result sufficient numbers to fill three bushels lost their lives as the penalty of their 

 departure from the path of rectitude. 



There are apparently several very 



West 



West 



the Kew Bulletin^ the most widely distributed and best known of these is Bursera 



gummifera. ^ 



ward and Leeward Islands, and the "Turpentine tree" of St. Vincent. 



■ m . I _ _ 



Wind- 

 There 



are specimens in the Kew Herbarium also from Cuba, Florida, Mexico, and 

 Guatemala. It has pinnate leaves with small precocious flowers. In his report 

 on the forests of Jamaica Hooper describes it as a " tree of the coast and coast 

 ranges ; a smooth-barked, erect, deciduous tree, from its clean stem and its habit 

 of branching only at the top adapted for live telegraph posts. As a timber used 

 in coopering." Macfadyen states that all parts of the tree produce a gum capable 

 of being substituted for gum -mastic as a transparent varnish. In the Kew 



Museums there are " flambeaux 99 from T^nrrnnira. said to ronfain trip rpcin r»f tViJ«- 



tion of his investigation of German heaths ; and two thousand marks to 

 Professor Eichler for the continuation of his extensive work upon East African 

 plants. 



Manurial Requirements of Potatos have been fully investigated at 



Rothamsted, and the recently-issued report on the field and other experiments, 

 conducted on the farm and in the laboratory of Sir J. B. Lawes, contains some 

 interesting particulars relating to the use of fertilisers in the culture of potatos. 

 These experiments were commenced in 1876, so that 1898 is the twenty-third 

 year of their continuance. The descriptions grown were Rock, four years ; Cha~ 

 pion, eleven years ; Sutton's Abundance, five years ; The Bruce, one year ; - 

 White Beauty of Hebron, 1897 and 1898. The question was not as to the co 

 parative merits of different descriptions, and different sorts were selected on the 

 supposition that in growing the crop year after year change was desirable, especi- 

 ally with a view to the avoidance or lessening of disease. The special object wtf 

 to ascertain the manurial requirements of the crop, and the comparative characters 

 and composition of the produce, 

 manure, with various artificial 



grown 



manures, and also wun larmyard manure, I*** 



alone and with some artificial manures. There were ten din>rently ; Dun^« 

 plots, and under each of the ten conditions the crop more or less declm o 

 the later compared with the earlier years. The average produce per acre o 

 tubers over the twenty years "* ' "— " ~ , ~ * " * CWt ' ' 



sy 2 



tree wrapped in leaves of the Balisier {Heliconia sp.), and in the spathe of Euterpe 

 montana. It is doubtful whether this resin in every case is really from Bursera 

 gummifera. Dr. Imray, who has also sent s 

 refers to it as "the large Gommier tree." 



The Prothallus of Lycopodium clavatum has been investigated by 



X 



gum 



- ' 7 ^ /-r LVVL * 7 w 1UJ *" . .j 1 than 



potash, 3 tons 6% cwt. Thus, purely nitrogenous manures yieioe ucnU 



purely mineral manures, indicating that there was a deficiency of asti-co 



-~ ^ ~ * - - - - -~ — • ^- — -i With the mixed mm* 



' "^7 mUlW«»w & 



rather than of available nitrogen within the soil. 



m A 1^ 11 V/t M Jj * m 1 A 1 _ tTSI. 



was 



of soda rather over 



Lang 



Lang 



imbedded in the peaty soil underlying a patch of moss ; three of them bore young 

 plants and a number of slightly older plants, the prothalli of which had disappeared, 

 were found in the same spot. The prothalli, which present a general resemblance 



««uij ions, ana with the mixed mineral manmc w» —-7^ . due t o i« 

 six tons per acre. The better result by the nitrate of soda is dou . b . tfid wil hii 

 nitrogen being more immediately available, and more T *P ld ] V { ^^ g TOOiSm The 



average 



those of Lycopod 



are of considerable size, completely devoid 



average pro* 



than tW of 



of chlorophyll, and fairly well provided with rhizoids, especially round the edge. 

 Their form is that of a thick fleshy cake, which soon becomes thrown into folds 

 by the unequal growth of the margin. The upper surface is concave, owing to 

 the sides becoming turned up at an early stage. The sexual organs are borne on 

 the upper surface ; both antheridia and archegonia may be present at the same 

 time. These resemble the sexual organs of other lycopods. Even after the young 



duce of Great Britain under ordinary cuiuvauou, w*»* ^ Kuro p* 



Ireland. It was also more than the average of any other coun ry ^ ^ ^ 

 much more than many of them, and about three times as mucn 

 United States. 



■ 



distinguished 



can 



Devon and Exeter Gardeners Association co 



session on Wednesday evening with the annual meeting, 

 for discussion at the r * * ,ja — rK,ictmsi 



ced tbeir ■ 

 The subjects *n^«J 



those of Lycopodi 



5f any organ corresponding to the embryonic tubercle of Lycopodium cernuum is 

 «s»ble, and the leaves exhibit a gradual transition from simple scales to the form 

 characteristic :of the species. A broad layer of tissue separated from the under 

 ? t ^P 10 ;^ 1105 b y m or two layers of cells contains an endophyte 

 mySrtii ^""'e of which suggests that it is of the nature of a 



M oJSSf ^piSSS °" ° rOWln * PI -"^~At* meeting of the 



12, " Flowers that Bloom in the Spring," 

 October 26, 4 vuuuic 



November 9, " Deciduous Trees, 



secretary 



Vine Culture," by Mr. George Lock, Ne»w«btf ^ 



Git:' 5 *? 

 Gaidca 



Chemical Manure* ^ r K<* 



Thompson's Farm, 



December T. "TH. an d whvit should interest Gardene 



Walker, Lee 



' -*^**^»*K^U ^ 



Importation of Canadian Fruit. 



- - 1 1 » 



Asscciatit 



Prof 



ess or 



htm 



pears, from Canada. 



) fruit grow** 

 . are promised 



Professor P 



